BioOne.org will be down briefly for maintenance on 17 December 2024 between 18:00-22:00 Pacific Time US. We apologize for any inconvenience.
How to translate text using browser tools
1 January 2018 TAPHONOMY AND BIOLOGICAL AFFINITY OF THREE-DIMENSIONALLY PHOSPHATIZED BROMALITES FROM THE MIDDLE ORDOVICIAN WINNESHIEK LAGERSTÄTTE, NORTHEASTERN IOWA, USA
ANDREW D. HAWKINS, HUAIBAO P. LIU, DEREK E. G. BRIGGS, A D. MUSCENTE, ROBERT M. MCKAY, BRIAN J. WITZKE, SHUHAI XIAO
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

The Winneshiek Lagerstätte occurs within an Ordovician meteorite impact structure beneath part of the city of Decorah, Iowa. The Lagerstätte has yielded an atypical marine fauna including phyllocarid crustaceans, eurypterids, conodonts, linguloid brachiopods, and jawless fish. Associated with these taxa are vermiform fossils: elongate, morphologically variable, and often three-dimensionally preserved bromalites of uncertain organisms. The preservational state of these bromalites is significantly different from that of other components of the Winneshiek biota. Here we present a compositional and microstructural analysis of the vermiform fossils in order to elucidate their taphonomy and biological affinities. The majority of studied specimens are preserved three-dimensionally and composed of calcium phosphate, while a minority are preserved as carbonaceous compressions. Winneshiek bromalites exhibit important similarities to examples documented from both older and younger sediments. They provide independent evidence of predation in the Winneshiek assemblage during the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event.

Copyright © 2018, SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology)
ANDREW D. HAWKINS, HUAIBAO P. LIU, DEREK E. G. BRIGGS, A D. MUSCENTE, ROBERT M. MCKAY, BRIAN J. WITZKE, and SHUHAI XIAO "TAPHONOMY AND BIOLOGICAL AFFINITY OF THREE-DIMENSIONALLY PHOSPHATIZED BROMALITES FROM THE MIDDLE ORDOVICIAN WINNESHIEK LAGERSTÄTTE, NORTHEASTERN IOWA, USA," PALAIOS 33(1), 1-15, (1 January 2018). https://doi.org/10.2110/palo.2017.053
Received: 12 June 2017; Accepted: 18 November 2017; Published: 1 January 2018
JOURNAL ARTICLE
15 PAGES

This article is only available to subscribers.
It is not available for individual sale.
+ SAVE TO MY LIBRARY

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS
Get copyright permission
Back to Top