Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nmvwc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-02T07:43:04.451Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Trilobites of the Lower Ordovician (Ibexian) Fort Cassin Formation, Champlain Valley region, New York State and Vermont

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

Kevin D. Brett
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 3A1
Stephen R. Westrop
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 3A1

Abstract

The Lower Ordovician (Ibexian) Fort Cassin Formation of New York State and Vermont consists mainly of carbonates that were deposited in a subtidal storm-influenced setting. The low diversity trilobite fauna is dominated overwhelmingly by the isoteline, Isoteloides. Eleven species representing at least nine genera are described; Acidiphorus whittingtoni is new. The bathyurine genus Goniotelina Whittington and Ross is regarded as paraphyletic and is synonymized with Acidiphorus Raymond. The presence of Isoteloides canalis (Whitfield; = I. latimarginatus Fortey), I. peri Fortey and Bathyurellus platypus Fortey indicates a correlation of the Fort Cassin with the Strigigenalis caudata Zone of the Catoche Formation of western Newfoundland.

Type
Research Article
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

Aigner, T. 1982. Calcareous tempestites: storm-dominated stratification in the Upper Muschelkalk (Middle Trias, southwest Germany), p. 180190. In Einsele, G. and Seilacher, A. (eds.), Cyclic and Event Stratification. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.Google Scholar
Berg, R. R. and Ross, R. J. 1959. Trilobites from the Peerless and Manitou formations, Colorado. Journal of Paleontology, 33:106119.Google Scholar
Billings, E. 1865. Paleozoic fossils. Volume 1. Containing descriptions and figures of new or little known species of organic remains from the Silurian rocks. Geological Survey of Canada, 426 p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradley, J. H. Jr. 1925. Trilobites of the Beekmantown in the Philipsburg Region of Quebec. Canadian Field Naturalist, 39:59Google Scholar
Brainerd, E., and Seely, H. M. 1890. The Calciferous Formation in the Champlain Valley. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 1:501513Google Scholar
Brainerd, E., and Seely, H. M. 1891. The Calciferous Formation in the Champlain Valley. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 3(1)1:124Google Scholar
Boyce, W. D. 1989. Early Ordovician trilobite faunas of the Boat Harbour and Catoche Formations (St. George Group) in the Boat Harbour-Cape Norman area, Great Northern Peninsula, western Newfoundland. Geological Survey Branch, Department of Mines and Energy Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Report 89-2, 169 p.Google Scholar
Chatterton, B. D. E., and Ludvigsen, R. 1976. Silicified Middle Ordovician trilobites from the South Nahanni River area, District of Mackenzie, Canada. Palaeontographica, Abteilung A, 154:1106.Google Scholar
Dean, W. T. 1989. Trilobites from the Survey Peak, Outram and Skoki Formations (Upper Cambrian-Lower Ordovician) at Wilcox Pass, Jasper National Park, Alberta. Geological Survey of Canada Bulletin, 389, 141 p.Google Scholar
Fisher, D. W. 1984. Bedrock Geology of the Glens Falls—Whitehall Region, New York. New York State Museum, Map and Chart Series, 35, 58 p.Google Scholar
Fortey, R. A. 1979. Early Ordovician trilobites from the Catoche Formation (St. George Group), western Newfoundland. Geological Survey of Canada Bulletin, 321:61114.Google Scholar
Fortey, R. A. 1980. The Ordovican trilobites of Spitsbergen. III. Remaining trilobites of the Valhallfonna Formation. Norsk Polarinstitutt Skrifter, 171:1163.Google Scholar
Fortey, R. A. 1986. Early Ordovician trilobites from the Wandel Valley Formation, eastern North Greenland. Rapportes Gr⊘nlands geologiske Undersogelese, 132:1525.Google Scholar
Fortey, R. A., and Peel, J. S. 1990. Early Ordovician trilobites and molluscs from the Poulsen Cliff Formation, Washington Land, western North Greenland. Bulletin of the Geological Society of Denmark, 38:1132.Google Scholar
Hintze, L. F. 1953. Lower Ordovician trilobites from western Utah and eastern Nevada. Utah Geological and Mineralogical Survey Bulletin, 48, 249 p.Google Scholar
Hupé, P. 1953. Classification des trilobites. Annales de Paléontologie, 39:61168.Google Scholar
Ingham, J. K., Curry, G. B. and Williams, A. 1985. Early Ordovician Dounans Limestone fauna, Highland Border Complex, Scotland. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Earth Sciences, 76:481513.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, B. 1988. Biostatistics in paleontology. Geoscience Canada, 15:322.Google Scholar
Lees, J. A. 1967. Stratigraphy of the Lower Ordovician Axeman Limestone in central Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Geological Survey Bulletin, G52, 52 p.Google Scholar
Ludvigsen, R. 1978. Towards an Ordovician trilobite biostratigraphy of southern Ontario. Michigan Basin Geological Society Special Paper, 3:7384.Google Scholar
Ludvigsen, R. 1979a. Fossils of Ontario—Part 1. The trilobites. Royal Ontario Museum Life Sciences Miscellaneous Publications, 96 p.Google Scholar
