Shackleton Limestone
{{Infobox rockunit
| name = Shackleton Formation
| image = {{Location map+ | Antarctica
| relief = 1
| width = 250
| float = center
| places =
{{Location map~ | Antarctica
| lat_deg = -82.2
| lon_deg = -160.3
| mark = Dark Green 004040 pog.svg
| marksize = 12
}}
}}
| type = Geological formation
| age = Cambrian Stage 3
~{{fossil range|520|516}}
| period = Cambrian
| prilithology = Limestone, marble, sandstone
| otherlithology = Quartzite, conglomerate, shale, dolomite
| namedfor = Ernest Shackleton
| namedby = Laird
| year_ts = 1963
| region = Churchill Mountains
| country = Ross Dependency
| coordinates = {{coord|82.2|S|160.3|W|display=inline,title}}
| paleocoordinates = {{coord|0.7|S|155.4|W|display=inline}}
| unitof = Byrd Group
| subunits =
| underlies = Starshot Formation
| overlies = Goldie Formation
| thickness =
| extent =
| area =
| map = Panotiaggg.jpg
| map_caption = Paleogeography of the Cambrian with the supercontinent Pannotia and Antarctica south of the paleo-equator
}}
The Shackleton Limestone is a Cambrian limestone formation of the Byrd Group of the Ross Dependency in Antarctica. The age of the formation is established to be Cambrian Stage 3, dated at ranging from 520 to 516 Ma. This period correlates with the End-Botomian mass extinction. Fossils of trilobites and Marocella mira and Dailyatia have been found in the formation, named after Ernest Shackleton, who led a failed expedition into Antarctica. At time of deposition, the Antarctic Plate has been established to be just south of the equator as part of the supercontinent Pannotia, contrasting with its present position at 82 degrees southern latitude.[https://paleobiodb.org/classic/displayCollResults?collection_no=7821 Shackleton Limestone] at Fossilworks.org
Geology
The formation, named by Laird in 1963, crops out in the Churchill Mountains, part of the Transantarctic Mountains of southwestern Antarctica. The most complete exposures are in the Holyoake Range.Myrow et al., 2002, p.1073 Paleontological data and carbon isotope stratigraphy indicate that the Shackleton Limestone ranges from lower Atdabanian through upper Botomian. The formation is a thick carbonate deposit with a lower unit of unfossiliferous interbedded quartzite and limestone, overlies the Late Proterozoic argillaceous turbidite Goldie Formation and underlies the Starshot Formation.{{cite book |last1=Rowell |first1=A.J. |last2=Rees |first2=M.N. |editor1-last=Thomson |editor1-first=M.R.A. |editor2-last=Crame |editor2-first=J.A. |editor3-last=Thomson |editor3-first=J.W. |title=Setting and significance of the Shackleton Limestone, central Transantarctic Mountains, in Geological Evolution of Antarctica |date=1991 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=9780521372664 |pages=171–175}} Other lithologies noted in the Shackleton Limestone are marble with breccia, conglomerate, sandstone and shale.Laird et al., 1971, p.428 The abrupt transition from the Shackleton Limestone to a large-scale, upward coarsening siliciclastic succession records deepening of the outer platform and then deposition of an eastward-prograding molassic wedge. The various formations of the upper Byrd Group show general stratigraphic and age equivalence, such that coarse-grained alluvial fan deposits of the Douglas Conglomerate are proximal equivalents of the marginal-marine to shelf deposits of the Starshot Formation.Myrow et al., 2002, p.1070
The sandstone-rich lower member of the Shackleton Limestone is exposed at Cotton Plateau beneath Panorama Point, where it consists of up to {{convert|133|m|ft}} of interbedded white- to cream-weathering, vitreous, quartz sandstone and brown-weathering, white, fine-grained dolomitic grainstone. These beds are in fault contact with the adjacent Goldie Formation.Myrow et al., 2002, p.1075 The formation postdates the Beardmore Orogeny of the Neoproterozoic,Elliot, 1975, p.54 and was deformed by the Ross Orogeny.Stump et al., 2006, p.2
