Paleontology and Sedimentology of the Alum Shale Formation at Björnberget, Västerbotten County, Sweden

Abstract: A new locality of the Alum Shale Formation at Björnberget, Västerbotten County, of the lower allochthon of the Caledonian front is described herein. Two new species of acrotretid brachiopods were found. Tingitanella vilhelminia n. sp. adds another species to the monospecific genus. T. vilhelminia also extend the genus distribution to Sweden. Anabolotreta furcatus n. sp. is the first member of the genus found in Sweden and extend the stratigraphic range to Stage 5 of Cambrian Series 3. It also exhibits an unusual bifurcating shell structure described for the first time herein. One trilobite was found at the locality, Acadoparadoxides torelli, indicating that the exposures at Björnberget belong to the upper Acadoparadoxides (Baltoparadoxides) oelandicus superzone. The fauna found is impoverished in comparison to the fauna that has been described from Jämtland and reflects the depositional environment on the deep outer shelf with low sediment input. The known exposure at Granberget, close to Björnberget, is described with respect to the paleontology and sedimentology of the section. The fauna at Granberget could be extended with two new species of agnostids, Hypagnostus lingula and Hypagnostus mammillatus, to a total of six taxa of trilobites. The depositional environment was periodically affected by storms, depositing limestone layers composed of skeletal material. The Alum shale does not exhibit these sedimentary structures and have probably lost the majority of the them during diagenesis.