Trace fossils from the lower Cambrian Kløftelv Formation, Ella Ø, North-East Greenland

Relatively large burrows with crudely-developed spreiten, some arranged in a zig-zag pattern, occur in the Kløftelv Formation, Ella Ø, North-East Greenland. These trace fossils, tentatively identified as Teichichnus isp., are associated with sedimentary structures which include microbial mat-related sand cracks that support earlier interpretations of a near-shore marine setting for the formation. The combination of morphological features apparent in these trace fossils confirm previous assignments of the Kløftelv Formation to the Cambrian, but excluding the basal-most Cambrian. The Kløftelv Formation has been typically correlated with other siliciclastic units in the North Atlantic region with a comparable basal position in a transgressive succession, which in their upper parts have dense assemblages of Skolithos. These are interpreted to have formed during a rapid transgression over a low-angle passive margin of the Iapetus Ocean. The trace fossils described here also provide the first direct evidence that the lower part of the basal siliciclastics is of Cambrian age