The Precambrian—Cambrian boundary: A symposium

Abstract

Contributions to a symposium of the IUGS Subcommission on Cambrian Stratigraphy at the International Geological Congress in Montreal in 1972 are the basis of this paper which is intended to give guidance to further work of what is now a Working Group on the Precambrian—Cambrian boundary of the International Geological Correlation Programme (UNESCO/IUGS). The proposed principles for the definition of the boundary are based on those accepted by the Commission on Stratigraphy, particularly on stratigraphic classification and on defining the Silurian—Devonian boundary. These matters are discussed by the authors in general terms and by W.B. Harland in terms of procedure. They are illustrated by examples of stratigraphic sequences across the boundary in Siberia given by A.Yu. Rozanov and discussed critically by V.E. Savitsky. New relevant discoveries of Early Cambrian faunas and their stratigraphic setting are reviewed by A. Boudda et al. P.E. Cloud's contribution, published elsewhere, and work in Australia are reviewed by the authors. The conclusions, based not only on the symposium material but also on current opinion, are that no single sequence which could serve as a reference standard for the Precambrian—Cambrian boundary has yet been identified but that many significant ones have been described which will be further examined. While the general limits for the choice of a boundary definition should lie between the horizons with fossils of Ediacaran type and those with diversified trilobite assemblages, a number of “Working Reference Points” exist in that interval which are correlatable horizons of faunal change. These cannot be defined simply as horizons of first appearance.