Thickness 10–15 m Location South Africa | Primary Silts and mudstones | |
The Soom Shale is a member of the Late Ordovician (Hirnantian) Cedarberg Formation (Table Mountain Group) in South Africa, renowned for its remarkable preservation of soft-tissue in fossil material. Deposited in still waters, the unit lacks bioturbation, perhaps indicating anoxic conditions.
It overlies the Pakhuis tillite and is overlain by the Disa Siltstone.
It contains typical Ordovician microfossils, such as chitinozoa, acritarchs and spores, and its shelly fauna is also typical of this time period.
Its macrofauna comprises pelagic organisms that sank rapidly to a barren sea floor. These include brachiopods, eurypterids, conodonts, naraoiid trilobites, and orthoconic cephalopods.
References
Soom Shale Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA