Evolution, dispersal and habitat preference of deep-sea trace fossils

Cambrian deep-sea sediments have yielded few trace fossils. The first moderately diverse suite is found in an Arenig flysch sequence in Eire. There followed a gradual increase in diversity and abundance of trace fossils in deep-sea niches in the Palaeozoic and early Mesozoic. A major burst of behaviourial evolution appears to have taken place during the Cretaceous and, from then through the Tertiary, high levels of trace fossil abundance and diversity were maintained. This is confirmed by recent work on Miocene deep-sea sequences and from a superbly preserved, diverse, ichnofauna recently discovered in strata of Oligocene and Miocene age in the Makran Range of Iran.In the past, it has been inferred that there was a gradual improvement in behavioral programming in deep-sea traces, with a trend towards economy of effort and perfection. However, Lower Palaeozoic deep water traces show careful, complex, behavioral programming which was to change little through the rest of the Phanerozoic.Within the deep-sea, there are, however, significant variations in the ichnospectrum in different niches. For example, the inner parts of seep-sea sand fans, particularly the channelled areas, have a mixture of “deep” and “shallow” water traces, whereas the outer fan normally has only deep water forms.

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Onshore-offshore patterns in Late PreCambrian and Lower Palaeozoic trace fossils

The Paleontological Society Special Publications ◽

10.1017/s2475262200006377 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 6 ◽

pp. 77-77

Author(s):

T. Peter Crimes ◽

N. Chris Hunt

Keyword(s):

Shallow Water ◽

Deep Water ◽

Lower Cambrian ◽

Deep Ocean ◽

Trace Fossils ◽

Virtual Absence ◽

Shelf Seas ◽

Lower Palaeozoic ◽

Abundance And Diversity ◽

Body Fossil

There was a dramatic increase in abundance and diversity of trace fossils in Upper Precambrian and Lower Cambrian shallow water seas. The trace-producing animals rapidly filled all the available niches and in low energy, muddy, environments they evolved winding, meandering and patterned habits. Traces such as Taphrhelminthopsis, Helminthoida, Nereites, Paleodictyon and Squamodictyon had all evolved in clastic shelf seas during the pre-trilobite Lower Cambrian.Significant colonisation of the deep oceans seems to have mostly been delayed until the Ordovician. A recently described suite of trace fossils from a flysch sequence in Eire includes such deep water types as: Glockerichnus, Helminthopsis, Lorenzinia, Paleodictyon and Taphrhelminthopsis. This migration into the deep sea is accompanied by a virtual absence of such traces from shallow water sequences after the Cambrian.Deep water trace fossils therefore seem to have evolved initially in shallow water clastic seas and then migrated in to the deep ocean, thereby providing an exciting example of an onshore-offshore pattern. This may be of particular significance in that it is presumably mimicked by body fossil migrations in these early seas.

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The work of the Discovery Committee

Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series A - Mathematical and Physical Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspa.1950.0082 ◽

1950 ◽

Vol 202 (1068) ◽

pp. 1-16 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Keyword(s):

Southern Ocean ◽

Deep Water ◽

Deep Sea ◽

Original Form ◽

The Past ◽

Scientific Staff ◽

Form Part ◽

Whaling Industry ◽

Major Industry ◽

Colonial Office

The geographical field in which most of the Discovery Committee’s work has been carried out during the past 25 years is the Southern Ocean. This zone of continuous deep water, very rich in marine fife, supports one major industry—the whaling industry—but is otherwise little developed as yet, and seldom visited. It is not easy to find a short descriptive label for the work itself, but nearly all of it comes under the headings of deep-sea oceanography, whales and whaling, or Antarctic geography, and much of it is concerned with the interrelations of these subjects. Since the beginning in 1924 the Discovery Committee has worked under the Colonial Office, but in 1949 the Committee’s functions, together with the scientific staff, the ships, and other assets, were taken over by the Admiralty, and now form part of the new National Institute of Oceanography. The Discovery Committee, in its original form, has been dissolved, but it is encouraging to know that the continuation of its work is assured.

