Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-xm8r8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-22T23:35:55.510Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The stratigraphic distribution of graptolites in the classic upper Middle Ordovician Utica Shale of New York State: an evolutionary succession or a response to relative sea-level change?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2016

Daniel Goldman ,
Charles E. Mitchell  and
Michael P. Joy
Daniel Goldman
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio 45469. E-mail: goldman@neelix.udayton.edu
Charles E. Mitchell
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York 14260. E-mail: cem@acsu.buffalo.edu, joy@acsu.buffalo.edu
Michael P. Joy
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York 14260. E-mail: cem@acsu.buffalo.edu, joy@acsu.buffalo.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The stratigraphic distribution of graptoloid species within the upper Middle Ordovician strata of New York State represents a complex pattern of origination, extinction, faunal migration, and fluctuating relative abundances. In particular, the observed patterns of species turnover at graptolite biozone boundaries are apparently strongly correlated with lithofacies, sampling strategies, and the depositional effects of relative sea-level change.

Vertical facies changes that occur within third-order depositional sequences and fourth- or fifth-order parasequences are mirrored by changes in the graptoloid faunal composition. Large-scale faunal turnovers at biozone boundaries tend to occur either at sequence boundaries or at flooding surfaces within sequences (e.g., the base of Highstand System Tracts). The base of the Corynoides americanus and Climacograptus (D.) spiniferus Zones coincide with major onlap events, and the Orthograptus ruedemanni Zone fauna appears just below a Lowstand Systems Tract. Within individual biozones, smaller-scale changes such as the fluctuating relative abundances of graptoloid species coincide with higher-order parasequence cyclicity. These distribution patterns resemble recent computer-generated models for the sequence stratigraphic distribution of hypothetical taxa.

By combining good biogeographic control with a detailed sampling program, we are able to see through the patterns attributable to depositional cyclicity and identify the different components of faunal turnover (migration, speciation, and extinction).

Type
Articles
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 25 , Issue 3 , Summer 1999 , pp. 273 - 294
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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

