Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-12T21:16:51.822Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Taphonomic approaches to temporal resolution in stratigraphy: Examples from Paleozoic marine mudrocks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 July 2017

Carlton E. Brett  and
Gordon C. Baird
Carlton E. Brett
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627
Gordon C. Baird
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, SUNY College at Fredonia, Fredonia, NY 14063
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

One of the most important and challenging aspects of stratigraphy is the interpretation of the temporal scope of sedimentary units (Schindel, 1980, 1982; Sadler, 1981; Brandt Velbel, 1984). The problem arises at the scale of individual beds and of stratigraphic intervals up to many meters thick. Does a particular bed or interval-represent hours, days, years, centuries, or millennia? Resolution of this question is critical for determination of rates of sedimentation and biotic processes, and in assessing the reliability of the sample for paleoecological or evolutionary analysis. In the absence of a reliable framework of absolute radiometric dates the question can only be answered by indirect inference. Biostratigraphic zonation is a critical first step. But zonation is typically too coarse to resolve temporal scales less than 106 years and many zones are not firmly anchored to absolute dates. It is also important to keep separate the issue of temporal duration represented by fossils (as bioclasts) within a given stratum and that of the deposition of the sedimentary unit itself. There are many instances of thin graded beds full of fossils, which would be characterized unambiguously by sedimentologists as deposits of a single event of sedimentation, but in which the fossils may differ in age by thousands or even millions of years. Examples include many condensed, lag deposits of bones and conodonts (Baird and Brett, 1991), and condensed ammonoid beds containing fossils of several ammonite zones (Fürsich, 1971). Sedimentologic criteria provide one avenue of approach to this issue but commonly fall short of unambiguous answers.

Type
Research Article
Information
Short Courses in Paleontology , Volume 6: Taphonomic Approaches to Time Resolution in Fossil Assemblages , 1993 , pp. 251 - 274
Copyright
Copyright © 1993 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

Aigner, T. 1985. Storm depositional systems: dynamic stratigraphy in modern and ancient shallow-marine sequences. Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences, 3. Springer Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, 174p.Google Scholar
Alexander, R.R. 1975. Phenotypic lability of the brachiopod Rafinesquina alternata (Ordovician) and its correlation with sedimentologic regime. Journal of Paleontology, 49:607–618.Google Scholar
Alexander, R.R. 1986. Life orientation and postmortem reorientation of Chesterian brachiopod shells by paleocurrents. Palaios, 1:303–311.Google Scholar
Allen, J.R.L. 1990. Transport-hydrodynamics: shells, p. 227–230. In Briggs, D.E.G. and Crowther, P.R. (eds.), Palaeobiology: A Synthesis. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, London.Google Scholar
Allison, P.A. 1986. Soft-bodied animals in the fossil record; the role of decay in fragmentation during transport. Geology, 14:978–981.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allison, P.A. 1990. Variation in rate of decay and disarticulation in Echinodermata: implication for taphonomic experiments. Palaios, 5:432–440.Google Scholar
Allison, P.A., and Briggs, D.E.G. 1991. Taphonomy of nonmineralized tissues, p. 25–70. In Allison, P.A. and Briggs, D.E.G. (eds.), Taphonomy: Releasing the Data Locked in the Fossil Record. Plenum Press, New York.Google Scholar
Allmon, R.A. 1985. “Butterflied” bivalves as paleoenvironmental indicators. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, 17:512.Google Scholar
Baird, G.C. 1978. Pebbly phosphorites in shale: A key to recognition of a widespread submarine discontinuity. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 48:105–122.Google Scholar
Baird, G.C. 1981. Submarine erosion on a gentle paleoslope: A study of two discontinuities in the New York Devonian. Lethaia, 14:105–122.Google Scholar
Baird, G.C., and Brett, C.E. 1991. Submarine erosion on the anoxic seafloor: stratinomic palaeoenvironmental and temporal significance of reworked pyrite-bone deposits, p. 233–258. In Tyson, R.V. and Pearson, T.H. (eds.), Modern and Ancient Continental Shelf Anoxia. Geological Society Special Publication, No.58.Google Scholar
