Deep Spring Formation

The Deep Spring Formation is a geologic formation in Nevada. It preserves fossils dating back to the Ediacaran and Cambrian periods, like Wutubus and Elainabella.^[3][4] It is also currently the only known Ediacaran Lagerstätten in the Southwestern United States.^[3]

Deep Spring Formation
Stratigraphic range: Ediacaran – Cambrian 540–527 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N [1]
Deep Springs Valley, the locality after which the formation is named.
Type	Geological Formation
Sub-units	Dunfee, Esmeralda and Gold Point Members
Underlies	Campito Formation[2]
Overlies	Reed Dolomite[2]
Thickness	549 m (1800 ft)
Lithology
Primary	Limestone
Other	Quartzite, Siltstone
Location
Region	Nevada
Country	United States
Type section
Named for	Deep Springs Valley

Geology

The Deep Spring Formation is mainly composed of siltstone, sandstone, limyor dolomitic sandstones, quartzite, sandy limestones and dolomite.^[5]

Members

The Deep Spring Formation is composed of three members, which are as follows in ascending age:

• Dunfee Member: This member is the thickest, getting up to 670 ft (200 m) thick, and is composed of medium-gray or grayish-orange fine crystalline and very thin bedded limestone. Some layers of limestone contain fine grains of quartz, and small irregular carbonate pellets about a quarter of an inch in diameter. There are also light-gray, medium-gray or very-pale-orange fine to coarse crystalline and laminated to thick-bedded dolomite, which occur at the base and top of the member.^[5]
• Esmeralda Member: This member can get up to 600 ft (180 m) thick, and consists primarily yellowish-gray, pale-yellowish-brown, and very-light-gray very fine to fine grained, and evenly laminated to rarely cross-stratified quartzite and calcareous sandstone. There are medium-gray very fine crystalline to fine crystalline limestone, some of which is oolitic. Within some parts of the member, there are also greenish-gray, olive-gray, and very pale orange siltstone, as well as very-pale-orange very fine crystalline to medium crystalline dolomite.^[5]
• Gold Point Member: This member is the thinnest, getting up to 350 ft (110 m) thick, and is primarily composed of grayish-olive, greenish-gray, and medium-gray siltstone and very fine grained silty quartzite in the lower parts of this member, whilst in the upper parts of the member has medium-gray fine crystalline dolomite, with occasional limestones.^[5]

Paleobiota

The first organism to be described from the Deep Spring Formation in 2014 was Elainabella in the Esmeralda Member, an enigmatic alga with similarities to green algae, suggesting that part of the formation was at one point a shallow marine environment or a microbial reef community.^[4] From there, more organisms would be described and named from this formation, most of which are ichnogenera like Planolites, alongside some hyoliths within Cambrian sections, and even a myriad of tubular forms within the Ediacaran sections, like Wutubus and Saarina, expanding not only the stratigraphic range of some of these forms, but also their biogeographic range.^[3][6]

Color key Taxon Reclassified taxon Taxon falsely reported as present Dubious taxon or junior synonym Ichnotaxon Ootaxon Morphotaxon		Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; crossed out taxa are discredited.

Lophotrochozoa

Paleobiota
Genus	Species	Notes	Images
Salanytheca[7]	Salanytheca sp.	Orthothecid hyolith, from the Cambrian section of the formtion.
Spinulitheca[6]	S. billingsi	Hyolith lophotrochozoan, from the Cambrian section of the formtion.

incertae sedis

Paleobiota
Genus	Species	Notes	Images
Cloudina[3][6][8]	C. hartmannae	Worm-like organism.
Costatubus[6]	C. bibendi	Tubular fossil, first occurrence in this formation and new species. Previously reported as Conotubus.[3]
Coleoloides[9]	C. inyoensis	Tubular fossil.
Gaojiashania[3][6]	Gaojiashania sp.	Worm-like organism.
Saarina[6]	S. hagadorni	Tubular fossil, first occurrence in this formation and new species.
Sinotubulites[6][8]	S. cienegensis	Tubular fossil, originally reported as S. cienegensis.[6]
Wutubus[3][6]	W. annularis	Tubular fossil.
Wyattia (?)[10][5]	W. reedensis (?)	Mollusc-like fossil. May by synonymous with Cloudina, though this is tenuous at best.[8]
Vendotaenia[11]	Vendotaenia sp.	Ribbon-like organism.

Flora

Paleobiota
Genus	Species	Notes	Images
Elainabella[4]	E. deepspringensis	Enigmatic filamentous multicellular alga.
Stromatolites[12]	Stromatolites	Cyanobacteria layered formation.

Ichnogenera

Paleobiota
Genus	Species	Notes	Images
Bergaueria[3][13]	Bergaueria sp.	Resting place of Cnidarians.
Neonereites (?)[3]	Neonereites (?) sp.	Burrows.
Planolites[3][13]	Planolites sp.	Burrows.
Scolicia (?)[3]	Scolicia sp.	Burrows.
Rusophycus[5][12]	Rusophycus sp.	Resting traces.
Cruziana[5]	Cruziana sp.	Movement traces.
Treptichnus[3][13]	T. pedum	Burrows.
Helminthoidichnites[13]	Helminthoidichnites sp.	Burrows.
Helminthopsis[13]	Helminthopsis sp.	Feeding trails.
Cochlichnus[13]	Cochlichnus sp.	Burrows.
Belorhaphe[13]	Belorhaphe sp.	Burrows.
Helicolithus[13]	Helicolithus sp.	Burrows.
Diplichnites[12]	Diplichnites sp.	Arthropod trackways.
Skolithos[12]	Skolithos sp.	Burrows.
Monocraterion[12]	Monocraterion sp.	Burrows.
Monomorphichnus[12]	M. multilineatus	Trilobite feeding traces.
Astropolithon (?)[12]	Astropolithon (?) sp.	Sea star burrows.

See also

• Earth sciences portal
• United States portal
• Paleontology portal

• List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in Nevada
• Paleontology in Nevada