1ST EDIACARAN FAUNA FOUND IN WESTERN AFRICA AND EVIDENCE FOR AN EARLYCAMBRIAN GLACIATION

Ediacara-type body fossils are reported here for the first time from t he West African craton in Algeria. This assemblage comprises medusoids comparable to Medusinites sp. and Nimbia, a trace fossil, and a new g enus of body fossil with uncertain affinity. The fossils are in sandst ones of the Neoproterozoic cover, separated by a major unconformity fr om the overlying tillite, considered until now to be late Neoproterozo ic. Most Ediacaran fauna radiated after the Varanger ice age, and till ites-associated in Ahaggar with molasse of the Pan-African belt-are ov erlain by carbonates that were deposited during deglaciation and that locally contain Early Cambrian shelly fossils; therefore, we interpret the glaciogenic diamictite as Early Cambrian in age.