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Early Cambrian Fossils of Westgard Pass, California

Westgard Pass is a well-known place where different fossils are found. Enigmatic

archeocythid is fossils preserved in the rocks. The fossils are located to the view of route 168

California to the southwest of Owens valley and the Sierra Nevada. The place is used to access

the Cambrian geologic rock near the white-Inyo Mountains found near the Westgard Pass. The

area is prominent for the different species found. Archaeocythid exists in fifty-eight counties in

California (Hagadorn et al. 731). 

Archaeocythid was a marine invertebrate that did not survive beyond the early Cambrian

era. It is about 510milion years absent from the geological record. It was distributed within 18

years, between 510 and 528 years, to distribute and develop into different species. An

Archaeocythid was described as a peculiar that occurs when there is a cross between coral and

sponge (Ke-xing et al. 1). 

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Archeocyathids occur approximately 2000 feet (middle), a third of the lower Cambrian

section. Three assemblages are recognized and can be correlated through the region; this is

carried out by applying for the stratigraphic position (Rowland et al. The archaeocyathid,

ethmophyllu, is found around1000 feet above the olenellid and trilobite. Moreover, the

archeocythid, which is characterized by coscinocyathus, is located 3000 feet below the

uppermost olenellid fauna". Archeocyathid occurs on the rocks of the white-Inyo Mountain. The

rocks are of Cambrian age, also known as the Lower Cambrian (Morgan et al. 13).

Additionally, archeocyathid occur in the silt-free limestone. The fossils comprising of

calcium carbonate are found on the lower part of the oldest sections of the exposure under the

thick deposits of poleta shales. It is hard to explain how the three disappeared because they were

the first phyla due to their failure to contribute to the geological record. Therefore, their presence

in Westgard Pass shows that they did not go away; they still exist. This is supported by the fact

that after the Cambrian explosion, some creatures not only survived on rocks but also changed to

other forms due to the multicellular division-leading changes in the way of living.

There was a swarm in the early Cambrian and a shallow sea end in the Westgard Pass

area. The sea was near the equator, and there were different species of animals deposited during

the Cambrian explosion period. The species include; the archeocyathid, olenellid trionites,

helicoplacus echinoderms (Dornbos et al. 839).  

There are different species found in fossil locality. The species include ammonites,

trailsolenellid trionites, annelid, arthropod tracks, helicoplacus echinoderms, and archeocyathid.

The fossil taxa of archeocythid are as follows; 

Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species

Archaeocyatha
Porifera
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Protocyocyathidae

Anomalocaris

Taxa are critical because it helps to categorize organisms; this is done by comparing their

features. Secondly, it helps to give a name to each taxon, and thirdly, it helps to identify bacteria.

Moreover, it becomes accessible to their species by identifying organisms' species; it is easy to

understand slight differences between organisms falling under the same genus. Class, genus, and

species are essential in determining the interaction amongst organisms and their respective

surroundings.

The class in which an organism belongs classified is also essential because it helps to

show the relationship between the organisms. Different species were found under similar

settings; this was a clear indication that other organisms interacted within the same environment

before the Cambrian explosion. For instance, the archeocyathis, olenellid trionites, helicoplacus

echinoderms are found in indifferent depth. 

Work cited

Churkin Jr, Michael, and EARL E. Brabb. "Occurrence and stratigraphical significance of

Oldhamia, a Cambrian trace fossil, in East-Central Alaska." United States Geological

Survey Professional Paper 525.D (1965): D120-D124.

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Debrenne, F., and M. Debrenne. "Archaeocyathid fauna of the lowest fossiliferous levels of

Tiout (Lower Cambrian, southern Morocco)." Geological Magazine 115.2 (1978): 101-

119.

Dornbos, Stephen Q., and David J. Bottjer. "Evolutionary paleoecology of the earliest

echinoderms: helicoplacoids and the Cambrian substrate revolution." Geology 28.9

(2000): 839-842.

Hagadorn, James W., Christopher M. Fedo, and Ben M. Waggoner. "Early Cambrian Ediacaran-

type fossils from California." Journal of Paleontology 74.4 (2000): 731-740.

Ke-xing, Yuan, and Zhang Sen-gui. "Lower Cambrian archaeocyathid assemblages

of." Paleontology in China, 1979: Selected Papers Presented at the Third General

Assembly and Twelfth National Meeting of the Palaeontological Society of China, April,

1979. Vol. 187. Geological Society of America, 1981.

Moore, Johnnie |N. "Poleta Formation and Its Stratigraphic Equivalents."

Morgan, Nina. "The Montenegro Bioherms: Their Paleoecology, Relation to Other

Archeocyathid Bioherms and to Early Cambrian Sedimentation in the White and Inyo

Mountains, California." (1976): 13-17.

Rowland, Stephen M., and Sandra J. Carlson. "Westgardia gigantea, a new Lower Cambrian

fossil from eastern California." Journal of Paleontology (1983): 1317-1320.