26 research outputs found
The taphonomy of a trilobite fauna from an uppermost Katian echinoderm LagerstÀtte in South West Wales
Summary:
The uppermost Katian (Rawtheyan) Slade and Redhill Mudstone Formation, in the Llanddowror area of Carmarthenshire in South West Wales, contains an horizon yielding abundant, articulated crinoids, cystoids, mitrate âcarpoidsâ, asteroids and ophiuroids. This echinoderm LagerstĂ€tte also includes a rich trilobite fauna dominated by illaenids and is thus unlike any of the other trilobite faunas in the formation, as is the occurrence of several enrolled or partially enrolled specimens. The trilobites and echinoderms provide the same taphonomic signal â the rapid transport and burial of organisms, leading to their death. Transport occurred within sandâgrade sediment without causing disarticulation of skeletons of the animals that were alive immediately prior to the event