Fossil groups and their significance for environmental interpretation and biostratigraphy within the cretaceous period.

The aspects that would be investigated in this essay has to do with 3 fossil groups within the Cretaceous period which are great environmental indicators and ones which are good index fossils to be used for biostratigraphy. One point to note firstly is that it is unlikely that a certain fossil group can be both a good environmental indicator as well as a great biostratigraphy tool. This is because features of one group that makes it great for interpretation of paleoenvironments most likely would contradict reasons that would make it great for biostratigraphy and vice-versa. The first thing that must be defined is what is a fossil exactly? A fossil is defined as the impressions, traces and remains of very old plants and animals which have been preserved within the lithosphere of the earth for a very long time, ranging from hundreds of years to millions. These impressions, traces and remains of animals and plants alike have been preserved due to changes imposed upon them by the forces occurring within and on earth. These forces come from the weight of upper rock strata deposited as a layer on top of animal and plant remains which preserve them. Other conditions that are important for fossilization are anoxic conditions, temperature, water pH, water ambience to some extent. One of palaeontologys simplest definitions is the study of prehistoric life to seek information about the environment in which they lived in (Paleoecology), how long ago where they fossilized (Biostratigraphy) and lastly how these organisms may have evolved from what they were to what they are now. Not all fossils can be used as index fossils meaning good tools for biostratigraphy. This is due to the fact that in order for a fossil to be a good index fossil they must be usable for correlation i.e. , the species must have evolved into another so that the time range of that species can be used to date other rocks with that species found elsewhere. So pertaining to this idea of a good index fossil, ideal features are that it has been preserved well and it has evolved fast so the lifespan of the species is not too long and lastly it is very much widespread so that it can be compared with many other fossils. Sadly, there are very few index fossils that meet these criteria and as such there is a limited amount of index fossils to be used

for biostratigraphy for any given era. Some of the best index fossils are graptolites, ammonites, planktonic foraminifera, pollen, conodonts and trilobites. Fossils are extremely important also because they can be used to model how environments where during the time in which their respective organisms lived in. This is because by examining different fossils, each one has specific features adapting it for life for the environment they live in. This is done by using inference as a niche is modelled for them due to the features in which they possess and from a niche a habitat in which they lived in is modelled as well. The process of inference in which this is done is based on the law of uniformitarianism which states that we must assume that the rules governing certain biological and geological events on earth has not changed even over very long periods of time. A fossil which has to be a good environmental indicator is one that is abundant but restricted to an area. As such, these creatures would most likely be benthonic and good examples are the bivalves, brachiopods, corals and benthic foraminifera are good examples. The cretaceous period ranged from 144 to 65 million years ago. The environment within this period included warm climate and high altering sea levels. Some of the animals that lived during that time were extinct marine reptiles, ammonites and rudists; and the land by dinosaurs. At the same time, new groups of mammals and birds as well as flowering plants appeared. The paleogeography at that time was very significant in the earths history as the supercontinent Pangaea has finally finished breaking apart. This period ended with the 2nd largest mass extinction in the history of the earth due to the bolide impact. Foraminifera are a large group of amoeboid protists with reticulating pseudopods; fine strands of cytoplasm that branch to form a dynamic net. They mostly lie within shells made up of calcium carbonate or sediment particles. This group has around 270,000 species comprising fossilized and living ones. These foraminifera are generally quite small being less than 1mm but some may reach as large as 20cm. Foraminifera are either benthonic or planktonic. Benthonic meaning they live on the lowest level of the sea, the sea floor and planktonic foraminifera float around within the waters. Because of the much greater amount of ecological niches that they may occupy, benthonic Foraminifera are by far the more diverse. Benthic foraminifera may live in various environments such as marshes to abyssal plains. Each species moves and feeds using its own type of pseudopodia which are temporary projections of an amoeboid by altering its shape. Because they live at the bottom of the sea they are excellent environmental indicators due to the ability to tell just how deep the seafloor was during the time they lived. Planktonic foraminifera however are not great environmental indicators due to the fact that even though they are abundant, they are not restricted to an area as they float around freely within ocean currents and when they die they are deposit randomly at the seafloor. They can however be used to identify climates as well as