Baird, G.C., Sroka, S.D., Shabica, C.W., and Keucher, G.J. 1986. Taphonomy of Middle Pennsylvanian Mazon Creek area fossil localities, northeast Illinois: significance of exceptional fossil preservation in syngenetic concretions. Palaios, 1:271–285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Banerjee, I., and Kidwell, S.M. 1991. Significance of molluscan shell beds in sequence stratigraphy: Example from the Lower Cretaceous Mannville Group of Canada. Sedimentology, 38: 913–934.Google Scholar
Brandt Velbel, D.S. 1984. On defining limits to paleoecological interpretation in the fossil record. Geobios Mémoire Spéciale, 8:415–418.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brandt Velbel, D.S. 1985. Ichnologic, taphonomic, and sedimentologic clues to the deposition of Cincinnatian Shales (Upper Ordovician), Ohio, U.S.A. In Curran, A.H. (ed.), Biogenic Structures: Their Use in Interpreting Depositional Environments. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists Special Publication, 35: 299–307.Google Scholar
Brandt, D.S. 1989. Taphonomic grades as a classification of fossiliferous assemblages and implications for paleoecology. Palaios, 4:303–309.Google Scholar
Brett, C.E. 1990. Obrution deposits, p. 239–243. In Briggs, D.E.G. and Crowther, P.R. (eds.), Palaeobiology: A Synthesis, Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, London.Google Scholar
Brett, C.E., and Baird, G.C. 1986. Comparative taphonomy: A key to paleoenvironmental interpretation based on fossil preservation. Palaios, 1:207–227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brett, C.E., and Bordeaux, Y.L. 1990. Taphonomy of brachiopods from a Middle Devonian shell bed–Implications for the genesis of skeletal accumulations, p. 219–226. Proceedings of the Second International Brachiopod Congress, Balkema Press, Dunedin, New Zealand.Google Scholar
Brett, C.E., and Liddell, W.D. 1978. Preservation and paleoecology of a Middle Ordovician hardground community. Paleobiology, 4:329–348.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brett, C.E., and Seilacher, A. 1991. Fossil Lagerstätten: a taphonomic consequence of event sedimentation, p. 293–297. In Einsele, G., Ricken, W., and Seilacher, A. (eds.), Cycles and Events in Stratigraphy. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York.Google Scholar
Brett, C.E., Speyer, S.E., and Baird, G.C. 1986. Storm-generated sedimentary units:tempestite proximality and event-stratification in the Middle Devonian Hamilton Group of New York. In Brett, C.E., (ed.), Dynamic Stratigraphy and Depositional Environments of the Hamilton Group (Middle Devonian) in New York State. Pt. 1. New York State Museum Bulletin, 457:129–156.Google Scholar
Brett, C.E., and Taylor, W.L. In Press. The Homocrinus beds: Silurian crinoid Lagerstätten of western New York and southern Ontario. In Brett, C.E. and Baird, G.C. (eds.), Paleontologic Events: Stratigraphic, Ecologic and Evolutionary Implications. Columbia University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Briggs, D.E.G., Bottrell, S.H., and Raiswell, R. 1991. Pyritization of soft-bodied fossils: Beecher's trilobite bed, Upper Ordovician, New York State. Geology, 19:1221–1224.Google Scholar
Bromley, R.G., 1992. Bioerosion: eating rocks for fun and profit, p. 121–129. In Maples, C.G. and West, R.R. (eds.), Trace Fossils. Short Courses in Paleontology, 5. Paleontological Society Publication, Knoxville, Tennessee.Google Scholar
Busch, R.G., and Rollins, H.B. 1984. Correlation of Carboniferous strata using a heirarchy of transgressive-regressive units. Geology, 12:471–474.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Canfield, D.E., and Raiswell, R. 1991. Carbonate precipitation and dissolution: its relevance to fossil preservation, p. 412–455. In Allison, P.A. and Briggs, D.E.G. (eds.), Taphonomy: Releasing the Data Locked in the Fossil Record. Plenum Press, New York.Google Scholar
Cherns, L. 1988. Faunal and facies dynamics in the Upper Silurian of the Anglo-Welsh Basin. Palaeontology 31:451–502.Google Scholar
Cisne, J.L. 1973. Beecher's trilobite bed revisited: Ecology of an Ordovician deep water fauna. Postilla 160, 25p.Google Scholar
Cisne, J.L., and Rabe, B.D. 1978. Coenocorrelation: gradient analysis of fossil communities and its applications to stratigraphy. Lethaia, 11:341–364.Google Scholar
