THE LATE CAMBRIAN SPICE (d13C) EVENT AND THE SAUK II–SAUK III REGRESSION: NEW EVIDENCE FROM LAURENTIAN BASINS IN UTAH, IOWA, AND NEWFOUNDLAND

• Main Author: Allison R. Palmer
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Worm Creek; Newfoundland
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.566.8942; http://www.geology.ohio-state.edu/~saltzman/saltzmanetal_jsr04.pdf

ABSTRACT: Carbon isotope data from Upper Cambrian sections in three Laurentian basins in northern Utah, central Iowa, and western Newfoundland record a large positive d13C excursion (SPICE event) of up to 1 5‰. Peak d13C ratios are well dated by trilobite collections to the middle of the Steptoean Stage (Dunderbergia Zone) and occur during maximum regression associated with formation of the Sauk II– Sauk III subsequence boundary on the North American craton. Max-imum regression was marked by an influx of quartz sand into carbon-ate-platform settings in all three widely separated basins. In northern Utah, this quartz sand formed a thick sequence known as the Worm Creek Quartzite, which marks a conspicuous interruption of carbonate deposition during the Middle to Late Cambrian in the region. In west-ern Newfoundland, the thickness of the quartz sand unit is much re-duced but still marks a brief shutdown of the carbonate factory that is unique to the Cambrian shelf succession of the area. In the central