Abstract
Ediacaran fossils of Mistaken Point and other localities in Newfoundland have been reconstructed as denizens of a deep, dark ocean, based on a turbidite interpretation of their sedimentary context. Objections to this view include geochemical indications of fresh water and volcanological and sedimentological evidence that they lived in soils of coastal plains and tidal flats. Two distinct assemblages of these fossils are recognized: a low-diversity Aspidella–Heimalora community on sulfidic grey paleosols (Sulfaquent) and a high diversity Fractofusus–Charniodiscus community on red ferruginous paleosols (Fluvent and Udept). These two assemblages and their paleosols were comparable in habitat with Phanerozoic intertidal salt marsh and coastal woodlands, respectively. Paleosol chemical composition is also evidence that Ediacaran communities of Newfoundland lived in humid, cool temperate paleoclimates, unlike arid paleoclimates of the classical Ediacaran biota of South Australia.
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