title: Vendian microfossils in metasedimentary cherts of the Scotia Group, Prins Karls Forland, Svalbard.
abstract: Sedimentary rocks of the Scotia Group, Prins Karls Forland, Svalbard, have been metamorphosed to lower greenschist facies.  Yet Scotia chert nodules contain abundant organic-walled microfossils belonging to at least seventeen taxa.  Their black colour indicates that the fossils underwent substantial thermal alteration.  However, it is suggested that preservation in a matrix of early diagenetic silica shielded them from the most destructive mechanical and chemical effects of metamorphism.  Microbial mats and large acanthomorphic acritarchs suggest a coastal marine depositional environment; the acritarchs further indicate an early Vendian age for the sediments.  The Scotia fossils bear a close resemblance to assemblages described from the Doushantuo Formation, China and elsewhere, demonstrating the broad geographical distribution of biostratigraphically important Vendian taxa.  Briareus and Echinosphaeridium are described as new genera; Briareus borealis is described as a new species, while Echinosphaeridium maximum is proposed as a new combination.
authors.affiliation: Botanical Museum of Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138.
authors.forename: A H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Knoll
mesh_terms: D000458:Cyanobacteria / Q000145:classification*; D005580:Fossils; D055593:Geological Phenomena; D005844:Geology; D010163:Paleontology; D011791:Quartz; D012822:Silicon Dioxide; D013538:Svalbard
chemical_list: D011791:Quartz; D012822:Silicon Dioxide