Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-m8qmq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T17:19:00.436Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Early Cambrian Trilobites from the Shackleton Limestone of the Central Transantarctic Mountains

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 August 2017

Allison R. Palmer  and
Albert J. Rowell
Allison R. Palmer
Affiliation:
Institute for Cambrian Studies, 445 North Cedarbrook Road, Boulder, Colorado 80304
Albert J. Rowell
Affiliation:
Natural History Museum and Department of Geology, University of Kansas, Lawrence 66045
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We document and describe the trilobite faunas of the Lower Cambrian Shackleton Limestone. The faunas include taxa of Atdabanian, Botomian and possible Toyonian ages and have affinities with those known previously from Gondwana or peri-Gondwana terranes. The geographic distribution of these organisms reveals a large measure of faunal connectedness around the margin of this vast supercontinent in Early Cambrian time. This connectedness extended even to taxa that inhabited shallow-water carbonate shelf environments, because the Shackleton Limestone accumulated in a variety of shallow subtidal and peritidal settings along the ocean-facing margin of the East Antarctic craton, subsequent to a Neoproterozoic rifting event. Although the fossilized Shackleton Limestone fauna is dominated by archaeocyathans, trilobites are common locally. We describe the remains of 35 trilobite taxa from 32 collecting localities. One species, H. granulosa, is assigned to the new genus Holyoakia; the remaining new species are Pagetides (Discomesites) spinosus, Lemdadella antarcticae, Kingaspis (?) convexus, Yunnanocephalus longioccipitalis, and Onchocephalina (?) spinosa.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 69 , Issue S45: The Paleontological Society Memoir 45: Early Cambrian Trilobites from the Shackleton Limestone of the Central Transantarctic Mountains , November 1995 , pp. 1 - 28
Copyright
Copyright © 1995, The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Astashkin, V. A., Belyaeva, G. V., Esakova, N. V., Osadchaya, D. V., Pakhomov, M. N., Pegel', T. V., Repina, L. N., and Rozanov., A. Yu. 1995. The Cambrian System of the foldbelts of Russia and Mongolia. International Union of Geological Sciences Publication, 32, 133 p.Google Scholar
Bengtson, S., Conway Morris, S., Cooper, B. J., Jell, P. A., and Runnegar, B. N. 1990. Early Cambrian fossils from South Australia. Association of Australasian Paleontologists, Brisbane, Memoir 9: 364 p.Google Scholar
Borg, S. G., and DePaolo, D. J. 1994. Laurentia, Australia, and Antarctica as a Late Proterozoic supercontinent: constraints from isotopic mapping. Geology, 22:307–310.Google Scholar
Borg, S. G., DePaolo, D. J., and Smith, B. M. 1990. Isotopic structure and tectonics of the Central Transantarctic Mountains. Journal of Geophysical Research, 95:6647–6667.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burgess, C. J., and Lammerink, W. 1979. Geology of the Shackleton Limestone (Cambrian) in the Byrd Glacier area. New Zealand Antarctic Record, 2:12–16.Google Scholar
Burrett, C., Long, J., and Stait, B. 1990. Early-Middle Paleozoic biogeography of Asian terranes derived from Gondwana, p. 163–174. In McKerrow, W. S. and Scotese, C. R. (eds.), Paleozoic Palaeogeography and Biogeography. Geological Society Memoir, 12.Google Scholar
Chang, W. T. 1950. Report of the meeting of the Paleontological Society of China. Geological Society of China Newsletter, 2:10. [In Chinese.] Google Scholar