Clifton, H.E., (ed.) 1988. Sedimentologic Consequences of Convulsive Geologic Events. Geological Society of America Special Paper, 229:157p.Google Scholar
Cuffey, R.J. 1967. Bryozoan Tabulipora carbonaria in the Wreford megacyclothem (Lower Permian) of Kansas. University of Kansas Paleontological Contributions Article, 43:1–96.Google Scholar
Cuffey, R.J. In press. Prasopora-bearing event beds in the Coburn Limestone; Bryozoa; Ordovician; Pennsylvania. In Brett, C.E. and Baird, G.C. (eds.), Paleontological Events: Stratigraphic, Ecologic and Evolutionary Implications. Columbia University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Cutler, A.H., and Flessa, K.W. 1990. Fossils out of sequence: Computer simulations and strategies for dealing with stratigraphic disorder. Palaios, 5:227–235.Google Scholar
Davies, D.J., Powell, E.N., and Stanton, R.J. Jr. 1989. Relative rates of shell dissolution and net sediment accumulation–A commentary: Can shell beds form by the gradual accumulation of biogenic debris on the sea floor? Lethaia, 22:207–212.Google Scholar
Driscoll, E.G. 1970. Selective bivalve destruction in marine environments, a field study. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 40:898–905.Google Scholar
Einsele, G., Herm, D., and Schwartz, H.U. 1974. Holocene eustatic (?) sea level fluctuation at the coast of Mauritania. Meteor Forschungsergebnisse, Reihe C, 18:43–62.Google Scholar
Feldman, H.R. 1988. Scales of patchiness in benthic marine faunas with an example from the Waldron Shale (Silurian, Indiana). Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, 20:255.Google Scholar
Flessa, K.W., Cutler, A.H., and Meldahl, K.H. 1993. Time and taphonomy: quantitative estimates of time-averaging and stratigraphic disorder in a shallow marine habitat. Paleobiology, 19:266–286.Google Scholar
Fursich, F.T. 1971. Hartgrunde und Kondensation im Dogger von Calvados. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie Abhandlungen, 138: 313–342.Google Scholar
Fursich, F.T. 1978. The influence of faunal condensation and mixing on the preservation of fossil benthic communities. Lethaia, 11:243–250.Google Scholar
Fursich, F.T., and Aberhan, M. 1990. Significance of time-averaging for paleocommunity analysis. Lethaia, 23:143–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenstein, B.J. 1992. An integrated study of echinoid taphonomy: predictions for the fossil record of four echinoid families. Palaios, 6:519–540.Google Scholar
Gunther, L.F., and Gunther, L.I. 1981. Some Middle Cambrian fossils of Utah. Brigham Young University Geological Studies, 28:1–87.Google Scholar
Holland, S.M. 1988. Taphonomic effects of seafloor exposure on an Ordovician brachiopod assemblage. Palaios, 3:588–597.Google Scholar
Horowitz, A.S., and Waters, J.A. 1972. A Mississippian echinoderm site in Alabama. Journal of Paleontology, 46:660–665.Google Scholar
Jennette, D.C. and Pryor, W.A. 1993. Cyclic alternations of proximal and distal storm facies: Kope and Fairview Formations (Upper Ordovician), Ohio and Kentucky. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 63:183–203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, M.E. 1977. Succession and replacement in the development of Silurian brachiopod populations. Lethaia, 10:83–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, M.E. 1989. Tempestites recorded as variable Pentamerus layers in the Lower Silurian of southern Norway. Journal of Paleontology, 63:193–205.Google Scholar
Johnson, R.G. 1960. Models and methods for analysis of the mode of formation of fossil assemblages. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 71:1075–1086.Google Scholar
Kauffman, E.G. 1988. Concepts and methods of high-resolution event stratigraphy. Annual Reviews of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 16:605–654.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kidwell, S.M. 1982. Time scales of fossil accumulation: Patterns from Miocene benthic assemblages. Proceedings of the Third North American Paleontological Convention, Montreal 1:295–300.Google Scholar
Kidwell, S.M. 1989. Stratigraphic condensation of marine transgressive records: Origin of major shell deposits in the Miocene of Maryland. Journal of Geology, 97:1–24.Google Scholar
Kidwell, S.M. 1991a. The stratigraphy of shell concentrations, p. 211–290. In Allison, P.A. and Briggs, D. E.G. (eds.), Taphonomy: Releasing the Data Locked in the Fossil Record. Plenum Press, New York.Google Scholar
