23-9 Softbody preservation of a novel holdfast structure in the Lower Cambrian Archaeocyathids from the Cartersville Mining District, Bartow County, Georgia

Session: Paleontology of North America (Posters)

Presenting Author:

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Abstract:

One of the largest collections of archaeocyathids from a single locality was recently donated to Tellus Science Museum in Cartersville, Georgia. The more than 800 specimens were collected from the Shady Dolomite of the Cartersville Mining District in Bartow County, Georgia, by Stan Bearden during his 50-year career at New Riverside Ochre. Preserved in calcite/dolomite, baryte, quartz, and occasional goethite, the levels of observable detail varied by mineral. The carbonate-preserved specimens had the greatest detail, with some retaining internal wall structures. Taxonomic identification of specimens confirmed similar taxon counts matching previously recognized taxa in this district at the Order level with the addition of a heretofore unreported taxon from the Suborder Monocyathida and an undetermined Archaeophylid. A small number of carbonate- and quartz-preserved specimens of Archaeocyathus atlanticus present with a protruding, wavy structure that differs greatly from the calcite-covered rootlet structures observed in other species. We interpret these whorls around their conical base as soft-sediment holdfast structures. Previously undiscovered, these structures are indicative of soft body preservation in the original lime clay muds of the Lower Cambrian.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 58, No. 1, 2026

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