BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY GEOLOGY STUDIES Volume 44,1999 CONTENTS Symmetrodonts from the Late Cretaceous of Southern Utah, and Comments on the Distribution of Archaic Mammalian Lineages Persisting into the Cretaceous of North America ................................ Richard L. Cifelli and Cynthia L. Gordon I A Large Protospongia Hicksi Hinde, 1887, from the Middle Cambrian Spence Shale of Southeastern Idaho ................................ Stephen B. Church, J. Keith Rigby, Lloyd E Gunther, and Val G. Gunther 17 Iapetonudus (N. gen.) and Iapetognathus Landing, Unusual Earliest Ordovician Multielement Conodont Taxa and Their Utility for Biostratigraphy .................................. Robert S. Nicoll, James E Miller, Godfrey S. Nowlan, John E. Repetski, and Raymond L. Ethington 27 Sponges from the Ibexian (Ordovician) McKelligon Canyon and Victorio Hills Formations in the Southern Franklin Mountains, Texas ...............J. Keith Rigby, C. Blair Linford, and David Y LeMone 103 Lower Ordovician Sponges from the Manitou Formation in Central Colorado ...................................................... J. Keith Rigby and Paul M. Myrow 135 Sponges from the Middle Permian Quinn River Formation, Bilk Creek Mountains, Humboldt County, Nevada .............................. J. Keith Rigby and Rex A. Hanger 155 A Publication of the Department of Geology Brigham Young University Provo, Utah 84602 Editor Bart J. Kowallis Brigham Young University Geology Studies is published by the Department of Geology. This publication consists of graduate student and faculty research within the department as well as papers submitted by outside contributors. Each article submitted is externally reviewed by at least two qualified persons. ISSN 0068-1016 6-99 650 29580 A Large Protospongia Hicksi Hinde, 1887, from the Middle Cambrian Spence Shale of Southeastern Idaho STEPHEN B. CHURCH Sinclair Oil Corporation, P 0. Box 30825, Salt Lake City, Utah 84130-0825 J. KEITH RIGBY Department of Geology, Brigham Young University, S-389 ESC, PO. Box 24606, Prouo, Utah 84606-4606 LLOYD E GUNTHER 28 North 200 West, Brigham City, Utah 84302 VAL G. GUNTHER 71 North 200 West, Brigham City, Utah 84302 ABSTRACT The largest known specimen of Protospongia hicksi Hinde, 1887, a fragment with articulated spicule skeletal structure, has been collected from the lower Middle Cambrian Spence Shale in southeastern Idaho. It and associated smaller fragments and dissociated spicules came from a 2 m thick, deep-water, spicule-rich claystone located 24m above the base of the Shale, at Oneida Narrows on the Bear River northeast of Preston, Idaho. INTRODUCTION localities. These localities are 38 km (24 miles) northeast of Preston, Idaho, in Sec. 6, T. 13 S., R. 41 E., on the A large and moderately intact fragment of skeletal Oneida Narrows Reservoir, 7.5' quadrangle, Idaho (Fig. 1). mesh and many shale pieces containing net fragments and Church collected at Locality C (Fig. l), from a road cut dissociated spicules of a protosponge hexactinellid have been collected recently from the Middle Cambrian Spence on the Maple Grove Hot Spring Road, 640 m (2100 feet) Shale in southeastern Idaho (Fig. 1). east and 790 m (2600 feet) south of the northwest corner Several decades ago similar, though loosely associated, of Section 6. The Gunthers collected from the same strati- hexactinellid sponge spicules collected from Cambrian graphic unit at Locality G (Fig. 1) in an upfaulted section rocks in southern Idaho were described by Walcott (1920, approximately 70 m (230 feet) above the road, on a p. 306-307) as Protospongia fenestrata Salter, 1864. No promontory on the ridge to the south of Locality C, at 580 specimens were found at that time that included pieces of m (1900 feet) east and 1010 m (3300 feet) south of the intact skeleton, but the slender nature of the cruciform northwest comer of Section 6. spicule rays led Walcott to identify the spicules as Proto- The large specimen, although a fragment, indicates the spongia fenestrata. Those spicules were collected from large size that some specimens of Protospongia attained. Walcott's Locality 5g, in the Middle Cambrian Spence Discovery of the sponge also confirms Walcott's earlier Shale, 30.5 m above the Brigham Formation in Two Mile determination (1920, p. 306-307), based on loosely associ- Canyon, 4.8 km southeast of Malad, Oneida County, ated spicules, that Protospongia does occur in the Spence Idaho. They came from rocks younger than those that Shale. contain the sponges described here. Some controversy has developed about the stratigraph- A large rectangular fragment (13 x 20 cm) of relatively ic terminology used for the Spence Shale. Walcott (1908) intact skeletal mesh of Protospongia hicksi Hinde, 1887, originally defined the unit as a member of the Ute Forma- and additional net fragments and dissociated spicules tion, based on exposures in the Bear River Range near were recently collected from the spiculitic layer, 24m Liberty, Bear Lake County, Idaho. Lowe and Galloway above the base of the Spence Shale at two Oneida Narrows (1993), on a map published by the Utah Geological Survey, b'tgrtr-~1 lttd[s~rtrltft\ fo t/10 Orti~rilciXitrr-OIL 5 rp0rrgc7/or(t/rtit,5 1. Loc~i/iti(~tcttxJ (tlotzg tht? AVlt/)l~,Groc~ Hot S~trittgt-o(td, or ott (1 ridgc) clbor (, thc, ritiltl, nr rrrtltc cttrd hr/ tltr nrl-o~c\(C: ('ltur-t 11, C;, (:rrtltlrc~t-i,cntf of Otrc~ztlnXiu-rotc%t Ni.