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Sphenothallus-like fossils from the Martinsburg Formation (Upper Ordovician), Tennessee, USA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

Maya Li Wei-Haas ,
Bosiljka Glumac  and
H. Allen Curran
Maya Li Wei-Haas
Affiliation:
1Department of Geosciences, Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts 01063, USA, 2School of Earth Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43212, USA (current)
Bosiljka Glumac
Affiliation:
1Department of Geosciences, Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts 01063, USA,
H. Allen Curran
Affiliation:
1Department of Geosciences, Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts 01063, USA,
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Abstract

Tubular fossils, up to 2 mm in diameter and 60 mm in length, occur rarely in the upper Martinsburg Formation (Upper Ordovician), northeastern Tennessee Appalachians, U.S.A. The fossils are unbranched, straight or slightly bent, occasionally twisted and wrinkled, and not significantly tapered. Orientation of the fossils within shallow-marine tempestites suggests that they represent remains of organisms that were broken, transported, and deposited by storm waves and currents. The fossils are morphologically similar to many of the previously identified species belonging to the genus Sphenothallus, a relatively rare tube-dwelling Paleozoic marine invertebrate. Owing to the limited evidence for distal widening of the tubes, lack of holdfasts, and carbonaceous rather than phosphatic composition, the affinity of these fossils remains uncertain, and we refer to them as Sphenothallus-like.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 85 , Issue 2 , March 2011 , pp. 353 - 359
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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