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looking for papers by Robinson on Marjum and Wheeler formations


trilobite tim

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Does anyone know where I can get, either pdf or paper, copies of Robinson's detailed descriptions of the Marjum and/or Wheeler formations (House Range, Utah)?  Thanks

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Couple of questions:

1) Do you mean R.A. Robison (no 'n' in the middle)?

2) Are there any papers in particular that you're looking for?

 

Have you checked the section on Utah in my pdf library here on The Fossil Forum yet?  Here's a LINK to that section.  There is a paper in the Cambrian section that was co-authored by R.A. Robison as well as a number of other articles about either the House Range or the Marjum/Wheeler Formations including a masters thesis by D.K. Powell on the geology of the House Range down in the Utah-General subsection.

 

If you're looking for trilobite-related papers (I'm guessing that from your 'nickname'), you might want to check the section on Cambrian Trilobites - North America.  Here's a LINK to that section.  Just scroll down to the subsection on North America.  There are at least a couple of Robison's trilobite-related papers there.

 

Hope that helped a little.

 

-Joe

 

Illigitimati non carborundum

Fruitbat's PDF Library

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This list will get you pointed in the right direction.  Also included are other relevant papers by various authors.

 

 

Robison, R.A. 1964. 
Middle-Upper Cambrian boundary in North America. 
Geological Society of America Bulletin 75(10):987-993

 

Robison, R.A. 1964. 
Upper Middle Cambrian stratigraphy of western Utah. 
Geological Society of America Bulletin 75(10):995-1010

 

Robison, R.A. 1964. 
Late Middle Cambrian faunas from Western Utah. 
Journal of Paleontology 38(3):510-566

 

Robison, R.A. 1971. 
Additional Middle Cambrian trilobites from the Wheeler Shale of Utah.
Journal of Paleontology 45(5):796-804

 

Robison, R.A. 1982.
Some Middle Cambrian agnostoid trilobites from Western North America. 
Journal of Paleontology 56(1):132-160

 

Robison, R.A. & Babcock, L.E. 2011. 
Systematics, paleobiology, and taphonomy of some exceptionally preserved trilobites from Cambrian Lagerstätten of Utah.
University of Kansas, Paleontological Contributions, 5:1-47  PDF LINK

 

Robison, R.A. 1962. 
Late Middle Cambrian Faunas from the Wheeler and Marjum Formations of Western Utah. 
PhD Thesis, University of Texas at Austin, 294 pp.

 

Robison, R.A. 1976. 
Middle Cambrian trilobite biostratigraphy of the Great Basin. 
In: R.A. Robison & A.J. Rowell (eds.)

Paleontology and Depositional Environments: Cambrian of Western North America.
Brigham Young University Geology Studies 23(2):93-109  PDF LINK

 

Robison, R.A.; Babcock, L.E.; Gunther, V.G. 2015. 
Exceptional Cambrian fossils from Utah: A window into the age of trilobites.
Utah Geological Survey Miscellaneous Publication 15-1:1-97

 

Rees, M.N. & Robison, R.A. 1989. 
Cambrian Stratigraphy and Paleontology of the Central House Range  and Drum Mountains, Utah.  
In: Taylor, Michael E. 1989.
Cambrian and Early Ordovician Stratigraphy and Paleontology of the Basin and Range Province, 
Western United States: Las Vegas, Nevada to Salt Lake City, Utah, July 1–7, 1989.
American Geophysical Union Field Trip Guidebooks T125:59-72

 

Babcock, L.E. & Robison, R.A. 2011. 

