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Abstract

The glacial and glacio-marine sediments of the Oligocene Polonez Cove and Early Miocene Cape Melville Formations on King George Island (South Shetland Islands, West Antarctica) yield numerous erratic boulders of limestone, in particular archaeocyathan-algal boundstone, oolite, onkolite, and biomicrite. Some of these boulders are fossiliferous and contain archaeocyathans, sponges, inarticulate brachiopods, monoplacophorans, gastropods, hyolithids, trilobites, ostracodes and such enigmatic fossils as: Chancelloria, Coleolella. Dailyatia. Halkieria. Hadimopanella. Hyolithellus. "Lenastella", Mongolitubulus and Torellella. The small shelly fauna appears to be Early Cambrian (Botomian) in age. The boulders of fossiliferous limestones resemble the rocks of the Shackleton Limestone unit in the central Transantarctic Mts. The lithological composition of the boulder assemblage brought to King George Island during the Tertiary glaciations suggests that the Cambrian outcrops around the Weddell Sea are the source of the erratics. The Antarctic Lower Cambrian fauna resembles its analogues in Australia and Asia.

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Ryszard Wrona
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Abstract

Molluscan fossils accompanied by familiar SSF have been recovered from Early Cambrian limestone erratics in the Early Miocene glaciomarine Cape Melville Formation of King George Island, West Antarctica. The molluscan fauna comprises the hyoliths Conotheca, Microcornus, Parkula, Hyptiotheca, “Hyolithes”, the helcionelloids ?Pararacornus, Yochelcionella, Anabarella, the low dextrally coiled Pelagiella and the high helically coiled Beshtashella, as well as the problematic mollusc Cupitheca. Most of described species are recorded here for the first time from Antarctica. The lithological and fossil contents of the erratics are almost the same as from autochthonous successions the Shackleton Limestone in the Argentina Range and Transantarctic Mountains. Early Cambrian outcrops around the Weddell Sea are a probable source of the erratic boulders. The Antarctic fauna is very similar to that from uppermost Botomian and Toyonian carbonate deposits in the Cambrian Basins of South Australia. These faunal and facies similarities between Antarctica and Australia confirm their neighbouring position and common biotic and basin evolution on the Cambrian Gondwana margin.

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Ryszard Wrona
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Abstract

Arthropod carapaces have been recovered from the Early Cambrian fossiliferous limestone erratics (dropstones) in the Early Miocene glaciomarine Cape Melville Formation of King George Island (South Shetland Islands), West Antarctica. The arthropod fauna comprises the bradoriide carapaces of Albrunnicola bengtsoni Hinz-Schallreuter, Liangshanella birkenmajeri sp. nov., Melvillella corniculata gen. et sp. nov., Mongolitubulus squamifer Missarzhevsky, Zepaera sp., the phosphatocopid Dabashanella sp., and one problematic taxon. With the exception of M. squamifer, all described species are recorded from Antarctica for the first time. The described Antarctic bradoriide assemblage attests to a close relationship with similar faunas from South Australia and South China, but also includes more widely distributed taxa extending the relationship to the palaeocontinents of Siberia, Baltica and Laurentia.

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Authors and Affiliations

Ryszard Wrona

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