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Biological Sensing of Benthic Environments in Dark Shales and Related Oxygen-Restricted Facies

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Cretaceous Resources, Events and Rhythms

Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((ASIC,volume 304))

Abstract

The stagnant basin model that is widely applied to organic-rich dark shales and laminated marls and chalks has led to the view that sea-bottom conditions during accumulation were persistently anaerobic to dysaerobic. There are however, clear indications from the presence of trace and body fossils, that the conditions were much more variable. First, there are individuals and communities adapted to lower-than-normal oxygen levels: microbial mats and “flat clams” (Inoceramidae,Posidoniidae,Monotidae, and small Pectinidae). Second, there are event populations, bedding-plane concentrations of many individuals of few species that flourished during short periods (months to years?) of higher or lower oxygenation. Third, there are often transported assemblages of taxa from adjacent shelf or slope environments or from the mass mortality of pelagic organisms.

An example of the use of these principles comes from the detailed study of a dark shale interval around the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary in western United States. There, careful collecting on the scale of centimeters disclosed a rich variety of trace and body fossils whose distribution can be used to reconstruct a history of variations in oxygenation that is much more dynamic than would be expected from the stagnant basin model.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geological Sciences, CB-250, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, 80309, USA

    Erle G. Kauffman & Bradley B. Sageman

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  1. Erle G. Kauffman
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  2. Bradley B. Sageman
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Miami Beach, FL, USA

    R. N. Ginsburg

  2. Ecole des Mines de Paris, France

    Bernard Beaudoin

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Kauffman, E.G., Sageman, B.B. (1990). Biological Sensing of Benthic Environments in Dark Shales and Related Oxygen-Restricted Facies. In: Ginsburg, R.N., Beaudoin, B. (eds) Cretaceous Resources, Events and Rhythms. NATO ASI Series, vol 304. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-6861-6_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-6861-6_7

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