The Kinzers Formation is a geologic formation in Pennsylvania. It preserves fossils dating back to the Cambrian Period.
| Kinzers Formation | |
|---|---|
| Stratigraphic range: Cambrian | |
 Reticulately weathered argillaceous-banded limestone of upper member of Kinzers Formation. USGS photo. | |
| Type | Sedimentary |
| Sub-units | Emigsville Mb., York Mb., Greenmount Mb. |
| Underlies | Ledger Formation |
| Overlies | Vintage Dolomite |
| Lithology | |
| Primary | Limestone |
| Other | Shale, marble |
| Location | |
| Region | Mid-Atlantic United States |
| Country |  United States |
| Extent | Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia |
| Type section | |
| Named for | Kinzers, Pennsylvania |
| Named by | Stose, G.W., and Jonas, A.I.[1] |
The base of the Kinzers Formation is primarily a dark-brown shale. The middle is a gray and white spotted limestone and, locally, marble having irregular partings. The top is a sandy limestone which weathers to a fine-grained, friable, porous, sandy mass.[2]
Type section
editNamed from exposures at a railroad cut at Kinzers, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.[1]
Other outcrops
editThe Kinzers overlies the Vintage Dolomite at the type section of the Vintage at a railroad cut at Vintage, Pennsylvania.
High quality fossil specimens (Lagerstätte) were obtained from the Noah Getz Quarry, one mile north of Rohrerstown, Pennsylvania, but the quarry location is overgrown and disturbed by development. The fossils are from the Emigsville Member, and include the trilobite Olenellus thompsoni, the radiodont Lenisicaris pennsylvanica, the bivalve Tuzoia getzi, and the green algae Margaretia dorus.[3][4]
The sponge Hazelia walcotti has been found in the Kinzers. It is one of few sponges known from the Cambrian period of North America.[5]
-
The section at Vintage in 2019. The Kinzers is the darker, layered rock above the lighter Vintage. -
Another view of the type section.
See also
edit
References
edit- ^ a b Stose, G.W., and Jonas, A.I., 1922. The lower Paleozoic section in southeastern Pennsylvania, Washington Academy of Sciences, Journal v. 12, no. 5, p. 358-366 [1]
- ^ Berg, T. M., Edmunds, W. E., Geyer, A. R., and others, compilers, 1980, Geologic map of Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Geological Survey, 4th ser., Map 1, 2nd ed., 3 sheets, scale 1:250,000.
- ^ Resser, C.E. & B.F. Howell. 1938. Lower Cambrian Olenellus zone of the Appalachians. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America 49: 195-248, 13 pls. [2]
- ^ Noah Getz Quarry at mindat.org
- ^ Rigby, J. Keith, 1987. Early Cambrian sponges from Vermont and Pennsylvania, the only ones described from North America. Journal of Paleontology, Volume 61, Issue 3, May 1987, pp. 451-461 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022336000028638
External links
edit- Various Contributors to the Paleobiology Database. "Fossilworks: Gateway to the Paleobiology Database". Retrieved 17 December 2021.
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