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Paleoecology Lab: 2 Versions

Paleoecology Lab: 2 Versions. James R. Ebert Earth Sciences Department SUNY College at Oneonta. Paleoecology Lab: Context. Earth History and the Fossil Record Commonly second geoscience course taken Majors in Geology Water Resources Earth Science Adolescence Education Earth Science

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Paleoecology Lab: 2 Versions

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  1. Paleoecology Lab: 2 Versions James R. Ebert Earth Sciences Department SUNY College at Oneonta

  2. Paleoecology Lab: Context • Earth History and the Fossil Record • Commonly second geoscience course taken • Majors in • Geology • Water Resources • Earth Science • Adolescence Education Earth Science • Childhood Education (K-6)

  3. Paleoecology Lab: Objectives • Practice observation • Recognize fossils in matrix • Deduce paleoecological requirements of • Individual species • Assemblages of species • Interpret environment based on paleoecological factors • Support interpretations with specific observations and associated inferences

  4. Paleoecology Lab – Lab Version • Follows first lab on fossils • Taphonomy – focus on mode of preservation • Identification – major Paleozoic invertebrate groups • First experience with assemblages • First real experience with fossils in matrix • First lab that requires interpretation of their own observations • Materials: 4 assemblages

  5. Assemblage 1: Reef Framework

  6. Assemblage 2: High Abundance, Low Diversity - Intertidal

  7. Assemblage 3: High Abundance, High Diversity – Open Shelf

  8. Assemblage 4: High Abundance of Some Taxa, Moderate Diversity – Deeper Shelf

  9. Paleoecology Lab – Field Version: Rickard Hill Road Project –Peering into Deep Time

  10. Paleoecology Lab – Field Version • Fall Semester: Replaces Lab version • Spring Semester Done late in spring semester as one of two culminating field projects • Combines paleontological observations with lithology and sedimentary structures • First experience with fossils in the field • Requires interpretation of their own observations • Overall Objective: Reconstruct Environments of Deposition and Interpret Changes in Environment

  11. Rickard Hill Stratigraphy • Limestones of the Helderberg Group (L. Dev.) • Upper Unit = Becraft Formation • Lower Unit = Old Stone Fort Member (informal) of Becraft Formation (formerly Kalkberg Formation)

  12. Old Stone Fort Member • Rich and diverse fauna - 300+ species • Brachiopods – minimum of 65 different species • Bryozoans • Sponges • Crinoids • Trilobites • Rare Cephalopods, Tabulate corals, Pelecypods, Gastropods • Some fossils are articulated and in life position • Skeletal Wackestones to Grainstones • Sedimentary Structures: • Burrows • Remnant ripples • Cross stratification (small scale) • Storm-Influenced Shelf

  13. Becraft Formation • Fauna is abundant, but disarticulated and abraded • Diverse fauna, but less so than OSF • Echinoderms predominate • Aspidocrinus scutelliformis holdfasts in lower part • Root-like holdfasts of Clonocrinus sp. in upper part • Brachiopods • Bryozoa • Rare Tabulate Corals, Stromatoporoids, large Gastropods, Cephalopods, Trilobites • Sedimentary Structures: • Cross Stratification • Alternations of coarse and finer beds/laminae • Coarse Skeletal Grainstone • Shallow, Tide-Dominated Shelf

  14. Changing Environments:OSF – Becraft Contact • Sharp • Weathered reentrant into outcrop • Clay at contact – weathered volcanic ash • Intraclasts of OSF in lowest bed of Becraft • Some intraclasts are exhumed fossils with adhered micrite • Disconformity

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