Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T05:08:19.394Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Upper Placentian—Branchian series of mainland Nova Scotia (middle-upper Lower Cambrian): Faunas, paleoenvironments, and stratigraphic revision

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

Ed Landing
Ed Landing*
Affiliation:
New York State Geological Survey, The State Education Department, Albany 12230
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Lithostratigraphy and depositional and epeirogenic history of the upper Placentian Series (Cuslett-Fosters Point Formations of the Bonavista Group) and Branchian Series (Brigus Formation) are identical in the northern Antigonish Highlands; Cape Breton Island; and eastern Placentia Bay, southeastern Newfoundland. Preliminary evidence suggests that the lower Middle Cambrian is present in the field area. A unified, uppermost Precambrian–Lower Cambrian, formation- and member-level nomenclature is appropriate to Avalonian North America, and the stratigraphic nomenclature of southeastern Newfoundland is applied in northern mainland Nova Scotia.

Latest Placentian shoaling and deposition of a peritidal carbonate lithosome and unconformable onlap of the trilobite-bearing Branchian Series occurred in shallow Avalonian shale basins from eastern Massachusetts to central England.

Uppermost Placentian Series faunas are very diverse in the Fosters Point Formation. Limited similarities with the South Australian Lower Cambrian are indicated by the presence of Camenella sp. cf. C. reticulosa, Conotheca australiensis, and Hyptiotheca sp., but these forms do not contribute to highly resolved correlation.

Twenty-eight taxa are illustrated from the upper Placentian and Branchian Series. Caveacus rectus n. gen. and sp., a phosphatic problematicum, is limited to the upper Placentian Series. The oldest, skeletalized, macrophagous predators are the Pseudoconodontida and the later appearing Protoconodontida (n. orders). The Pseudoconodontida includes the Protohertzinacea n. superfamily and Strictocorniculacea n. superfamily (with the Rhombocorniculidae and Strictocorniculidae n. families). Strictocorniculum vanallerum n. gen. and sp. is described. The tommotiid family Sunnaginiidae emend. includes Eccentrotheca, Sunnaginia, Kulparina, and Jayceia deltiformis n. gen. and sp.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 69 , Issue 3 , May 1995 , pp. 475 - 495
Copyright
Copyright © 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

Abaimova, G. P. 1978. Poznekembriyskiye konodonty tsentralnogo Kazakhstana. Paleontologiskoy Zhurnal, 1978:77–87.Google Scholar
Bailey, R. H., and Galli, K. G. 1987. Petrogenesis of Precambrian and Cambrian sandstones: Avalonian rocks of northeastern Massachusetts. Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Program, 19:3.Google Scholar
Bengtson, S. 1970. The Lower Cambrian fossil Tommotia . Lethaia, 3:363–392.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bengtson, S. 1976. The structure of some Middle Cambrian conodonts, and the early evolution of conodont structure and function. Lethaia, 9:185–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bengtson, S. 1977. Aspects of problematic fossils in the early Palaeozoic. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, Abstracts of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Science, 415, 71 p.Google Scholar
Bengtson, S. 1983. The early history of the Conodonta. Fossils and Strata, 15:5–19.CrossRefGoogle 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 Palaeontologists, Memoir 9, 364 p.Google Scholar
Bengtson, S., Matthews, S. C., and Missarzhevsky, V. V. 1986. The Cambrian netlike fossil Microdictyon , p. 97–115. In Hoffman, A. and Nitecki, M. H. (eds.), Problematic Fossil Taxa. Oxford Monographs on Geology and Geophysics 5, Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Benson, D. G. 1974. Geology of the Antigonish Highlands, Nova Scotia. Geological Survey of Canada Memoir 376, 92 p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brasier, M. D. 1984. Microfossils and small shelly fossils from the Lower Cambrian Hyolithes Limestone at Nuneaton, English Midlands. Geological Magazine, 121:229–253.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brasier, M. D. 1986. The succession of small shelly fossils (especially conoidal microfossils) from English Precambrian–Cambrian boundary beds. Geological Magazine, 123:237–256.