Stage 4; Late Dyeran) of the Southern Great Basin, Usa
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Lucas, S. G., Hunt, A. P. & Lichtig, A. J., 2021, Fossil Record 7. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 82. 75 COMPARATIVE TRILOBITE TAPHONOMY FROM THE CRATON TO OUTER SHELF, LATEST EARLY CAMBRIAN (STAGE 4; LATE DYERAN) OF THE SOUTHERN GREAT BASIN, USA JOHN R. FOSTER Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum, 496 East Main St., Vernal, Utah 84078; [email protected] Abstract— Analysis of a sample of more than 2600 fossil specimens from fine-grained siliciclastic deposits of the Bolbolenellus euryparia-Nephrolenellus multinodus trilobite zones of the latest Dyeran (Stage 4), across a craton-to-outer shelf transect of the Cambrian passive margin wedge of southwestern Laurentia, demonstrates several patterns from shallow, proximal settings to those of deeper, offshore environments. These patterns include: 1) a decrease in overall fossil abundance from cratonic/nearshore to offshore settings; 2) higher taxonomic diversity on the inner and middle shelves compared to craton/ nearshore, and lowest diversity on the outer shelf; 3) low degree of articulation of trilobites across all environments (~1% of identifiable trilobite specimens), with fragmentation of sclerites increasing offshore and highest degrees of fragmentation and disarticulation on the outer shelf; and 4) trilobite cephalon size and compass orientation show no discernible pattern across the shelf; trilobite cephala up-down orientation varies by site and shows no clear paleogeographic pattern. These results suggest that sclerite burial rates and possibly population densities were higher in middle shelf to cratonic/ nearshore settings, that possibly fluctuating abiotic conditions in nearshore settings limited taxonomic diversity relative to the open shelf, and that long bottom-exposure times and possibly scavenging near or below storm wave base were more responsible for the disarticulation and breakage of trilobite remains than mechanical transport (current action) in more distal settings. INTRODUCTION trilobite remains in a given formation (Brett and Baird, 1986; The Cambrian passive margin wedge of the southern Great Speyer, 1987; Speyer and Brett, 1988; Speyer, 1991). These Basin of the western United States consists of up to several taphonomic properties reflect many environmental conditions thousand feet of sedimentary rock ranging through much of and may provide refinement of our interpretations of the the Cambrian period in what was northwestern Laurentia paleoenvionmental settings. Several studies have looked at (ancient coordinates). Cambrian deposits range from cratonic/ taphonomic characteristics of Paleozoic deposits, and some have nearshore settings relatively close to the paleo-shoreline out to surveyed a range of formations and Lagerstätten, but few have outer shelf, deeper-water deposits, in a generally southeast to investigated the characteristics from the same time interval and northwest orientation (Stewart, 1970; Palmer, 1971; Pope et al., paleoenvironment across the open shelf (Westrop and Rudkin, 2012), by modern coordinates. Geologic characteristics of the 1999; Karim and Westrop, 2002; Terfelt, 2003; Hunda et al., exposures of Proterozoic and Cambrian sedimentary rocks in 2006; Paterson et al., 2007; Brett et al., 2012). the southern Great Basin led to a three-facies lateral subdivision Previous studies of early Cambrian trilobite taphonomy in (proximal to distal: Craton, Death Valley, and White-Inyo) by the Great Basin region have focused on single sites or formations Nelson (1978). Bahde et al. (1997) used the terms “craton” and and have found a range of taphonomic and biostratinomic “miogeocline” for the above inner two lateral facies, with a characteristics (Webster et al., 2008; Foster, 2011a). The present “craton margin” between them. More recently, lateral positions investigation studies the properties of trilobite taphonomy along this Cambrian margin transect have been divided into from several sites in the latest early Cambrian, from a the craton and inner, middle, and outer shelf settings (Webster craton/nearshore to outer shelf transect, in order to compare 2011a). However labeled or divided, within the Cambrian, the taphonomic conditions. The aim is to test the null hypotheses rocks record the early to late period (Terreneuvian–Furongian) that there are no variations in taxonomic composition, relative accumulation of siliciclastic and carbonate sediments along abundance, diversity, preservation, articulation, breakage, size, several hundred miles of the northern shoreline of Laurentia and orientation of trilobite remains along the craton/nearshore to (ancient coordinates), and preserve environments from the outer shelf transect. shallow