Arcualla) Jifli,I
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AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Ning Zhang for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Geology presented on June 7. 1991 Title: Taxonomy . Paleoecology. and Paleobiogeography of Wenlockian (SiIurian' rachiopods of the Cape Phillips Formation from Baillie Hamilton Island. Arctic Canada .1 Abstract approved: .J. Boucot Eighty-seven brachiopod species are described and illustrated from a brachiopod fauna of the Cape Phillips Formation of Baillie Hamilton Island, Arctic Canada. Two new families, Wangyuiidae and Rhynchotretidae, are proposed. Six new genera and forty-five new species are recognized. New genera comprise: Fiabellitesia, Wangyuia, Pseudomendacella, Eoplectodonta (Paranisop/eurella), Johnsonatrypa, and Dicoelospirifer. New species include: Ptychopleurella Ienzi, Wangyuia thorsteinssofli, Isorthis (Arcualla) JIflI,I. (A.) walms/eyi, I.(A.) sulcata boreaina, Dicoelosia bailliehamiltonensis, Epitomyonia amplissima, Parmorthina hav!iceki, Fascizentina rohri, Pseudomendacella boucoti, Dalejina parahanusi, Sa/opina gamma, S. caritiata, Cliftonia contorta, E. (Paranisopleurella) cooperi, Chonetoidea? cocksi, Pentlandina harperi, Li/fe va//ia amorpha, Pholidostrophia (Mesopholidostrophia) lamellosa, P. (M.) sa/opiensis granti, Morinorhynchus miniparvicoste/lus, Vosmiverstum breive/i, Severe//a arctosu/cata, Spondy/opyxis potteri, Clorinda genicu/ata, Amsdenina amsdeni, Caryogyps grayi, C. chattertoni, Rhynchotreta americaniformis, "Ancillotoechia" sheehani, Stegerhynchus estonicus cordi//erus, Johnsonatrypa imbricata, Spirigerina copperi, P/ectatrypa unicosta, P. rongi, Eospinatrypa bassetti, Eospinatrypa? savagei, Reticu/atrypa b/odgetti, Gracianel/a dimorpha, Pseudoprotathyris? modza/evskayae, Dicoelospirifer dicoe/ospirifer,Cyrtia a/atiformis, P/icocyrtia jonesi, Spurispirifer hughesi, Spirine/la struszi. Graptolites interbedded with the brachiopod fauna indicate a riccartonensis Zone (early Wenlock) age. The fauna is allochthonous and consists of a mixture of both shallow- and deep- water communities. Ten communities are recognized and discussed. The faunashows a close relationship with the coeval Cordilleran faunas. Taxonomy, Paleoecology, and Paleobiogeography of Wen lockian (Silurian) Brachiopods of the Cape Phillips Formation from Baillie Hamilton Island, Arctic Canada by Ning Zhang A THESIS submitted to Oregon State University inpartial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Completed June 7, 1991 Commencement June 1992 APPROVED: Professor of Geology and ZooI ,in charge of major I artment of Geos ces Dean of Graduate Sch Date thesis is presented June 7. 1991 Typed by researcher for Ning Zhang TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 LITHOSTRATIGRAPHY 3 AGE OF THE BRACHIOPOD FAUNA 4 PALEOECOLOGY 5 PALEOBIOGEOGRAPHY 11 SYSTEMATIC PALEONTOLOGY 16 BIBLIOGRAPHY 112 APPENDIX EXPLANATION OF PLATES 120 PLATES in pocket LIST OF FIGURES Figure Locality map in pocket Lithostratigraphic section in pocket TAXONOMY, PALEOECOLOGY, AND PALEOBIOGEOGRAPHY OF WENLOCKIAN (SILURIAN) BRACHIOPODS OF THE CAPE PHILLIPS FORMATION FROM BAILLIE HAMILTON ISLAND, ARCTIC CANADA INTRODUCTION In this study, a diverse brachiopod fauna from the Wenlockian part of the Cape Phillips Formation is described. The material was collected by Boucot and Thorsteinsson in 1971 from the south coast of Baillie Hamilton Island (fig. 1), District of Franklin, Arctic Canada. It consists of blocks of limestones containing silicified fossils. The material was etched in hydrochloric acid and it yielded nearly 50,000 silicified brachiopod specimens. In addition, it contains small n'umbers of trilobites, gastropods, corals, bryozoans, sponges, a few bivalves, and a monoplacophoran. To date, studies of the brachiopods (this study), trilobites (Perry and Chatterton, 1977), gastropods (Rohr, Boucot, and Perry, 1980), and monoplacophoran (Boucot, 1975) have been completed. Since Boucot and Thorsteinsson's visit, Canadian workers Lenz and Chatterton have made an additional collection from the same locality. Lenz (1987) published a short note on morphological variation in Dicoelosia and Epitomyonia from the locality. The bulk of their brachiopod fauna has not been studied. The brachiopod collection from Baillie Hamilton is valuable in several ways. It represents the first Silurian brachiopod collection of any significant size from the Canadian Arctic. It contains an unusually rich fauna. A total of 87 species are identified, including an array of both common and rare species. Many taxa are represented by a large number of specimens. For example, there are 6233 Dicoelosia specimens. As a result,morphological variation in many species is fully displayed. The finely preserved specimens reveal structures rarely seen in fossil brachiopods. Study of the interior structure of Epitomyonia from the collection has led to better understanding of the evolutionary lineage of the genus (Zhang and Boucot, 1988). The collection consists of a mixture of deep and shallow water communities. On the one hand, this mixed fauna complicates the community study, but on the other hand, a fuller representation of different communities serves as a more reliable basis for biogeographic analysis. Finally, the shallow water elements provide important clues to the platform communities which were largely obliterated by dolomitization. 