Kidwell, S.M. 1991b. Condensed deposits in siliciclastic sequences: expected and observed features, p. 682–695. In Einsele, G., Ricken, W., and Seilacher, A. (eds.), Cycles and Events in Stratigraphy. Springer Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York.Google Scholar
Kidwell, S.M., and Aigner, T. 1985. Sedimentary dynamics of complex shell beds: Implications for ecologic and evolutionary patterns. p. 382–395. In Bayer, U. and Seilacher, A. (eds.), Sedimentary and Evolutionary Cycles. Springer Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York.Google Scholar
Kidwell, S.M., and Baumiller, T. 1990. Experimental disintegration of regular echinoids: Roles of temperature, oxygen and decay thresholds. Paleobiology, 16:247–271.Google Scholar
Kidwell, S.M., and Bosence, P. 1991. Taphonomy and time averaging of marine shelly faunas, p. 116–209. In Allison, P.A. and Briggs, D.E.G. (eds.), Taphonomy: Releasing the Data Locked in the Fossil Record. Plenum Press, New York.Google Scholar
Kidwell, S.M., Fursich, F.T., and Aigner, T. 1986. Conceptual framework for the analysis of fossil concentrations. Palaios, 1:228–238.Google Scholar
Kidwell, S.M., and Jablonski, D. 1983. Taphonomic feedback: ecological consequence of shell accumulation, p. 195–248. In Tevesz, M.J.S. and McCall, P.L. (eds.), Biotic Interactions in Recent and Fossil Benthic Communities. Plenum Press, New York.Google Scholar
Kranz, P.M. 1974. The anastrophic burial of bivalves and its paleoecological significance. Journal of Geology, 82:237–265.Google Scholar
Kreisa, R.D. 1981. Storm-generated sedimentary structures in subtidal marine facies with examples from the Middle and Upper Ordovician of southwestern Virginia. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 51:823–848.Google Scholar
Lafferty, A., Miller, A.I., and Brett, C.E., in press. Spatial variability in faunal composition along two Middle Devonian paleoenvironmental gradients. Palaios.Google Scholar
Laudon, L.R. 1939. Unusual occurrences of Isotelus gigas Dekay in the Bromide Formation (Ordovician) of southern Oklahoma. Journal of Paleontology, 13:211–213.Google Scholar
Liddell, W.D. 1975. Recent crinoid biostratinomy. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, 7:1169.Google Scholar
Lucas, J., and Prevot, L.E. 1991. Phosphates and fossil preservation, p. 389–409. In Allison, P.A. and Briggs, D.E.G. (eds.), Taphonomy: Releasing the Data Locked in the Fossil Record. Plenum Press, New York.Google Scholar
Masaurel, H. 1987. Macrofossils and their paleoecology in deltaic sequences of the Lower Carboniferous Yoredale Series, Yorkshire, England. Geologie Mijnboukundige, 66:221–237.Google Scholar
Meldahl, K.H. 1987. Sedimentologic and taphonomic implications of biogenic stratification. Palaios, 2:350–358.Google Scholar
Meyer, D.L. 1971. Postmortem disarticulation of crinoids and ophiuroids under natural conditions. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, 3:645.Google Scholar
Meyer, D.L. 1990. Population paleoecology and comparative taphonomy of two edrioasteroid pavements: Upper Ordovician of Kentucky and Ohio. Historical Biology, 4:155–178.Google Scholar
Meyer, D.L., Ausich, W.I., and Terry, R.E. 1989. Comparative taphonomy of echinoderms in carbonate facies: Fort Payne Formation (Lower Mississippian) of Kentucky and Tennessee. Palaios, 4:533–552.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, K.B., Brett, C.E., and Parsons, K.M. 1988. The paleoecological significance of storm-generated disturbance within a Middle Devonian epeiric sea. Palaios, 3:35–52.Google Scholar
Parsons, K.M., and Brett, C.E. 1991. Taphonomic processes and biases in modern marine environments: an actualistic perspective on fossil assemblage preservation, p. 22–66. In Donovan, S.K. (ed.), The Processes of Fossilization. Belhaven Press, London.Google Scholar
Parsons, K.M., Brett, C.E., and Miller, K.B. 1988. Taphonomy and depositional dynamics of Devonian shell-rich mudstones. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 63:109–140.Google Scholar
Plotnick, R.E. 1986. Taphonomy of a modern shrimp: Implications for the arthropod fossil record. Palaios, 1: 286–293.Google Scholar
Rasmussen, K.A., and Brett, C.E. 1985. Taphonomy of Holocene cryptic biotas from St. Croix, Virgin Islands: Information loss and preservation biases. Geology, 13: 551–553.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sadler, P.M. 1981. Sediment accumulation rates and the completeness of stratigraphic sections. Journal of Geology, 89:569–584.Google Scholar
