High-density bioturbated sandstones in the Mississippian Mauch Chunk Formation, eastern Pennsylvania, USA: Implications for continental ecospace exploitation
Highlights
► We have discovered intensely bioturbated channel deposits in Mississippian deposits. ► Intense bioturbation has homogenized these channel deposits. ► These deposits push back the onset of intense ecospace utilization by 30 myr.
Introduction
Marine strata of various ages have yielded important insights into the evolutionary history of bioturbation depth and the paleoenvironmental distribution of invertebrate burrowing (Sepkoski and Miller, 1985, Droser and Bottjer, 1987, Droser and Bottjer, 1988, Droser and Bottjer, 1989, Sepkoski, 1991, Droser and Li, 2001). Successful discoveries in the marine record spurred the examination of bioturbation in continental settings in order to glean similar insights into how substrate exploitation varied though time (Buatois and Mángano, 1993, Buatois et al., 1998, Miller and Labandeira, 2002, Miller et al., 2002). Applying semiquantitative indices to fluvial and lacustrine Permian and younger strata, high-density bioturbation was shown to occur on bedding planes before the vertical exploitation of substrate ecospace took place (Miller et al., 2002), supporting earlier observations that penetrative burrowing was rare, if not absent in Palaeozoic continental strata (Miller, 1984, Maples and Archer, 1989). As an example, the ichnogenus Beaconites has been reported to burrow to 20 cm depth in the Devonian to Lower Carboniferous strata (Graham and Pollard, 1982, Morrissey and Braddy, 2004).
The Mississippian Mauch Chunk Formation of eastern Pennsylvania has recently proven to be a rich source for understanding vertebrate and invertebrate ichnofossils yielding important insights into continental ichnodiversity during the Mississippian (Fillmore et al., 2010, Fillmore et al., 2011, Fillmore et al., 2012, Lucas et al., 2010a, Lucas et al., 2010b, Storm et al., 2010). This paper reports on recently discovered, high-density, bioturbated fluvial channel deposits, discusses the conditions of their formation, and explains the implications for ecosystem development in the Mississippian-age Indian Run Member of the Mauch Chunk Formation of eastern Pennsylvania (Fig. 1).
Section snippets
Geological setting
Recently, the Mauch Chunk Formation has been divided into three formally named members, from oldest to youngest, Lavelle (lower), Indian Run (middle), and Hometown (upper) members (Fig. 1, Fig. 2; Wood et al., 1969, Wood, 1973, Edmunds et al., 1979, Fillmore et al., 2012). The Lavelle Member consists of interbedded red shales and sandstones, and lithic fine-grained sandstones that are gradational with those of the underlying Pocono Formation (Wood et al., 1969, Wood, 1973, Edmunds et al., 1979,
Fluvial setting
Bioturbated samples for this study were collected in eastern Pennsylvania in the Indian Run Member of the Mauch Chunk Formation along a road cut on Pennsylvania State Route 901, near Lavelle, Pennsylvania (locality 1 — Fig. 1) and also near Whitehaven, Pennsylvania (locality 2 — Fig. 1) on Interstate Route 80 (Fig. 1, Fig. 3). The Mauch Chunk Formation has not been explored in other areas for additional examples of high-density bioturbated sandstones. The high-density bioturbated sandstone is
High density bioturbated sandstones
Fillmore et al. (2010) describe the diversity of invertebrate ichnofauna from the Mauch Chunk Formation. These include arthropod locomotion, resting and grazing traces, as well as penetrative burrows. However, the outcrops described here are intensively burrowed, more so than at any of the burrow locations discussed by Fillmore et al. (2010).
Burrow density throughout the channel deposit matches ichnofabric index 4 of Droser and Bottjer (1986) (Figs. 3C,D, 4B and C) except near the bases of the
Discussion
The onset of high-density subsurface burrowing documented in the Mississippian Mauch Chunk Formation is substantially older than previously reported from the Permian and may have been initiated in the Devonian to the Lower Carboniferous (Miller and Labandeira, 2002, Miller et al., 2002, Buatois et al., 2007a, Buatois et al., 2007b, Morrissey et al., 2012).
Detailed studies of Carboniferous trace fossils have been focused on lacustrine settings as faunal expansion took place into the previously
Acknowledgments
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation granted us permission to collect on limited access highways. Funding was provided by the Kutztown University Research Committee and the Professional Development Committee of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments that improved the manuscript.
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