Tommotian (Lower Cambrian) stratigraphy and fossil fauna communities in the Kiya River section (Kuznetsk Alatau)

The lower Ust'-Kundat Formation has been studied in detail in a section along the Kiya River (Kuznetsk Alatau, Altai-Sayan folded area). The section was deposited during the Tommotian stage and is a stratotype for the Lower Cambrian Ust'-Kundat sequence comprising several members of the Ust'-Kundat Formation. Member 2 contains newly discovered and previously known species of archaeocyathids near its top found stratigraphically lower than the oldest known archaeocyathan assemblage of the Nochoroicyathus mariinskii biozone. The found archaeocyaths cannot be dated precisely and may have either Tommotian or Atdabanian ages. Small shelly fossils from the same section cover a large stratigraphic range as well. The findings call for updating the age of the upper Ust'-Kundat sequence and the Tommotian upper boundary in the regional stratigraphy of the Altai-Sayan folded area.