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Taphonomic bias of selective silicification revealed by paired petrographic and insoluble residue analysis

Sara B. Pruss, Jonathan L. Payne and Sophie Westacott
Taphonomic bias of selective silicification revealed by paired petrographic and insoluble residue analysis
Palaios (August 2015) 30 (8): 620-626

Abstract

Silicification is an important mode of fossil preservation but the extent to which silicified material represents an unbiased sampling of the total fossil assemblage within a given rock sample remains poorly quantified. Here, we use paired analyses of thin sections and acid-extracted silicified specimens from the same samples to examine the biases introduced during silicification of Lower Triassic Virgin Limestone carbonates preserved in the Muddy Mountains of southern Nevada. Bivalves dominate most thin sections in the point count data, but rarely silicify completely enough to be recognized in residue. Echinoderms and gastropods are less abundant in thin section but dominate the residues. The abundances of these groups in thin section and residue are only weakly correlated. These findings suggest that although silicification generally captures relative trends in proportional abundance of higher taxa among samples, the silicification process can be taxonomically biased. Given the biases that can occur during silicification, it should not be assumed that silicified collections present a pristine picture of taxonomic or paleoecologic composition. Petrographic analysis has the potential to illuminate the reliability of paleontological data based on silicified collections.


ISSN: 0883-1351
Serial Title: Palaios
Serial Volume: 30
Serial Issue: 8
Title: Taphonomic bias of selective silicification revealed by paired petrographic and insoluble residue analysis
Affiliation: Smith College, Department of Geosciences, Northampton, MA, United States
Pages: 620-626
Published: 201508
Other Date: 20150810
Text Language: English
Publisher: Society for Sedimentary Geology, Tulsa, OK, United States
References: 32
Accession Number: 2015-093964
Categories: Invertebrate paleontology
Document Type: Serial
Bibliographic Level: Analytic
Annotation: NSF Grant EAR-0807377
Illustration Description: illus. incl. 1 table, strat. cols.
N36°31'60" - N36°37'00", W114°37'00" - W114°31'60"
Secondary Affiliation: Stanford University, USA, United States
Country of Publication: United States
Secondary Affiliation: GeoRef, Copyright 2017, American Geosciences Institute. Reference includes data from GeoScienceWorld, Alexandria, VA, United States. Reference includes data supplied by SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology), Tulsa, OK, United States
Update Code: 201540
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