Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T21:26:10.204Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Soft-Bottom Paleocommunity Dynamics in the Cenomanian - Turonian Boundary Extinction Interval of the Western Interior, United States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2017

William P. Elder*
Affiliation:
U. S. Geological Survey, MS 915, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025
Get access

Extract

Extensive species-level, marine biotic turnover is recorded across the Cenomanian-Turonian (C-T) Stage boundary in the western interior of the United States (Fig. 1) and intercontinentally (e.g., Wright and Kennedy, 1981; Elder, 1987; Jarvis et al., 1988). Widespread intensification and expansion of the oxygen minimum zone have been widely proposed as a causal mechanism for the organic-rich deposits and biotic extinctions found in strata of this age (e.g., Schlanger et al., 1987; Jarvis et al., 1988). Accompanying these extinctions were large-scale reorganizations of community compositions and trophic structures. In the western interior, repeated community replacement was associated with widespread cyclic sedimentation, and long-term community turnover was related to extended periods of dysaerobia and possibly low salinity conditions. Community compositions and distributions were therefore largely controlled by physical rather than biological factors. This paper will document how these oceanographic and sedimentologic factors affected community patterns across the C-T boundary.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 1990 Paleontological Society 

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

Allen, J. A. 1958. The basic form and adaptations to habitat in the Lucinacea (Eulamellibranchia). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B 241:421484.Google Scholar
Arthur, M. A., Schlanger, S. O., and Jenkyns, H. C. 1987. The Cenomanian-Turonian Oceanic Anoxic Event, II. Paleoceanographic controls on organic matter production and preservation. In Brooks, J., and Fleet, A., (eds.), Marine Petroleum Source Rocks. Geological Society Special Publication 26:401420.Google Scholar
Cobban, W. A. 1984. Mid-Cretaceous ammonite zones, Western Interior, United States. Bulletin of the Geological Society of Denmark 33:7189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cobban, W. A. 1985. Ammonite record from the Bridge Creek Member of the Greenhorn Limestone at Pueblo Reservoir State Recreation Area, Colorado, p. 135138. In Pratt, L., Kauffman, E. G. and Zelt, F. (eds.), Fine-Grained Deposits and Biofacies of the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway – Evidence of Cyclic Sedimentary Processes. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists Field Trip Guidebook No. 4; 1985 Midyear Meeting, Golden, Colorado.Google Scholar
Cobban, W. A. 1988. The Upper Cretaceous Ammonite Watinoceras Warren in the Western Interior of the United States. United States Geological Survey Bulletin 1788, 15 p.Google Scholar
Cobban, W. A., and Scott, G. R. 1975. Stratigraphy and ammonite fauna of the Graneros Shale and Greenhorn Limestone near Pueblo, Colorado. United States Geological Survey Professional Paper 645, 108 p.Google Scholar
Eicher, D. L. and Diner, R. 1985. Foraminifera as indications of water mass in the Cretaceous Greenhorn Sea, Western Interior, p. 6071. In Pratt, L., Kauffman, E. G. and Zelt, F. (eds.), Fine-Grained Deposits and Biofacies of the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway – Evidence of Cyclic Sedimentary Processes. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists Field Trip Guidebook No. 4; 1985 Midyear Meeting, Golden, Colorado.Google Scholar
Elder, W. P. 1985. Biotic patterns across the Cenomanian-Turonian extinction boundary near Pueblo, Colorado, p. 157169. In Pratt, L., Kauffman, E. G. and Zelt, F. (eds.), Fine-Grained Deposits and Biofacies of the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway – Evidence of Cyclic Sedimentary Processes. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists Field Trip Guidebook No. 4; 1985 Midyear Meeting, Golden, Colorado.Google Scholar
Elder, W. P. 1987. The paleoecology of the Cenomanian-Turonian (Cretaceous) Stage boundary at Black Mesa, Arizona. Palaios 2:2440.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elder, W. P. In press. Molluscan extinction patterns across the Cenomanian-Turonian Stage boundary in the western interior of the United States. Paleobiology.Google Scholar
Fischer, A.G. 1980. Gilbert-bedding rhythms and geochronology. Geological Society of America Special Paper 183:93104.Google Scholar
Fischer, A.G., Herbert, T., and Premoli-Silva, I. 1985. Carbonate bedding cycles in Cretaceous pelagic and hemipelagic sequences, p. 110. In Pratt, L., Kauffman, E.G. and Zelt, F. (eds.), Fine-Grained Deposits and Biofacies of the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway – Evidence of Cyclic Sedimentary Processes. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists Field Trip Guidebook No.4; 1985 Midyear Meeting, Golden, Colorado.Google Scholar
