30 Paleoclimatology, Paleoecology, and Conservation Paleobiology: Old Tools and New Tricks for Unraveling the Past and Informing the Future (Posters)

Monday, 15 April 2024
1:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Grand Ballroom

MORPHOMETRICS OF FOSSIL MERCENARIA SHELLS FROM THE MID PIACENZIAN WARM INTERVAL AND THE SUBSEQUENT EARLY PLEISTOCENE COOLING, MID ATLANTIC COASTAL PLAIN

Paper number: 30-2
Program: Theme Sessions
Time: 1:30 PM – 5:30 PM

Authors

Abstract

The study of fossil bivalves provides valuable information on the influence of paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic conditions on shell growth in a context that can be useful for conserving modern bivalve populations in the face of climate change. The hard clam, Mercenaria, is economically important and a common constituent of fossil deposits along the Mid Atlantic Coastal Plain (MACP). Here, we investigate whether shell shape is influenced by warm vs. cold climate state. To achieve this goal, we analyze changes in the morphology of fossil Mercenaria shells from the Mid Piacenzian Warm Interval (MPWI) and early Pleistocene cooling. We hypothesize that there is greater disparity in morphology between shells from different paleoclimates than populations within the same climate state. We analyzed the length of corporeal characters (n = 8) in 45 right valves from 2 North Carolina localities: MPWI (Duplin Formation, Robeson Farm) and early Pleistocene (Lower Waccamaw Formation, Register Quarry). All characters were normalized to shell length to eliminate size bias. Preliminary results based on ANOVA scores show significant differences among 2 of the characters (height: F = 14.12, p-value < 0.001, α = 0.05; and length of posterior cardinal tooth: F = 6.62; p-value = 0.01; α = 0.05). Future work will incorporate additional Mercenaria specimens from other MPWI and early Pleistocene localities in North Carolina and Virginia.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 56, No. 2

doi: 10.1130/abs/2024SE-398413

© Copyright 2024 The Geological Society of America (GSA), all rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to the author(s) of this abstract to reproduce and distribute it freely, for noncommercial purposes. Permission is hereby granted to any individual scientist to download a single copy of this electronic file and reproduce up to 20 paper copies for noncommercial purposes advancing science and education, including classroom use, providing all reproductions include the complete content shown here, including the author information. All other forms of reproduction and/or transmittal are prohibited without written permission from GSA Copyright Permissions.