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Bioerosion and encrustation rates in recent mollusk death assemblages on a supratidal siliciclastic setting, Playa Norte, Veracruz State, Mexico

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Abstract

This study presents both qualitative and quantitative data regarding marine mollusk (gastropods and bivalves) shell bioerosion and encrustation based on death assemblages obtained from a recent supratidal environment in Playa Norte, Veracruz State. The objectives of this study were to assess the nature of bioerosion and encrustation processes and to investigate the role of these taphonomic features contributing to the deterioration of natural shell accumulations within a tropical siliciclastic tidal environment. The assemblage comprises 31 species: 13 gastropods and 18 bivalves. The bioerosion and encrustation degrees were low to moderate for both types. The most abundant traces were predatory gastropod structures (Oichnus paraboloides and O. simplex), whereas sponge borings (Entobia isp.), polychaete dwellings (Caulostrepsis taeniola), and echinoid raspings (Gnatichnus isp.) were less frequent. The encrusting organisms include polychaete serpulids, bryozoans, and rare foraminifers (Homotrema rubrum). Because of the low bioerosion and encrustation degrees occurring in this area, accumulation is expected to predominate over biotic destruction. As deposition conditions (richly fossiliferous carbonate sandstone beds) were similar to those prevailing in the Tuxpan Formation during the Miocene (Langhian), it is suggested that this study provides an equivalent reference to interpret mollusk fossil assemblages located in this site.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr. Martha Reguero Reza, curator of the “Dr. Antonio García-Cubas” Malacological Collection (Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) and Dr. Manuel Palacios-Fest from Terra Nostra Earth Sciences. Brenda Martínez performed image editing and elaborated the location map. The first author was a holder of the postdoctoral fellowship granted by Dirección General de Apoyo al Personal Académico, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidad Autónoma de Guerrero, Escuela Superior de Ciencias de la Tierra, Ex Hacienda San Juan Bautista S/N, 40323, Taxco el Viejo, Guerrero, Mexico

    Catalina Gómez-Espinosa & Sergio Adrian Salgado-Souto

  2. Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito exterior S/N, Ciudad Universitaria, 04510, Coyoacán, Mexico

    F. Raúl Gío-Argáez

  3. Departamento de Geología, Universidad Nacional del Sur, San Juan 670, Bahía Blanca, 8000, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Ester A. Farinati

  4. Instituto Argentino de Oceanografía, Camino a La Carrindanga km 7.5, Bahía Blanca, 8000, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Salvador Aliotta

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  1. Catalina Gómez-Espinosa
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  2. F. Raúl Gío-Argáez
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  3. Ester A. Farinati
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  5. Sergio Adrian Salgado-Souto
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Correspondence to Catalina Gómez-Espinosa.

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Gómez-Espinosa, C., Raúl Gío-Argáez, F., Farinati, E.A. et al. Bioerosion and encrustation rates in recent mollusk death assemblages on a supratidal siliciclastic setting, Playa Norte, Veracruz State, Mexico. Arab J Geosci 11, 188 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-018-3549-8

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