Rawnsley Quartzite

Contrary to what the name suggests, the Rawnsley Quartzite is dominated by sandstone rocks. The formation is found entirely within the Nilpena Ediacara National Park, in the Flinders Ranges of Southern Australia.^[3]

The dating of the formation, and primarily the Ediacara Member, has been hindered due to the coarse-grained siliciclastic sedimentology of it. Despite this, there have been two grains dated through U-Pb dating that get close to a probable depositional age of the aforementioned member. The first grain yielded an age of 561.9±15.1 Ma, whilst the second one yields an age of 596±10 Ma. Meanwhile, another single grain from the underlying Bonney Sandstone yielded an age of 566±24 Ma.^[1]

Due to these very few dates, a date of 555±0 Ma has been used as the Ediacara Member is known to correlate with the Zimnygory section in the Ustʹ Pinega Formation, Russia.^[1]

The environment at the time of the Ediacara Member's deposition was that of a shallow marine one, ranging from an estuarine, shoreface, and coastal environments.^[2] Previous studies had a slightly wider range, with the environment going from the fair-weather wave base to a sub-storm wave base, as well as a delta-front, which ranged from a near to below the wave base.^[3] The shallow marine environment was also inferred from the relatively thick matgrounds commonly found in most fossil beds of the member, which would have also helped to support the community of organisms within the general area.^[3]

One researcher, Gregory Retallack, has regarded the member as being that of a terrestrial environment based on iron oxide coatings found within it,^[5] although further studies done after have discounted these findings suggesting a terrestrial deposition for the member, as the compounds had been precipitated from groundwater beneath the member in the last ~2 million years.^[6] Despite this piece of evidence, alongside a growing collection of other studies done before and after,^[7] Retallack still supports a terrestrial environment for the Rawnsley Quartzite.^[8]

The beds at Nilpena Ediacara National Park contains a diverse, and complex system of Ediacaran organisms, from bilateral forms such as Parvancorina and Kimberella,^[9] to the classic Ediacaran forms such as Dickinsonia and Arborea.^[9] Due to its notable shallow environment, there is also a wide collection of algae forms, such as Flabellophyton and Longifuniculum, which are commonly referred to as "Bundles of Filaments" (BOF) in literature.^[10][9]

Bilaterian

More information Genus, Species ...

Genus	Species	Locality	Notes	Images
Ikaria[9]	I. wariootia	1T-F Surface	Worm-like organism.
Kimberella[11][4][9]	K. quadrata	NECP Bed-1	Mollusc-like organism.
Uncus[9]	U. dzaugisi	1T-F Surface	Worm-like organism.
Velocephalina[12]	V. greenwoodensis	NECP Bed-1 Surface	Mollusc-like organism. Due to being named exclusively in a PhD thesis, it is considered a nomen ineditum, meaning it was not properly published.

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Cnidarian

More information Genus, Species ...

Genus	Species	Locality	Notes	Images
Ediacaria[13]	E. flindersi		Discoidal organism.

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Porifera

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Genus	Species	Locality	Notes	Images
Palaeophragmodictya[10]	P. reticulata	TC-MM3 Surface
Funisia[9]	F. dorothea	1T-F, TC-MM3, and TR-ARB Surfaces	Olgunid tubular organism.

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Petalonamae

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Genus	Species	Locality	Notes	Images
Arborea[11][9]	A. arborea	NECP Bed-1 Surface	Frondose organism.
Akrophyllas[14]	A. longa		Frondose organism.
Charniodiscus[11]	Charniodiscus sp.	NECP Bed-1 Surface	Frondose organism.
Pteridinium[4]	Pteridinium sp. P. simplex		Recumbent frondose organism

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Proarticulata

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Genus	Species	Locality	Notes	Images
Andiva[10][9]	A. ivantsovi	1T-F and TR-ARB Surfaces	Elongated motile organism, with glided reflection.
Archaeaspinus[15]	A. fedonkini		Rounded motile organism, with glided reflection.
Dickinsonia[11][4][10][9]	D. costata D. tenuis	NECP Bed-1, 1T-F, TC-MM3, and TR-ARB Surfaces	Oval motile organism, with glided reflection.
Marywadea[16]	M. ovata		Elongated motile organism, with glided reflection.
Ovatoscutum[13]	O. concentricum		Rounded motile organism, with glided reflection. Previously described as a porpitid.
Praecambridium[17][11]	P. sigillum	NECP Bed-1 Surface	Rounded motile organism.
Spriggina[11][4][10][9]	S. floundersi	NECP Bed-1 and 1T-F Surfaces	Elongated motile organism, with glided reflection.
Yorgia[11][10]	Y. waggoneri	NECP Bed-1 and TC-MM3 Surfaces	Rounded motile organism, with glided reflection.