Fossil content
The formation has provided fossils of trilobites such as Holyoakia granulosa, Pagetides (Discomesites) spinosus, Lemdadella antarcticae, Kingaspis (?) convexus, Yunnanocephalus longioccipitalis, and Onchocephalina (?) spinosa.Palmer & Rowell, 1995 Other fossils found are Marocella mira, and Dailyatia odyssei and D. braddocki.Skovsted, 2015, p.16
See also
References
{{reflist|20em}}
= Bibliography =
- {{citation |last=Elliot |first=David H |year=1975 |title=Tectonics of Antarctica: A Review |url=http://earth.geology.yale.edu/~ajs/1975/ajs_275A_1.pdf/45.pdf |journal=American Journal of Science |volume=275-A |pages=45–106 |accessdate=2018-05-22}}
- {{citation |last1=Laird |first1=M.G. |last2=Mansergh |first2=G.D. |last3=Chappell |first3=J.M.A. |year=1971 |title=Geology of the Central Nimrod Glacier area, Antarctica |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00288306.1971.10421939 |journal=New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=427–468 |doi=10.1080/00288306.1971.10421939 |bibcode=1971NZJGG..14..427L |accessdate=2018-05-22|url-access=subscription }}
- {{citation |last1=Myrow |first1=Paul M. |last2=Pope |first2=Michael C. |last3=Goodge |first3=John W. |last4=Fischer |first4=Woodward |last5=Palmer |first5=Alison R. |year=2002 |title=Depositional history of pre-Devonian strata and timing of Ross orogenic tectonism in the central Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica |url=https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/011c/d1f83efcf3d1549056347f22d1e0c9a0657b.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180523100713/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/011c/d1f83efcf3d1549056347f22d1e0c9a0657b.pdf |archive-date=2018-05-23 |journal=GSA Bulletin |volume=114 |issue=9 |pages=1070–1088 |doi=10.1130/0016-7606(2002)114<1070:DHOPDS>2.0.CO;2 |bibcode=2002GSAB..114.1070M |s2cid=17130391 |accessdate=2018-05-22}}
- {{citation |last1=Palmer |first1=A.R. |last2=Rowell |first2=A.J. |year=1995 |title=Early Cambrian trilobites from the Shackleton Limestone of the Central Mountains |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-paleontology/article/early-cambrian-trilobites-from-the-shackleton-limestone-of-the-central-transantarctic-mountains/458FD691DDC1E603ECEE32566EC4C3A2 |journal=Journal of Paleontology Memoir |volume=69 |pages=1–28 |doi=10.1017/S0022336000061424 |accessdate=2018-05-22|url-access=subscription }}
- {{citation |last1=Skovsted |first1=Christian B. |last2=Betts |first2=Marissa J. |last3=Topper |first3=Timothy P. |last4=Brock |first4=Glenn A. |year=2015 |title=The early Cambrian tommotiid genus Dailyatia from South Australia |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282810172 |journal=AAP Memoir |volume=48 |pages=1–117 |bibcode=2015ectg.book.....S |accessdate=2018-05-22}}
- {{cite book | last1=Stump | first1=Edmund | last2=Gootee | first2=Brian | last3=Talarico | first3=Franco | title=Antarctica | chapter=Tectonic Model for Development of the Byrd Glacier Discontinuity and Surrounding Regions of the Transantarctic Mountains during the Neoproterozoic — Early Paleozoic | publisher=Springer-Verlag | publication-place=Berlin/Heidelberg | date=2006 | isbn=978-3-540-30673-3 | doi=10.1007/3-540-32934-x_22 | pages=181–190|chapter-url=https://epic.awi.de/17003/1/Stu2006d.pdf}}
Category:Geologic formations of Antarctica
Category:Conglomerate formations
Category:Shallow marine deposits