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Dniester River, Chernivtsi Oblast, Podolia, Ukraine
This locality consists of outcrops along the banks of the Dniester River, Ukraine, along the border with Moldova. Many of the fossil-bearing localities are spoil heaps comprised of material quarried during the construction of the power plant (Fedonkin et al. 2007). A quarry excavated along the left bank of the Dniester River, between the mouth of the Zhvan Creek (left tributary of the Dniester River) and the dam of the Dniester Hydroelectric Station, yields some of the best specimens (e.g. Dzik and Martyshyn, 2015).
Stratigraphy, age and palaeoenvironmental interpretation
Fossils are found in the Mogilev, Yaryshev, Nagoryany and Kanilov Formations of the Valdai Series, all of which are siliciclastic. The floor of the quarry mentioned above is often subject to flooding, and therefore the fossiliferous Lomosov Member can only be accessed infrequently. The Yampol Member above is actively quarried. There are efforts underway to get the site listed as a protected Geological Monument. The fossil-bearing units overlie volcanic rocks that have been dated elsewhere (Poland) to 551 ± 4 Ma (Compston et al. 1995).
Significance of the site
The Dniester sites yield diverse discoidal and trace fossil assemblages, containing taxa that correlate with those of the White Sea biotic assemblage of Australia and the White Sea (Waggoner 2003; Fedonkin et al. 2007; Ivantsov and Zakrevskaya 2015). Nemiana specimens from Ukraine are particularly exceptional (Leonov 2007). Non-discoidal Ediacara-type fossils are not overly diverse, but provide important specimens with which to compare material found elsewhere on the East European Platform in rocks of this age.
This locality consists of outcrops along the banks of the Dniester River, Ukraine, along the border with Moldova. Many of the fossil-bearing localities are spoil heaps comprised of material quarried during the construction of the power plant (Fedonkin et al. 2007). A quarry excavated along the left bank of the Dniester River, between the mouth of the Zhvan Creek (left tributary of the Dniester River) and the dam of the Dniester Hydroelectric Station, yields some of the best specimens (e.g. Dzik and Martyshyn, 2015).
Stratigraphy, age and palaeoenvironmental interpretation
Fossils are found in the Mogilev, Yaryshev, Nagoryany and Kanilov Formations of the Valdai Series, all of which are siliciclastic. The floor of the quarry mentioned above is often subject to flooding, and therefore the fossiliferous Lomosov Member can only be accessed infrequently. The Yampol Member above is actively quarried. There are efforts underway to get the site listed as a protected Geological Monument. The fossil-bearing units overlie volcanic rocks that have been dated elsewhere (Poland) to 551 ± 4 Ma (Compston et al. 1995).
Significance of the site
The Dniester sites yield diverse discoidal and trace fossil assemblages, containing taxa that correlate with those of the White Sea biotic assemblage of Australia and the White Sea (Waggoner 2003; Fedonkin et al. 2007; Ivantsov and Zakrevskaya 2015). Nemiana specimens from Ukraine are particularly exceptional (Leonov 2007). Non-discoidal Ediacara-type fossils are not overly diverse, but provide important specimens with which to compare material found elsewhere on the East European Platform in rocks of this age.