19 D8. Paleontology (Posters)

Tuesday, 26 March 2019
8:30 AM - 5:45 PM
Big Basin/Kaw Nation Rooms

EVALUATING THE ICHNOFOSSIL TEREDOLITES AS AN INDICATOR OF SALINITY AND PALEOENVIRONMENT IN THE GEOLOGICAL RECORD, EXAMPLES FROM CRETACEOUS STRATA KANSAS, COLORADO, UTAH

Paper number: 19-6
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 8:30 AM – 5:45 PM

Authors

  • Rogers Buntin Presenting Author
    The University of Kansas, Norfolk, VA
  • Stephen Hasiotis
    Univ KansasDept Geology, 116 Lindley Hall, Lawrence, KS
  • Peter Flaig
    Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX

Abstract

Teredolites provide ichnological evidence of marine incursions in Mesozoic and younger strata given that xylic media is available for settlement by wood-boring bivalves. Media influx is bimodal: (1) in situ plant material (trees, stumps) and exhumed peat grounds or coal; or (2) allochthonous, including flotsam and woody lags typically concentrated on channel bases. Teredolites are frequently misinterpreted in the reconstruction of marine-influenced paleoenvironments with respect to: (1) the lateral changes of salinity concentrations in estuaries that can impact boring size; and (2) residence times within undesirable salinity ranges. We are investigating the environmental factors that control the size, distribution, and abundance of modern pholadoidean bivalves (Teredinidae and Pholadidae: Xylophaginae, Martesiinae, Pholadinae) within oligohaline to euhaline conditions, and apply these trends to the rock record to semiquantitatively reconstruct paleosalinity through differences in size, occurrence, and abundance of Teredolites in strata interpreted to be deposited in coastal-delta plain and marine environments. Modern wood-boring clams are found in almost every marine environment, with ranges primarily restricted by salinity and media availability; mean salinities of 7 ppt are tolerable, but 15–35 ppt are optimal and promote reproductive success. Trends between the salinity tolerances of modern and ancient Teredolites are synthesized from data amassed from the literature and applied to occurrences from Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway deposits in Kansas, Colorado, and Utah. The objective of this project is to resolve the qualitative application of Teredolites occurrences in paleoenvironmental reconstructions of sedimentary strata and to better interpret sequence boundaries, marine flooding surfaces, and related environmental signals within a sequence stratigraphic framework.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 51, No. 2

doi: 10.1130/abs/2019SC-327336

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