GSA Annual Meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA - 2018

Paper No. 114-3
Presentation Time: 9:00 AM-6:30 PM

ICHNOLOGY OF THE LATE CAMBRIAN LION MOUNTAIN MEMBER OF THE RILEY FORMATION


MORGAN, Ryan F.1, JUNTUNEN, Kristopher Lee1, SCOTT, Ashley Brooke2 and LANDRETH, Marion1, (1)Department of Chemistry, Geosciences, & Physics, Tarleton State University, Box T-0540, Stephenville, TX 76402, (2)Department of Chemistry, Geosciences, and Physics, Tarleton State University, Box T-05040, Stephenville, TX 76402

The Lion Mountain Member of the Riley formation is an enigmatic unit of glaucontized pellets and quartz arenites, interspersed with lenses of dolomitized shell debris. Deposited in the middle-to-late Cambrian, this member has been intensely studied for insight into the diagenesis of glauconite within the rock record. While contained fossils are typically noted for this unit within studies, the importance of these has been overlooked. Investigation into an outcrop of the Lion Mountain in Burnet County, Texas, has provided a suit of ichnofossils, including Skolithos and Circulichnus. The presence of these and other traces, in concert with the contained body fossils, sedimentary structures, and lithology, are indicative of the Skolithos ichnofacies.