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Trilobozoa

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Genus	Species	Locality	Notes	Images
Albumares (?)[18]	Albumares sp. (?)		Triradial organism. No proper description or image has been published of its record here, as such it remains uncertain if Albumares can also be found here.
Rugoconites[10][11][9]	R. enigmaticus	NECP Bed-1, 1T-F, and TC-MM3 Surfaces	Triradial organism.
Tribrachidium[11][4][9]	T. heraldicum T. gehlingi	NECP Bed-1 and 1T-F Surfaces	Triradial organism.

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incertae sedis

More information Genus, Species ...

Genus	Species	Locality	Notes	Images
Aspidella[10][9]	A. terranovica	1T-F and TC-MM3 Surface	Disoidal organism.
Attenborites[19][10][9]	A. janae	1T-F and TR-ARB Surfaces	Pelagic oval organism.
Aulozoon[10][20][9]	A. soliorum	1T-F, TC-MM3, and TR-ARB Surfaces	Sessile, tubular organism.
Conomedusites[10]	C. lobatus	TC-MM3 Surface	Tetraradial organism, probable cnidarian.
Coronacollina[10][9]	C. acula	1T-F and TR-ARB Surfaces	Triradial sponge-like organism, with four spicule-like structures.
Cyclomedusa[21]	Cyclomedusa sp.		Discoidal organism.
Eoandromeda[4]	E. octobrachiata		Eight-armed radial organism.
Eoporpita[9]	E. medusa	1T-F Surface	Discoidal organism, probable cnidarian.
Harlaniella (?)[22]	Harlaniella (?) sp.		Ribbon-like organism.
Mawsonites[10][9]	M. spriggi	1T-F Surface	Discoidal organism.
Nilpenia[23]	N. rossi		Branching, tubular and sediment-dwelling organism.
Obamus[24][10][9]	O. coronatus	1T-F and TB-ARB Surfaces	Torus-shaped organism.
Parvancorina[11][4][10][9]	P. minchami	NECP Bed-1, 1T-F, TC-MM3, and TB-ARB Surfaces	Anchor-shaped organism.
Phyllozoon[4]	P. hanseni		Interpreted as either an erniettomorph or a feeding trace.
Plexus[25][10]	P. ricei	TB-ARB Surface	Worm-like organism, affinities unknown.
Pseudorhizostomites[11][10]	P. howchini	NECP Bed-1 Surface
Quaestio[9]	Q. simpsonorum	1T-F Surface	Asymmetrical, rounded organism.
Somatohelix[10]	S. sinuosus		Tubular organism.
Palaeopascichnus[10][9]	Palaeopascichnus sp.	1T-F and TB-ARB Surfaces	Palaeopascichnid organism
Intrites[10]	Intrites sp.	TC-MM3 and TR-ARB Surfaces	Palaeopascichnid organism.

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Flora

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Genus	Species	Locality	Notes	Images
Flabellophyton[10]	F. stupendum F. typicum		Filamentous macroalgae.
Liulingitaenia[10]	L. irregularis		Filamentous macroalgae.
Longifuniculum[10]	L. dissolutum		Whip-like macroalgae.

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Ichnogenera

More information Genus, Species ...

Genus	Species	Locality	Notes	Images
Helminthoidichnites[4][10]	Helminthoidichnites sp.		Burrows.
Epibaion[11]	E. costatus	NECP Bed-1 Surface	Feeding traces of Dickinonsia.
Kimberichnus[26][11]	K. terruzi	NECP Bed-1 Surface	Feeding traces of Kimberella.

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• Ediacaran biota