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24 Chalk trace fossils, Upper Cretaceous, West Melbury Chalk Formation, Beachy Head, southeast England. ( a ) General view of intensely bioturbated deposits overprinted by mid-tier Thalassinoides paradoxicus ; ( b ) Close-up of Thalassinoides paradoxicus ; ( c ) Close-up of Thalassinoides paradoxicus cross-cut by deep-tier Chondrites isp.; ( d ) General view of intensely bioturbated deposits overprinted by mid-tier Thalassinoides paradoxicus. Scale bars are 1 cm
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The Mesozoic Marine Revolution (MMR) was a major evolutionary episode involving the large-scale restructuring of shallow-marine benthic communities and the rise to dominance of the Modern Evolutionary Fauna. Although the majority of studies published on the MMR have been based on the body-fossil record, the ichnologic record yields valuable insight...
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This paper presents the results of sedimentological studies of Zechstein marine deposits occurring in the Wleń Graben, a tectonic unit located in the southeastern part of the North Sudetic Synclinorium (NSS; Western Sudetes, SW Poland). Owing to poor exposure, small thickness, and lack of palaeontological data, the stratigraphy and age of these roc...
Upper Permian to Lower Triassic successions exposed in the Al Mamalih area, east of the Dead Sea, Jordan record the transition between the alluvial Umm Irna Formation (Upper Permian) and the overlying shallow marine Ma'in Formation (Lower Triassic). The Permian-Triassic boundary is constrained either within a hiatus represented by a sequence bounda...
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... Of the bioeroded shells, 47% was detected on the external surface, 13% on the internal surface and 40% on both valve surfaces and represented mostly by Entobia (38%) (Fig. 10A) and Gastrochaenolites (32%) (Fig. 10B) followed by Maeandropolydora (20%) (Fig. 10C). These borings may be linked to sponges, bivalves, and polychaetes, respectively (Bromley 2005;Buatois et al. 2016) and classified as Domichnia (Romero et al. 2018). In addition, indeterminate branched structures (8%) and Oichnus (2%) were observed. ...
Fieldwork at Península Valdés (Chubut, Argentina) in the Puerto Madryn Formation (Late Miocene) resulted in the discovery of a well-preserved, almost fully articulated, baleen whale (Cetacea, Mysticeti). This specimen, one of the most complete balaenid skeletons known from the Neogene of Argentina and worldwide, was the focus of a taphonomic analysis employing a multidisciplinary approach, integrating taxonomic, sedimentological, stratigraphic, and ichnological analyses, with the aim of reconstructing the taphonomic processes and the paleoenvironmental conditions that controlled preservation of the specimen. The skeleton belongs to the family Balaenidae (right whales). It displays a high degree of articulation, moderate pre-burial fragmentation, and relatively high completeness. Our results suggest that after death, the balaenid suffered a brief biostratinomic phase that can be summarized in four stages: (1) death at sea, with initial decomposition and positive buoyancy of the carcass; (2) internal accumulation of putrefaction gases, re-orientation, then gas loss; (3) sinking and deposition in a ventral-up position on the sea floor of the inner shelf; and (4) lateral re-orientation of the postcranial region due to physical and biological processes. The high degree of articulation and association of the skeletal elements, and the presence of both mandibles, indicate no lateral transport on the seabed and excludes refloating of the carcass at any stage. Finally, the data indicate a low-energy shelf environment with normal marine benthic oxygenation and salinity conditions, characterized by a soft bottom and a moderate sedimentation rate. The last, combined with high bioturbation, plus scour-induced self-burial, resulted in rapid burial of the carcass.
... However, there are several lines of information arguing against this. Firstly, by the Jurassic grazing of hard substrata was already well-developed [29,72,73]. Secondly, there are modern shallow-water brachiopod communities at middle and high latitudes where large taxa coexist with strong grazing pressures (see electronic supplementary material, figure S4). ...
Changes in predator–prey interactions are often implicated as drivers of major evolutionary change. A prominent example is the dramatic changes in shallow marine assemblages during the Mesozoic Marine Revolution (MMR) when major clades, including rhynchonelliform brachiopods, became restricted and less diverse. Currently, shallow-water temperate and polar brachiopods can be large, but in the tropics, they are small. By contrast, we demonstrate that throughout the Jurassic large brachiopods occurred in shallow sites, from polar to tropical latitudes, but are absent in later periods from tropical areas. These changes occurred in parallel in both major orders (Rhynchonellida and Terebratulida) and also independently within the two sub-ordinal lineages within the Terebratulida (terebratulinids and terebratellinids). Increases in both grazing and predation pressures associated with the MMR might account for this pattern. However, we note that many current environments support both large brachiopods and high densities of grazing species and suggest that the pattern fits more closely to the intensification of durophagous predation in shallow tropical waters.
