An integrated stratinomic model for the genesis and concentration of “small shelly fossil”-style phosphatic microsteinkerns in not-so-exceptional conditions

Carbonate fluorapatite-filled millimeter-scale microsteinkerns are a key element of the “Small Shelly Fossil” (SSF) fauna generally associated with the late Proterozoic–Cambrian. The purported disappearance of these fossils and this style of phosphatic preservation during the Cambrian Stage 2 “Botomian extinction” has been linked to changes in ocean chemistry and/or changes to the physical environment due to the evolution of metazoans, as well...