Together with the Marjum Formation and lower Weeks Formation, the Wheeler Shale forms 490 to 610 m (1,610 to 2,000 ft) of limestone and shale exposed in one of the thickest, most fossiliferous and best exposed sequences of Middle Cambrian rocks in North America.[5]
At the type locality of Wheeler Amphitheater, House Range, Millard County, western Utah, the Wheeler Shale consists of a heterogeneous succession of highly calcareous shale, shaley limestone, mudstone and thin, flaggy limestone.[6] The Wheeler Formation (although the Marjum & Weeks Formations are missing) extends into the Drum Mountains, northwest of the House Range where similar fossils and preservation are found.[6]
Detailed work recognises a number of ~10 m thick lagerstätten sequences in the formation, each of which formed at a sea-level high stand[7] in deep water.[8] The lagerstätte were deposited by turbidities and mudslides onto an oxygenated sea floor.[7]
The productive layers comprise mud and clay particles, with a tiny fraction of wind-blown quartz.[9]
Incomplete list of the fauna of the Wheeler Shale:[6][11][12][13][14][15][16]
(Note: the preservation of hard bodied trilobite remains and soft bodied animals seems to be mutually exclusive within particular horizons.)[4][17]
^Johnson, Kirk; Troll, Ray (2007), Cruising the fossil freeway: An epoch tale of a scientist and an artist on the ultimate 5,000-Mile paleo road trip, Golden, CO.: Fulcrum Publishing, ISBN978-1-55591-451-6
^
Robert R. Gaines; Derek E.G. Briggs; Zhao Yuanlong (2008), "Cambrian Burgess Shale–type deposits share a common mode of fossilization", Geology, 36 (10): 755–758, Bibcode:2008Geo....36..755G, doi:10.1130/G24961A.1
^ abGaines, R; Kennedy, M; Droser, M (2005), "A New Hypothesis for Organic Preservation of Burgess Shale Taxa in the Middle Cambrian Wheeler Formation, House Range, Utah", Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 220 (1–2): 193–205, Bibcode:2005PPP...220..193G, doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2004.07.034
^ abcGunther, L.F.; Gunther, V.G. (1981), "Some Middle Cambrian Fossils of Utah", Brigham Young University Geology Studies, 28: 1–81
^ abBrett, C. E.; Allison, P. A.; Desantis, M. K.; Liddell, W. D.; Kramer, A. (2009). "Sequence stratigraphy, cyclic facies, and lagerstätten in the Middle Cambrian Wheeler and Marjum Formations, Great Basin, Utah". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 277 (1–2): 9–33. Bibcode:2009PPP...277....9B. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2009.02.010.
^Halgedahl, S. L.; Jarrard, R. D.; Brett, C. E.; Allison, P. A. (2009). "Geophysical and geological signatures of relative sea level change in the upper Wheeler Formation, Drum Mountains, West-Central Utah: A perspective into exceptional preservation of fossils". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 277 (1–2): 34–56. Bibcode:2009PPP...277...34H. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2009.02.011.
^Gaines, R. R.; Kennedy, M. J.; Droser, M. L. (2005). "A new hypothesis for organic preservation of Burgess Shale taxa in the middle Cambrian Wheeler Formation, House Range, Utah". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 220 (1–2): 193–205. Bibcode:2005PPP...220..193G. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2004.07.034.
^Rigby, J.K. (1978), "Porifera of the Middle Cambrian Wheeler Shale, from the Wheeler Amphitheater, House Range, in western Utah", Journal of Paleontology, 52 (6): 1325–1345, JSTOR1303938