Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T04:42:08.173Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Permo-Triassic arthropod trace fossils from the Beardmore Glacier area, central Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2009

Derek E.G. Briggs ,
Molly F. Miller ,
John L. Isbell  and
Christian A. Sidor
Derek E.G. Briggs*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geophysics, and Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
Molly F. Miller
Affiliation:
Geology Department, Box 6001 Station B, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA
John L. Isbell
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, PO Box 413, Milwaukee, WI 53201, USA
Christian A. Sidor
Affiliation:
Burke Museum and Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
*
*[email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Permian and Triassic lacustrine and fluvial-system deposits in the Beardmore Glacier area of the Transantarctic Mountains preserve a superb record of continental environments and evidence of life on extensive bedding plane exposures. They yielded the first invertebrate trackways reported from continental Permo-Triassic deposits of Antarctica, here assigned to the ichnogenera Diplichnites and Diplopodichnus, which were probably produced by myriapodous arthropods. A resting trace is compared to Orbiculichnus and interpreted as generated by a jumping insect. Plant life is represented by leaf impressions, fossil forests and peat, vertebrates by body and trace fossils, and invertebrate shallow infauna by near surface burrows. The small number and diversity of trackways recovered from the large bedding plane exposures suggest that trackway-producing arthropods were rare at these high southern palaeolatitudes.

Keywords

BuckleyFremouwGondwanaMackellarPermiantrackways
Type
Earth Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 22 , Issue 2 , April 2010 , pp. 185 - 192
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, A.M. 1981. The Umfolozia arthropod trackways in the Permian Dwyka and Ecca Series of South Africa. Journal of Paleontology, 55, 84–108.Google Scholar
Babcock, L.E., Isbell, J.L., Miller, M.F.Hasiotis, S.T. 2002. A new late Paleozoic conchostracan (Crustacea, Branchiopoda) from the Shackleton Glacier area, Antarctica: age and paleoenvironmental implications. Journal of Paleontology, 76, 70–75.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Babcock, L.E., Miller, M.F., Isbell, J.L., Collinson, J.W.Hasiotis, S.T. 1998. Paleozoic–Mesozoic crayfish from Antarctica: earliest evidence of freshwater decapod crustaceans. Geology, 26, 539–542.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barrett, P.J., Elliot, D.H.Lindsay, J.F. 1986. The Beacon Supergroup (Devonian–Triassic) and Ferrar Group (Jurassic) in the Beardmore Glacier area, Antarctica. Antarctic Research Series, 36, 339–428.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braddy, S.J. 1995. A new arthropod trackway and associated invertebrate ichnofauna from the Lower Permian Hueco Formation of the Robledo Mountains, southern New Mexico. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin, 6, 101–105.Google Scholar
Braddy, S.J. 1998. An overview of the invertebrate ichnotaxa from the Robledo Mountains ichnofauna (Lower Permian), southern New Mexico. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin, 12, 93–98.Google Scholar
Braddy, S.J. 2001. Trackways - arthropod locomotion. In Briggs, D.E.G.&Crowther, P.R.,eds. Palaeobiology II. Oxford: Blackwell Science, 389–393.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braddy, S.J.Briggs, D.E.G. 2002. New Lower Permian nonmarine arthropod trace fossils from New Mexico and South Africa. Journal of Paleontology, 76, 546–557.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradshaw, M.A. 1981. Paleoenvironmental interpretations and systematics of Devonian trace fossils from the Taylor Group (lower Beacon Supergroup), Antarctica. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, 24, 615–652.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradshaw, M.A. 1984. Permian nonmarine bivalves from the Ohio Range, Antarctica. Alcheringa, 8, 305–309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bridge, J.S. 1984. Large-scale facies sequences in alluvial overbank environments. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 54, 583–588.Google Scholar
Briggs, D.E.G., Rolfe, W.D.I.Brannan, J. 1979. A giant myriapod trail from the Namurian of Arran, Scotland. Palaeontology, 22, 273–291.Google Scholar