... Arenicolites appear in cross-sections as paired, endichnial tubes (Fig. 4a) on the bedding surface; it is considered as a deep tier structure made by suspension-feeding organisms. It is abundant in the shallow-water deposits of the Phanerozoic era and has some analogs in modern environments (Buatois et al., 2016). It is probably made by infaunal deposit-feeding polychaetes. ...
... It is associated with Arenicolites, Ophiomorpha, Planolites and Rhizocorallium. Arenicolites and Ophiomorpha which are commonly observed in shifting high-energy sediments in nearshore environments (Buatois et al., 2016). Planolites and Rhizocorallium were made where the shifting of sediments is nullified by the depth and allowed colonization. ...
For decades, naming the rosetted trace fossil species of Dactyloidites ottoi or Haentzschelinia ottoi has been a matter of discussion. The phobotactic behaviour of the trace makers reflecting systematic mining to form branched radial elements converging at the central vertical shafts in both the ichnogenera are similar and foreknown. Berriasian marine deltaic deposits of the Jhuran Formation, India, contain several such endichnial mid-tier traces of Dactyloidites ottoi (Geinitz, 1849), at six different levels in a highly bioturbated subarkosic bedded sandstone. Its occurrence is associated with Arenicolites, Ophiomorpha, Planolites and Rhizocorallium. The analysis of the trace fossils from the archives reveals the mining strategy resulting in Cambrian to Holocene Dactyloidites and Haentzschelinia traces. The present specimens of D. ottoi and the morphological variants within the traces also indicate an effect of the variations in palaeobiological and palaeoenvironmental aspects.
... The recovery phase following this extinction event was one of the pivotal evolutionary events in the history of life. This recovery included the establishment of the 'Mesozoic Marine Revolution' (Buatois et al., 2016;Harper, 2003), completing the shift from archaic Paleozoic fauna to forms that remain dominant to this day (Vermeij, 1977). ...
... The Mesozoic Marine Revolution (MMR) marks largescale evolutionary episodes giving rise to the dominance of modern evolutionary fauna (Buatois et al., 2016). The faunal turnover occurred by the Early Jurassic, as indicated by the taxonomic composition and increased diversity of bioturbation structures and the complexity of infaunal tiering (Buatois et al., 2016). ...
... The Mesozoic Marine Revolution (MMR) marks largescale evolutionary episodes giving rise to the dominance of modern evolutionary fauna (Buatois et al., 2016). The faunal turnover occurred by the Early Jurassic, as indicated by the taxonomic composition and increased diversity of bioturbation structures and the complexity of infaunal tiering (Buatois et al., 2016). The suspension-feeding tellinacean bivalves evolved from the suspension-feeding cardiid bivalve which later develop deposit-feeding behavior during the Cretaceous in a fully marine setting during the Cretaceous (Pohlo, 1982). ...
Hillichnus lobosensis, a multi-morphological preserved trace fossil represents the combined locomotion and feeding behavioral activities of the tellinacean bivalves. Several specimens of this complex well preserved, endogenic structures are found in the mixed siliciclastic-carbonate rocks of the Middle Jurassic (Bathonian-Callovian) of the Island Belt Zone of Kachchh, India. The structures show different morphological levels of Hillichnus from Level E to Level A. The earliest paleontological evidence of the deposit-feeding tellinacean bivalves is known from the Early Cretaceous. Here we interpret the locomotory and deposit-feeding activity of tellinacean bivalves during the Bathonian-Callovian age based on ichnological evidence. The preserved dual behavioural and functional activities suggest a pronounced change in siphonal function which has switched over partly/completely from infaunal suspension-feeding mode to deposit-feeding mode marking the revolution in tellinacean bivalves coinciding with the global transgression.
... A wide range of trace fossils, reflecting various ethologies (locomotion, feeding, dwelling, feeding and dwelling, resting and dwelling, equilibrium, and a complex combination of behaviours), is attributed to the activities of bivalves (Buatois et al., 2016). Both bioturbation and bioerosion structures may be produced by these molluscs. ...
