19 D8. Paleontology (Posters)

Tuesday, 26 March 2019
8:30 AM - 5:45 PM
Big Basin/Kaw Nation Rooms

THE TRACE FOSSIL ZOOPHYCOS IN THE CAMBRIAN-AGE GALLATIN FORMATION, BIGHORN MOUNTAINS, WYOMING

Paper number: 19-15
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 8:30 AM – 5:45 PM

Authors

Abstract

The ichnogenus Zoophycos is relatively rare in Cambrian-age sedimentary rocks, being far more commonly encountered in post-Devonian, and particularly post-Paleozoic, strata. A new occurrence of Zoophycos from the Upper Cambrian Gallatin Formation of the Bighorn Mountains, north-central Wyoming, USA, is reported herein. Material consists of a single specimen preserved within quartz silt representing the upper surface of a graded quartz arenite bed. The burrow is a relatively wide, curved, horizontally oriented lobe with a poorly visible marginal tube but well-developed internal spreite. Discovery of this specimen contributes to the paleobiogeographic distribution of lower Paleozoic Zoophycos, adds to the literature suggesting that most Cambrian Zoophycos were horizontal and shallow-tier structures, and provides further support to the notion that relatively complex deposit-feeding behavior evolved earlier in the Phanerozoic than had long been recognized.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 51, No. 2

doi: 10.1130/abs/2019SC-327822

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