Early Cambrian Ediacaran-type fossils from California

Ediacara-type fossils are rare in the southwestern United States, and Cambr ian occurrences of soft-bodied Ediacaran-type fossils are extremely rare. W e report both discoidal and frondlike fossils comparable to Ediacaran taxa from the western edge of the Great Basin. We describe one specimen of a dis coidal fossil, referred to the form species ?Tirasiana disciformis, from th e upper member of the Lower Cambrian Wood Canyon Formation from the Salt Sp ring Hills, California. Two fragmentary specimens of frond-like soft-bodied fossils are described from the middle member of the Lower Cambrian Poleta Formation in the White Mountains, California, and the upper member of the W ood Canyon Formation in the southern Kelso Mountains, California. On the ba sis of similarities with fossils from the lower member of the Wood Canyon F ormation and from the Spitzkopf Member of the Urusis Formation of Namibia, these specimens are interpreted as cf. Swartpuntia. All fossils were collec ted from strata containing diagnostic Early Cambrian body and trace fossils , and thus add to previous reports of complex Ediacaran forms in Cambrian m arine environments. In this region, Swartpuntia persists through several hu ndred meters of section, spanning at least two trilobite zones.