A NEW CHROOCOCCACEAN ALGA FROM THE PROTEROZOIC OF QUEENSLAND

A NEW CHROOCOCCACEAN ALGA FROM THE PROTEROZOIC OF QUEENSLAND

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA; ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA
MT. ISA MINES, LTD., ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Abstract

Nannofossils§ here described are from the middle Proterozoic Paradise Creek Formation, along Paradise Creek in northwestern Queensland, Australia. These fossils, in chert blebs associated with branched stromatolites, comprise cubic colonies analogous to living Eucapsis, a member of the blue-green algal family Chroococcaceae. The age of the enclosing rocks, bracketed by the ages of older and younger granitic events, is about 1.6 × 10⁹ years. We record, therefore, a new chronological and biological datum in the currently accumulating sequence of pre-Paleozoic microbiotas.

Footnotes

↵ * Department of Geology, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90024.
↵ † Department of Geology, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106.
↵ ‡ Geologist, Carpentaria Exploration Co., Mt. Isa Mines, Ltd., Adelaide, South Australia.