ocean currents at certain periods of history. Luckily, they are easily distinguished from one another because specific foraminifera live only in special conditions and environments Benthonic foraminifera as the name implies are benthic meaning they live on the seafloor. As such, they are very good tools for palaeobathymetry which is the study of underwater depth of lake or ocean floors. They can live with a neritic range (0-200)m upper bathyrl(200-600)m, middle bathyrl (600-1000)m, lower bathyrl (1000-2000)m, upper abyssal (2000-3000)m and lastly lower abyssal which is more than 3000m deep. Hence, finding a benthic foraminifers fossil can mean that they lived in waters as more than 3000m but with other clues such as dispersal of the fossils, this range can be narrowed down. However, although the furthest depth all foraminifera can be found is not very defined, it is certain forams (foraminifera) with calcium carbonate shells cant live in waters greater than 4 and km in depth as calcium carbonate shells begin to dissolve at this depth. However the rare silica based foraminifera as well as forams with agglutinated shells may have lived in extremely deep waters. However a few benthic species have been found on terrestrial environments within groundwater. Benthic foraminifers are somewhat good indicators for landscape. This is because as they crawl along seafloor, the area couldnt have been too bumpy nor have too much craters and spiking protrusions as this would affect how they would get their food. So environments in which they most likely would have lived were ones which were relatively plateau ones such as deltas, wetlands, swamps and marshes. The shells in which make up these foraminifera can be used as an interpreter for the paleoecology and paleoenvironments in which it lived in as well as the chemistry of its shell can tell what kind of environment it lived in. It can be easily concluded that forams with calcium carbonate shells have lived in environments rich with this same chemical. As such, these forams may have lived in shallower waters where limestone was eroded and CaCO3 was washed into the waters. They may have been near to coral reef formations which are abundant in calcium carbonate. Since calcium carbonate is susceptible to be attack by acids, it can also be assumed that the conditions in which they lived would have been not too acidic. Therefore benthic forams would be absent from waters which are of higher temperatures which can dissolve calcium carbonate as well as be of higher acidity compared to that of colder waters. Forams with agglutinated shells and silica would have needed free loose sediment particles in which to form, in that case this would again suggest that they lived in areas such as marshes, swamps near deltas, beaches or turbid waters in which they can capture and secrete these sediment to form their shells. The waters in these areas must not be very rough as in secreting chemicals to create shells and test can be washed away if near rough waters. This reinforces the point that benthic foraminifera surely did live in more ambient waters such as marshes, swamps and by coral reef formations.

Paleoclimatology is the study of past climates. Since it is not possible to go back in time to see what climates were like, palaeontologists make use of imprints created during past climate, known as proxies, to interpret paleoclimate. Microbial life, such as benthic forams serve as useful climate proxies. Within the shell of these benthic foraminiferas, there are stable oxygen isotopes contained within them as well as around them. This data can be used to deduce what temperatures these organisms lived in. This is because warmer water causes lighter oxygen isotopes to evaporate off so if a shell would majorly contain the lighter oxygen isotope then it would be safe to assume that the environment in which it lived was not too warm. This conclusion agrees with the assumption that calcium carbonate shelled foraminifera would not be too dominant in warmer waters due to dissolution of their shells. Benthic foraminifera with shells other than calcium carbonate may be found in warmer waters as these tend to cause this species to proliferate and as stated before these may have contained the heavier oxygen isotope within their shells and tests. Mainly due to its different shell types, its fixed life on the seafloor and also how they have lived from the pre Cambrian and continue to live to this day, among other fossil groups foraminifera more specifically benthic foraminifera are excellent environments indicators for the cretaceous period. Within the cretaceous period, the Mollusca phyla fossils are very useful tools when it comes to biostratigraphy. Out of all the other marine phyla, molluscs are the largest and also one of the most diverse. Again in order for a fossil to be a good tool for biostratigraphy, it must have been widespread, have a shot lifespan when it lived, evolved rapidly and lastly are relatively easy to identify. Abundance is important because fossils must be easy to find within the rock strata. Identifying fossils become a simpler task if their shapes and features are distinctive. Ideally, the fossils should be identifiable where they are found and not require any special preparation in a laboratory. Fast evolution is important so that the biostratigraphy would be more precise compared to one that evolved slowly. When it comes to species that are widespread, species within the Mollusca phyla certainly qualify. Ammonites for example have been widely distributed over the globe since they existed from Cambrian times and their mode of life were floating within ocean currents as well as fast swimming by expelling water from their mantle cavity. This would have meant they would have more than enough time to spread effectively as also they are not benthic like certain foraminifera where they live on sea floor. That gives a quick illustration in an instant why benthic foraminifera would not be as good biostratigraphy tools as Mollusca due to them being more restricted to an area, the seafloor. Another class within the Mollusca are cephalopods which are also very effective in distributing itself. This is because cephalopods have more advanced feeding patterns meaning they will go and search out many different food