2 The collection is referred to as the Baillie Hamilton fauna (B-H fauna for short) in the rest of the paper. The taxonomy, community ecology, and biogeography of the B-H fauna are described and discussed. Specimens illustrated in this study are housed with the Geological Survey of Canada and are given Survey (GSC) numbers. Information regarding the locality and field geology was kindly provided by Thorsteinsson. 3 LITF-IOSTRATIGRAPF-IY The Cape Phillips Formation consists of shale and thin-bedded, laminated siltstone and limestone. It represents the slope-to-basinal facies equivalent of coeval platform carbonates that occur to the south and east (fig. ic; see also Thorsteinsson and Uyeno, 1982). The thickness of the Cape Phillips Formation near the zone of facies change is about 3000 m. To the northwest of the zone of facies change the thickness and carbonate fractions of the formation decrease markedly, and on neighboring Bathurst Island the Cape Phillips varies from about 310 to 2700 m and consists mainly of shale (Kerr,1974). The brachiopod faunas were obtained from a section of the Cape Phillips Formation on the central south coast of Baillie Hamilton Island (fig. ic). The section consists of a north-trending, east-dipping sequence. The base of the section has been arbitrarily chosen at the stratigraphically lowest occurrence of a graptolite fauna characterized by the index species Cyrtogratus sakmaricus, while the top is marked by a rather thick covered interval in the exposures of the formation as followed eastward along the south coast of the island. The section is broadly divisible into two lithofacies: a lower part about 25 m thick, consists mainly of medium grey, thin-bedded argillaceous limestone that is variably dolomitic and characterized by irregular bedding planes;and an upper part, about 65 m thick, consisting mainly of dark grey,thin-bedded argillaceous limestone that is markedly bituminous and commonly planar laminated. A few discontinuous beds of brown bioclastic limestone that are variably silicified and up to 30 cm thick occur throughout both lithofacies. These beds representdebris flows that were derived from platform carbonates beyond the zone of fadeschange, which are presumed to have been situated some 10km to the east (fig. ib). The brachiopodsand conodonts were obtained from the bioclastic beds and are therefore largely allochthonous. 4 AGE OF THE BRACHIOPOD FAUNA The brachiopod fauna was collected from five localities; 022184, 022185, and 022187 were from measured section a, 012272 and C12273 were from section b, some 100 m north of section a (fig 2). According to Boucot and Thorsteinsson (personal communication), 012272 correlates somewhere between C22184 and C22185 on section a, while 012273 correlates between 022185 and 022187. The age of the brachiopod-bearing beds can be dated rather accurately on the basis of the graptolites. Cyrtograptus sakmaricus occurs abundantly throughout the lower 15.25 m of the section. According to Lenz (1978), the Cyrtograptus sakmaricus-C. Iaqueus Zone marks the top of the Liandoverian in northern and Arctic Canada. Cyrtograptus sp. Cf. C. murchisoni subsp. and C. insectus that occur at the 29 m and 31.1 to 32.6 m levels, respectively, are indicative of the C. murchisoni Zone, which represents the second oldest Wenlockian zone (Rickards,1976). No diagnostic graptolites were found interbedded with the brachiopod faunas that occur stratigraphically above the occurrence of C. cf. murchisoni.However, a collection of graptolites (067168) that includes the index species C. Iundgreni was collected in beds about 125 m above the highest brachiopod fauna (022187). C. Iundgreni marks the third highest graptolite zone of the Wenlockian (Rickards, 1976), and this occurrenceindicates that the brachiopod faunas extending from the 50.90 m level (022184) to 89 m level (022187) are entirely Wenlockian in age. The conodonts, which have been identified by Uyeno, offer no greater precisionin dating the brachiopod faunas than that already provided by the graptolites. Uyeno reports that the conodonts in 022184 cannot be dated more accurately than middle to late Silurian, but he notes that "if Kockelella walliseriis