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Arthrodendron maguricum n. sp., a new larger agglutinated foraminifer from the Eocene Magura flysch of the Polish Carpathians and its relationship to komokiaceans and trace fossils

Journal of Paleontology ◽

10.1666/09-029.1 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 84 (6) ◽

pp. 1015-1021

Author(s):

Michael A. Kaminski ◽

Alfred Uchman ◽

Andrew K. Rindsberg

Keyword(s):

Deep Water ◽

Deep Sea ◽

Trace Fossils ◽

Lower Eocene ◽

Sea Floor ◽

Polish Carpathians ◽

Agglutinated Foraminifera

Arthrodendron maguricum n. sp. is described from deep-sea flysch of the lower Eocene Życzanów Conglomerate Member of the Szczawnica Formation (Magura Unit) in the Polish Carpathians. Arthrodendron maguricum is a larger agglutinated foraminifer showing regular, tubular chambers that may branch dichotomously. Its wall is tripartite and composed of an outer organic-rich layer, a main agglutinated layer, and an internal organic-rich layer. The organism evidently lived as epibenthos on the muddy sea floor. Because of their branching morphology and comparatively large dimensions, larger agglutinated foraminifera of the genus Arthrodendron have previously been confused with algae and trace fossils. Care should be taken in such cases to resolve the agglutinated wall and chambers of this deep-water agglutinated foraminifer. Arthrodendron maguricum displays superficial similarities to some modern komokiaceans, especially to Septuma. Further investigations are needed for clarification of their affinities and possible taxonomic consequences.

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Trace fossils from Lower Palaeozoic ocean-floor sediments of the Southern Uplands of Scotland

Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Earth Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0263593300009627 ◽

1982 ◽

Vol 73 (2) ◽

pp. 67-87 ◽

Cited By ~ 44

Author(s):

M. J. Benton

Keyword(s):

Oxygen Content ◽

Deep Sea ◽

Trace Fossils ◽

Trace Fossil ◽

Ocean Floor ◽

Turbidity Currents ◽

Northern Margin ◽

Iapetus Ocean ◽

Lower Palaeozoic

ABSTRACTThe Ordovician and Silurian rocks of the Southern Uplands of Scotland have been interpreted as sediments deposited on the northern margin of the Iapetus Ocean. Trace fossils are abundant at many localities in ocean-floor turbidites and mudstones that usually lack all other evidence of life. Twelve ichnogenera are present, and they are mainly meandering locomotion and feeding trails and burrow networks: Dictyodora, Caridolites, Helminthoida, Neonereites, Nereites, Protovirgularia, Gordia, Megagrapton, Paleodictyon, Chondrites, Plano-lites and Skolithos. The trace fossils occur in at least five distinct assemblages and the composition of these was probably controlled by the frequency and nature of the turbidity currents, and possibly by the oxygen content of the mudstones. Where turbidity currents were weak, abundant Dictyodora, together with Caridolites, Neonereites, Nereites, Protovirgularia and Gordia occur in various combinations. Where currents were stronger, traces such as Gordia, Paleodictyon and Megagrapton may be exhumed and cast on turbidite soles, and the sand may contain Skolithos. The ‘deep-sea’ Nereites trace fossil facies is divisible into several assemblages, presumably environmentally controlled.

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Turbidite origin of some laminated mudstones

Geological Magazine ◽

10.1017/s0016756800039509 ◽

1972 ◽

Vol 109 (2) ◽

pp. 115-126 ◽

Cited By ~ 38

Author(s):

David J. W. Piper

Keyword(s):

Deep Water ◽

Deep Sea ◽

Careful Examination ◽

Turbidity Currents ◽

Granular Bed ◽

Terrigenous Sediment ◽

Fine Grained ◽

Depositional Processes ◽

Lower Palaeozoic

SummaryMany deep water marine muds, including lower Palaeozoic mudstones from Britain, have thin graded beds in which mud and silt laminae alternate, with the silt becoming finer and less abundant upwards. Of the known deep-sea depositional processes, turbidity currents are the most likely cause of such graded laminated beds. The lamination may be produced by alternating cohesive and granular bed conditions. Much more careful examination of laminated fine grained terrigenous sediment is needed.

