Published June 28, 2002
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Journal Article
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Proterozoic Modular Biomineralized Metazoan from the Nama Group, Namibia
Chicago
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Abstract
We describe a Proterozoic, fully biomineralized metazoan from the Omkyk Member (∼549 million years before the present) of the northern Nama Group, Namibia. Namapoikia rietoogensis gen. et sp. nov. is up to 1 meter in diameter and bears a complex and robust biomineralized skeleton; it probably represents a cnidarian or poriferan. Namapoikia encrusts perpendicular to the walls of vertical synsedimentary fissures in microbial reefs. This finding implies that large, modular metazoans with biologically controlled mineralization appeared some 15 million years earlier than previously documented.
Additional Information
© 2002 American Association for the Advancement of Science. Received 4 March 2002; accepted 15 May 2002. Supported by the Geological Survey of Namibia, NSF, Petroleum Development Oman, and Schlumberger. We thank C. Husselmann for access to Driedoornvlagte; D. McCormick and S. Schroeder for assistance in the field; D. Simons for photographic expertise; S. Conway Morris, C. Scrutton, A. Knoll, S. Bengston, M. Brasier, M. Droser, and an anonymous reviewer for comments on the manuscript; R. Duncan-Jones and A. Brett for etymological expertise; and R. Swart (National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia) for permission to publish the LANDSAT image shown in fig. S1B.Attached Files
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 36906
- DOI
- 10.1126/science.1071599
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20130213-152824908
- Geological Survey of Namibia
- NSF
- Petroleum Development Oman
- Schlumberger
- Created
-
2013-02-13Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-09Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences (GPS)