GGU 239924 - Ella Ø (Cambrian of Greenland)

Where: Greenland (72.9° N, 25.0° W: paleocoordinates 31.8° S, 50.0° W)

• coordinate estimated from map

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Bastion Formation, Dyeran (516.0 - 513.0 Ma)

• STRATIGRAPHIC RELATIONS: From Bastion Fm, which overlies the Kløftelv Fm (lower Cambrian) and is overlain by the Ella Island Fm, and in turn the Hyolithus Creek Fm (lower-middle Cambrian) and Dolomite Point Fm (middle Cambrian). STRATIGRAPHIC POSITION: Presumably from the upper part of the Bastion Fm, though not stated (lower part appears devoid of fossiliferous horizons). AGE: Well constrained to the late Early Cambrian (Dyeran Age or Bonnia-Olenellus Chron; see Palmer 1998) by the presence of Olenellid trilobites (Poulson 1932, Cowie and Adams 1957) and baltisphaerid acritarchs (Vidal 1979). THICKNESS: Thickness of strata collection is derived from is not stated, but is assumed to be bed-scale; upper Bastion Fm is 60-70 m thick in thi section.

• bed-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: offshore; lithified, calcareous shale

• ENVIRONMENT: Deposited below fair-weather wave base (Skovsted 2006).
• GENERAL LITHOLOGY: Dark shales with minor carbonate incursions. LITHIFICATION: Lithified, based on the figured specimens (encased in matrix).

Size class: macrofossils

Preservation: cast, mold/impression, original calcite, original silica, replaced with calcite, replaced with phosphate

Collection methods: bulk, chemical, acetic, sieve,

• COLLECTOR: Collected by S. Peel and M.P. Smith (1988), and earlier collectors. PREPARATION: Rock samples were dissolve in buffered 10 percent acetic acid to retrieve acid-resistent microfossils. The resulting residues were sieved and the heavy mineral fraction separated using sodium polytungstate. REPOSITORY: All specimens are housed in the Geological Museum in Copenhagen (MGUH)

Primary reference: C. B. Skovsted. 2006. Small shelly fauna from the upper Lower Cambrian Bastion and Ella Island Formations, North-East Greenland. Journal of Paleontology 80(6):1087-1112 [A. Hendy/A. Hendy]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 67780: authorized by Austin Hendy, entered by Austin Hendy on 09.12.2006

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

• COVERAGE: Exhaustive for Brachiopoda. The residues of the acid-digested samples contain a well-preserved and diverse small shelly fauna including helcionellid molluscs, coelosclerites, lapworthellids, and problematic fossils. NOMENCLATURE: Authoritative publication, with occurrences identified to species resolution where possible and with modern nomenclature.
Brachiopoda
  - Mickwitziidae
Hyolitha
 Orthothecida -
Trilobita
  -
Trilobita indet. Walch 1771 trilobite
unclassified
  -
Life
 Hyolithelminthida - Hyolithellidae
Hyolithellus micans Billings 1871
 Hyolithelminthida - Torellellidae
Torellella laevigata
[entered as Torrelella laevigata]