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Morphology and taphonomy of an Ediacaran frond: Charnia from the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland

M. Laflamme, G. M. Narbonne, C. Greentree and M. M. Anderson
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 286, 237-257, 1 January 2007, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP286.17
M. Laflamme
1Department of Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 3N6 (e-mail: )
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  • For correspondence: laflamme@geoladm.geol.queensu.ca
G. M. Narbonne
1Department of Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 3N6 (e-mail: )
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C. Greentree
21-249 Macdonnell Street, Kingston, Ontario K7L 4C4
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M. M. Anderson
353 Sterling Crescent, St. John's Newfoundland A1A 4J9
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Abstract

The Ediacaran frond Charnia, known mainly from fragmentary leaf-like fronds from around the world, is represented by completely preserved specimens with holdfasts in the Mistaken Point biota of Newfoundland. Previous reconstructions of Charnia from two-dimensional impressions were significantly oversimplified, resulting in three-dimensional reconstructions which highlighted a sheet-like morphology. Overlapping relationships and internal structures are rarely (if ever) preserved, and only through detailed photography together with both landmark and traditional morphometric analyses of numerous complete Charnia specimens can the preservational biases be removed. Charnia is reinterpreted here as having a series of individual overlapping primary branches attached to an internal central stalk, and with individual branches constrained by an internal, organic skeleton and/or attachments between adjacent branches. Three species, C. masoniFord 1958, C. wardi Narbonne & Gehling 2003, and C. antecedens sp. nov. can be distinguished on the basis of length/width ratios and the degree of attachment of adjacent branches. Morphological, taphonomical, and ecological studies at Mistaken Point imply that Charnia was a sessile, epibenthic frond that fed from suspension in this deep-water volcaniclastic setting. Evolution of more rigorous connections between the primary branches allowed Charnia to migrate into more turbulent, shallower-water habitats by the late Ediacaran.

  • © The Geological Society of London 2007
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Geological Society, London, Special Publications: 286 (1)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications
Volume 286
2007
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Morphology and taphonomy of an Ediacaran frond: Charnia from the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland

M. Laflamme, G. M. Narbonne, C. Greentree and M. M. Anderson
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 286, 237-257, 1 January 2007, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP286.17
M. Laflamme
1Department of Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 3N6 (e-mail: )
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • For correspondence: laflamme@geoladm.geol.queensu.ca
G. M. Narbonne
1Department of Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 3N6 (e-mail: )
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • For correspondence: laflamme@geoladm.geol.queensu.ca
C. Greentree
21-249 Macdonnell Street, Kingston, Ontario K7L 4C4
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
M. M. Anderson
353 Sterling Crescent, St. John's Newfoundland A1A 4J9
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  • Search for this author on this site

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Morphology and taphonomy of an Ediacaran frond: Charnia from the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland

M. Laflamme, G. M. Narbonne, C. Greentree and M. M. Anderson
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 286, 237-257, 1 January 2007, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP286.17
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  • Article
    • Abstract
    • Geographic and stratigraphic setting
    • Traditional interpretations of the morphology of Charnia
    • Landmark morphometric analysis
    • Taphonomy of Newfoundland Charnia
    • Taphomorphology of Charnia
    • Life habits of Charnia
    • Affinities of Charnia
    • Conclusions
    • Systematic palaeontology
    • Identification Key
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