EAGER: Mississippian Bear Gulch Limestone Paleoecology, Stratigraphy and Geochemistry

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EAGER: Mississippian Bear Gulch Limestone Paleoecology, Stratigraphy, and GeochemistryGeorge Stanley, University of Montana, EAR-1349368ABSTRACT The Bear Gulch Limestone (BG) in located in central Montana and is a plattenkalk representing one of the most outstanding Mississippian marine konservat lagerstätte. It is a thin limestone lens 30 meters thick, that suggests restricted conditions. Deposited during the latest Mississippian the BG records a time of great climatic, environmental, and potential evolutionary change as yet unstudied. We know so little about the paleoecology of this lagerstätte as well as the chemical and physical setting which allowed the amazing preservation of soft-parts which characterizes much of the fauna. Most of the exposures are located on private land and due to the activities of commercial fossil marketers, only a single landowner is now permitting access. This project aims to undertake a field and laboratory study aimed at providing needed physical, chemical and paleoecologic data. The acquisition of such data will provide the intellectual background and broader impacts for formulating a later, more fully developed project.