Chang, W. T. 1953. Some Lower Cambrian trilobites from Western Hupei. Acta Paleontologica Sinica, 1:121–149. [In Chinese with English summary.]Google Scholar
Chang, W. T. 1957. Cambrian and Ordovician stratigraphy of the gorge district of the Yangtze, Hupei. Kexue Tongbao, 5:145. [In Chinese.] Google Scholar
Chang, W. T. 1962. On the genus Eoredlichia . Acta Paleontologica Sinica, 10: 36–44. [In Chinese with English summary.]Google Scholar
Chang, W. T. 1966. On the classification of Redlichiacea, with description of new families and new genera. Acta Paleontologica Sinica, 14:135–184. [In Chinese with English summary.] Google Scholar
Chang, W. T. 1988. The Cambrian System in Eastern Asia. International Union of Geological Sciences Publication 24, 81 p.Google Scholar
Cocks, L. R. M., and Fortey, R. A. 1988. Lower Paleozoic facies and faunas around Gondwana, p. 183–200. In Audley-Charles, M. G. and Hallam, A. (eds.), Gondwana and Tethys. Geological Society Special Publication, 37.Google Scholar
Cooper, R. A., and Shergold, J. H. 1991. Palaeozoic invertebrates of Antarctica, p. 455–486. In Tingey, R. J. ed., The Geology of Antarctica. Clarendon Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Courjault-Rade, P., Debrenne, F., and Gandin, A. 1992. Paleogeographic and geodynamic evolution of the Gondwana continental margins during the Cambrian. Terra Nova, 4:657–667.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dalziel, I. W. D. 1991. Pacific margins of Laurentia and East Antarctica-Australia as a conjugate rift pair: evidence and implications for an Eocambrian supercontinent. Geology, 19:598–601.Google Scholar
Dalziel, I. W. D. 1992. Antarctica: a tale of two supercontinents? Annual Reviews of Earth and Planetary Science, 20:501–526.Google Scholar
Debrenne, F. 1990. Archaeocyatha du Maroc: Essai de synthèse. Géologie Méditerranéenne, 17:213–227.Google Scholar
Debrenne, F., and Kruse, P. D. 1986. Shackleton Limestone archaeocyaths. Alcheringa, 10:235–278.Google Scholar
Debrenne, F., and Kruse, P. D. 1989. Cambrian Antarctic archaeocyaths, p. 15–28. In Crame, J. A. (ed.), Origins and Evolution of the Antarctic Biota. Geological Society Special Publication, 47.Google Scholar
Demokidov, K. K. and Lazarenko, N. P. 1964. Stratigrafia verkhnego Dokembriya i Kembriya i nizhnekembriyskie trilobity severnoy chasti sredney Sibiri i ostrovov Sovetskoy Arktiki. Trudy, Nauchno-Issledovatel'skogo Instituta Geologii Arktiki, 137:1–288.Google Scholar
Evans, K. R. and Rowell, A. J. 1990. Small shelly fossils from Antarctica: an Early Cambrian faunal connection with Australia. Journal of Paleontology, 64:692–700.Google Scholar
Geyer, G. 1990. Die marokkanischen Ellipsocephalidae (Trilobita: Redlichiida). Beringeria, 3:1–364. [With English summary.]Google Scholar
Geyer, G., and Palmer, A. R. 1995. Neltneriidae and Holmiidae (Trilobita) from Morocco and the problem of Early Cambrian intercontinental correlation. Journal of Paleontology, 69:459–474.Google Scholar
Goodge, J. W., Walker, N. W., and Hansen, V. L. 1993a. Neoproterozoic-Cambrian basement-involved orogenesis within the Antarctic margin of Gondwana. Geology, 21:37–40.Google Scholar
Goodge, J. W., Hansen, V. L., Peacock, S. M., Smith, B. K., and Walker, N. W. 1993b. Kinematic evolution of the Miller Range shear zone, central Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica, and implications for Neoproterozoic to Early Paleozoic tectonics of the East Antarctic margin of Gondwana. Tectonics, 12:1460–1478.Google Scholar
Harrington, H. J. and 17 others. 1959. Arthropoda 1. Part 0:560 p. Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Geological Society of America and University of Kansas Press, Lawrence.Google Scholar
