|
|
 |
|||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||
| JOURNAL HOME | HELP | CONTACT PUBLISHER | SUBSCRIBE | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
1 Department of Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, 5734 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA
2 Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, McGill University, 3450 University Street, Montréal, Québec H3A 2A7, Canada
3 Department of Geology, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona 86011-4099, USA
Radiocarbon-calibrated amino-acid racemization ages of individually dated bivalve mollusk shells from Caribbean reef, nonreefal carbonate, and siliciclastic sediments in Panama indicate that siliciclastic sands and muds contain significantly older shells (median 375 yr, range up to 
5400 yr) than nearby carbonate seafloors (median 72 yr, range up to 2900 yr; maximum shell ages differ significantly at p < 0.02 using extreme-value statistics). The implied difference in shell loss rates is contrary to physicochemical expectations but is consistent with observed differences in shell condition (greater bioerosion and dissolution in carbonates). Higher rates of shell loss in carbonate sediments should lead to greater compositional bias in surviving skeletal material, resulting in taphonomic trade-offs: less time averaging but probably higher taxonomic bias in pure carbonate sediments, and lower bias but greater time averaging in siliciclastic sediments from humid-weathered accretionary arc terrains, which are a widespread setting of tropical sedimentation.
Key Words: taphonomy • mollusks • tropical carbonates • sedimentology • time averaging
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  M. A. Kosnik, Q. Hua, D. S. Kaufman, and R. A. Wust Taphonomic bias and time-averaging in tropical molluscan death assemblages: differential shell half-lives in Great Barrier Reef sediment Paleobiology, December 1, 2009; 35(4): 565 - 586. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 L. CHERNS and V. P. WRIGHT QUANTIFYING THE IMPACTS OF EARLY DIAGENETIC ARAGONITE DISSOLUTION ON THE FOSSIL RECORD Palaios, November 1, 2009; 24(11): 756 - 771. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. Tomasovych and M. Zuschin Variation in brachiopod preservation along a carbonate shelf-basin transect (Red Sea and Gulf of Aden): Environmental sensitivity of taphofacies Palaios, October 1, 2009; 24(10): 697 - 716. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. M.R. Best Contrast in Preservation of Bivalve Death Assemblages in Siliciclastic and Carbonate Tropical Shelf Settings Palaios, December 1, 2008; 23(12): 796 - 809. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
I. Hauser, W. Oschmann, and E. Gischler Taphonomic Signatures On Modern Caribbean Bivalve Shells As Indicators Of Environmental Conditions (Belize, Central America) Palaios, September 1, 2008; 23(9): 586 - 600. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
S. Finnegan and M. L. Droser Reworking Diversity: Effects Of Storm Deposition On Evenness And Sampled Richness, Ordovician Of The Basin And Range, Utah And Nevada, Usa Palaios, February 1, 2008; 23(2): 87 - 96. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 S. M. Kidwell From the Cover: Discordance between living and death assemblages as evidence for anthropogenic ecological change PNAS, November 6, 2007; 104(45): 17701 - 17706. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 M. A. Kosnik, Q. Hua, G. E. Jacobsen, D. S. Kaufman, and R. A. Wust Sediment mixing and stratigraphic disorder revealed by the age-structure of Tellina shells in Great Barrier Reef sediment Geology, September 1, 2007; 35(9): 811 - 814. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
K. G. Johnson, J. A. Todd, and J. B. C. Jackson Coral reef development drives molluscan diversity increase at local and regional scales in the late Neogene and Quaternary of the southwestern Caribbean Paleobiology, January 1, 2007; 33(1): 24 - 52. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
| JOURNAL HOME | HELP | CONTACT PUBLISHER | SUBSCRIBE | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