Bromley, R.Asgaard, U. 1979. Triassic freshwater ichnocoenoses from Carlsberg Fjord, East Greenland. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 28, 39–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buatois, L.A.Mángano, M.G. 2007. Invertebrate ichnology of continental freshwater environments. In Miller III, W., ed. Trace fossils: concepts, problems, prospects. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 285–323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buatois, L.A., Mángano, M.G., Maples, C.G.Lanier, W.P. 1998. Taxonomic reassessment of the ichnogenus Beaconichnus and additional examples from the Carboniferous of Kansas, USA. Ichnos, 5, 287–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collinson, J.W., Hammer, W.R., Askin, R.A.Elliott, D.H. 2006. Permian–Triassic boundary in the central Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica. GSA Bulletin, 118, 747–763.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collinson, J.W., Isbell, J.L., Elliot, D.H., Miller, M.F.Miller, J.M.G. 1994. Permian–Triassic Transantarctic Basin. In Veevers, J.J.&Powell, C.M., eds. Permian–Triassic Pangean basins and foldbelts along the Panthalassan margin of Gondwanaland. Geological Society of America Memoir, 184, 173–222.Google Scholar
Demathieu, G., Gand, G.Toutin-Morin, N. 1992. La palichnofaune des bassins Permiens Provençaux. Geobios, 25, 19–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doumani, G.A.Tasch, P. 1965. A leaid conchostracan zone (Permian) in the Ohio Range, Horlick Mountains, Antarctica. Antarctic Research Series, 6, 229–239.Google Scholar
Draganits, E., Braddy, S.J.Briggs, D.E.G. 2001. A Gondwanan coastal arthropod ichnofauna from the Muth Formation (Lower Devonian, northern India): paleoenvironment and tracemaker behavior. Palaios, 16, 126–147.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gevers, T.W., Frakes, L.A., Edwards, L.N.Marzolf, J.E. 1971. Trace fossils in the Lower Beacon sediments (Devonian), Darwin Mountains, southern Victoria Land, Antarctica. Journal of Paleontology, 45, 81–94.Google Scholar
Holub, V.Kozur, H. 1981. Arthropodenfährten aus dem Rotliegenden der CSSR. Geologisch-Paläontologische Mitteilungen Innsbruck, 11, 95–148.Google Scholar
Hunt, A.P., Lockley, M.G., Lucas, S.G., MacDonald, J.P., Hotton, N.Kramer, J. 1993. Early Permian tracksites in the Robledo Mountains, south-central New Mexico. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin, 2, 23–31.Google Scholar
Isbell, J.L. 1991. Evidence for a low-gradient alluvial fan from the palaeo-Pacific margin in the Upper Permian Buckley Formation, Beardmore Glacier area, Antarctica. In Thomson, M.R.A., Crame, J.A.&Thomson, J.W., eds. Geological evolution of Antarctica. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 215–217.Google Scholar
Johnson, E.W., Briggs, D.E.G., Suthren, R.J., Wright, J.L.Tunnicliff, S.P. 1994. Non-marine arthropod traces from the subaerial Ordovician Borrowdale Volcanic Group, English Lake District. Geological Magazine, 131, 395–406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacNaughton, R.B., Cole, J.M., Dalrymple, R.W., Braddy, S.J., Briggs, D.E.G.Lukie, T.D. 2002. First steps on land: arthropod trackways in Cambro–Ordovician eolian sandstone, southeastern Ontario, Canada. Geology, 30, 391–394.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacDonald, D.I.M., Isbell, J.L.Hammer, W.R. 1991. Vertebrate trackways from the Triassic Fremouw Formation, Queen Alexandra Range, Antarctica. Antarctic Journal of the United States, 26, 5, 20–22.Google Scholar
Mángano, M.G., Buatois, L.A., Maples, C.G.Lanier, W.P. 1997. Tonganoxichnus, a new insect trace from the Upper Carboniferous of eastern Kansas. Lethaia, 30, 113–125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mángano, M.G., Labandeira, C.C., Kvale, E.P.Buatois, L.A. 2001. The insect trace fossil Tonganoxichnus from the Middle Pennsylvanian of Indiana: paleobiologic and paleoenvironmental implications. Ichnos, 8, 165–175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McNamara, K.J.Trewin, N.H. 1993. A euthycarcinoid arthropod from the Silurian of Western Australia. Palaeontology, 36, 319–335.Google Scholar
