Kinzers Formation--Appalachian Analogue of Burgess Shale?: ABSTRACT

Abstract

The Kinzers Formation of southeastern Pennsylvania contains a definite Middle Cambrian near the top of what has been designated as Lower Cambrian rocks. Locally fossiliferous limestone, dolomite, and shale are highly deformed by folding and faulting, making physical tracing of individual units difficult or impossible. Ten faunules can be recognized within the Kinzers Formation, and range in age from Early Cambrian to middle Middle Cambrian. One unexplained time gap occurs in this interval. The Middle Cambrian fauna, found in black organic shale, compares favorably with part of the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale fauna. A lower assemblage, designated the klotzi fauna contains Ogygopsis klotzi (Rominger), Acrothele decipiens (?), Elrathina sp., Olenoides sp., and sp., as well as unidentified agnostid trilobites, silicic sponge spicules, and segmented worms. The upper part of the black shale, less than 10 ft above the Ogygopsis klotzi faunule bed, contains an assemblage herein designated the Peronopsis sp. faunule. This faunule includes sp., Bathyuriscus sp., Elrathina sp., and Oryctocephalus sp. These beds may represent offbank (outer detrital) deeper water deposits correlative in part with the Parker Formation of northwestern Vermont and the West Castleton Formation of the New York Taconics. End_of_Article - Last_Page 854------------