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Disrupted conodont bedding plane assemblages, upper Bakken Formation (Lower Mississippian) from the subsurface of western Canada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 August 2017

David I. Johnston
Affiliation:
103-3017 Blakiston Dr. NW, Calgary, Alberta T2L 1L7, Canada,
Charles M. Henderson
Affiliation:
Applied Stratigraphy Research Group, Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Calgary T2N 1N4,

Abstract

Disrupted conodont bedding plane assemblages are described from two laterally equivalent mudstone core samples of the Lower Mississippian upper shale member of the Bakken Formation in the subsurface of southeastern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan. The core bedding plane conodont assemblage representing the bispathodid biofacies from southeastern Alberta (Locality 1) shows little evidence of winnowing. Thus, this assemblage, along with collections of discrete conodont elements, is a potential source of data for reconstructing paleoecology and taphonomy as well as for testing apparatus reconstructions. The assemblage representing the siphonodellid biofacies from the southwestern Saskatchewan core (Locality 2) shows evidence of a greater degree of breakage and winnowing of elements, making it less suitable as a source of data. Postmortem compaction of mudstones and processing methods also affect the preservation of the conodont elements, due to breakage along lines of fracture in the elements. An apparatus reconstruction is proposed for Prioniodina aff. P. curvidens.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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