Hupé, P. 1953. Contribution à l'étude de Cambrien Inférieur et du Précambrien III de l'Anti-Atlas Marocain. Service Geologique du Maroc Notes et Memoires, 103:1–402.Google Scholar
King, W. B. R. 1923. Cambrian fossils from the Dead Sea. Geological Magazine, 60:507–514.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kobayashi, T. 1935. Cambrian faunas of South Chosen with a special study on the Cambrian trilobite genera and families. In The Cambro-Ordovician Formations and Faunas of South Chosen, Part 3. Journal of the Faculty of Sciences, Imperial University of Tokyo, section 2, 4(2):49–344.Google Scholar
King, W. B. R. 1936. On the Parabolinella fauna from Province Jujuy, Argentina with a note on the Olenidae. Japanese Journal of Geology and Geography, 13:85–102.Google Scholar
King, W. B. R. 1942. Two Cambrian trilobites from the Parara Limestone in the Yorke's Peninsula, South Australia. Proceedings Imperial Academy Tokyo, 18:492–498.Google Scholar
King, W. B. R. 1944. On the Cambrian formations in Yunnan and Haut-Tonkin and the trilobites contained. Miscellaneous notes on Cambro-Ordovician geology and paleontology, number 16. Japanese Journal of Geology and Geography, 19:107–138.Google Scholar
Laird, M. G. 1963. Geomorphology and stratigraphy of the Nimrod Glacier-Beaumont Bay region, southern Victoria Land, Antarctica. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, 6:465–484.Google Scholar
King, W. B. R. 1981. Lower Paleozoic rocks of Antarctica, p. 257–314. In Holland, C. H. (ed.), Lower Paleozoic of the Middle East, Eastern and Southern Africa, and Antarctica. John Wiley & Sons Ltd., Chichester.Google Scholar
King, W. B. R., and Waterhouse, J. B. 1962. Archaeocyathine limestones of Antarctica. Nature, 194:861–862.Google Scholar
King, W. B. R., Mansergh, G. D., and Chappell, J. M. A. 1971. Geology of the central Nimrod Glacier area, Antarctica. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, 14:427–468.Google Scholar
Lermontova, E. V. 1951. Nizhnekembriyske trilobity i brakhiopody Vostochnoy Sibiri. Vsesoyuznyy Nauchno-Issledovatel'ckiy Geologicheskiy Institut, 222 p.Google Scholar
Li, S. 1978. Class Trilobita, p. 179–284, 568–583. In Atlas of fossils of southwest China. Part I. From Sinian to Devonian. Geological Publishing House, Beijing.Google Scholar
Liñan, E. 1978. Bioestratigrafia de la Sierra de Cordoba. Tesis Doctorales. Universidad de Granada, 191:1–212.Google Scholar
Liñan, E., and Sdzuy, K. 1978. A trilobite from the Lower Cambrian of Córdoba (Spain) and its stratigraphical significance. Senckenbergiana Lethaea, 59:387–399.Google Scholar
Lu, Y. H. 1940. On the ontogeny and phylogeny of Redlichia intermedia Lu (sp. no v.). Geological Society of China Bulletin, 20:333–342. [In Chinese with English summary.]Google Scholar
Lu, Y. H. 1941. Lower Cambrian stratigraphy and trilobite fauna of Kunming, Yunnan. Geological Society of China Bulletin, 21:71–90. [In Chinese with English summary.]Google Scholar
Lu, Y. H. 1950. New species of Redlichia . Beijing, Geological Review, 15: 4–6. [In Chinese.]Google Scholar
Lu, Y. H., Chang, W. T., Chu, C. L., Chien, Y. Y., and Hsiang, L. W. 1965. Trilobites of China. Volume 1. Science Press, Beijing, 362p. [In Chinese.] Google Scholar
Macdonald, D. I. M., Storey, B. C., Dalziel, I. W. D., Grunow, A. M., and Isbell, J. L. 1991. Early Paleozoic sedimentation and tectonics in the Pensacola Mountains, Antarctica, p. 381–382. In Abstracts-Sixth International Symposium on Antarctic Earth Sciences, National Institute of Polar Research, 9–13 September, 1991.Google Scholar
Mansuy, H. 1912. Etude geologique du Yun-Nan Oriental. Mémoires du Service Géologique de l'Indochine, 1:1–146.Google Scholar
