Kinzers Formation

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.
TypeSedimentary
Sub-unitsEmigsville Mb., York Mb., Greenmount Mb.
UnderliesLedger Formation
OverliesVintage Dolomite
Lithology
PrimaryLimestone
OtherShale, marble
Location
RegionMid-Atlantic United States
Country United States
ExtentPennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia
Type section
Named forKinzers, Pennsylvania
Named byStose, 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

Named from exposures at a railroad cut at Kinzers, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.[1]

Other outcrops

The 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.
    The section at Vintage in 2019. The Kinzers is the darker, layered rock above the lighter Vintage.
  • Another view of the type section.
    Another view of the type section.

See also

References
  1. 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
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. Noah Getz Quarry at mindat.org
  5. 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
  • Various Contributors to the Paleobiology Database. "Fossilworks: Gateway to the Paleobiology Database". Retrieved 17 December 2021.


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