Life Sciences Commons^™

Taphonomy Of The Joanna Track Site, Cretaceous Glen Rose Formation: Is The Shrimp Mightier Than The Dinosaur?, Michael Blair, Benjamin Dattilo, Lydia Mark, James Farlow, Jerry Jacene, Shelley Mcfadin

Benjamin F. Dattilo

Dinosaur trackways are common in the Cretaceous Glen Rose Formation of central Texas. While the trackways in Dinosaur Valley State Park are well known, many other sites can be found in this region. Recently, a new track site was discovered during construction in Glen Rose, Texas. The Joanna Track Site features tridactyl tracks which have been partly obliterated by invertebrates burrowing through the thick mud which buried them.

We measured and described the interval from 0.3 m below the track layer through 2.7 m above it in a vertical outcrop directly adjacent to the track site. Samples were collected in …

Microstratigraphic Analysis Of Burrow-Reworked Dinosaur Track Bed At Joanna's Track Site, Cretaceous Glen Rose Formation, Glen Rose, Texas, Michael Blair, Benjamin Dattilo, Anthony Martin, James Farlow

Benjamin F. Dattilo

Although dinosaur trackways are common in the Cretaceous Glen Rose Formation of Texas, the recently discovered Joanna track site illustrates a unique ichnological relationship where dinosaur tracks were disrupted by invertebrate burrows made long after burial. In an effort to document the precise sequence of events, we described the interval from 0.3 m below the track layer through 2.7 m above it in a vertical outcrop adjacent to the track site, focusing on the 70-cm of strata immediately above the track horizon. An 8-meter N-S cross-section of this 70-cm interval was power-washed, examined for trace fossils, body fossils, and lithology …

An Unusual Association Of Pseudolingula And Rafinesquina From The Upper Ordovician Of Ohio, Benjamin Dattilo, Rebecca Freeman, Bryan Utesch, Steve Felton, John Pojeta

Benjamin F. Dattilo

Late Ordovician members of Order Lingulida, for the most part, resemble modern lingulids in their infaunal habits and marginal habitats. Pseudolingula, a common Cincinnatian form, is often found preserved in burrows in life position, and as such, it could probably escape moderate sediment accumulations. An unusual association of thousands of specimens of the lingulate Pseudolingula and hundreds of the strophomenid Rafinesquina in the Upper Ordovician of the Cincinnati, Ohio region presents an interesting case. This association occurs on 4-square-meter exposure of a 10 cm shell bed in the Fairview Formation at Harsha Lake, Ohio. The bed is covered with Rafinesquina …

The Curse Of Rafinesquina: Negative Taphonomic Feedback Exerted By Strophomenid Shells On Storm-Buried Lingulids In The Cincinnatian (Katian, Ordovician) Series Of Ohio, Rebecca Freeman, Benjamin Dattilo, Aaron Morse, Michael Blair, Steve Felton, John Pojeta

Benjamin F. Dattilo

Thousands of lingulid brachiopods were found clustered beneath hundreds of individual valves of the strophomenid brachiopod Rafinesquina in the Upper Ordovician of Ohio. This association suggested a relationship between the two brachiopods, but the nature of this relationship was unclear. We utilized serial thin sectioning to examine these brachiopods and to determine the origin of the bed in which they were found. Sedimentary structures, mixed taphonomies, and stratigraphic and paleogeographic setting suggest that the lingulids occupied a hiatal concentration that had previously been reworked, but not significantly transported, by tropical storms. The final burial event was a storm that exhumed …