Fürsich, F. T. 1978. The influence of faunal condensation and mixing on the preservation of fossil benthic communities. Lethaia 11:243250.Google Scholar
Hallam, A. 1968. Morphology, paleoecology and evolution of the genus Gryphaea in the British Lias. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society London, Series B 254:91128.Google Scholar
Haq, B.U., Hardenbol, J., and Vail, P.R. 1987. Chronology of fluctuating sealevels since the Triassic. Science 235:11561167.Google Scholar
Hattin, D.E. 1986a. Interregional model for deposition of Upper Cretaceous pelagic rhythmites, U.S. western interior. Paleoceanography 1:483494.Google Scholar
Hattin, D.E. 1986b. Carbonate substrates of the Late Cretaceous sea, central Great Plains and southern Rocky Mountains. Palaios 1:347367.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jarvis, I., Carson, G.A., Cooper, M.K.E., Hart, M.B., Leary, P.N., Tocher, B.A., Horne, D., and Rosenfeld, A. 1988. Microfossil assemblages and the Cenomanian-Turonian (late Cretaceous) Oceanic Anoxic Event. Cretaceous Research 9:3103.Google Scholar
Kauffman, E.G. 1984a. The fabric of Cretaceous marine extinctions, p. 151246. In Berggen, W., and Van Couvering, J. (eds.), Catastrophes and Earth History – the New Uniformitarianism. Princeton University Press; Princeton, New Jersey.Google Scholar
Kauffman, E.G. 1984b. Dynamic paleobiogeography and evolutionary response in the Cretaceous Western Interior of North America. In Westermann, G.E.G., (ed.), Jurassic-Cretaceous Biochronology and Paleogeography of North America. Geological Association of Canada Special Paper 27:273306.Google Scholar
Koch, C.F. 1977. Evolutionary and ecological patterns of Upper Cenomanian (Cretaceous) mollusc distribution in the Western Interior of North America. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, George Washington University, 72 p.Google Scholar
Koch, C.F. 1980. Bivalve species duration, aerial extent and population size in a Cretaceous sea. Paleobiology, 6:184192.Google Scholar
Labarbera, M. 1981. The ecology of Mesozoic Gryphaea, Exogyra, and Ilymatogyra (Bivalvia-Mollusca) in a modern ocean. Paleobiology 7:510526.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leckie, R.M. 1985. Foraminifera of the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary interval, Greenhorn Formation, Rock Canyon Anticline, Pueblo, Colorado, p. 139150. In Pratt, L., Kauffman, E. G. and Zelt, F. (eds.), Fine-Grained Deposits and Biofacies of the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway –Evidence of Cyclic Sedimentary Processes. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists Field Trip Guidebook No. 4; 1985 Midyear Meeting, Golden, Colorado.Google Scholar
Miller, W. III. 1986. Paleoecology of benthic community replacement. Lethaia 19:225231.Google Scholar
Pratt, L. M. 1984. Influence of paleoenvironmental factors on preservation of organic matter in middle Cretaceous Greenhorn Formation, Pueblo, Colorado. American Assocition of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 68:11461159.Google Scholar
Pratt, L. M. 1985. Isotopic studies of organic matter and carbonate in rocks of the Greenhorn marine cycle, p. 3848. In Pratt, L., Kauffman, E. G. and Zelt, F. (eds.), Fine-Grained Deposits and Biofacies of the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway –Evidence of Cyclic Sedimentary Processes. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists Field Trip Guidebook No. 4; 1985 Midyear Meeting, Golden, Colorado.Google Scholar
Rhoads, D.C., and Young, D.K. 1970. The influence of deposit-feeding organisms on sediment stability and community trophic structure. Journal of Marine Research 28:150178.Google Scholar
Sageman, B.B. 1985. High-resolution stratigraphy and paleobiology of the Hartland Shale Member: analysis of an oxygen-deficient epicontinental sea, p. 110121. In Pratt, L., Kauffman, E.G. and Zelt, F. (eds.), Fine-Grained Deposits and Biofacies of the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway–Evidence of Cyclic Sedimentary Processes. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists Field Trip Guidebook No. 4; 1985 Midyear Meeting, Golden, Colorado.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schlanger, S.O., Arthur, M.A., Jenkyns, H.C., and Scholle, P.A. 1987. The Cenomanian-Turonian Oceanic Anoxic Event, I. Stratigraphy and distribution of organic-rich beds and the marine δ13C excursion. In Brooks, J. and Fleet, A., (eds.), Marine Petroleum Source Rocks. Geological Society Special Publication 26:371399.Google Scholar
Stanley, S.M. 1970. Relation of shell form to life habits of the Bivalvia (Mollusca). Geological Society of America Memoir 125, 296 p.Google Scholar
Wright, C.W., and Kennedy, W.J. 1981. The Ammonoidea of the Plenus Marls and the Middle Chalk. Monograph of the Palaeontographical Society of London 134, 148 p.Google Scholar