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Description of a Quantitative Approach to Taphonomy and Taphofacies Analysis: All Dead Things Are Not Created Equal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2017

David J. Davies ,
George M. Staff ,
W. Russell Callender  and
Eric N. Powell
David J. Davies
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Texas A&M University College Station, Texas 77843
George M. Staff
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Texas A&M University College Station, Texas 77843
W. Russell Callender
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Texas A&M University College Station, Texas 77843
Eric N. Powell
Affiliation:
Department of Oceanography, Texas A&M University College Station, Texas 77843
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Extract

The utilization of taphonomic information to formulate biostratinomic models for modern and ancient assemblages has become a potentially powerful tool in paleoecologic analysis. The division of fossil assemblages into discrete suites of taphonomically-similar material adds an extra dimension to the interpretation of depositional setting and paleoecologic structure (Brett and Baird, 1986; Speyer and Brett, 1986, 1988; Speyer, 1987). This approach uses the hypothesis that taphonomic alteration varies in a predictable way with depositional setting. In other words, each specific environment (e.g., low-salinity muddy bay, storm-dominated clastic shelf) is characterized by a unique suite of physical, chemical and biological processes: these processes imprint a unique and predictable “taphonomic signature” on the death assemblage.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Paleontological Society Special Publications , Volume 5: Paleocommunity Temporal Dynamics: The Long-Term Development of Multispecies Assemblies , 1990 , pp. 328 - 350
Copyright
Copyright © 1990 Paleontological Society 

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