The Holm Oal Formation of central North Greenland is formally proposed and its depositional history elucidated. A rich fauna of trilobites, brachiopods and molluscs, and a single association of trace fossils are described. The relationship between trilobite distribution and lithofacies is analysed.

The trilobite fauna is dominated by polymeroids that are most characteristic of the lower and middle Cedaria Zone (early Oresbachian) as widely applied in North America. Agnostoid species are characteristic of the upper Lejopyge laevigata Interval-zone, indicating a late Middle Cambrian age by correlation with the Swedish standard for north-western Europe. Twenty four of the 58 species of trilobites are new, as are 9 of the 34 genera.

Fourteen species of inarticulate brachiopods are referred to 11 genera; three species are new. One new genus and 5 new species are described among 13 species of molluscs; a new ichnospecies of the arthropod trackway Multipodichnus is described.