Trace fossils provide detailed palaeoenvironmental and palaeoecological information of both ancient and modern sedimentary systems. During middle Miocene times the Aures Massif located in the northeastern part of Algeria, was affected by, at least, one marine transgression. The latter led to the installation of a carbonate platform, which is placed, for the first time, in a Mediterranean context. In the Rhassira basin, the Middle Miocene marine succession is characterised by carbonate platform deposits dominated by rhodolith beds, typical of those known throughout the Mediterranean area. This succession can be divided into many units separated by discontinuities interpreted here as omission surfaces. The Djebel Arhane section shows two omission surfaces characterised by a pre-omission suite (firmground) represented by Balanoglossites burrows for the first surface and Gastrochaenolites ornatus burrows/borings for the second one, and an omission suite (hardground) as evidenced by the bioerosive structures Trypanites and Caulostrepsis, in both surfaces, respectively. Gastrochaenolites ornatus traces were formed and preserved in firm, compact, semi-lithified and fine-grained substrates (firm- to hardground), indicating the Glossifungites ichnofacies. They show bioglyphs which have been formed during contraction of the posterior adductor muscles. These suggest that their tracemakers were represented by suspension-feeding bivalves, most probably Pholadidae or Mytilidae, which rotated during penetration. The fill of these traces is composed of marine deposits related to a transgressive lag. The omission suite is divided into two ichnocoenoses: (i) pre-lithification burrows/borings, and (ii) post-lithification borings. This is the first report of the ichnotaxon G. ornatus from Algeria.
... What we cannot demonstrate is whether this behavior was new and was not already happening in the Late Permian. Buatois et al. (2016) report that trace fossils show evidence that seabed ecosystems had fully recovered by the Middle Triassic in equatorial carbonate settings, although these ichnoassemblages show limited infaunalization and simple tiering structures. These authors note major changes in Jurassic ichnoassemblages that mark the rise to dominance of the Modern Evolutionary Fauna. ...
The Triassic has long been recognized as a time during which marine and terrestrial ecosystems modernized dramatically, and it seems to have been a two-step process. First, recovery from the Permian-Triassic mass extinction (PTME) was a time of extraordinary renewal and novelty, and these processes of change were enhanced, it seems, by the effects of the Carnian Pluvial Episode (CPE). After the CPE, in the oceans, not only did the carbonate factory begin to change towards its modern form, but also arguably the Mesozoic Marine Revolution (MMR) speeded up. When the MMR was proposed it was seen as a process that occurred in the Late Jurassic and Cretaceous, as modern crustaceans, gastropods, and fishes enhanced predator-prey arms races. New evidence from China and elsewhere suggests in fact the MMR was already underway in the Middle and Late Triassic, and so was coincident with Sepkoski’s classic idea that Paleozoic faunas were replaced by Modern marine faunas from the beginning of the Triassic. On land, ongoing competition between synapsids and archosauromorphs through the Triassic was marked by a posture shift from sprawling to erect, and a shift in physiology to warm-bloodedness, with insulating skin coverings of hair and feathers. Dinosaurs, for example, originated in the Early or Middle Triassic, but did not diversify until after the CPE. These arms races, the MMR in the sea, and the endothermy shift in tetrapods, were triggered by the PTME, and then enhanced by the CPE.
... Thus, relatively deep tiers of infaunal bivalves likely occurred much earlier than the suggested Mesozoic infaunal radiation (Buatois et al., 2016). Our study based on O. ...
Abstract Oblongichnus vulpesi n. isp. is herein described as amygdaloid, oval or cleft-shaped burrows with a lining of variable thickness and an oblong to quadrangular elongated shaft from the mid-Holocene of the Destacamento Río Salado Member. Valves of the solenid bivalve species Solen tehuelchus were found within the burrows, indicating that this razor clam is the tracemaker. This new finding corroborates the validity of Oblongichnus and previous interpretation that the burrow was produced by infaunal, filter feeding bivalves with a foot of very limited horizontal movements. We found that the origin of oblong elongate bivalves may be dated back to the Ordovician, while an evolutionary radiation occurred during late Paleozoic. We interpret that O. vulpesi was made in a moderate energy subtidal marine setting during the last marine highstand.