Paleoecology and taphonomy of some new trilobites from. Cambrian (Series 3) Lagerstätten of Utah, USA.
In: Hollingsworth, J.S., Sundberg, F.A. & Foster, J.R. (eds) 
Cambrian Stratigraphy and Paleontology of Northern Arizona and Southern Nevada. 
Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin, 67:1-321  PDF LINK

 

Gunther, L.F.; Gunther, V.G.; Gunther, G. 1994.
Some Middle Cambrian Fossils of Utah.
Brigham Young University Geology Studies 28:1-87  PDF LINK

 

White, W.W. 1973. 
Depositional environments of Wheeler Formation, Drum Mountains, Millard County, Utah.
The American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Bulletin 57(5):963

 

Gaines, R.R. 2000.
Ichnofabric, taphonomy and soft-bodied preservation in the Middle Cambrian Wheeler Shale, Millard County, Utah. 
PaleoBios 20(1,Suppl.):3

 

Gaines, R.R.; Droser, M.L.; Kennedy, M.J. 2001. 
A diagenetic trigger of exceptional preservation in the Wheeler Shale (Middle Cambrian, Utah).
PaleoBios 21(1,Suppl.):4 

 

Gaines, R.R.; Droser, M.L.; Kennedy, M.J. 2001. 
Taphonomy of soft-bodied preservation and ptychopariid Lagerstätte in the Wheeler Shale (Middle Cambrian), House Range, USA; controls and implications.

PaleoBios 21(2,Suppl.)

 

Gaines, R.R.; Kennedy, M.J.; Droser, M.L. 2005. 
A new hypothesis for organic preservation of Burgess Shale taxa in the middle Cambrian Wheeler Formation, House Range, Utah.

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 220(1-2):193-205

 

Brett, C.E.; Allison, P.A.; DeSantis, M.K.; Liddell, W. D., Kramer, A. 2009. 
Sequence stratigraphy, cyclic facies, and lagerstätten in the Middle Cambrian Wheeler and Marjum Formations, Great Basin, Utah.

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 277(1-2):9-33

 

Halgedahl, S.L., Jarrard, R.D., Brett, C.E., &Allison, P.A. 2009. 
Geophysical and geological signatures of relative sea level change in the upper Wheeler Formation, Drum Mountains, West-Central Utah: A perspective into exceptional preservation of fossils. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 277(1-2):34-56

 

Gaines, R.R. 2003. 
Dissecting a Cambrian lagerstatte: Insights from the Wheeler Formation, Utah.
Ph.D. Thesis, University of California, Riverside, 163 pp.


Langenburg, E.S. 2003. 
The Middle Cambrian Wheeler Formation: Sequence Stratigraphy and Geochemistry across a Ramp-to-Basin Transition.
M.S. Thesis, Utah State University, 120 pp.  PDF LINK

 

Schneider, L.P. 2000. 
The sequence stratigraphy of the middle Cambrian Wheeler Formation in the Drum Mountains of west central Utah.
M.S. Thesis, Utah State University, 82 pp.  PDF LINK

 

Smith, D. 2007. 
Sequence Stratigraphy of the Middle Cambrian Marjum Formation: Response of Sedimentary Facies and Biota to Sea-Level Changes.
M.S.Geology Thesis, 156 pp.  PDF LINK

 

Elrick, M., & Snider, A.C. 2002. 
Deep-water stratigraphic cyclicity and carbonate mud mound development in the Middle Cambrian Marjum Formation, House Range, Utah, USA. 
Sedimentology 49(5):1021-1047

 

Powell, K.D. 1958. 
The Geology of Southern House Range, Millard County, Utah.
Brigham Young University Geology Studies 6(1):1-48  PDF LINK

 

Hanks, K.L. 1962. 
Geology of the Central House Range Area, Millard County, Utah.
Brigham Young University Geology Studies 9(2):115-136  PDF LINK

 

Miller, J.F., Evans, K.R., Loch, J.D., Ethington, R.L., & Stitt, J.H.  2001. 
New Lithostratigraphic Units in the Notch Peak and House Formations (Cambrian-Ordovician), Ibex Area, Western Millard County, Utah.

Brigham Young University, Geology Studies, 46:35-70

 

Wawak, B.E. 1983. 
Middle Cambrian Trilobite Biostratigraphy of the House Range, Southwest Utah. 
Southern California Paleontological Society, Spec.Pub.3:90-101

 

Foster, J.R. & Gaines, R.R. 2016. 
Taphonomy and Paleoecology of the "Middle" Cambrian (Series 3) Formations in Utah’s West Desert: Recent Finds and New Data.
in: Comer, J.B.; Inkenbrandt, P.C.; Krahulec, K.A.; Pinnell, M.L., editors, 
Resources and Geology of Utah’s West Desert: Utah Geological Association Publication 45:291-336  PDF LINK

 

Hintze, L.F. & Davis, F.D. 2003. 
Geology of Millard County, Utah.