Miller, M.F. 2000. Benthic aquatic ecosystems across the Permian–Triassic transition: record from biogenic structures in fluvial sandstones, central Transantarctic Mountains. Journal of African Earth Sciences, 31, 157–164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, M.F.Collinson, J.W. 1994a. Late Paleozoic post-glacial inland sea filled by fine-grained turbidites: Mackellar Formation, central Transantarctic Mountains. In Deynoux, M. et al., eds. The Earth’s glacial record. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 215–233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, M.F.Collinson, J.W. 1994b. Trace fossils from Permian and Triassic sandy braided stream deposits, central Transantarctic Mountains. Palaios, 9, 605–610.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, M.F.Smail, S.E. 1997. A semiquantitative field method for evaluating bioturbation on bedding planes. Palaios, 12, 391–396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, M.F., McDowell, T., Smail, S.E., Shyr, Y.Kemp, N.R. 2002. Hardly used habitats: dearth and distribution of burrowing in Paleozoic and Mesozoic stream and lake deposits. Geology, 30, 527–530.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Minter, N.J., Krainer, K., Lucas, S.G., Braddy, S.J.Hunt, A.P. 2007. Palaeoecology of an Early Permian playa lake trace fossil assemblage from Castle Peak, Texas, USA. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 246, 390–423.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Brien, L., Braddy, S.J.Radley, J. 2009. A new arthropod resting trace and associated suite of trace fossils from the Lower Jurassic of Warwickshire, England. Palaeontology, 52, 1098–1112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearson, P.N. 1992. Walking traces of the giant myriapod Arthropleura from the Strathclyde Group (Lower Carboniferous) of Fife. Scottish Journal of Geology, 28, 127–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pollard, J.E. 1981. A comparison between the Triassic trace fossils of Cheshire and south Germany. Palaeontology, 24, 555–588.Google Scholar
Savage, N.M. 1971. A varvite ichnocoenosis from the Dwyka Series in Natal. Lethaia, 4, 217–233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schram, F.R.Rolfe, W.D.I. 1982. New euthycarcinoid arthropods from the Upper Pennsylvanian of France and Illinois. Journal of Paleontology, 56, 1434–1450.Google Scholar
Sidor, C.A., Damiani, R.Hammer, W.R. 2008a. A new Triassic temnospondyl from Antarctica and a review of Fremouw Formation biostratigraphy. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 28, 656–663.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sidor, C.A., Miller, M.F.Isbell, J.L. 2008b. Tetrapod burrows from the Triassic of Antarctica. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 28, 277–284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, A., Braddy, S.J., Marriott, S.B.Briggs, D.E.G. 2003. Arthropod trackways from the Early Devonian of South Wales: a functional analysis of producers and their behaviour. Geological Magazine, 140, 63–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stehli, F.G., Douglas, R.G.Newell, N.D. 1969. Generation and maintenance of gradients in taxonomic diversity. Science, 164, 947–949.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Trewin, N.H. 1994. A draft system for the identification and description of arthropod trackways. Palaeontology, 37, 811–823.Google Scholar
Trewin, N.H.Davidson, R.G. 1996. An Early Devonian lake and its associated biota in the Midland Valley of Scotland. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences, 86, 233–246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trewin, N.H.McNamara, K.J. 1995. Arthropods invade the land: trace fossils and palaeoenvironments of the Tumblagooda Sandstone (?late Silurian) of Kalbarri, Western Australia. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences, 85, 177–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vaccari, N.E., Edgecombe, G.D.Escudero, C. 2004. Cambrian origins and affinities of an enigmatic fossil group of arthropods. Nature, 430, 554–557.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Walker, E.F. 1985. Arthropod ichnofauna of the Old Red Sandstone at Dunure and Montrose, Scotland. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences, 76, 287–297.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walter, H. 1983. Zur taxonomie, ökologie und biostratigraphie der ichnia limnisch-terrestrischer arthropoden des mitteleuropäischen Jungpaläozoikums. Freiberger Forschungschefte, C382, 146–193.Google Scholar
Wright, J.L., Quinn, L., Briggs, D.E.G.Williams, S.H. 1995. A subaerial arthropod trackway from the Upper Silurian Clam Bank Formation of Newfoundland. Canadian Journal of Earth Science, 32, 304–313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar