Phanerozoic
The Phanerozoic Eon is the current geologic eon in the geologic time scale, and the one during which abundant animal and plant life has existed. It covers 538.8 million years to the present, and it began with the Cambrian Period, when anim ...
Eon, the
Paleozoic
The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon.
The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838
by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ...
Era, and the
Cambrian
The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million years ago ...
Period. It is the first of the two
stage
Stage or stages may refer to:
Acting
* Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions
* Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage"
* ''The Stage'', a weekly British theatre newspaper
* Sta ...
s of the
Terreneuvian
The Terreneuvian is the lowermost and oldest series of the Cambrian geological system. Its base is defined by the first appearance datum of the trace fossil ''Treptichnus pedum'' around million years ago. Its top is defined as the first appearan ...
series. Its base is defined as the first appearance of the trace fossil ''
Treptichnus pedum
''Treptichnus'' (formerly named ''Phycodes'', ''Manykodes'' by J. Dzik, and also known as ''Trichophycus''See e.gfossiilid.info: paleodiversity in Baltoscandia: Trichophycus pedum/ref>) is the preserved burrow of an animal. As such, it is regar ...
'' million years ago. The top of the Fortunian which is the base of the Stage 2 of the Cambrian has not been formally defined yet, but will correspond to the appearance of an
Archeocyatha
Archaeocyatha (or archaeocyathids 'ancient cups') is a taxon of extinct, Sessility (zoology), sessile, reef-building Marine (ocean), marine Sponge, sponges that lived in warm tropical and subtropical waters during the Cambrian Period. It is beli ...
species or "Small shelly fossils" approximately million years ago.
The name Fortunian is derived from a part of the
Burin Peninsula
The Burin Peninsula ( ) is a peninsula located on the south coast of the island of Newfoundland in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Marystown is the largest population centre on the peninsula.Statistics Canada. 2017. Marystown, T ens ...
, the town of
Fortune
Fortune may refer to:
General
* Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck
* Luck
* Wealth
* Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling
* Fortune, in a fortune cookie
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''The Fortune'' (1931 film) ...
near the GSSP and
Fortune Bay
Fortune Bay () is a fairly large natural bay located in the Gulf of St. Lawrence on the south coast of Newfoundland, Canada.
GSSP
A Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) is an internationally agreed upon reference point on a stratigraphic section which defines the lower boundary of a stage on the geologic time scale. The effort to define GSSPs is conducted ...
) of the Fortunian stage is in
Fortune Head
Fortune Head is a headland located about from the town of Fortune on the Burin Peninsula, southeastern Newfoundland.
A thick section of rock along its cliffs is designated the Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (or GSSP) representing ...
, at the northern edge of the
Burin Peninsula
The Burin Peninsula ( ) is a peninsula located on the south coast of the island of Newfoundland in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Marystown is the largest population centre on the peninsula.Statistics Canada. 2017. Marystown, T ens ...
,
Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...
(). This GSSP coincides with the base of the
Terreneuvian
The Terreneuvian is the lowermost and oldest series of the Cambrian geological system. Its base is defined by the first appearance datum of the trace fossil ''Treptichnus pedum'' around million years ago. Its top is defined as the first appearan ...
series, the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary and the beginning of the Phanerozoic. The outcrops show a carbonate-siliciclastic succession which is mapped as the
Chapel Island Formation
The Chapel Island Formation is a sedimentary formation from the Burin Peninsula, Newfoundland, Canada. It is a succession of siliciclastic deposits, over thick, that were deposited during the latest Ediacaran and earliest Cambrian.
Stratigrap ...
. The formation is divided into the following members that are composed of peritidal sandstones and shales (Member 1), muddy deltaic and shelf sandstones and mudstones (Member 2A), laminated siltstones (Member 2B and 3) and mudstones and limestones of the inner shelf (Member 4). The Precambrian-Cambrian boundary lies 2.4 m above the base of the 2nd member which is the lowest occurrence of ''
Treptichnus pedum
''Treptichnus'' (formerly named ''Phycodes'', ''Manykodes'' by J. Dzik, and also known as ''Trichophycus''See e.gfossiilid.info: paleodiversity in Baltoscandia: Trichophycus pedum/ref>) is the preserved burrow of an animal. As such, it is regar ...
''. The traces can be seen on the lower surface of the sandstone layers. The first calcareous shelled skeletal fossils ''(
Ladatheca cylindrica
''Ladatheca'' is a genus of hyolith that closely resembles '' Turcutheca''.
It has a straight conch with a smooth internal surface, and is found with what may be its operculum.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q6469267
Prehistoric protostome ge ...
)'' is 400 m above the boundary. The first
trilobites
Trilobites (; meaning "three lobes") are extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. Trilobites form one of the earliest-known groups of arthropods. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the A ...
appear 1,400 m above the boundary, which corresponds to the beginning of the Branchian Series.
See also
*
Stratigraphy of the Cambrian
The Stratigraphy of the Cambrian period currently has several schemes used for ordering geologic formations from the period. The International Commission on Stratigraphy−ICS scheme has set a stratotype section for the base of the Cambrian, da ...