Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-29T16:56:55.399Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Vagrant benthos (Annelida; Polychaeta) associated with Upper Ordovician carbonate mud-mounds of subsurface Gotland, Sweden

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 February 2009

MATS E. ERIKSSON  and
OLLE HINTS
MATS E. ERIKSSON*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, GeoBiosphere Science Centre, Lund University, Sölvegatan 12, SE-223 62 Lund, Sweden
OLLE HINTS
Affiliation:
Institute of Geology at Tallinn University of Technology, Ehitajate tee 5, 19086 Tallinn, Estonia
*
†Author for correspondence: Mats.Eriksson@geol.lu.se
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Micropalaeontological investigations of Upper Ordovician carbonate mud-mounds and enclosing strata of subsurface Gotland, Sweden, demonstrate that jaw-bearing polychaetes formed the most diverse faunal element associated with these build-ups. Although not present within the mound cores (intra-mound facies), scolecodonts, or polychaete jaws, occur abundantly immediately below and particularly above the mounds; the supra-mound facies also has the most diverse fossil assemblages. By contrast to the scolecodont distribution, the most diverse conodont faunas were recorded in the intra-mound facies. This reinforces the fact that scolecodont and conodont abundance and diversity numbers are commonly inverse to one another, suggesting that these metazoans occupied different niches and responded differently to taphonomical processes. The polychaete assemblage has no less than 27 species belonging to 12 genera, of which Oenonites, Mochtyella and Pistoprion are the most abundant. The assemblage has a characteristic Baltic signature and is similar in taxonomic composition to coeval ones from other areas of the Baltoscandian palaeobasin, such as that of present-day Estonia. A principal component analysis clusters the Gotland assemblage most closely to those recorded from shallow to transitional shelf environments of Estonia, indicating that the mud-mounds were formed in such environments.

Keywords

benthosscolecodontspolychaete jawsmud-moundsUpper OrdovicianGotlandSweden
Type
Original Article
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 146 , Issue 3 , May 2009 , pp. 451 - 462
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barnes, C. R. & Fåræus, L. E. 1975. Provinces, communities, and the proposed nektobenthic habit of Ordovician conodontophorids. Lethaia 8, 133–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bergman, C. 1979. Polychaete jaws. In Lower Wenlock faunal and floral dynamics – Vattenfallet section, Gotland (eds Jaanusson, V., Laufeld, S. & Skoglund, R.), pp. 92–102. Sveriges Geologiska Undersökning C 762.Google Scholar
Bergman, C. F. 1989. Silurian paulinitid polychaetes from Gotland. Fossils and Strata 25, 1–128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bergström, S. M., Löfgren, A. & Grahn, Y. 2004. The stratigraphy of the Upper Ordovician carbonate mounds in the subsurface of Gotland. GFF 126, 289–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eisenack, A. 1939. Einige neue Annelidenreste aus dem Silur und dem Jura des Baltikums. Zeitschrift für Geschiebeforschung und Flachlandsgeologie 15, 153–76.Google Scholar
Eisenack, A. 1975. Beiträge zur Anneliden-Forschung, I. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen 150, 227–52.Google Scholar
Eisenack, A. 1976. Mikrofossilen aus dem Vaginatenkalk von Hälludden, Öland. Palaeontographica Apt. A 154, 181–203.Google Scholar
Eriksson, M. 1997. Lower Silurian polychaetaspid polychaetes from Gotland, Sweden. GFF 119, 213–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eriksson, M. 1998. Dubichaetaspis bergmani gen. et sp. n., a facies controlled polychaete from the Silurian of Gotland, Sweden. GFF 120, 21–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eriksson, M. 2001. Silurian ramphoprionid polychaetes from Gotland, Sweden. Journal of Paleontology 75, 993–1015.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eriksson, M. E. 2006. Polychaete jaw apparatuses and scolecodonts from the Ireviken Event interval of Gotland, Sweden. GFF 128, 97–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eriksson, M. & Bergman, C. F. 2003. Late Ordovician jawed polychaete faunas of the type Cincinnatian region, U.S.A. Journal of Paleontology 77, 509–23.Google Scholar