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The work of the Discovery Committee

Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.1950.0028 ◽

1950 ◽

Vol 137 (887) ◽

pp. 137-152 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Keyword(s):

Southern Ocean ◽

Deep Water ◽

Deep Sea ◽

Original Form ◽

Marine Life ◽

The Past ◽

Scientific Staff ◽

Form Part ◽

Whaling Industry ◽

Major Industry

The geographical field in which most of the Discovery Committee’s work has been carried out during the past 25 years is the Southern Ocean. This zone of continuous deep water, very rich in marine life, supports one major industry—the whaling industry—but is otherwise little developed as yet, and seldom visited. It is not easy to find a short descriptive label for the work itself, but nearly all of it comes under the headings of deep-sea oceanography, whales and whaling, or Antarctic geography, and much of it is concerned with the interrelations of these subjects. Since the beginning in 1924 the Discovery Committee has worked under the Colonial Office, but in 1949 the Committee’s functions, together with the scientific staff, the ships, and other assets, were taken over by the Admiralty, and now form part of the new National Institute of Oceanography. The Discovery Committee, in its original form, has been dissolved, but it is encouraging to know that the continuation of its work is assured.

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The oldest deep-sea Ophiomorpha and Scolicia and associated trace fossils from the Upper Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous deep-water turbidite deposits of SW Bulgaria

Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology ◽

10.1016/s0031-0182(01)00218-8 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 169 (1-2) ◽

pp. 85-99 ◽

Cited By ~ 45

Author(s):

Platon Tchoumatchenco ◽

Alfred Uchman

Keyword(s):

Deep Water ◽

Deep Sea ◽

Lower Cretaceous ◽

Upper Jurassic ◽

Trace Fossils

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Deep-sea tephra from the Azores during the past 300,000 years: Eruptive cloud height and ash volume estimates: Summary

Geological Society of America Bulletin ◽

10.1130/0016-7606(1979)90<131:dtftad>2.0.co;2 ◽

1979 ◽

Vol 90 (2) ◽

pp. 131 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

T. C. HUANG ◽

N. D. WATKINS ◽

L. WILSON

Keyword(s):

Deep Sea ◽

The Past ◽

Cloud Height ◽

Volume Estimates

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The Reproductive Biology of Ophiacantha Bidentata (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea) From The Rockall Trough

Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom ◽

10.1017/s0025315400020099 ◽

1982 ◽

Vol 62 (1) ◽

pp. 45-55 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

P. A. Tyler ◽

J. D. Gage

Keyword(s):

Reproductive Biology ◽

Deep Water ◽

Larval Stage ◽

North Pacific ◽

Deep Sea ◽

Direct Development ◽

The Arctic ◽

Shallow Waters ◽

Arctic Seas ◽

Rockall Trough

INTRODUCTIONOphiacantha bidentata (Retzius) is a widespread arctic-boreal ophiuroid with a circumpolar distribution in the shallow waters of the Arctic seas and penetrating into the deep sea of the.North Atlantic and North Pacific (Mortensen, 1927, 1933a; D'yakonov, 1954). Early observations of this species were confined to defining zoogeo-graphical and taxonomic criteria including the separation of deep water specimens as the variety fraterna (Farran, 1912; Grieg, 1921; Mortensen, 1933a). Mortensen (1910) and Thorson (1936, pp. 18–26) noted the large eggs (o.8 mm diameter) in specimens from Greenland and Thorson (1936) proposed that this species had ‘big eggs rich in yolk, shed directly into the sea. Much reduced larval stage or direct development’. This evidence is supported by observations of O. bidentata from the White and Barents Seas (Semenova, Mileikovsky & Nesis, 1964; Kaufman, 1974)..

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