Aretz et al_2011.pdf - ORBi - Université de Liège

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Kölner Forum Geol. Paläont., 19 (2011)
M. ARETZ, S. DELCULÉE, J. DENAYER & E. POTY (Eds.)
Abstracts, 11th Symposium on Fossil Cnidaria and Sponges, Liège, August 19-29, 2011
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The nature of changes of natural environment in Late Carboniferous and
Early Permian on western Spitsbergen.
Edward CHWIEDUK
Institute of Geology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Maków Polnych str. 16, 61-606 Poznań, Poland;
chwieduk@amu.edu.pl
In my paper I would like to present the nature of changes of natural environments in the Late
Carboniferous and Early Permian of western Spitsbergen.
The rugose corals (several dozen of specimens) collected on Kruseryggen (Hornsund area) and
Polakkfjellet (Wedel Jarlsberg Land) hills and in Linnédalen (Grønfjorden area) valley (Fig. 1) are the base
for my conclusions. Regarding rugose corals morphological specificity and their appearance in different
places, the heterogeneity biostratinomic process and ecological conditions are possible to analyze. The
mentioned areas present broad sedimentary environments and allow a nearly complete taphonomic
analysis including almost all processes that happened during organism transfer from biosphere to
lithosphere. Furthermore considering the fact, that the polyps occupy the highest part of skeletons only,
these animals are very useful for reconstructing processes that occurred in their life time. According to
RODRÍGUEZ (2004), the skeletons of those organisms might have been subjected to the influence of biotic and
abiotic environmental factors shortly after their creation, changing original structures of the skeletons just
before the death of the polyps. Consequently to the analysis of collected material the answer to the problem
which changes have to be considered as ecological and which as biostratinomic becomes possible. Due to
the small number of studies of the taphonomy of rugose corals in general (FEDOROWSKI 2003, RODRÍGUEZ
2004), the results of my research could provide essential contribution to the understanding of the condition
of fossil material.
Fig. 1: A - Map of Spitsbergen. B -
Sketch map of part of Spitsbergen
showing outcrops of Carboniferous
and Permian rocks after Harland
(1997).
FEDOROWSKI, J. (2003): Some remarks on diagenesis of rugose coral skeletons. - Geologos, 6: 89-109.
RODRÍGUEZ, S. (2004): Taphonomic alterations in upper Viséan dissepimented rugose corals from the Sierra del Castillo
unit (Carboniferous, Córdoba, Spain). - Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 214: 135-153.
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