Geology Commons^™

The Relationship Among Suture Complexity, Shell Form, And Stratigraphic Formation In Ammonites Of The Western Interior Seaway, Darrah Jorgensen

Master's Theses

Throughout ammonite evolution, shell suture patterns grew increasingly more complex, but the purpose of these sutures has long been debated. One hypothesis is that suture complexity is related to the structural integrity of the shell under pressure. To test this hypothesis, suture complexity was compared to shell form and stratigraphic formation to determine if there were significant differences in suture complexity, as a proxy for structural integrity, among shell forms or stratigraphic formations. Highly complex sutures might have allowed for the tightly coiled form of many ammonites, an advantage compared to less coiled forms because the pressure is distributed over …