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Description of a Quantitative Approach to Taphonomy and Taphofacies Analysis: All Dead Things Are Not Created Equal

1990; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 5; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1017/s2475262200005566

2475-2622

David Davies, George M. Staff, W. Russell Callender, Eric N. Powell,

Botanical Research and Applications

The utilization of taphonomic information to formulate biostratinomic models for modern and ancient assemblages has become a potentially powerful tool in paleoecologic analysis. The division of fossil assemblages into discrete suites of taphonomically-similar material adds an extra dimension to the interpretation of depositional setting and paleoecologic structure (Brett and Baird, 1986; Speyer and Brett, 1986, 1988; Speyer, 1987). This approach uses the hypothesis that taphonomic alteration varies in a predictable way with depositional setting. In other words, each specific environment (e.g., low-salinity muddy bay, storm-dominated clastic shelf) is characterized by a unique suite of physical, chemical and biological processes: these processes imprint a unique and predictable “taphonomic signature” on the death assemblage.