Skinner, 2004. PhD Taphonomy of exceptionally preserved fossils from the Kinzers Formation (Cambrian), southeastern Pennsylvania.pdf

TAPHONOMY OF EXCEPTIONALLY PRESERVED FOSSILS FROM THE
KINZERS FORMATION (CAMBRIAN), SOUTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA


DISSERTATION



Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for

the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate

School of The Ohio State University


By

Ethan S. Skinner, .

* * * * *




The Ohio State University
2004


mittee:
Approved by
Professor Loren E. Babcock, Adviser

Professor Stig M. Bergström

Professor Gunter Faure
____________________________
Professor Matthew R. Saltzman Adviser
Department of Geological Sciences
UMI Number: 3141667




























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ABSTRACT


The pelitic Emigsville Member of the Kinzers Formation (Cambrian),
southeastern Pennsylvania, is a deposit of exceptional fossil preservation. It contains
three main lithofacies that were part of a mixed siliciclastic-carbonate debris fan
developed seaward of a carbonate shelf along the Appalachian margin of Laurentia.
Fossils were exceptionally preserved in a shelf environment subject to tempestite
deposition. Most remains are fragmentary, which emphasizes the importance of predation
as a taphonomic process where Emigsville sediments were deposited. Remains are
preserved mostly anic carbon films, pyrite crusts, and aluminosilicate films. These
preservation styles apparently depended upon the development of microbial consortia;
some microbes were autolithifiers.
Sedime