Precambrian (Aphebian) microfossils from Belcher Islands, Hudson Bay

A small assemblage of primitive microscopic fossils is here reported for the first time from the lower part of the Belcher Group in Hudson Bay. The microbiota includes chains and clumps of bacteria, and filamentous and spheroidal structures of probable algal or fungal affinities. In addition, a variety of isolated and clustered spheroids and other structures of probable biologic origin is present. The structures are more than 1600 m.y. old, and occur in a black chert associated with thick dolomite beds considered to be of Aphebian (Early Proterozoic) age. Morphologically comparable Precambrian microfossils occur in the Gunflint Formation (Early Proterozoic, Ontario) and the Bitter Springs Formation (Late Proterozoic, central Australia).