Joint 69th Annual Southeastern / 55th Annual Northeastern Section Meeting - 2020

Paper No. 40-1
Presentation Time: 1:30 PM

RECONSTRUCTING COMMUNITY-SCALE EDIACARAN PALEOECOLOGY USING COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS


GIBSON, Brandt M.1, FURBISH, David J.1, LAFLAMME, Marc2 and DARROCH, Simon A.F.1, (1)Earth and Environmental Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, (2)Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences, University of Toronto Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Road, Mississauga, ON L5L 1C6, Canada

The latest Neoproterozoic Ediacara biota (571-541 Ma) is an enigmatic group of soft-bodied fossils that represents the first radiation of complex life; however, the paleobiology and -ecology of many of these organisms are still poorly understood as a result of their bizarre body plans. Recently, several studies have focused on the sedimentology, morphology, and numerical modeling of Ernietta plateauensis to better this taxon that persists right up until the end-Ediacaran extinction. We use computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to constrain Ernietta paleoecology by constructing the first Ediacaran population model that is directly informed by in situ spatial arrangements of an Ediacaran "snapshot in time" ecosystem. Our results support previous interpretations of gregarious life habit and shine new light onto inter-individual group dynamics.