Eriksson, M. E., Bergman, C. F. & Jeppsson, L. 2004. Silurian scolecodonts. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 131, 269–300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eriksson, M. E., Leslie, S. A. & Bergman, C. F. 2005. Jawed polychaetes from the upper Sylvan Shale (Upper Ordovician), Oklahoma, USA. Journal of Paleontology 79, 486–96.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flodén, T., Puura, V., Söderberg, P., Tuuling, I. & Suuroja, K. 1994. The Ordovician–Silurian transition beds in the seafloor between Gotland and Hiiumaa islands, Baltic Proper. Proceedings of the Estonian Academy of Sciences, Geology 43, 1–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hammer, Ø., Harper, D. A. T. & Ryan, P. D. 2001. PAST: Paleontological statistics software package for education and data analysis. Palaeontologia Electronica 4, 9 pp.Google Scholar
Harris, M. T., Sheehan, P. M., Ainsaar, L., Hints, L., Männik, P., Nõlvak, J. & Rubel, M. 2004. Upper Ordovician sequences of western Estonia. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 210, 135–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hinde, G. J. 1879. On annelid jaws from the Cambro-Silurian, Silurian and Devonian formations in Canada and from the Lower Carboniferous in Scotland. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 35, 370–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hints, L., Hints, O., Nemliher, R. & Nõlvak, J. 2007. Hulterstad brachiopods and associated faunas in the Vormsi Stage (Upper Ordovician, Katian) of the Lelle core, Central Estonia. Estonian Journal of Earth Sciences 56, 131–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hints, O. 1998. Late Viruan (Caradoc) polychaete jaws from North Estonia and the St. Petersburg region. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 43, 471–516.Google Scholar
Hints, O. 1999. Two new polychaete families from the Upper Ordovician of Estonia. Palaeontology 42, 897–906.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hints, O. 2000. Ordovician eunicid polychaetes of Estonia and surrounding areas: review of their distribution and diversification. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 113, 41–55.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hints, O. 2001. Distribution of scolecodonts. In Estonian Geological Sections. Valga (10) drill core (ed. Põldvere, A.), pp. 12–14. Tallinn: Geological Survey of Estonia.Google Scholar
Hints, O. & Eriksson, M. E. 2007 a. Diversification and biogeography of scolecodont-bearing polychaetes in the Ordovician. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 245, 95–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hints, O. & Eriksson, M. E. 2007 b. Biogeography of Ordovician and Silurian scolecodont-bearing polychaetes. Acta Palaeontologica Sinica 46 (Suppl.), 181–7.Google Scholar
Hints, O., Hints, L., Meidla, T. & Sohar, K. 2003. Biotic effects of the Ordovician Kinnekulle ash-fall recorded in northern Estonia. Bulletin of the Geological Society of Denmark 50, 115–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hints, O., Killing, M., Männik, P. & Nestor, V. 2006. Frequency patterns of chitinozoans, scolecodonts, and conodonts in the upper Llandovery and lower Wenlock of the Paatsalu core, western Estonia. Proceedings of the Estonian Academy of Sciences, Geology 55, 128–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jaanusson, V. 1982. The Siljan District. In Field excursion guide. IV International Symposium on the Ordovician System, Oslo 1982 (eds Bruton, D. L. & Williams, S. H.), pp. 15–29. Palaeontological Contributions of the University of Oslo 279.Google Scholar
