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Joint 53rd South-Central/53rd North-Central/71st Rocky Mtn Section Meeting - 2019

Paper No. 19-6
Presentation Time: 8:30 AM-5:45 PM

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


BUNTIN, Rogers C.C., Department of Geology, University of Kansas, 1475 Jayhawk Blvd., Lawrence, KS 66045, HASIOTIS, Stephen T., Department of Geology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045 and FLAIG, Peter P., Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78758

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.

Session No. 19--Booth# 22

D8. Paleontology (Posters)
Tuesday, 26 March 2019: 8:30 AM-5:45 PM
Big Basin/Kaw Nation Rooms (Hilton Garden Inn Manhattan )
Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 51, No. 2
doi: 10.1130/abs/2019SC-327336
© Copyright 2019 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.
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