McKenna, L. W., Van Schmus, W. R., Rowell, A. J., and Siek, G. S. 1994. Neoproterozoic continental crust and an attenuated continental margin outboard of the Gabbro Hills block in the Transantarctic Mountains. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, 26:A504.Google Scholar
Moores, E. L. 1991. Southwest U.S.-East Antarctic (SWEAT) connection: a hypothesis. Geology, 19:425–428.Google Scholar
Öpik, A. A. 1975. Cymbric Vale fauna of New South Wales and Early Cambrian biostratigraphy. Bureau of Mineral Resources Geology and Geophysics Bulletin, 159:1–78.Google Scholar
Palmer, A. R. 1968. Cambrian trilobites of east-central Alaska. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 559–B, 115 p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palmer, A. R., and Gatehouse, C. G. 1972. Early and Middle Cambrian trilobites from Antarctica. U.S. Geological Survey Professional paper 456–D, 37 p.Google Scholar
Palmer, A. R., and Repina, L. N. 1993. Through a glass darkly: taxonomy, phylogeny, and biostratigraphy of the Olenellina. University of Kansas Paleontological Contributions, New Series, 3:1–35.Google Scholar
Pocock, K. J. 1964. Estaingia, a new trilobite genus from the Lower Cambrian of South Australia. Palaeontology, 7:458–471.Google Scholar
Pocock, K. J. 1970. The Emuellidae, a new family of trilobites from the Lower Cambrian of South Australia. Palaeontology, 13:522–562.Google Scholar
Rasetti, F. 1952. Revision of the North American trilobites of the Family Eodiscidae. Journal of Paleontology, 26:434–451.Google Scholar
Rasetti, F. 1955. Lower Cambrian ptychoparioid trilobites from the conglomerates of Quebec. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 128(7): 1–35.Google Scholar
Rees, M. N. and Rowell, A. J. 1991. The pre-Devonian Palaeozoic clastics of the central Transantarctic Mountains: stratigraphy and depositional settings, p. 187–192. In Thompson, M. R. A., Crame, J. A., and Thomson, J. W. (eds.), Geological evolution of Antarctica. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Rees, M. N., Pratt, B. R., and Rowell, A. J. 1989. Early Cambrian reefs, reef complexes, and associated lithofacies of the Shackleton Limestone, Transantarctic Mountains: Sedimentology, 36:341–361.Google Scholar
Repina, L. N. 1960. Kompleksy trilobitov Nizhnego i Srednego Kembriya zapadnoy chasti Vostochnogo Sayan, p. 171–231. In Regional'naya Stratigrafiya SSSR. Geologicheskiy Institut, Akademiya Nauk SSSR, 4.Google Scholar
Repina, L. N., Khomentovskiy, V. V., Zhuravleva, I. T., and Rozanov., A. Yu. 1964. Biostratigrafiya Nizhnego Kembriya Sayano-Altayskoy skladchatoy oblasti. Institut Geologii i Geofiziki, Sibirskoe Otdelenie Akademiya Nauk SSSR, 3–364.Google Scholar
Rozanov., A. Yu. 1966. Trilobity Nizhnego Kembriya Yuga Sibiri (Nadsemeystvo Redlichioidea). Chast' I. Institut Geologii i Geofiziki, Sibirskoe Otdelenie Akademiya Nauk SSSR, 5–204.Google Scholar
Rozanov., A. Yu. 1969. Trilobity Nizhnego Kembriya Yuga Sibiri (Nadsemeystvo Redlichioidea). Chast' II. Trudy Institut Geologii i Geofiziki, Sibirskoe Otdelenie Akademiya Nauk SSSR, 67:3–110.Google Scholar
Rozanov, A. Yu., Khomentovskiy, V. V., Zhuravleva, I. T., and Rozanov., A. Yu. 1964. Biostratigrafiya Nizhnego Kembriya Sayano-Altayskoy Skladchatoy Oblasti. Institut Geologii i Geofiziki, Sibirskoe Otdelenie Akademiya Nauk SSSR, 3–364.Google Scholar
Rowell, A. J., and Rees, M. N. 1989. Early Paleozoic history of the upper Beardmore Glacier area: implications for a major structural boundary within the Transantarctic Mountains. Antarctic Science, 1:249–260.Google Scholar