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brasier, M. D., Hewitt, R. A., and Brasier, C. J. 1978. On the Late Precambrian–Early Cambrian Hartshill Formation of Warwickshire. Geological Magazine, 115:21–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brasier, M. D., and Singh, P. 1987. Microfossils and Precambrian–Cambrian boundary stratigraphy at Maldeotaia, Lesser Himalaya. Geological Magazine, 124:323–345.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, D. L., Sweet, W. C., Bergstrom, S. M., Klapper, G., Austin, R. L., Rhodes, F. H. T., Müller, K. J., Ziegler, W., Lindstrom, M., Miller, J. F., and Harris, A. G. 1981. Miscellanea, Supplement 2, Conodonta, 102 p. In Robison, R. A. (ed.), Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Pt. W. Geological Society of America and University of Kansas Press, Lawrence.Google Scholar
Cobbold, E. S. 1921. The Cambrian horizons of Comley (Shropshire) and their Brachiopoda, Pteropoda, Gasteropoda, etc. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, 76:325–386.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fletcher, T. P. 1972. Geology and Lower to Middle Cambrian trilobite faunas of southwest Avalon, Newfoundland. Unpubl. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, 465 p.Google Scholar
Grabau, A. W. 1900. Palaeontology of the Cambrian terranes of the Boston Basin. Occassional Papers of the Boston Society of Natural History, 4:601–694.Google Scholar
Groom, T. 1902. The sequence of the Cambrian and associated beds of the Malvern Hills. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Association of London, 58:89–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hallam, A. 1964. Origin of the limestone-shale rhythms in the Blue Lias of England: a composite theory. Journal of Geology, 72:157–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hinz, I. 1987. The Lower Cambrian microfauna of Comley and Rushton, Shropshire/England. Palaeontographica Abteilung A, 198:41–100.Google Scholar
Holl, H. B. 1865. On the geological structure of the Malvern Hills and adjacent districts. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, 21:72–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hupé, P. 1953. Contribution a l'étude du Cambrien inferieur et du Precambrien III de l'Anti-Atlas marocain. Notes et Mémoires du Section de la Carte géologique du Maroc, No. 103, 402 p.Google Scholar
Hutchinson, R. D. 1962. Cambrian stratigraphy and trilobite faunas of southeastern Newfoundland. Geological Survey of Canada Bulletin, 88, 156 p.Google Scholar
Jiang, Z. 1980. The Meishucun Stage and fauna of Jinning County, Yunnan. Bulletin of the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Series 1, 2:75–92. [in Chinese with English summary.] Google Scholar
Keppie, J., and Murphy, J. B. 1985. Itinerary—Antigonish terrane, p. 77–108. In Pickerill, R. K., Mawer, C. K., and Frye, L. R. (eds.), Fredericton 85. Geological Association of Canada-Mineralogical Association of Canada, Field Excursion 1, Appalachian Geotraverse (Canadian Mainland), University of New Brunswick, Fredericton.Google Scholar
Landing, E. 1977. “Proontotodus” tenuis (Muller, 1959) apparatuses from the Taconic allochthon, eastern New York: construction, taphonomy, and the protoconodont “supertooth” model. Journal of Paleontology, 51:1072–1084.Google Scholar
Landing, E. 1984. Skeleton of lapworthellids and the suprageneric taxonomy of tommotiids (Lower and Middle Cambrian phosphatic problematica). Journal of Paleontology, 58:1380–1398.Google Scholar
Landing, E. 1988. Lower Cambrian of eastern Massachusetts: stratigraphy and small shelly fossils. Journal of Paleontology, 62:661–695.Google Scholar
Landing, E. 1991a. A unified uppermost Precambrian through Lower Cambrian lithostratigraphy for Avalonian North America. Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs, 23:56.Google Scholar
Landing, E. 1991b. Upper Precambrian through Lower Cambrian of Cape Breton Island: faunas, paleoenvironments, and stratigraphic revision. Journal of Paleontology, 65:570–595.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Landing, E. 1992. Lower Cambrian of southeastern Newfoundland: epeirogeny and Lazarus faunas, lithofacies-biofacies linkages, and the myth of a global chronostratigraphy, p. 283–309. In Lipps, J. and Signor, P. W. (eds.), Origins and Early Evolution of Metazoa. Plenum Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Landing, E. 1994. Precambrian–Cambrian boundary global stratotype ratified and a new perspective of Cambrian time. Geology, 22:179–182.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Landing, E., and Benus, A. P. 1988a. Cambrian depositional history and stratigraphy, Avalon-Bonavista region, southeastern Newfoundland. In Davenport, P. H., Hiscott, R. N., O'Neil, P. P., and Nowlan, L. W. (eds.), Geological Association of Canada Annual Meeting. Trip A3. Geological Association of Canada, Newfoundland Section, St. John's, Newfoundland, 40 p.Google Scholar