Jaanusson, V. 1995. Confacies differentation and upper Middle Ordovician correlation in the Baltoscandian Basin. Proceedings of the Estonian Academy of Sciences, Geology 44, 73–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jeppsson, L., Anehus, R. & Fredholm, D. 1999. The optimal acetate buffered acetic acid technique for extracting phosphatic fossils. Journal of Paleontology 73, 964–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jeppsson, L., Fredholm, D. & Mattiasson, B. 1985. Acetic acid and phosphatic fossils – a warning. Journal of Paleontology 59, 952–6.Google Scholar
Kielan-Jaworowska, Z. 1961. On two Ordovician polychaete jaw apparatuses. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 6, 237–59.Google Scholar
Kielan-Jaworowska, Z. 1962. New Ordovician genera of polychaete jaw apparatuses. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 7, 291–332.Google Scholar
Kielan-Jaworowska, Z. 1966. Polychaete jaw apparatuses from the Ordovician and the Silurian of Poland and a comparison with modern forms. Palaeontologia Polonica 16, 1–152.Google Scholar
Kozłowski, R. 1956. Sur quelques appareils masticateurs des Annélides Polychètes ordoviciens. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 1, 165–205.Google Scholar
Krause, F. F., Scotese, C. R., Nieto, C., Sayegh, S. G., Hopkins, J. C. & Meyer, R. O. 2004. Paleozoic stromatactis and zebra carbonate mud-mounds: Global abundance and paleogeographic distribution. Geology 32, 181–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Männil, R. M. 1966. Evolution of the Baltic Basin during the Ordovician. Tallinn: Valgus Publishers, 200 pp. (in Russian with English summary).Google Scholar
Mierzejewski, P. 1978. New placognath Eunicida (Polychaeta) from the Ordovician and Silurian of Poland. Acta Geologica Polonica 28, 273–81.Google Scholar
Nestor, H. 1995. Ordovician and Silurian reefs in the Baltic area. Publications of the Service Géolologique de Luxembourg 29, 39–47.Google Scholar
Nõlvak, J. 1997. Sedimentary Cover, Ordovician, Introduction. In Geology and Mineral Resources of Estonia (eds Raukas, A. & Teedumäe, A.), pp. 52–5. Tallinn: Estonian Academy Publishers.Google Scholar
Nõlvak, J., Hints, O. & Männik, P. 2006. Ordovician timescale in Estonia: recent developments. Proceedings of the Estonian Academy of Sciences, Geology 55, 95–108.Google Scholar
Paxton, H. 2000. Eunicida. In Polychaetes & allies: The southern synthesis. Fauna of Australia. Vol. 4A Polychaeta, Myzostomida, Pogonophora, Echiura, Sipuncula (eds Beesley, P. L., Ross, G. J. B. & Glasby, C. J.), pp. 89–104. Melbourne: CSIRO Publishing.Google Scholar
Pratt, B. R. 1982. Stromatolitic framework of carbonate mud-mounds. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 52, 1203–27.Google Scholar
Sivhed, U., Erlström, M., Bojsen-Koefoed, J. A. & Löfgren, A. 2004. Upper Ordovician carbonate mounds on Gotland, central Baltic Sea: Distribution, composition and reservoir characteristics. Journal of Petroleum Geology 27, 115–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sweet, W. C. & Bergström, S. M. 1984. Conodont provinces and biofacies of the Late Ordovician. Geological Society of America Special Paper 196, 69–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Szaniawski, H. 1970. Jaw apparatuses of the Ordovician and Silurian polychaetes from the Mielnik borehole. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 15, 445–72.Google Scholar
Tuuling, I. & Flodén, T. 2000. Late Ordovician carbonate buildups and erosional features northeast of Gotland, northern Baltic Sea. GFF 122, 237–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webby, B. D., Cooper, R. A., Bergström, S. M. & Paris, F. 2004. Stratigraphic Framework and Time Slices. In The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (eds Webby, B. D., Paris, F., Droser, M. L. & Percival, I. G.), pp. 41–7. New York: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Žebera, K. 1935. Les conodontes et les scolécodontes du Barrandien. Bulletin International de l'Academie des Sciences de Boheme 36, 88–96.Google Scholar