The role of iron in the formation of Ediacaran ‘death masks’

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Author(s)Gibson, Brandt M.
Author(s)Schiffbauer, James D.
Author(s)Wallace, Adam F.
Author(s)Darroch, Simon A. F.
Date Accessioned2023-05-02T14:56:36Z
Date Available2023-05-02T14:56:36Z
Publication Date2023-02-26
DescriptionThis article was originally published in Geobiology. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/gbi.12551
AbstractThe Ediacara biota are an enigmatic group of Neoproterozoic soft-bodied fossils that mark the first major radiation of complex eukaryotic and macroscopic life. These fossils are thought to have been preserved via pyritic “death masks” mediated by seafloor microbial mats, though little about the chemical constraints of this preservational pathway is known, in particular surrounding the role of bioavailable iron in death mask formation and preservational fidelity. In this study, we perform decay experiments on both diploblastic and triploblastic animals under a range of simulated sedimentary iron concentrations, in order to characterize the role of iron in the preservation of Ediacaran organisms. After 28 days of decay, we demonstrate the first convincing “death masks” produced under experimental laboratory conditions composed of iron sulfide and probable oxide veneers. Moreover, our results demonstrate that the abundance of iron in experiments is not the sole control on death mask formation, but also tissue histology and the availability of nucleation sites. This illustrates that Ediacaran preservation via microbial death masks need not be a “perfect storm” of paleoenvironmental porewater and sediment chemistry, but instead can occur under a range of conditions.
SponsorThe authors would like to thank Elli Ronay, Eva Biedron, Lydia Harmon, and Matthew Dietrich for assistance in the lab. BMG was supported by the Geological Society of America GSRG-11444-16, SEPM (Graduate Student Research Grant), and Sigma Xi GIAR-G2017100194597859. JDS is supported by NSF EAR CAREER-1652351 and acknowledges support of the X-ray Microanalysis Core Facility by NSF EAR I&F-1636643. S.A.F.D. acknowledges a travel grant from the Southeastern Conference as well as generous support from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, which is sponsored by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research in Germany. We would like to thank three anonymous reviewers and Subject Editor Lidya Tarhan for comments and additions to the manuscript.
CitationGibson, B. M., Schiffbauer, J. D., Wallace, A. F., & Darroch, S. A. F. (2023). The role of iron in the formation of Ediacaran ‘death masks’. Geobiology, 00, 1– 14. https://doi.org/10.1111/gbi.12551
ISSN1472-4669
URLhttps://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/32701
Languageen_US
PublisherGeobiology
Keywordsorganics
Keywordspreservation
Keywordspyrite
Keywordssulfide
Keywordstaphonomy
TitleThe role of iron in the formation of Ediacaran ‘death masks’
TypeArticle
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