Rowell, A. J., Rees, M. N., Cooper, R. A., and Pratt, B. R. 1988. Early Paleozoic history of the central Transantarctic Mountains: evidence from the Holyoake Range, Antarctica. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, 31:397–404.Google Scholar
Rowell, A. J., Evans, K. R., and Rees, M. N. 1989. Fauna of the Shackleton Limestone. Antarctic Journal of the United States, 23:13–14.Google Scholar
Rowell, A. J., Rees, M. N., and Evans, K. R. 1992. Evidence of major Middle Cambrian deformation in the Ross Orogen, Antarctica. Geology, 20: 31–34.Google Scholar
Rowell, A. J., Rees, M. N., Duebendorfer, E. M., Wallin, E. T., Van Schmus, W. R., and Smith, E. I. 1993. An active Neoproterozoic margin: evidence from the Skelton Glacier area, Transantarctic Mountains. The Journal of the Geological Society, 150:677–682.Google Scholar
Sdzuy, K. 1961. Das Kambrium Spaniens (teil II: Trilobiten). Wiesbaden, Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur in Mainz, Abhandlungen der Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Klasse, 7:219–312.Google Scholar
Rowell, A. J. 1978. The Precambrian-Cambrian boundary beds in Morocco (Preliminary Report). Geological Magazine, 115:83–94.Google Scholar
Skeats, E. W. 1916. Report on the petrology of some limestones from the Antarctic. Scientific report of the British Antarctic Expedition 1907–09–Geology, 2:189–200.Google Scholar
Skinner, D. N. B. 1964. A summary of the geology of the region between Byrd and Starshot Glaciers, South Victoria Land, p. 284–292. In Adie, R. J. (ed.), Antarctic Geology—proceedings of the first international symposium on Antarctic geology, Cape Town, 16–21 September, 1963. North Holland, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Stump, E. 1992. The Ross Orogen of the Transantarctic Mountains in light of the Laurentia-Gondwana split. Geological Society of America, GSA Today, 2:1, 26–27, 30–31.Google Scholar
Vologdin, A., Lermontova, E., Yavorsky, B., and Janischevsky, M. 1940. Cambrian. p. 3–193. In Atlas of the leading forms of the fossil faunas of the USSR. Vsesoyuznogo Nauchno-Issledovatel'skogo Geologicheskogo Instituta.Google Scholar
Whittington, H. B., and Fortey, R. A., (eds.). 1996. Trilobita. Part O, Volume 1, Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Geological Society of America and University of Kansas, Lawrence, (In press.) Google Scholar
Woodward, H. 1884. Note on the remains of trilobites from South Australia. Geological Magazine, 1:372–374.Google Scholar
Yegorova, L. I. 1961. Trilobity Nizhnego Kembriya basseyna R. Katun' (Gornyy Altay), p. 215–236. In Materialy po paleontologii i stratigrafii zapadnoy Sibiri. Trudy Sibirskogo Nauchno-issledovatel'skogo Instituta Geologii, Geofizikii i Mineral'nogo Syr'ya.Google Scholar
Yegorova, L. I., Lomovitskaya, M. P., Poletaeva, O. K., and Sivov, A. G. 1955. Trilobity, p. 102–144. In Atlas rukovodyashchikh form iskopaemykh fauny i flory zapadnoy Sibiri. Tom I. Tomsk, Zapadno-Sibirskoe Geologicheskoe Upravlenie.Google Scholar
Zhang, W. T. 1987. Early Cambrian Chengjiang fauna and its trilobites. Acta Paleontologica Sinica, 26:223–236. [In Chinese with English summary.]Google Scholar
Zhang, W. T., Lu, Y. H., Zhu, Z. L., Qian, Y. Y., Lin, H. L., Zhou, Z. Y., Zhang, S. G., and Yuan, J. L. 1980. Cambrian trilobite faunas of southwestern China. Palaeontologia Sinica, 159(B)(16):1–497. [In Chinese with English summary.] Google Scholar
Zhuravleva, I. T., Zadorozhnaya, N. M., Osadochaya, D. V., Pokrovskaya, N. V., Rodionova, N. M., and Fonin, V. D. 1967. Fauna Nizhnego Kembriya Tuvy (Opomyy razrez R. Shivelig-Khem). Institut Geologii i Geofiziki, Sibirskoe Otdelenie Akademiya Nauk SSSR, 176 p.Google Scholar