Trilobites of the Upper Cambrian (Marjuman) Pika formation of the Southern Canadian Rocky Mountains


Autoria(s): Melzak, Adam.
Contribuinte(s)

Department of Earth Sciences

Data(s)

09/07/2009

09/07/2009

09/07/1993

Resumo

The Upper Cambrian Pika Formation in the southern Canadian Rocky Mountains forms a complete lithologic Grand Cycle. The overall pattern of deposition is one of shallowing upwards from a subtidal, muddy, storm-influenced basin to a shallow carbonate bank. The Pika passes gradationally into the overlying inter- to supratidal siliciclastics of the Arctomys Formation. This transition probably reflects a fall in relative sea level. 2 Twenty seven collections from three sections yielded trilobites. The faunas are assigned to two low-diversity biofacies: the Marjumia - Spencella Biofacies and the GZyphaspis - menomoniid Biofacies. In contrast to biofacies of deeper, open-shelf environments, such as the Wheeler and Marjum formations of Utah, the Pika biofacies lack agnostid trilobites. Consequently, agnostid-based zonations defined elsewhere in North America cannot be applied to the Pika and a new sequence of three zones and one informal fauna is proposed for use in inner shelf facies. Eleven species belonging to six genera are described and illustrated. The species Marjumia bagginsi is new. Other genera present are: Bolaspidella, Knechtelia, GZyphaspis and Spencella, in addition to a number of indeterminate forms

Identificador

http://hdl.handle.net/10464/2218

Idioma(s)

eng

Publicador

Brock University

Palavras-Chave #Trilobites--Canadian Rockies (B.C. and Alta.) #Pikas--Canadian Rockies (B.C. and Alta.) #Paleontology--Canadian Rockies (B.C. and Alta.) #Paleontology|yCambrian.
Tipo

Electronic Thesis or Dissertation