THE DRUMIAN (CAMBRIAN) GLOBAL BOUNDARY STRATOTYPE SECTION AND POINT (GSSP): APPLYING HIGH RESOLUTION GEOPHYSICAL TECHNIQUES, MAGNETIC SUSCEPTIBILITY (MS) AND GAMMA RAY (GR) SPECTROSCOPY, AS SUPPLEMENTAL STRATIGRAPHIC DATA SETS USED IN INTERPRETING CRITICAL GEOLOGICAL SEQUENCES
Preliminary work from a high-resolution profile of samples collected at ~5 cm intervals across the Drumian Stage GSSP in the Drum Mountains, Utah, shows a coincidence of positive deflections in MS and GR emissions, both measured on the same samples in the laboratory. MS and GR data sets are highly correlated and reflect the detrital sediment input to the site, as well as a relatively long-term sea-level regression event known to occur at the time. There is a significant change in the character and magnitude of the MS and GR data sets, with major increases in both, beginning at the base of the Drumian Stage. A set of paired MS and GR deflections precisely matches the high δ13C 'DICE' excursion that also occurs just above the beginning of the Drumian stage. Thus, after adding in the FAD of the agnostoid trilobite Ptychagnostus atavus, we have four nearly coincident criteria that potentially can be used for correlating the base of the Drumian Stage on a global basis. Studies in other parts of the Phanerozoic section have shown that such correlations can be carried intercontinentally, and are essentially lithology-independent; tied to climate cyclicity and eustacy. In other words, within a constrained stratigraphic interval (defined using the biostratigraphy), MS and GR studies can provide a means of high-precision (and high-resolution) stratigraphic correlation on a global scale.