Landing, E., and Benus, A. P. 1988b. Stratigraphy of the Bonavista Group, southeastern Newfoundland: growth faults and the distribution of the subtrilobitic Lower Cambrian, p. 59–71. In Landing, E., Narbonne, G. M., and Myrow, P. (eds.), Trace Fossils, Small Shelly Fossils, and the Precambrian–Cambrian Boundary. New York State Museum Bulletin 463.Google Scholar
Landing, E., and Murphy, J. B. 1991. Uppermost Precambrian(?)–Lower Cambrian of mainland Nova Scotia: faunas, depositional environments, and stratigraphic revision. Journal of Paleontology, 65:382–396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Landing, E., Myrow, P., Benus, A. P., and Narbonne, G. M. 1989. The Placentian Series: appearance of the oldest skeletalized faunas in southeastern Newfoundland. Journal of Paleontology, 63:739–769.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Landing, E., Narbonne, G. S., Myrow, P., Benus, A. P., and Anderson, M. M. 1988. Faunas and depositional environments of the Upper Precambrian through Lower Cambrian, southeastern Newfoundland, p. 18–52. In Landing, E., Narbonne, G. M., and Myrow, P. (eds.), Trace Fossils, Small Shelly Fossils, and the Precambrian-Cambrian Boundary. New York State Museum Bulletin 463, 81 p.Google Scholar
Landing, E., Nowlan, G. S., and Fletcher, T. P. 1980. A microfauna associated with Early Cambrian faunas of the Callavia Zone, northern Antigonish Highlands, Nova Scotia. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 17:400–418.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Linnarsson, J. G. O. 1871. Om några försteningar fran Sveriges och Norges ‘Primordialzon.’ Ofversigt af Konglische Vetenskaps-Akademiens Förhandlingar, 6:789–796.Google Scholar
Luo, H., Jiang, Z., Wu, X., Song, X., Ouyang, L., Xing, Y., Liu, G., Zhang, S., and Tao, Y. 1984. Sinian-Cambrian Boundary Stratotype Section at Meishucun, Jinning, Yunnan, China. People's Publishing House, Yunnan, China, 154 p.Google Scholar
Matthew, G. F. 1899. On Cambrian organisms in Acadia. Royal Society of Canada Proceedings and Transactions, 6(4):135–162.Google Scholar
Miller, J. F. 1984. Cambrian and earliest Ordovician conodont evolution, biofacies, and provincialism, p. 43–68. In Clark, D. L. (ed.), Conodont Biofacies and Provincialism. Geological Society of America, Special Paper 196, 326 p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Missarzhevsky, V. V. 1969. Opisanie chiolitiv, gastropody, chiolitel'mintov, kamenid i form neyasnogo sistematicheskogo, polozheniya, p. 103–175. In Rozanov, A. Yu., Missarzhevsky, V. V., Volkova, N. A., Voronova, L. G., Krylov, I. N., Keller, B. M., Korolyuk, I. K., Lendzion, K., Michniak, R., Pykhova, N. G., and Sidorov, A. D., Tommotski yarus i problema nizhnei granitsky kembryia. Trudy Geologischeskogo Instituta AN SSSR, No. 206.Google Scholar
Missarzhevsky, V. V. 1970. New generic name Tommotia Missarzhevsky, nom. nov. Paleontological Journal, 1970:546.Google Scholar
Missarzhevsky, V. V. 1973. Konotontoobraznye organizmy iz pogranichnykh sloev kembriya i dokembriya Sibirskoy platformy i Kazakhastana. Trudy Institut Geologii i Geofiziki Sibirskoy Otdelenie, 49:53–57.Google Scholar
Missarzhevsky, V. V. 1977. Konodonty(?) i fosfatnye problematiki kembriya Mongolii i Sibiri, p. 10–19. In Tatarinov, L. P. (ed.), Bespozvonochnye Paleozoya Mongolii. NAUKA, Moscow.Google Scholar
Missarzhevsky, V. V., and Mambetov, A. M. 1981. Stratigrafiya i fauna pogranichnykh sloev kembriya i dokembriya Malogo Karatau. Trudy Geologi Institut Leningrad, 326, 92 p.Google Scholar
Müller, K. J. 1959. Kambrische Conodonten. Deutsche Geologische Gesellschaftung Zeitschrift, 111:434–485.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Müller, K. J. 1962. Supplement to systematics of conodonts, p. W246–W249. In Moore, R. C., Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Pt. W, Miscellanea. Geological Society of America and University of Kansas Press, Lawrence.Google Scholar
Müller, K. J., and Hinz, I. 1991. Upper Cambrian conodonts from Sweden. Fossils and Strata, 28, 153 p.Google Scholar
Murphy, J. B., and Keppie, J. 1987. The late Precambrian Antigonish terrane (a periarc basin) unconformably overlain by Paleozoic overstep rocks typical of the Avalonian Composite Terrane, near Antigonish, Nova Scotia, p. 421–426. In Roy, D. C. (ed.), Centennial Field Guide Volume 5. Northeastern Section of the Geological Society of America.Google Scholar
