The Fauna and Paleoecology of the Charleston Quarry Shale

The fauna and paleoecology of a late-Pennsylvanian shale contained in the Livingston Limestone of eastern Illinois is here defined. The name, Charleston quarry shale, is informally used for this shale in the area of the Charleston Stone Company quarry, northeast of Charleston, Illinois (SEC. 32, T. 13N., R. 10E., Coles Co.). The fauna consists mostly of bryozoans, brachiopods and crinoids distributed throughout three distinct zones in the Charleston quarry shale. This fauna inhabited an offshore quiet bottom area in a shallow, warm, marine epicontinental sea which covered the area in the late-Pennsylvanian geologic period. The depth of water above the Charleston quarry shale during its deposition was approximately 20 meters