near-shore to distal deeper water. These Cambrian Abbreviations – MWC, Museums of Western Colorado, carbonate and siliciclastic sediments can record a complex mix Fruita, Colorado. of environments and deposition affected by multiple factors LOCALITIES (Myrow et al., 2012). The formations and sites investigated for this study Fossiliferous units in this region and along the Cambrian include: the Bright Angel Formation at Frenchman Mountain, margin are numerous, taxonomically diverse, and rich in Clark County, Nevada (cratonic/nearshore setting); the Pioche material and have been studied since the time of C. D. Walcott’s Formation at Oak Spring Summit, Lincoln County, Nevada work in the area in the nineteenth century (Walcott 1884, 1910). (inner shelf setting); the Carrara Formation at Emigrant Pass, Olenellid trilobites, which are particularly abundant in the early Inyo County, California (middle shelf setting); and the Emigrant Cambrian deposits of the Great Basin, often exhibit a range Formation at Split Mountain, Esmeralda County, Nevada (outer of taphonomic characteristics that provide useful information shelf setting) (Fig. 1). about the paleoenvironmental conditions in which they were Cambrian sites on flooded continental craton are generally deposited. Studies of the taphonomy of trilobite deposits in shallow water and are subject to bottom currents caused by suggest that various factors of the environmental settings and tidal ebb and flood (Rose, 2006, 2011), as well as by the wave of trilobite behavior may result in characteristic properties of action caused by wind stress and storms; these sites may also 76 be influenced by variability in temperature and salinity due to freshwater input from rivers. The inner and middle shelves are similarly influenced, through to a lesser degree, by wind and NEVADA US 6 CALIFORNIA Split Mountain storm waves but are more stable in terms of salinity. The outer shelf is generally deeper and well below storm wave base but Oak Spring may be distinguished by its still being affected in some cases by TONOPAH Summit major ocean currents that can exceed 100 cm/sec (Boggs, 1987; Harris et al., 1996). Frenchman Mountain (Craton/Nearshore) US 95 BISHOP US 93 The most proximal site to the Cambrian shoreline, representing the craton/nearshore setting, is Frenchman Death Valley National Park BEATTY Mountain, outside Las Vegas, Nevada (Figs. 1 and 2). This Frenchman section consists of an exposure of lower to upper Cambrian Mountain sedimentary rocks, the base of which includes the Tapeats Sandstone and Bright Angel Formation. The Bright Angel was N LAS VEGAS originally named as “Bright Angel shale” for exposures in the Grand Canyon by Noble (1914, 1922), but it has been renamed Bright Angel Formation due to its diverse lithology by Rose US 395 (2011), a possibly that Noble himself left open. Geologic maps covering the exposures of Frenchman I-15 Emigrant US 95 Mountain contain a mix of Colorado Plateau and Great Basin 100 km Pass stratigraphic names (Matti et al., 1993; Castor et al., 2000) and BAKER map the Bright Angel as Pioche Shale despite the unit being 50 mi under- and overlain by the Tapeats and Muav, respectively. The siliciclastic units between the Tapeats and Muav at Frenchman FIGURE 1. Locality map of the four sites studied for this project Mountain: 1) lithologically resemble the Grand Canyon’s (stars). Inset shows location of main map (gray box) within Bright Angel Formation more than they do the Pioche, and 2) North America, together with scale bars for main map. were translated more than 60 km, and up to as many as 80 km, westward to their present position along the Las Vegas Valley shear zone (Longwell, 1960; Fryxell and Duebendorfer, 2005; Rowland, 2011), from near the Grand Wash Cliffs where the unit is classified as Bright Angel Formation. The shales mapped as Pioche Shale on local geologic maps (Matti et al., 1993; Castor et al., 2000) should be designated as Bright Angel Formation (see also Webster, 2011b). The Bright Angel Formation of the Grand Canyon and SPLIT OAK SPRING MOUNTAIN Tonopah SUMMIT OAK SPRING Montezuma Delamar Mtns. SUMMIT Bishop Range Grapvine-Funeral Mountains SPLIT FRENCHMAN MOUNTAIN Sierra Nevada MOUNTAIN Death Valley Sheep Range INNER SHELF Spring Mountains Nopah Range MIDDLE SHELF Las Vegas OUTER SHELF Colorado Plateau Colorado Plateau FRENCHMAN MOUNTAIN EMIGRANT Clark Mountains N PASS EMIGRANT PASS (Craton) Baker NEARSHORE A 100 km B 100 km ~PaleoN FIGURE 2. Modern and paleogeography of the four sites studied here. A, Locations of the four sites relative to mountain ranges of the Basin and Range province, and to the Colorado Plateau and Sierra Nevada Mountains. B, Relative position of the sites after palinspastic restoration of the southern Basin and Range to pre-extension width (based on