Murphy, J. B., and Hynes, A. J. 1979. Geology of the northern Antigonish Highlands. Nova Scotia Department of Mines Report, 79–1:105–108.Google Scholar
Murphy, J. B., and Hynes, A. J. 1982. Geological map of the Antigonish Highlands. Nova Scotia Department of Mines and Energy, Map 82–5.Google Scholar
Myrow, P., and Landing, E. 1992. Mixed siliciclastic-carbonate deposition in an Early Cambrian oxygen-stratified basin, Chapel Island Formation, southeastern Newfoundland. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 62:455–473.Google Scholar
North American Commission on Stratigraphic Nomenclature. 1983. North American stratigraphic code. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 67:841–875.Google Scholar
Poulsen, V. 1966. Early Cambrian distacodontid conodonts from Bornholm. Biologiska Meddelelser Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, 23(15), 10 p.Google Scholar
Qian, Y. 1977. Hyolitha and some problematica from the Lower Cambrian Meishucunian Stage in central and southwestern China. Acta Palaeontologica Sinica, 16:255–275. [in Chinese with English summary.] Google Scholar
Qian, Y., and Bengtson, S. 1989. Palaeontology and biostratigraphy of the Early Cambrian Meishucunian Stage in Yunnan Province, South China. Fossils and Strata, Number 15, 156 p.Google Scholar
Rast, N., O'Brien, B. H., and Wardle, R. F. J. 1976. Relationships between Precambrian and Lower Palaeozoic rocks of the ‘Avalon Platform’ in New Brunswick, the northeast Appalachians and the British Isles. Tectonophysics, 30:315–338.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rushton, A. W. A. 1974. The Cambrian of Wales and England, p. 43–129. In Holland, C. H. (ed.), Cambrian of the British Isles, Norden and Spitsbergen. John Wiley and Sons, New York.Google Scholar
Seilacher, A. 1955. Spuren und Fazies im Unterkambrium, p. 11–143. In Schindewolf, O. H. and Seilacher, A. (eds.), Beitrage zur Kenntnis des Kambriums in der Salt Range (Pakistan). Akademie des Wissenschaft und Literatur der Universitat Mainz, Abhandlungen, No. 10, 180 p.Google Scholar
Shaler, N. S., and Foerste, A. F. 1888. Preliminary description of North Attleboro fossils. Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology Bulletin, 16:27–41.Google Scholar
Singh, P., and Shukla, D. S. 1981. Fossils from the Lower Tal: their age and its bearing on the stratigraphy of Lesser Himalaya. Geoscience Journal, 11:157–176.Google Scholar
Szaniawski, H., and Bengtson, S. 1993. Origin of euconodont elements. Journal of Paleontology, 67:640–654.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Ingen, G. 1914. Table of the geological formations of the Cambrian and Ordovician systems about Conception and Trinity bays, Newfoundland, and their North American and western-European equivalents, based on 1912–1913 fieldwork. Princeton University Contributions to the Geology of Newfoundland, 4, 1 p.Google Scholar
Walcott, C. D. 1889. Descriptive notes on new genera and species from the Lower Cambrian or Olenellus Zone of North America. Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum, 12:33–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walcott, C. D. 1890. The fauna of the Lower Cambrian or Olenellus Zone of North America. 10th Annual Report of U.S. Geological Survey, 574 p.Google Scholar
Walcott, C. D. 1900. Lower Cambrian terrane in the Atlantic Province. Proceedings of the Washington Academy of Sciences, 1:301–339.Google Scholar
Wetzel, A. 1982. Cyclic and dycyclic black shale formation, p. 431–455. In Einsele, G. and Seilacher, A. (eds.), Cyclic and Event Stratification. Springer-Verlag, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wignall, P. B., and Myers, K. J. 1988. Interpreting benthic oxygen levels in mudrocks: a new approach. Geology, 16:452–455.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, H. 1979. Tectonic lithofacies map of the Appalachian orogen. Memorial University of Newfoundland, Department of Geology, Map 1.Google Scholar
Xiao, L., and Zhou, B. 1984. Early Cambrian Hyolitha from Huainan and Huoqui County in Anhui Province. Professional Papers in Stratigraphy and Palaeontology, 13:141–151.Google Scholar
Yang, X. and He, T. 1984. New small shelly fossils from Lower Cambrian Meishucun Stage of Nanjing area, northern Szechwan. Professional Papers of Stratigraphy and Paleontology, Geological Publishing House, Beijing, 13:35–47. [in Chinese.] Google Scholar
Yochelson, E. L. 1977. Agmata, a proposed extinct phylum of Early Cambrian age. Journal of Paleontology, 51:437–454.Google Scholar