T226 Sigma Gamma Epsilon Undergraduate Research (Posters)

Tuesday, 21 October 2014
9:00 AM - 6:30 PM
Exhibition Hall C

FOSSIL CORAL FROM THE MISSISSIPPIAN REDWALL LIMESTONE IN THE BEAVER DAM MOUNTAINS, WASHINGTON COUNTY, UTAH

Paper number: T226-27
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 9:00 AM – 6:30 PM

Authors

Abstract

The Paleozoic stratigraphy of the Beaver Dam Mountains of southwestern Utah correlates well with the better known deposits of the Grand Canyon, Arizona. However, a detailed list of the fossil fauna from the Beaver Dam Mountains is lacking. Here we describe a rugose coral from the Mississippian Redwall Limestone from Utah. Discovered in gray limestone, the specimen consists of many corallites in close proximity. Cross-sectional diameters average approximately 10 mm. Thin section analysis revealed characteristics defining rugose corals of the subphylum Diphyphyllinae, including septa, tabulae, and dissepiment morphologies. However, much of the specimen has been recrystallized making species-level identification difficult. We tentatively assign the fossils to Lithostrotion. This marks the first appearance of this genus in southwestern Utah.