Lower Silurian trace fossils and the Eocoelia community in the Tortworth Inlier, SW England

Lower Silurian trace fossils and the Eocoelia Community in the Tortworth Inlier, SW England. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 107, 199-208. The Eocoelia brachiopod community in Silurian successions is generally treated as indicative of shallow marine conditions, above normal wave base. However, the tough durable shells of members of the Eocoelia community are allochthonous in their type locality, the Damery Beds (griestoniensis Zone, Telychian, late Llandovery, early Silurian) of the Tortworth Inlier, near Bristol, southwest England. Sedimentology of the shell beds, and associated trace fossils indicate an open-shelf site of deposition for this unit. The trace fossils of the Damery Beds, Gyrolithes, Palaeophycus, Rusophycus and Tomaculum, indicate Cruziana Ichnofacies. In addition, a medusoid resting trace may be the oldest representative of Palaeosemaeostoma.