sources within the sea and also they have very evolved systems of navigation. They can detect sound plus they have very good eye sight able to detect different brightness levels, size, shape, and horizontal or vertical orientation of objects it sees. When it comes to distribution, bivalves are not as capable as their mode of life is mainly living on the seafloor and burrowing into the land. However their other features may make them viable to be good index fossils for use in biostratigraphy. The next feature which makes Mollusca good index fossils is that they are easier than other fossils to identify. Take bivalves for example, bivalves have a shell consisting of two asymmetrically rounded halves called valves that are mirror images of each other, joined at one edge by a flexible ligament called the hinge. The shell is typically bilaterally symmetrical, with the hinge lying in the sagittal plane. This characteristic look of bivalves makes them extremely easy for identifying, and very useful in correlation hence improving their viability as a good index fossil although they may not have distributed as widely as others. This same principle can apply for gastropods as well as they travel very slowly among the seafloor but their characteristic coiling shells are a very common shape. Also some species such as chitons and some cephalopods are brightly coloured to serve as a warning when they are poisonous or when they must camouflage to hide away from predators. Most molluscs also have a mantle cavity which is a central feature of molluscan biology. This cavity is formed by the mantle skirt, a double fold of mantle which encloses a water space. This space contains the many of the molluscs vitals for life. This cavity is one of the most dominant features on a mollusc and scientists can easily recognize one using this part of its anatomy. Lastly another feature of molluscs that make them easy to identify is one that many people can relate to; their shells. Many of them have a characteristic shell shape, density, colour as well as groove pattern. These are so common it probably doesnt even take an expert to recognize one. These groove patterns and shapes are extremely common among all bivalves. Many of them have a white shell colours due to their calcareous shells. Other properties that are worth some mention are that they are very well preserved due to modes of life such as burrowing in the case of bivalves and also their shells are made of calcium carbonate , and can be preserved within moulds and casts of limestone and are not easily dissolved away by water. Many times Mollusca are one of the very few fossils found in many environments due to this feature. Out of all the mollusca, ammonites are the best biostratigraphy tools as they share many properties with the other mollusca specie but in addition to that they evolved very rapidly giving more precise biostratigraphy. Mainly being very widespread across the earth and their ease of identification make Mollusca very good index fossil for use in biostratigraphy.

The last fossil group that is great for environmental interpretation within the cretaceous period is the phyla known as the brachiopods. Brachiopods are marine bivalves and are benthic just like benthic foraminifera. They have shells and some appear to look like oysters or clams yet are very different as they do not belong to the Mollusca phylum. Just like foraminifera, their structure and properties can give an idea of their niches which can ultimately concluded their paleoenvironments.

Being benthic, they may live within the different depth ranges under the ocean as aforementioned along with the foraminifera. Also they would have a restricted area in which they lived due to not being able to float and swim freely. These can be found within extreme depths in the ocean compared to that of benthic foraminifera. The reason in which they can be found at these extreme depths is that their shells are not only comprised of calcium carbonate but calcium phosphate with other supporting chemicals such as chitin. By correlating the benthic foraminifera and the brachiopods in one area, a conclusion can be drawn that the brachiopods lived in an environment where the waters were not the deepest in which it could have survived as benthic foraminifera are still present. When it comes to landscape however these are not as great indicators due to their mode of life. Brachiopods attach themselves to a hard substrate using a cylindrical pedicle however they are sessile and cant be used to determine ocean floods terrain. However knowledge that they live on hard substrates can tell palaeontologist that the sediment in which they lived on would be tightly compact such as clay sediments and tightly compacted silt sediments but not loose sand ones. Finding a brachiopod meant it could have lived in clayey wetlands and of course hard ocean floors. Also as brachiopods hang by a pedicle which may be snapped off, it would have mostly live in more ambient waters such as in caves and crevices. Brachiopods shell contains calcium carbonate as well as chitin inside of them. This means again they could have lived near coral reefs environments to get calcium products to create their shells. These shells they form are quite strong as they contain both CaCO3 as well as chitin, due to this the pH of the water the lived in cant be determined as easily. But because their shells can withstand the warmer waters, it is also assumed that I could withstand more acidic waters as warmer water tends to be more acidic. Brachiopods can be used for paleoclimatology as well as they would have lived within warmer waters as they contain the heavier oxygen isotope and the lighter ones would have evaporated off.

These 3 fossil groups, Mollusca, Benthic foraminifera and brachiopods, all have their unique individual features which give them important roles for use in biostratigraphy and

interpretation within the cretaceous period. Again it should be reiterated the one fossil group would not necessarily be a good index fossil for biostratigraphy and at the same time be a good paleoenvironments indicator. Ultimately using different fossil groups in conjunction with one another, we can construct past environments and date them accordingly and with this knowledge we may be able to predict some future phenomena such as global warming as well as help in finding resources such as fossil fuels.

References:
http://bprc.osu.edu/foram/whatarefor.htm http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v314/n6010/abs/314435a0.html http://ethomas.web.wesleyan.edu/BFhandout.htm http://bsgf.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/abstract/180/2/131 http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/fosrec/Wetmore.html http://oceanworld.tamu.edu/students/forams/forams2.htm http://www.ukfossils.co.uk/guides/foraminifera.html http://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/topics/proxies/paleoclimate.html http://www.springerlink.com/content/1741pu336457n37u/ http://www.manandmollusc.net/advanced_introduction/advanced_intro_printable.html http://geology.er.usgs.gov/paleo/mollusks.shtml http://www.fossils-facts-and-finds.com/brachiopods.html