... The Triassic was an important period for the recovery of life on Earth after the end-Permian extinction. Not only were new ecosystems established, but new animal lineages came to play key roles in the emerging Modern Evolutionary Fauna (PAYNE & VAN DE SCHOOTBRUGGE, 2007;BENTON, 2016;BUATOIS et al., 2016). Among such groups were also the actinopterygian fishes (TINTORI et al., 2014a, b) and marine reptiles (MOTANI, 2009;STUBBS & BENTON, 2016;BRAYARD et al., 2017). ...
In the Kamnik-Savinja Alps (Slovenia), the Lower Serla Dolomite laterally passes into a succession of thin- to medium-bedded bituminous limestones of the Velika planina member. The finely laminated lower part of this member contains well-preserved actinopterygian fish and sauropterygian remains. The research aimed to determine the sedimentological and palaeoenvironmental characteristics of the depositional basin on the basis of three detailed sedimentological sections logged atop the Velika planina plateau. The Velika planina member is underlain by a whitish to light grey, thick bedded to massive dolomite with oncoids, stromatolites, and lumachellas deposited under peritidal to shallow subtidal conditions. The lower part of the Velika planina member consists of thin, often platy, finely laminated beds of bituminous mudstone. The Chondrites ichnofossil is very common; however, in some beds numerous lingulid brachiopods, bivalves, and crinoids were observed. Fossil vertebrates and crustaceans are relatively rare and confined to a few levels. Ammonoids are very rare. Subordinate beds of intraclastic-peloid wackestone to packstone, intraclastic-bioclastic grainstone, and bivalve floatstone occur. Slumps are common. Upwards, bedding gradually becomes thicker and bioturbation more common. Finally, stromatolites, birdseye fenestrae, and oncoids reappear. The entire succession is confined to the early to middle Anisian by the foraminifer Citaella dinarica (KOCHANSKY-DEVIDÉ & PANTIĆ). The absence of breccias at the base of the Velika planina member, the gradual transition upwards into shallow marine carbonates, as well as the presence of sauropterygians of the order Nothosauroidea suggest deposition in a relatively shallow basin. The finely laminated facies of the lower part of the member indicates a stratified water column, with oxygenated near-surface waters and hypoxic to anoxic conditions near the sea floor.
... Palaeophycus is categorized as "passively filled horizontal burrow" as regards the architectural designs of trace fossils (Buatois et al. 2017). Palaeophycus is a facies-crossing ichnogenus produced by worm like trace makers such as glyceride and nereid polychaetes (Pemberton and Frey 1982;Keighley and Pickerill 1994;Buatois et al. 2016). Some authors pointed that Palaeophycus is produced by insects such as orthopterans (e.g. ...
... Planolites is categorized as "simple actively filled (massive) horizontal to oblique structures" as regards the architectural designs of trace fossils (Buatois et al. 2017). Planolites is produced by worm like animals, probably polychaetes (Pemberton and Frey 1982;Howard and Frey 1984;Buatois et al. 2016). Ethologically, Planolites is "feeding traces or Fodinichnia" (Minter et al. 2016). ...
... Taenidium is produced by deposit feeders like Oligochaeta annelids (Bown and Kraus 1983;D'Alessandro et al. 1987;Schlirf et al. 2001). Taenidium occurs since the Cambrian O'Geen and Busacca 2001;Gregory et al. 2004;Buatois et al. 2016). ...
In the present study, fifteen ichnospecies, namely, Beaconites coronus, Helminthoidichnites tenuis, Helminthopsis tenuis, Palaeophycus annulatus, Palaeophycus sulcatus, Palaeophycus tubularis, Planolites beverleyensis, Planolites montanus, Scoyenia gracilis, Spongeliomorpha iberica, Taenidium barrette, Taenidium cameronensis, Taenidium satanassi, Taenidium serpentinum and Treptichnus bifurcus, have been reported from the Late Pliocene–Early Pleistocene bentonitized tuff band and associated mudstone horizons belonging to the Nagrota Formation (= Pinjor Formation) of the Upper Siwalik Subgroup of Samba district of Jammu region, India. The present ichnoassemblage is an admixture of three ichnofacies as out of fifteen ichnospecies, seven ichnospecies belong to Scoyenia Ichnofacies, five ichnospecies to Skolithos Ichnofacies and three ichnospecies to Mermia Ichnofacies. The association of the three ichnofacies, namely, Scoyenia, Skolithos and Mermia, points lake margins and subaqueous zone of lake having low-energy conditions, and the lake was well-oxygenated, subaerially exposed to air and substrate episodically exposed to the atmosphere during deposition of bentonitized tuff band and associated mudstones.