Utah Geological and Mineralogical Survey, Bulletin 133:1-305  PDF LINK

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Thank you for all the reference material.  It will take me awhile to work through it all.  My bad, it is Robison (R. A) whose works I am looking for.  Right now I am focused on stratigraphy of the Wheeler and Marjum formation.  I am having a problem deciding where the Wheeler ends and the Marjum begin.

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17 hours ago, trilobite tim said:

...Right now I am focused on stratigraphy of the Wheeler and Marjum formation.  I am having a problem deciding where the Wheeler ends and the Marjum begin.

 

 

 

figures from:

 

Robison, R.A. 1964. 
Upper Middle Cambrian stratigraphy of western Utah. 
Geological Society of America Bulletin 75(10):995-1010

 

IMG1.thumb.jpg.a3d78f46d95940504de84b772ae23134.jpg

 

 

 

figure from:

 

Hintze, L.F. & Davis, F.D. 2003. 
Geology of Millard County, Utah.

Utah Geological and Mineralogical Survey, Bulletin 133:1-305  PDF LINK

 

IMG.thumb.jpg.516a64666a5d2d7dd9958c320353ff42.jpg

image.png.a84de26dad44fb03836a743755df237c.png

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text from:

 

Robison, R.A. 1962. 
Late Middle Cambrian Faunas from the Wheeler and Marjum Formations of Western Utah. 
PhD Thesis, University of Texas at Austin, 294 pp.

 

 

Wheeler Shale


Nomenclature

The Wheeler Shale was named by Walcott (1908a, p. 10) and briefly described as "alternating bands of thin shaly limestone and calcareous shale." Its type locality
was designated as the "center of Wheeler Amphitheatre, southeast of Antelope Springs, House Range, Utah." Later in the same year, Walcott (1908d, p. 181) published a more detailed stratigraphic description and a faunal list for the formation. In 1938, Deiss published a slightly more detailed "emended definition" of the Wheeler Shale (p. 1146), and he gave a description of a measured section situated on the spur that forms the west boundary of Rainbow Valley (p. 1132, 1133). Without explicitly stating his reasons, Deiss changed the type localities of the Wheeler Shale and every other Middle Cambrian formation whose original type locality was in the House Range. Such action is confusing, and I believe that it indicates a misunderstanding of the basic functions of a type section, viz. to serve as a name-bearer, and as a comparative standard for a three-dimensional lithic continuum. Except for those functions, the type section should have no more significance than any other section. Therefore, I prefer to recognize Walcott's original type localities in the House Range. The Wheeler Shale of the House Range was discussed later by Wheeler (1948), Wheeler and Steele (1951), and Robison (1960b), but no change in nomenclature was proposed.

 

Lithology

The Wheeler Shale, at its type locality in Wheeler Amphitheatre, consists of a heterogeneous succession of highly calcareous shale, shaly limestone, mudstone, and thin flaggy limestone. A more homogeneous lithologic component of highly calcareous shale and shaly limestone occurs in the northern part of the House Range, in the Fish Springs Range, and in the Drum Mountains. The content of terrigenous silt and clay continues to decrease gradually toward the northeast. In the Sheeprock Mountains stratigraphically equivalent strata consist of thin flaggy limestone with silty partings (Cohenour, 1959, p. 48), and finally in the Tintic and Ophir Districts stratigraphically equivalent strata consist of relatively pure carbonates. A much more abrupt lithic transition occurs southeastward from the House Range. The closest Middle Cambrian outcrops occur in the Cricket Mountains and the Wah Wah Mountains. Stratigraphic equivalents in those areas consist of relatively pure, often massive, cliff-forming carbonates. My measured thicknesses of the Wheeler Shale range from a minimum of 307 feet in the Drum Mountains to a maximum of 490 feet in the northern part of the House Range.

