Discovery of White Sea assemblage fossils from Laurentia

2026/05/20 by Scott D. Evans, Erik A. Sperling, Kimberly Lau +1 · 2 voices
Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Geological Formations and Processes Exploration #Geological Studies and Exploration #Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils

paper · doi:10.1126/sciadv.aed9916

openalex publication_date 2026/05/20 · openalex created_date 2026/05/21 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22

Abstract

The dawn of animal life is preserved by fossils of the Ediacara Biota, which have been separated into three biotic assemblages: the Avalon, White Sea, and Nama. Geographic and temporal isolation of these faunas leads to uncertainties regarding patterns of change. We report the discovery of unambiguous fossil communities belonging to the White Sea assemblage from the paleocontinent of Laurentia in the Blueflower Formation, Mackenzie Mountains, Canada. Unlike previous localities, sedimentological and geochronological evidence supports an older origin and deeper-water setting for this assemblage, including the oldest motile bilaterians. Fossil communities overlap temporally with the Avalon assemblage and are recognized in similar deep-water paleoenvironments. These results provide support for a hypothesized pattern of offshore origination followed by habitation of shallower environments through time, potentially unique to the early radiation of animals.

Citations

• Biogeographic analyses of the Ediacara biota: a conflict with paleotectonic reconstructions
• Ediacaran distributions in space and time: testing assemblage concepts of earliest macroscopic body fossils
• The Rise of Animals in a Changing Environment: Global Ecological Innovation in the Late Ediacaran
• Extending full-plate tectonic models into deep time: Linking the Neoproterozoic and the Phanerozoic
• Body plan of Dickinsonia, the oldest mobile animals
• Charniodiscus and Arborea Are Separate Genera Within the Arboreomorpha: Using the Holotype of C. concentricus to Resolve a Taphonomic/Taxonomic Tangle
• A deep root for the Cambrian explosion: Implications of new bio- and chemostratigraphy from the Siberian Platform
• The end of the Ediacaran: Two new exceptionally preserved body fossil assemblages from Mount Dunfee, Nevada, USA

Discussions

• The Oldest Evidence of Animal Sex Has Been Found, and It’s Mind-Boggling [lemmy, 5 points, 0 comments]
• Evans et al. (2026-05, Science Advances) 「ローレンシア大陸における白海群集化石の発見」 Discovery of White Sea assemblage fossils from Laurentia doi.org/10.1126/scia... [bsky, 2 points, 0 comments]

Related

• Ediacaran endlings from the Avalon Assemblage and the severity of the Kotlin Crisis: First documentation of the Inner Meadow Lagerstätte, Newfoundland, Canada
• The Rise of Animals in a Changing Environment: Global Ecological Innovation in the Late Ediacaran
• Vertebrate Paleontology and the Cenozoic History of the North Atlantic Region
• Ediacaran distributions in space and time: testing assemblage concepts of earliest macroscopic body fossils
• Biogeographic analyses of the Ediacara biota: a conflict with paleotectonic reconstructions