Upper Wheeler Shale, Bed: 73W269 (Cambrian of the United States)

Where: Utah (40.0° N, 114.0° W: paleocoordinates 3.9° S, 91.0° W)

• coordinate estimated from map

• hand sample-level geographic resolution

When: Unit 3 Member (Upper Wheeler Shale Formation), Middle Cambrian (509.0 - 497.0 Ma)

• Listed as Middle-Middle Cambrian. Bolaspidella zone, Bathyuriscus fimbriatus subzone; Elrathia biofacies of Bob Gaines

• group of beds-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: slope; poorly lithified, calcareous shale and poorly lithified limestone

• Listed as Upper Slope. Bob Gaines (personal e-mail, 11/6/2002 and 2002 GSA) notes this is exaerobic (=dysaerobic?), at edge of anoxic/dysoxic break; "silt" is a diagenetic calcite; different facies actually identical hemipelagic calcareous shales with variation in carbonate content. Outer detrital belt; three facies listed indiscriminately: (1) Thin-bedded, platy, fine-grained, dark gray to black, calcareous siltstone or silty limestone; (2) thin-bedded, fine-grained, dark gray to black, argillaceous limestone with light-yellow to dark brown silty partings; and (3) laminated siltstone, mudstone, and claystone of various shades of yellow, brown, or gray
• Homogeneous, highly calcareous shale and shaly limestone (but see notes below)

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils

Primary reference: R. A. Robison. 1964. Upper Middle Cambrian stratigraphy of western Utah. Geological Society America Bulletin 75:995-1010 [P. Novack-Gottshall/P. Hearn/P. Hearn]more details

Purpose of describing collection: biostratigraphic analysis

PaleoDB collection 77270: authorized by Phil Novack-Gottshall, entered by Paul Hearn on 08.01.2008

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
Artiopoda
 Agnostida - Peronopsidae
Peronopsis sermenta
Peronopsis sermenta
"Rare to common"
 Agnostida - Ptychagnostidae
Ptychagnostus richmondensis
Ptychagnostus richmondensis Walcott 1884
"Many poorly preserved, small, articulated specimens"
 Agnostida - Diplagnostidae
Baltagnostus eurypyx
Baltagnostus eurypyx
"Ranges from scarce to abundant"
Trilobita
 Ptychopariida - Alokistocaridae
"Elrathia kingii" = Elrathia kingi
"Elrathia kingii" = Elrathia kingi Meek 1870 trilobite
"Common to rare"