(SGER) Paleobiology and Paleoenvironmental Circumstances of Early Cambrian Burgess Shale-Type Deposit, Nevada

0073089Loren E. 1999年期间，巴布科克在内华达州埃斯梅拉达县进行的勘探工作发现了一个新的下寒武统伯吉斯页岩型存款。 新的存款包含了各种生物类似于著名的伯吉斯页岩（不列颠哥伦比亚省的中寒武统）和澄江Lagerstatte（中国云南的下寒武统）。 这个新地点非常重要，因为它是北美已知的最古老的伯吉斯页岩型存款，也是全球最古老的此类存款之一。 建议对内华达州西部遗址进行探索性调查，以便在公众意识到它的存在之前为科学获得可用的化石。 这项工作的主要目的是：1，调查新地点的古生物学潜力; 2，对生物群形成的古环境（沉积和埋藏）进行初步研究; 3，准确评估新地点的年龄。 新的存款预计将增加重要的新信息，我们的理解“坎比亚爆炸”，特别是早期化石记录的事件记录在北美-格陵兰古大陆。

0073089Loren E. BabcockReconnaissance field work in Esmeralda County, Nevada, during 1999 resulted in the discovery of a new Lower Cambrian Burgess Shale-type deposit. The new deposit contains a variety of organisms similar in preservational quality to those from the celebrated Burgess Shale (Middle Cambrian of British Columbia) and the Chengjiang Lagerstatte (Lower Cambrian of Yunnan, China). The new site is of importance because it is the oldest Burgess Shale-type deposit known from North America, and one of the oldest such deposits globally. Exploratory investigation of the western Nevada site is proposed in order to secure available fossils for science before the public becomes aware of its existence. The primary purposes of this work are: 1, to investigate the paleontological potential of the new locality; 2, to conduct preliminary studies on the paleoenvironmental circumstances (both depositional and taphonomic) under which the biota was fossilized; and 3, to accurately assess the age of the new site. The new deposit is expected to add important new information to our understanding of the "Cambian explosion," and particularly the early fossil record of the event as recorded in the North America-Greenland paleocontinent.