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An Upper Mississippian trace-fossil assemblage from the Tar Springs Sandstone, southern Illinois

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

William A. Wescott  and
John E. Utgaard
William A. Wescott
Affiliation:
Amoco Production Company, P.O. Box 3092, Houston, Texas 77253
John E. Utgaard
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale 62901
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Abstract

A trace-fossil assemblage is exposed in the uppermost portion of an interpreted tidal sand-flat deposit in the Upper Mississippian Tar Springs Sandstone in southwestern Illinois. Sedimentary structures, indicative of a tidal origin for this unit, include herringbone crossbeds, flaser and lenticular beds, reactivation surfaces, small channel scours, and shrinkage cracks. The trace fossils include trackways, trails, feeding structures, dwelling burrows, and escape structures. Vertical dwelling and escape structures dominate the assemblage with lesser numbers of horizontal and inclined traces. The ichnological and sedimentological characteristics are diagnostic of the Skolithos ichnofacies. Preservation of the assemblage at the top of the Tar Springs Sandstone was the result of substrate stabilization as the tidal flat subsided and was transgressed. The present trace-fossil assemblage probably was formed by a combination of a pre-omission tidal-flat suite and an omission suite formed during and after the transgression. Preservation of the assemblage suggests a passive transgression with minimal scouring and reworking of the tidal-flat deposit.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 61 , Issue 2 , March 1987 , pp. 231 - 241
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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