Shelly faunas associated with temperate offshore tidal deposits

Abstract

Shelly fossils and trace fossils occurring in supposed tidal current deposits are found in marine sedimentary rocks of all ages from the Lower Cambrian onwards (Chapter 7). Although it has been realized for some time that the most successful palaeo-environmental reconstructions are made using the combined palaeoecological and lithological approach to the interpretation of sedimentary basins and sedimentary successions (Hecker, 1965), little attempt has so far been made to relate faunas on continental shelves to bed transport paths or to particular bed-forms. Closer investigation of shelly faunas and their associated sediments in the geological record and their comparison with modern analogues associated with known bedforms should facilitate a more certain recognition of the environments of formation of tidal current deposits of the geological past.