\tr-c ozr otl flit, Ilc~crr-Rlt cr: zrt tllc ILPJ~- c.ctrltrit1 prtt i of Src 6, T 13 S . R 11 fS , otr 11t~Otrrrrin ,Vlt:clr t-otcr 1trct.n oct 7 ' c/ircldrct?tglc \loic.frotr (11 the Mi4~1lr-Grot c7 Ilot Spy rttg Kontl itrztl Idaho St(1t~Iltglttic~r/ 34 zr 22 tttrlc\ norfhcc~\tof t'rt'\for~, or2 Iltgl~rcclrl34 2, fir' gi'o~crcilpo5rttot1 of Otzi,ztln Xiin-oit trl corrtlrt~cirf~~t11 Iti/tlrtt \Iorrtttcrtt~orct rc'gio115cttr i ocrrrrl!y \tippled itititdtfrc,d fiotrr I,rtltlcll, c,t nl , 19971 usctl tc~rrt~irrolog)lx-oposc'(l 1)y IVilliatr~sand \In\t.y (1Y.l-1) po\cr1 (1991) that tlicb Spt,rlec Sl~alchIrr. cdevatcd to Forrrrn- .iild \t,luc,y (l958), tlt>sigtlating tlit Spc~iccShale as a tiori rank. Liddell, c%tal., (1997) liavc, sunlmari~ecltlle vari- nicrti1)t~of tllcl Larrgsto~~firillation. Or-icl and Arrrrstror~g 011s str'ttigraplric 110r1~~~11~1;ititrc~~~)ro~)os~d for ~IIC Sp(111ce (1971) Itacl proposed tllat eor-relaticc, 1)(ds al)ovc. tlrc. SIialc aircl eclui\alcnt tinits (Fig. 3). '1'ltt.y inelut1c.d it as a Urilr;ll;ir~rGro~rp in so1ttlrc~:tsternltlalro 1,c. eallcti tlit. 'Iivi1r rrlr~rrrl)t.r-of the Larlg5ton Ehrnratiorr. Litltlell, et al., (1997, #ilol)s lior~rr,itiotiatrcl 1,c~ttlBell Sliale (Fig. 3) and t11;tt tht, fig. 5) sllon tlic Io~zt~Itetls of the, Speuee Slial(, its iri the Spe~lcc.SIlalc s11oultl I)c tlc\ignutetl tllr, Spctice '1i)rrgitc of .111~~rt~~llozone :uric1 uppureritly thc,sc sponge-l~earilrgl>tds the Lt%arl13~11 Sllalc.. 7iilol)itcs colleettd fi-onl tllch Spc~tlcke are of drat age.. Shalt. at.1. of Loclimnti-13;111<\ Clossol)lrrtrtr 'Li-ilo1)ite Zone. Lidelell, et al., (19!17), iir '1 rcccr~tstlntigrapl~ic study of Robisolt (1976) placeti tlir sl~onge-l)car.in~:rrighctls withilr tire tllcl Spcnce Sliale, rt,eognised at least se\ct~sl~:illowirig ag~io\toirlI'i.r.orzopsis I>ortrti~rc~nsisl$ioc*lrrorr. 1It. also 1x0- upn;ird, rueter-scalc, parascbclrtenecsirr the Spc~i~ctbSltalc CHURCH, ET AL.: IDAHO PROTOSPONGlA 19 ONEIDA NARROWS NORTHERN UTAH SOUTHERN IDAHO AGE (High Creek) (Oneida Narrows) Ute Formation Ute Formation. iz Bancrofl Limestone f 3 B 9 - p P o . High Creek 9 - Limestone70m 20 g a_ 0 2 L Lead Bell Shale C 120m a Spence Shale 2- !!' $3 3 60m W ++ Cm Geertsen Canyon 2 --Quartzite Brigham Group Figure 3. Correlation diagram showing stratigraphic relationships and nomenclature of Lower Middle Cambrian rocks in northern KEY Utah and southern Idaho. The crosses in the lower right mark the position of the spiculitic layer (modified from Liddell, et al., Very silty shales with 1997). minor sand stringers. r-E Silty hales. in their sequence stratigraphic and paleoecologic study. Lime mudstones. They delineated parasequence OC2 in the lowermost part of the section (Fig. 2), which hosts a rich sponge spicule Spiculitis shales. accumulation in its base. They investigated a series of sec- tions from northern Utah into southeastern Idaho and noted depositional settings that they interpreted as rang- ing from proximal to distal ramp positions. The Spence Shale at the Oneida Narrows locality, the collecting site for the Protospongia hicksi described here, accumulated in a deep ramp or basinal setting. Liddell, et al., (1997, p. 75) observed that, 'ht this locality the Spence/Lead Bell Shale differs greatly from all other sites described herein. The basal portions are very dark and generally lack lime- stone. These beds contain abundant sponge spicules and agnostoid trilobites, as well as a diminutive fauna of oryc- tocephalid trilobites, suggesting that this is the deepest environment represented by the basal Spence Shale." The spicule-rich unit at the base of parasequence OC2 of Liddell, et al., (1997) is about 2 m thick and 2-4 m above the base of the formation. It is an argillaceous, blocky, dark-gray shale that weathers to a medium-gray. Figure 2. Stratigraphic section of the Spence Shale at Oneida Overlying shales are dark-gray to black, thinly bedded, Narrows, Idaho. The arrow indicates the sponge-bearing clay- fissile, and brittle. The less fissile spiculitic zone is stone near the base of the section (modified from Liddell, et al., exposed in the near basal southern part of the road cut at 1997).