Schindel, D.E. 1980. Microstratigraphic sampling and the limits of paleontological resolution. Paleobiology, 6:408–426.Google Scholar
Parsons, K.M. 1982. Resolution analysis: A new approach to the gaps in the fossil record. Paleobiology, 8:340–353.Google Scholar
Seilacher, A. 1973. Biostratinomy: The sedimentology of biologically standardized particles, p. 159–177. In Ginsburg, R.N. (ed.), Evolving Concepts in Sedimentology. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland.Google Scholar
Seilacher, A. 1982. General remarks about event deposits, p. 161–174. In Einsele, G. and Seilacher, A. (eds.), Cyclic and Event Stratification. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York.Google Scholar
Seilacher, A. 1985. The Jeram Model: Event condensation in a modern intertidal environment, p. 33–334. In Bayer, U. and Seilacher, A. (eds.), Sedimentary and Evolutionary Cycles. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelber, New York.Google Scholar
Seilacher, A., and Hemleben, C. 1966. Spurenfauna und Bildungstiefe der Hunsrückschiefer (Unterdevon). Notizblatt. Landesamt Bodenforschung, 94:40–53.Google Scholar
Seilacher, A., Reif, W.E., and Westphal, F. 1985. Sedimentological, ecological and temporal patterns of fossil Lagerstätten, p. 5–23. In Whittington, H.B. and Conway Morris, S. (eds.), Extaordinary Biotas: Their Ecological and Evolutionary Significance, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, 311.Google Scholar
Snyder, J., and Bretsky, P.W. 1971. Life habits of diminutive bivalve molluscs in the Maquoketa Formation (Upper Ordovician). American Journal of Science, 271:227–251.Google Scholar
Speyer, S.E. 1986. Moulting in phacopid trilobites. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 76:239–254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Speyer, S.E., and Brett, C.E. 1985. Clustered trilobite assemblages in the Middle Devonian Hamilton Group. Lethaia, 18:85–103.Google Scholar
Speyer, S.E., and Brett, C.E. 1988. Taphofacies models for epeiric sea environments: Middle Paleozoic examples. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 63:225–262.Google Scholar
Speyer, S.E., and Brett, C.E. 1991. Taphonomic controls: Background and episodic processes in fossil assemblage preservation, p. 501–545. In Allison, P.A. and Briggs, D.E.G. (eds.), Taphonomy: Releasing the Data Locked in the Fossil Record. Plenum Press, New York.Google Scholar
Staff, G.M., and Powell, E.N. 1990. Taphonomic signature and the imprint of taphonomic history: Discriminating between taphofacies of the inner continental shelf and a microtidal inlet, p. 370–390. In Miller, W. (ed.), Paleocommunity Temporal Dynamics. Paleontological Society Special Publication.Google Scholar
Staff, G.M., and Powell., E.N., Stanton, R.J., and Cummins, H. 1986. Time averaging, taphonomy, and their impact on paleocommunity reconstruction: Death assemblages in Texas bays. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 97:428–443.Google Scholar
Vail, P.R., Audenard, F., Bowman, S.A., Eisner, P.N., and Perez-Cruz, C. 1991. The stratigraphic signatures of tectonics, eustasy and sedimentology –an overview, p. 617–659. In Einsele, G., Ricken, W., and Seilacher, A. (eds.), Cycles and Events in Stratigraphy. Springer Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York.Google Scholar
Van Wagoner, J.C., Posamentier, H.W., Mitchum, R.M., Vail, P.R., Sarg, J. F., Loutit, T.S., and Hardenbol, J. 1988. An overview of the fundamentals of sequence stratigraphy and key definitions. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists Special Publication, 42:39–45.Google Scholar
Walker, K.R., and Alberstadt, L.P. 1975. Ecological succession as an aspect of structure in fossil communities. Paleobiology, 1:238–257.Google Scholar
Webby, B.D. and Percival, I.G. 1983. Ordovician trimerellacean brachiopod shell beds. Lethaia, 16:215–232.Google Scholar
Wendt, J., and Aigner, T. 1982. Condensed Griotte facies and cephalopod accumulations in the Upper Devonian of the eastern Anti-Atlas, Morocco, p.326–332. In Einsele, G. and Seilacher, A. (eds.), Cyclic and Event Stratification. Springer Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York.Google Scholar
Wendt, J., and Aigner, T. 1985. Facies patterns and depositional environments of Paleozoic cephalopod limestones. Sedimentary Geology, 44:263–300.Google Scholar
Wilson, M.A., and Palmer, T.J. 1992. Hardgrounds and hardground faunas. University of Wales, Aberystwyth, Institute of Earth Studies Publication, 9:131p.Google Scholar