Paleodictyon from a nearshore paleoenvironmental setting in the Guadalupian (Middle Permian) of the Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia

Abstract

Additional material of Paleodictyon from the Guadalupian (Middle Permian) Mungadan Sandstone (Kennedy Group) of the Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia, is documented here. The Mungadan Sandstone was deposited in a nearshore depositional setting as evidenced by the lithofacies, ichnofacies and fossil assemblage. The Carnarvon Basin specimens agree well with the morphology of Paleodictyon. SEM images of a mesh string/burrow show abundant framboids, which are interpreted as the result of decomposition of organic remains of the tracemakers. The Carnarvon Basin specimens provide an additional example that tracemakers of Paleodictyon live in much broader range of habitats than commonly assumed, ranging from deep sea to shoreface/nearshore settings. Broad spatiotemporal distributions suggest that Paleodictyon traces could have been made by different organisms with similar behaviours during the Phanerozoic.

Key Words:

• Carnarvon Basin
• Guadalupian
• Mungadan Sandstone
• Paleodictyon
• Permian
• trace fossil
• Western Australia

Acknowledgements

Annette George is thanked for her critically reading the early version of the manuscript. Constructive comments given by Roger Hocking and an anonymous reviewer have greatly improved the quality of this paper. This study is supported by an Australian Research Council discovery grant (DP07752298 to ZQC) and is a contribution to IGCP 572 Permian–Triassic Ecosystem.