PALEOECOLOGY LAB DESCRIPTION OF ASSEMBLAGES JAMES R EBERT SUNY

Assemblage comprises 4 slabs that bear in situ colonies of Stromatoporoids, favositid tabulate corals and fragments of rugose corals in a coarse, gravelly matrix of crinoid debris.

Assemblage 2 comprises 3 slabs with a high abundance, but low diversity fauna. Tentaculitids dominate the assemblage with rare fragments of branching bryozoans and rare valves of Howellella vanuxemi, a small spriferid brachiopod

Assemblage 3 comprises 5 slabs with a high abundance and high diversity fauna, some of which are in situ. This fauna is representative of the most diverse fauna in the Helderberg Group. The slabs display abundant brachiopods belonging to at least 6 species, bryozoans, sponges, trilobites, rugose corals, crinoid debris, and rare tabulate corals, cephalopods, gastropods and bivalves. Published descriptions from this unit report over 300 species with a minimum of 65 different species of brachiopods.

Assemblage 4 comprises 3 slabs, two of which are silty shale and one of which is a siltstone. All fossils are preserved as molds and casts. Small bivalves predominate with fewer pieces of crinoids stem, brachiopods, tentaculitids and one cephalopod.