 

Boundaries and distribution

In the central part of the House Range the upper and lower boundaries of the Wheeler Shale are marked by fairly sharp lithologic changes from limestone
to "shale" (lower), and "shale" to limestone (upper). The transitional interval is generally less than five feet thick. This lithic change also commonly corresponds to a geomorphic change from cliffs to slopes, and slopes to cliffs. In other areas, such as the northern part of the House Range, the Drum Mountains, and the Fish Springs Range, the lithologic change may be transitional through intervals with a thickness of more than 100 feet. In those areas, placement of boundaries is arbitrary. Regional lithofacies relationships indicate that conformable contacts exist, both between the Swasey and Wheeler Formations, and between the Wheeler and Marjum Formations. The upward change from limestone to "shale," and then from "shale" back to limestone, seems to have resulted from shifting lithotopes, with no apparent interruption of sedimentation. The gradational lithic change between the vertically contiguous lithofacies also substantiates that conclusion. Laterally, I arbitrarily place the eastern boundary of the Wheeler Shale at the point where calcareous shale and shaly limestone of the outer detrital belt grade into relatively pure limestone of the middle carbonate belt. To the west I arbitrarily place the lateral boundary at the point where rocks of Wheeler type cease to be overlain by relatively pure carbonate rocks that are stratigraphically equivalent to the lower part of the Marjum Formation in the House Range.

 

 

Marjum Formation


Nomenclature

The Marjum Formation was named by Walcott (1908a, p. 10), and briefly described as "gray to dark, more or less thin-bedded, arenaceous limestone." lts type locality was designated as the "cliffs on the south side of Marjum Pass, House Range, Utah." As with the Wheeler Shale, Walcott published a later (1908d, p. 179-181), more detailed stratigraphic description and a faunal list for the formation. A revised stratigraphic description was in turn published by Deiss (1938, p. 1147), who measured an "emended section" on the spur that forms the west side of Rainbow Valley. I measured sections (4 and 6) at both localities and found them to be lithologically quite similar and about equally well exposed. Recognition of Walcott's original type locality is recommended here for the same reasons that are given in the discussion of the Wheeler Shale.

 

Lithology

The Marjum Formation, at its type locality in the vicinity of Marjum Pass, consists of approximately 60 percent thin-bedded, fine-grained, silty limestone, and about 38 percent shale and mudstone. A few beds of intraformational flat-pebble conglomerate, thin algal biostromes, and other miscellaneous rock types probably comprise less than two percent of the formation. The unit is expressed geomorphically as a series or slopes, ledges, and cliffs. In the vicinity of Wheeler Amphitheatre, nine miles to the north, individual beds of shale and mudstone decrease to less than five percent of the formation. As the unit is traced throughout the House Range, a general pattern of lithologic transition can be discerned. From south to north it changes from interbedded shale and limestone (Marjum Pass area), to thin-bedded limestone with smooth silty bedding surfaces (Wheeler Amphitheatre area), to thin-bedded limestone with silty mottles and irregular bedding surfaces (Swasey Peak area), and finally it changes into massive pure limestone (north end of House Range). A stratigraphically equivalent unit in the Drum Mountains consists mostly of thin- to medium-bedded limestone and dolomite that represents the middle carbonate lithofacies. The unit is here called "Marjum Limestone" (in quotes), but eventually it should receive a new name, as should other stratigraphically equivalent units of the middle carbonate lithofacies (see discussion below). According to my measurements, the Marjum Formation is 1362 feet thick at Marjum Pass (section 4), and 1413 feet thick at Rainbow Peak (section 6). A complete section is present in the vicinity of Wheeler Amphitheatre (section 2), but I could not confidently distinguish the upper boundary.

