Another Look at Ediacaran Rocks and Fossils of Charnwood Forest, England

Like other Ediacaran fossil localities of Avalon terranes, such as the Mistaken Point Formation of Newfoundland, the Bradgate and Beacon Hill Formations of Charnwood Forest, England, have been interpreted as deep marine turbidite sequences. However, tectonic setting of both Avalonian terranes has recently been reinterpreted as forearc basin on continental crust, rather than submarine fan on mid–ocean ridge or oceanic crust. This study reexamined fossiliferous Ediacaran beds of Charnwood Forest using a variety of geochemical and petrographic paleosalinity and paleosol proxies, and found that Ediacaran fossils of Charnwood Forest lived on land, although marine facies are recognized in other parts of the succession. Paleosol profiles with periglacial convolutions and ice wedges (Swiss pedotype) can be correlated with 562 Ma Hankalchough Glaciation, and global fall in sea level. Mildly oxidized Inceptisol and Entisol profiles (Pocket, Gate, and Tower pedotypes) supported a variety of frondose megafossils, but intertidal (Sulfaquept profiles of Altar pedotype) had largely discoid megafossils, comparable with the distribution of similar fossils in the Mistaken Point Formation of Newfoundland.