The Walcott-Rust Quarry; Middle Ordovician trilobite Konservat-Lagerstaetten

Carlton E Brett; Thomas E Whiteley; Peter A Allison; Ellis L Yochelson; Jonathan M Adrain; Stephen R Westrop

doi:10.1017/S0022336000027773

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The Walcott-Rust Quarry; Middle Ordovician trilobite Konservat-Lagerstaetten

Journal article

Peer reviewed

The Walcott-Rust Quarry; Middle Ordovician trilobite Konservat-Lagerstaetten

Carlton E Brett, Thomas E Whiteley, Peter A Allison, Ellis L Yochelson, Jonathan M Adrain and Stephen R Westrop

Journal of paleontology, Vol.73(2), pp.288-305

Second international trilobite conference

03/1999

DOI: 10.1017/S0022336000027773

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Abstract

The Walcott-Rust Quarry, at Trenton Falls. New York, has yielded a large number of well-preserved, fully articulated fossils from the lower third of the Middle Ordovician Rust Formation, Trenton Group. Along with three species of the more common trilobites from the Trenton Group, fourteen species of rare and uncommon trilobites are found within a thin package of micritic limestones and shales. The first trilobites with preserved appendages, Ceraurus pleurexanthemus Green, 1832 and Flexicalymene senaria (Conrad, 1842), were described from one layer from this quarry. Unique specimens of Isotelus walcotti Ulrich in Walcott, 1918, and Sphaerocorphe robusta Walcott, 1875, were found in the next higher bed. Re-excavation of the quarry yielded information about the taphonomy of the trilobites and stratigraphy of the trilobite layers. Nearly half of the beds surveyed (n = 50) yield direct evidence of obrution (i.e., rapid post-mortem or live burial) of benthic organisms. Unusual anaerobic microenvironments in partially enrolled trilobites of the Ceraurus layer facilitated very early calcification of appendages and other soft parts.

Biostratigraphy

Stratigraphy

United States

Arthropoda

biozones

burial diagenesis

Ceraurus pleurexanthemus

Conodonta

diagenesis

extremities

Flexicalymene senaria

Herkimer County New York

Invertebrata

Invertebrate paleontology

Isotelinae

Isotelus

Isotelus gigas

Isotelus walcotti

Lagerstatten

lithostratigraphy

microfossils

Middle Ordovician

neotypes

New York

Ordovician

paleoenvironment

Paleozoic

preferred orientation

preservation

quarries

Rust Formation

Sphaerocorphe robusta

Steuben Formation

taphonomy

Trenton Falls

Trenton Group

Trentonian

Trilobita

Trilobitomorpha

Walcott-Rust Quarry

West Canada Creek

Details

Title: Subtitle: The Walcott-Rust Quarry; Middle Ordovician trilobite Konservat-Lagerstaetten
Creators: Carlton E Brett - University of Rochester
Thomas E Whiteley
Peter A Allison
Ellis L Yochelson
Jonathan M Adrain - Natural History Museum, Department of Palaeontology London GBR United Kingdom
Stephen R Westrop
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Journal of paleontology, Vol.73(2), pp.288-305
Conference: Second international trilobite conference
Publisher: Paleontological Society
DOI: 10.1017/S0022336000027773
ISSN: 0022-3360
eISSN: 1937-2337
Alternative title: Trilobite paleobiology; past, present, and future
Language: English
Date published: 03/1999
Academic Unit: Earth and Environmental Sciences
Record Identifier: 9984240800902771

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