Ludvigsen, R. 1979b. Lower Ordovician trilobites of the Oxford Formation, eastern Ontario. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 16:859865.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Markello, J. R., and Read, J. F. 1981. Carbonate ramp to deeper shelf transitions of an Upper Cambrian intrashelf basin, Nolichucky Formation, southwest Virginia Appalachians. Sedimentology, 28:573597.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norford, B. S. 1973. Lower Silurian species of the trilobite Scotoharpes from Canada and northern Greenland. Geological Survey of Canada Bulletin, 222:934.Google Scholar
Owen, A. W., 1981. The Ashgill trilobites of the Oslo region, Norway. Palaeontographica, Abteilung A, 175:188.Google Scholar
Pratt, B. R., James, N. P. and Cowan, C., 1993. Peritidal Carbonates, p. 303322. In Walker, R. G. and James, N. P. (eds.), Facies Models. Response to Sea Level Change. Geological Association of Canada.Google Scholar
Pribyl, A., and Vanek, J. 1986. A study of the morphology and phylogeny of the family Harpetidae Hawle and Corda, 1847 (Trilobita). Acta Musei Nationalis Pragae, 62B:172.Google Scholar
Poulsen, C. 1927. The Cambrian, Ozarkian and Canadian faunas of northwest Greenland. Meddelelser om Gr⊘nland, 70:233343.Google Scholar
Poulsen, C. 1946. Notes on Cambro-Ordovician fossils collected by the Oxford University Ellesmere Land Expedition 1934-5. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, 102:299337.Google Scholar
Raymond, P. E. 1910. Notes on Ordovician trilobites; II, Asaphidae from the Beekmantown. Annals of the Carnegie Museum, 7:3544.Google Scholar
Raymond, P. E. 1925. Some trilobites of the lower Middle Ordovician of Eastern North America. Harvard University Museum of Comparative Zoology Bulletin, 67, Number 1, 180 p.Google Scholar
Ross, R. J. Jr. 1951. Stratigraphy of the Garden City Formation in northeastern Utah, and its trilobite faunas; Peabody Museum of Natural History Bulletin, 6, 161 p.Google Scholar
Ross, R. J. Jr. 1953. Additional Garden City (Early Ordovician) trilobites. Journal of Paleontology, 27:633646.Google Scholar
Ross, R. J. Jr. 1967. Some Middle Ordovician brachiopods and trilobites from the Basin Ranges, western United States. United States Geological Survey Professional Paper, 523-D, 43 p.Google Scholar
Rudkin, D. M., and Tripp, R. P. 1989. The type species of the Ordovician trilobite genus Isotelus: I. gigas Dekay, 1824. Royal Ontario Museum Life Sciences Contributions, 152, 19 p.Google Scholar
Sando, W. J. 1958. Lower Ordovician section near Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 69:837854.Google Scholar
Sepkoski, J. J. Jr. 1982. Flat pebble conglomerates, storm deposits and the Cambrian bottom fauna, p. 371385. In Einsele, G. and Seilacher, A. (eds.), Cyclic and Event Stratification. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Titus, R. 1982. Fossil communities of the middle Trenton Group (Ordovician) of New York State. Journal of Paleontology, 56:477485.Google Scholar
Titus, R., and Cameron, B. 1976. Fossil communities of the Lower Trenton Group (Middle Ordovician) of central and northwestern New York State. Journal of Paleontology, 50:12091225.Google Scholar
Tremblay, J. V., and Westrop, S. R. 1991. Middle Ordovician (Whiterockian) trilobites from the Sunblood Formation, District of Mackenzie, Canada. Journal of Paleontology, 65:801823.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Welby, C. W. 1961. Bedrock Geology of the central Champlain Valley of Vermont. Vermont Geological Survey Bulletin, 14, 281 p.Google Scholar
Welby, C. W. 1962. Paleontology of the Champlain Basin in Vermont. Vermont Geological Survey Special Publication, 1, 87 p.Google Scholar
Westrop, S. R. 1989. Facies anatomy of an Upper Cambrian grand cycle: Bison Creek and Mistaya formations, southern Alberta. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 26:22922304.Google Scholar
Westrop, S. R., Knox, L. A., and Landing, E. 1993. Lower Ordovician (Ibexian) trilobites from the Tribes Hill Formation, central Mohawk Valley, New York State. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 30:16181633.Google Scholar
Whitfield, R. P. 1886. Notice of Geological investigations along the Eastern shore of Lake Champlain, conducted by Prof. H. M. Seely and Prest. Ezra Brainerd, of Middlebury College, with descriptions of the new Fossils discovered. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 1, Number 8:293343.Google Scholar
Whitfield, R. P. 1890. Observations on the fauna of the rocks at Fort Cassin, Vermont, with descriptions of a few new species. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, v, Number 2:2539.Google Scholar
Whitfield, R. P. 1897. Descriptions of new species of Silurian fossils from near Fort Cassin and elsewhere on Lake Champlain. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 9, Number 11:177184.Google Scholar
Whittington, H. B. 1953. North American Bathyuridae and Leiostegiidae (Trilobita). Journal of Paleontology, 27:647678Google Scholar
Whittington, H. B. 1963. Middle Ordovician Trilobites from Lower Head, western Newfoundland. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology Harvard University, 129:1118.Google Scholar
Whittington, H. B. 1965. Trilobites of the Ordovician Table Head Formation, western Newfoundland. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology Harvard University, 132:275442.Google Scholar