Sequence stratigraphy provides a paleoenvironmental and chronostratigraphic framework within which to study long-term lithologic and biotic change. Observing the occurrence of taxa through several stratigraphic sequences can distinguish faunal tracking, the disappearance of taxa due to shifting lithofacies within a sequence, from regional extirpation, the elimination of taxa from a significant geographic area for at least one stratigraphic sequence. Sequence analysis of Mohawkian and Cincinnatian strata in the eastern US reveals regional extirpations among articulate brachiopods and tabulate and rugose corals. The specific cause of the extirpations is still unknown; however, the timing of the extirpations appears to correlate with pulses of siliciclastic muds that were introduced during transgressive systems tracts. Sequence analysis of long-term lithologic and biotic change can help constrain the timing and cause of biotic events in the fossil record and thus can lead to an increased understanding of long-term ecologic and evolutionary processes.
|Original language||English (US)|
|Number of pages||12|
|State||Published - Dec 1 1996|
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Earth and Planetary Sciences(all)
- Environmental Science(all)