RUI: Pattern of Extinction and Replacement at the Lower- Middle Cambrian Boundary Event in the Great Basin, Western U.S.

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Extinction, which may be the ultimate fate of all species, has always held a special interest for geologists and biologists, and even legislators (e.g., Endangered Species Act). Extinction events, when a number of species become extinct over a geologically short period time, have always had historical significance to Earth scientists and evolutionary biologists, as they are conveniently used to divide up geologic time. In this project, PI and students will examine in detail one of the earliest extinction events, at the Lower-Middle Cambrian boundary, and help answer questions such as how sudden the event really was, what percentage of the fauna went extinct, and whether species began to decline in numbers prior to their extinction. The paleoenvironment in which these early taxa lived will also be reconstructed from the type of rock that now entombs them.