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Invertebrate paleoecology of the Upper Cliff coal interval (Pennsylvanian), Plateau Coal Field, northern Alabama

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 May 2016

Michael A. Gibson  and
Robert A. Gastaldo
Michael A. Gibson
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville 37996
Robert A. Gastaldo
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama 36849
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Abstract

The Upper Cliff coal interval (Early Pennsylvanian) of northern Alabama consists of sandstone, siltstone, shale, and coal deposited within a southwestward prograding deltaic complex as previously defined using paleobotanical and sedimentological evidence. The paleoecology of two invertebrate-bearing lithofacies was studied within this context. A lower shaley-siltstone lithofacies records the inundation of the Upper Cliff #1 peat-accumulating swamp/marsh by fresh-water influenced brackish to restricted marine deposits. The fauna is dominated by the inarticulate Orbiculoidea and the trace fossil Planolites. As inundation continued, an interdistributary bay developed. Diversity and abundance of taxa increased with the establishment of a molluscan dominated Pteronites-Pianolites assemblage. The assemblage consists of a low diversity and low abundance fauna of bivalves and trace fossils that suggest soft substrates with abundant organics.

The overlying sandstone lithofacies consists of a basal shell-bed (Schizophoria zone) composed of rare indigenous Pteronites and Wilkingia and a transported component of open marine epifaunal brachiopods, gastropods, and trilobite fragments. The Schizophoria zone thins to the northeast, suggesting open marine conditions to the southwest. Directly above this bed, the fauna of the sandstone lithofacies is composed entirely of Zoophycos. Higher in the section, rare Pteronites and Wilkingia occur, thus this lithofacies preserves a Wilkingia-Pteronites-Zoophycos assemblage of low abundance and diversity reflecting mobile organic-poor substrates. The sandstone lithofacies is interpreted as a migrating sand body with a basal shell-bed, initially formed probably as a result of storm activity.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 61 , Issue 3 , May 1987 , pp. 439 - 450
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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