THIS TRANSGRESSION WILL NOT STAND: A COMPARISON AND CHARACTERIZATION OF A HIGH FREQUENCY SEQUENCE AND FLOODING SURFACES USING CONODONT DISTRIBUTION PATTERNS AND SEQUENCE STRATIGRAPHY: IOLA LIMESTONE (UPPER PENNSYLVANIAN; IOWA AND KANSAS)

Observing spatial distribution patterns of conodonts can show what the depositional basin was like during the period the cyclothem was created. Results of spatial observations offer clues and evidence to water depth, environmental energy, shore line location, advance and retreat direction and higher resolution sea level fluctuations that show a cyclothem is more than the result of just a simple transgression and regression. By increasing both temporal and spatial resolution the Iola Limestone should be found to be far more complex than previously imagined.

Conodont samples were collected from two sections of the Iola near Winterset, Iowa, and from five sections in eastern Kansas. Samples were processed for conodonts, and multivariate statistical methods were applied to temporal and spatial distribution patterns. Spatial distributional gradients relative to correlative surfaces at the base and near the top of the Muncie Creek Shale are the principle focus of this study. Additional study of these sections will also help identify key changing points of the Muncie Creek member. The Winterset section of the Muncie Creek is calcareous with much benthic fauna and very thorough bioturbation. The Holiday Drive section of the Muncie Creek is more carbonaceous and phosphatic with bioturbation limited to upper areas. A better understand of this core shale will lead to a better understanding of the Iola Limestone and what the depositional basin was like during the Iola deposition. Ideas of the depth and energy of the deposition can also be obtained by the previously mentioned conodont distribution statistics. Temporal and spatial trends in conodont distribution patterns may help clarify the relationship of the Iola in Iowa and Kansas.