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Interpreting The Paleoenvironmental Context Of Marine Shales Deposited During The Cambrian Radiation: Global Insights From Sedimentology, Paleoecology, And Geochemistry, Tristan Kloss

Theses and Dissertations

Many Cambrian marine shales are traditionally thought to have been deposited under dysoxic or anoxic conditions based upon interpretations of sedimentological and ichnological fabrics. Recently a number of geochemical studies have suggested the opposite, that some Cambrian marine shales were deposited under slightly oxic to well-oxygenated conditions. Despite the significant implications redox conditions have for the paleoenvironment, paleoecology, and taphonomy of Cambrian shales, rarely are these disparate sedimentological and geochemical approaches combined for direct comparisons in a singular study of Cambrian shales. A multidisciplinary approach is used here, combining sedimentological, paleoecological, and geochemical approaches, for re-interpreting the paleoenvironmental conditions of …