 

Boundaries and distribution

Walcott (1908a, d) did not originally define the boundaries of the Marjum Formation, but he did state that the type locality comprised the cliffs on the south side of Marjum Pass. As far as I have been able to determine, no one has later specifically defined the Marjum Weeks contact in the House Range. I assume that Walcott intended the contact to be placed at the top of the cliffs south of Marjum Pass. Only minor lithologic change occurs at the upper cliff-slope boundary, and I have been unable to recognize a comparable boundary in any other area. The lithofacies boundary between the outer detrital and middle carbonate belts remained fairly stationary throughout the time during which Marjum and Weeks sediments were deposited (see figs. 3 and 4). Because of the stationary lithofacies boundary, and because of the unique geographical position of the present House Range, the lithologic transition from rocks of the outer detrital belt to rocks of the middle carbonate belt is well shown in the area. Unfortunately, Walcott's type locality for the Marjum Formation (and also Deiss' emended locality) is situated in the area of intergradation. As a result, rocks of the type area possess a combination of lithologic characters that are not closely duplicated in any other described area of the eastern Great Basin.

 

The name, "Marjum Limestone" or "Marjum Formation," has been applied to upper Middle Cambrian strata in the following areas: Promontory Range (Olson, 1956, p. 47), Sheeprock Mountains (Cohenour, 1959, p. 49- 51) 1 Silver Island Mountains (Schaeffer and Anderson, 1960, p. 29-31), Southern Stansbury Range (Teichert, 1959, p. 22), and Wah Wah Mountains (Robison, 1960b, p. 46). Rocks from the Wah Wah Mountains are composed mostly of carbonates that represent the middle carbonate lithofacies. Rocks in the other areas seem to contain mixed representatives of the middle carbonate and outer detrital belt lithofacies. Judging from the regional distribution of sedimentary rock types, I suspect that the terrigenous material fn the northern sections and the terrigenous material in the House Range sections were derived from different directions. My suspicion is based on the nearly complete lack of terrigenous material in stratigraphically equivalent rocks in interaediate areas, such as the Drum Mountains and Fish Springs Range. That is a problem, however, that will require further investigation. Nevertheless, neither the internal components nor the upper boundaries of units in the areas mentioned above possess lithologic characters that are similar to those of the type area. The extension of terminology often seems to have been based on similarity of stratigraphic position. It can be argued on the one hand that such practice results in simplicity of stratigraphic nomenclature. On the other hand, such practice introduces inherent bias regarding stratigraphic correlation, e.g., once the same name has been applied to units in different areas, the correlation generally will be less likely to be challenged than when different names are applied. With respect to the Marjum problem, I believe that until more information is obtained, the dangers from inherent bias are far more important to guard against than the values that are to be derived from simplified nomenclature. Therefore, in an attempt to maintain clarity of rock-stratigraphic relationships, and in an attempt to define rock-stratigraphic units that possess distinctive lithologic features, I propose that the name, Marjum Formation, be restricted to the House Range. Further, I suggest that a new name (or names) be applied to units of the middle carbonate lithofacies that have been called "Marjum Limestone." New terminology is not proposed here because that action is beyond the scope of this specific study.

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Hello Piranha,

I hope this was all cut and paste work for you.  I truly appreciate it either way.   What is meant by "thin flaggy limestone"?  Suitable for use as flag stone?  The jest of all this is that it varies too much in different areas.  It is up to me, on the hillside, to decide if I am high enough to be in the Marjum or not.  At the boundary area it shifts back and forth between limestone and shale for a large vertical area, till finally the silver shale of the wheeler peters out.  Looks like my best course is to continue to ID the trilobites and see which formation they are reported to be from.  I guess it was too much to hope for a brass geological service marker on the hill side, that says "below this marker is Wheeler, above it is Marjum."

 

Have you collected in this area?

 

Do you have any references to the "dirt layer" in the Wheeler?  Around the Amphitheater, especially above U-Dig there is a layer of brown to yellow dirt, about 20 feet thick.  In it are a large number of Elrathia kingii fossils just loose in the dirt.  I collected about 25 this trip (Oct) in an hour or two.  They are quite robust, most are small molts, but a few are complete.  I have seen clay layers between limestone layers in Ohio, but this is a new one on me.

 

thanks again,

Tim

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