UCLA loc. 5737, Wheeler Canyon, Inyo Mtns (Cambrian of the United States)

Also known as LACMIP loc. 25737

Where: Inyo County, California (37.0° N, 117.9° W: paleocoordinates 0.7° S, 95.6° W)

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Harkless Formation, Dyeran (515.3 - 511.2 Ma)

• Fossils found 10 feet stratigraphically above the top of a massive blue to buff-colored limestone bed that marks the top of the Poleta Formation.

• formation-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: marine; lithified, black, sandy siltstone

• Area of study has undergone low-grade thermal metamorphism which resulted from the emplacement of a granitic pluton 1000 ft. west of the fossil locality.
• Dark grey, weakly laminated sandy siltstone that is composed cheifly of angular and subangular quartz grains and ragged laths of muscovite and biotite. Accessory minerals include zircon, magnetite, and tourmaline in small quantities. The laminations result from the alteration of quartz and mica rich layering which represent relic sedimentary layering that survived the metamorphism.

Size class: mesofossils

Preservation: cast

Collected by A. G. Sylvester in 1965; reposited in the LACM

• The walls of the Volborthella tenuis are composed of loosely-packed zircon, magnetite, and pyrite grains; with a few tourmaline grains. This suggests an organic process; most likely a worm-like organism or less likey a type of foraminifera.

Primary reference: J. H. Lipps and A. G. Sylvester. 1968. The enigmatic Cambrian fossil Volborthella and its occurrence in California. Journal of Paleontology 42(2):329-336 [M. Patzkowsky/P. Borkow]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 9631: authorized by Mark Patzkowsky, entered by Phil Borkow on 23.03.2001

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
Salterellidae
  - Salterellidae
Volborthella tenuis
Volborthella tenuis Schmidt 1888