# Mule Spring Limestone

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The **Mule Spring Limestone** is a [geologic formation](/source/Formation_(geology)) in the [Saline Range](/source/Saline_Range) of eastern [California](/source/California) and Split Mountain and [Goldfield Hills](/source/Goldfield_Hills) of [Nevada](/source/Nevada). It can also be found outcropping in the [Inyo Mountains](/source/Inyo_Mountains) and [White Mountains](/source/White_Mountains_(California)).

The formation also preserves [fossils](/source/Fossils), primarily [trilobites](/source/Trilobite), dating back to the [Cambrian](/source/Cambrian) [period](/source/Period_(geology)).

## Geology

The Mule Spring Limestone, as its name suggests, is mainly composed of [limestone](/source/Limestone) rocks. These rocks are medium-gray to light-medium-gray, as well as very fine to fine crystalline, and is thin to very thin-bedded in most areas. In the lower sections of the formation, there are also occasional layers, up to 500 ft (150 m) thick, of pale-yellowish-brown or greenish-gray [shale](/source/Shale), limy [siltstone](/source/Siltstone) and silty limestone.[1] In the [Split Mountain](/source/Split_Mountain_(California)), the formation overlies the [Harkless Formation](/source/Harkless_Formation) and underlies the [Emigrant Formation](/source/Emigrant_Formation),[1][2] whilst in other areas it overlies the [Saline Valley Formation](/source/Saline_Valley_Formation) and underlies the [Monola Formation](/source/Monola_Formation).[1]

## Paleobiota

The Mule Spring Limestone contains examples of [Archaeocyatha](/source/Archaeocyatha), a clade of sponges that went extinct during this time,[3] as well as a collection of [trilobites](/source/Trilobite).[4][1]

### Arthropoda

Genus Species Notes Images Bristolia[1][4][5][2] Bristolia sp. B. harringtoni B. insolens B. bristolensis B. anteros B. fragilis Biceratopsid trilobites. Peachella[1][4][5] Peachella sp. Biceratopsid trilobite. Mesonacis[4] Mesonacis sp. Olenellid trilobite. Mesonacis sp. previously described as Fremontia sp. which was later synonymised into Mesonacis.[1] Olenellus[4][5][6][2] Olenellus sp. O. puertoblancoensis(?) Olenellid trilobite. Olenellus sp. previously described as Paedumias sp. which was later synonymised into Olenellus.[1] Onchocephalus[4][5] Onchocephalus sp. Ptychoparid trilobite. Ptychoparioid[4][6][2] Ptychoparioid sp. A Ptychoparioid sp. B Ptychoparioid sp. C Ptychoparioid sp. D Ptychoparid trilobites. Bonnia[1][4][5][2] Bonnia sp. Dorypygid trilobite. Crassifimbra[2] Crassifimbra sp. Trilobite, family unknown.

### Porifera (Sponges)

Genus Species Notes Images Archaeocyathus[3] Archaeocyathus sp. Archaeocyathide sponge.

### Flora

Genus Species Notes Images Girvanella[1] Girvanella sp. Cyanobacteria structures.

## See also

- [List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in Nevada](/source/List_of_fossiliferous_stratigraphic_units_in_Nevada)
- [Paleontology in Nevada](/source/Paleontology_in_Nevada)

## References

1. Stewart, J. H. ["Upper Precambrian and Lower Cambrian Strata, in the Southern Great Basin California and Nevada"](https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/0620/report.pdf). *U.S. Geological Survery*. Geological Survey Professional.

1. Sundberg, Frederick A. & Webster, Mark (July 2022). "“Ptychoparioid” trilobites of the Harkless Formation and Mule Spring Limestone (Cambrian Series 2, Stage 4), Clayton Ridge, Nevada". *Journal of Paleontology*. **96** (4): 886–920. [doi:10.1017/jpa.2021.124](https://doi.org/10.1017/jpa.2021.124)

1. Pruss, Sara B.; Karbowski, Grace; Zhuravlev, Andrey Yu; Webster, Mark; Smith, Emily F. (30 June 2024). "DEAD CLADE WALKING: THE PERSISTENCE OF ARCHAEOCYATHUS IN THE AFTERMATH OF EARLY CAMBRIAN REEF EXTINCTION IN THE WESTERN UNITED STATES". *Palaios*. **39** (6): 210–224. [doi:10.2110/palo.2024.005](https://doi.org/10.2110/palo.2024.005)

1. [Mule Spring Limestone Formation Trilobites](http://www.westerntrilobites.com/Formations/Mulespring.htm)

1. Alpert, Stephen P. (1976). ["Trilobite and Star-like Trace Fossils from the White-Inyo Mountains, California"](https://www.jstor.org/stable/1303490). *Journal of Paleontology*. **50** (2): 226–239. [ISSN 0022-3360](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0022-3360)

1. Sundberg, Frederick A. & McCollum, Linda B. (September 2003). "Early and Mid Cambrian trilobites from the outer‐shelf deposits of Nevada and California, USA". *Palaeontology*. **46** (5): 945–986. [doi:10.1111/1475-4983.00328](https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-4983.00328)

- ((Various Contributors to the Paleobiology Database)). ["Fossilworks: Gateway to the Paleobiology Database"](https://www.fossilworks.org). Retrieved 17 December 2021.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Mule Spring Limestone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mule_Spring_Limestone) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mule_Spring_Limestone?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.