Literature Cited

Alfaro, M., and Cuerda, A. 1990. Nuevos graptolitos Ordovicico Superior en la Formacíon Los Azules, Cerro Viejo, Provincia de San Juan, Argentina. Ameghiniana 27:273–280.Google Scholar
Baird, G. C., and Brett, C. E. 1994. Revised correlation for Late Ordovician shelf-slope deposits, Mohawk Valley, N.Y.: implications for depositional dynamics in a foreland basin. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 16(3):4Google Scholar
Baird, G. C., Brett, C. E., and Lehmann, D. 1992. The Trenton-Utica problem revisited: new Observations and ideas regarding Middle-Late Ordovician stratigraphy and depositional environments in central New York. Pp. 1–40in Goldstein, A., ed. Guidebook to field excursions, 64th annual meeting of the New York State Geological Association held at Colgate University. New York State Geological Association.Google Scholar
Bergström, S. M. 1986. Biostratigraphic integration of Ordovician graptolite and conodont zones—a regional review. In Hughes, C. P. and Rickards, R. B., eds. Paleoecology and biostratigraphy of graptolites. Geological Society Special Publication 20:61–78. Blackwell Scientific, Oxford.Google Scholar
Bergström, S. M., and Goldman, D. 1994. Conodont biostratigraphy and biofacies of the Jacques Cartier River Ordovician section, Quebec. In Landing, E., ed. Studies in stratigraphy and paleontology in honor of Donald W. Fisher. New York State Museum Bulletin 481:1–4.Google Scholar
Bergström, S. M., and Mitchell, C. E. 1992. The Ordovician Utica Shale in the eastern midcontinent region: age, lithofacies, and regional relationships. Oklahoma Geological Survey Bulletin 145:67–89.Google Scholar
Berry, W. B. N. 1962. Graptolite occurrence and ecology. Journal of Paleontology 36:285–293.Google Scholar
Berry, W. B. N. 1966. Zones and zones, with exemplification from the Ordovician. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 50:1487–1500.Google Scholar
Berry, W. B. N. 1970. Review of late Middle Ordovician graptolites in eastern New York and Pennsylvania. American Journal of Science 269:304–313.Google Scholar
Berry, W. B. N. 1971. Late Ordovician graptolites from southeastern New York. Journal of Paleontology 45:633–640.Google Scholar
Berry, W. B. N. 1974. Types of Early Paleozoic faunal replacements in North America: their relationship to environmental change. Journal of Geology 82:371–382.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berry, W. B. N. 1977. Ecology and age of graptolites from graywackes in eastern New York. Journal of Paleontology 51:1102–1107.Google Scholar
Berry, W. B. N. 1995. Plate motions, oceanographic change and ecologic controls: influence on correlation of the base of the Llanvirn Series, Ordovician Series. Newsletters on Stratigraphy 32:45–55.Google Scholar
Berry, W. B. N., and Boucot, A. J. 1972. Silurian graptolite depth zonation. Pp. 59–65in 24th International Geological Congress, Section 7. Montreal.Google Scholar
Berry, W. B. N., Wilde, P., and Quinby-Hunt, M. S. 1987. The oceanic non sulfidic oxygen minimum zone: a habitat for graptolites? Geological Survey of Denmark Bulletin 35:103–114.Google Scholar
Bradley, D. C., and Kidd, W. S. F. 1991. Flexural extension of the upper continental crust in collisional foredeeps. Geological Society of America Bulletin 103:1416–1438.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brett, C. E. and Baird, G. C. 1995. Coordinated stasis and evolutionary ecology of Silurian to Middle Devonian faunas in the Appalachian Basin. Pp. 285–315in Erwin, D. H. and Anstey, R. L., eds. New approaches to speciation in the fossil record. Columbia University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Brun, J., and Chagnon, A. 1979. Rock stratigraphy and clay mineralogy of volcanic ash beds from the Black River and Trenton groups (Middle Ordovician) of southern Quebec. Canadian Journal of Earth Science 16:1499–1507.Google Scholar
Buzas, M. A., and Culver, S. J. 1994. Species pool and dynamics of marine paleocommunities. Science 264:1439–1441.Google Scholar
Cheetham, A. H. 1987. Tempo of evolution in a Neogene bryozoan: rates of morphologic change within and across species boundaries. Paleobiology 13:286–296.Google Scholar
Chen, Xu, and Yu-nan, Ni 1995. Graptolites from the Yingan and Qilang Formations (Caradoc, Ordovician) of Kalpin, West Tarim, Xinjiang. Graptolite News, No. 8. Pp. 21–21in Mitchell, C. E., ed. Proceedings of the fifth international conference of the graptolite working group, Long Beach, Calif. [Abstract.]Google Scholar
Cisne, J. L., and Rabe, B. D. 1978. Coenocorrelation: gradient analysis of fossil communities and its applications in stratigraphy. Lethaia 11:341–364.Google Scholar
Cisne, J. L., and Chandlee, G. O. 1982. Taconic foreland basin graptolites: age zonation, depth zonation, and use in ecostratigraphic correlation. Lethaia 15:343–363.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cisne, J. L., Karig, D. E., Rabe, B. D., and Hay, B. J. 1982. Topography and tectonics of the Taconic outer trench slope as revealed through gradient analysis of fossil assemblages. Lethaia 15:229–246.Google Scholar
Cooper, R. A., Fortey, R. A., and Lindholm, K. 1991. Latitudinal and depth zonation of Early Ordovician graptolites. Lethaia 24:199–218.Google Scholar
Cummings, E. R., and Galloway, J. J. 1913. The stratigraphy and paleontology of the Tanners Creek section of the Cincinnati Series of Indiana. Indiana Department of Geology and Natural Resources Annual Report 37:353–479.Google Scholar
Delano, J. W., Tice, S., Mitchell, C. E., and Goldman, D. 1994. Rhyolitic glass in Ordovician K-bentonites: a new stratigraphic tool. Geology 22:115–118.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erdtmann, B.-D. 1976a. Ecostratigraphy of Ordovician graptolites. Pp. 621–643in Bassett, M. G., ed. The Ordovician System: proceedings of a Palaeontological Association symposium, Birmingham, September 1975. University of Wales and National Museum of Wales, Cardiff.Google Scholar
Erdtmann, B.-D. 1976b. Die Graptolithenfauna der Exploits-Gruppe von Zentral-Neufundland. Mitteilungen aus dem Geologisch-Paläontologischen Institut der Universität Hamburg 45:65–140.Google Scholar
Ettensohn, F. R. 1991. Flexural interpretation of relationships between Ordovician tectonism and stratigraphic sequences, central and southern Appalachians, U.S.A. In Barnes, C. R. and Williams, S. H., eds. Advances in Ordovician geology. Geological Survey of Canada Paper 90–9:213–224.Google Scholar
Finney, S. C. 1982. Biogeography of Ordovician graptolites in the southern Appalachians. In Bruton, D. L., ed. Aspects of the Ordovician System. Palaeontological Contributions from the University of Oslo 295:167–176, Universitetsforlaget.Google Scholar
Finney, S. C. 1986. Graptolite biofacies and correlation of eustatic, subsidence, and tectonic events in the Middle to Upper Ordovician of North America. Palaios 1:435–461.Google Scholar
Finney, S. C., and Bergström, S. M. 1986. Biostratigraphy of the Ordovician Nemagraptus gracilis Zone. In Hughes, C. P. and Rickards, R. B., eds. Paleoecology and biostratigraphy of graptolites. Geological Society Special Publication 20:47–59. Blackwell Scientific, Oxford.Google Scholar
Finney, S. C., and Berry, W. B. N. 1997. New perspectives on graptolite distributions and their use as indicators of platform margin dynamics. Geology 25:919–922.Google Scholar
Fisher, D. W. 1977. Correlation of the Hadrynian, Cambrian, and Ordovician rocks in New York State. New York State Museum Map and Chart Series 25.Google Scholar
Fisher, D. W. 1979. Folding in the foreland, Middle Ordovician Dolgeville facies, Mohawk Valley, New York. Geology 7:455–459.Google Scholar
Goldman, D. 1995. Taxonomy, evolution, and biostratigraphy of the Orthograptus quadrimucronatus species group (Ordovician, Graptolithina). Journal of Paleontology 69:516–540.Google Scholar
Goldman, D., and Bergström, S. M. 1997. Late Ordovician graptolites from the North American midcontinent. Palaeontology 40:965–1010.Google Scholar
Goldman, D., Mitchell, C. E., Bergström, S. M., Delano, J. W., and Tice, S. J. 1994. K-bentonites and graptolite biostratigraphy in the Middle Ordovician of New York State and Quebec: a new chronostratigraphic model. Palaios 9:124–143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldman, D., Bergström, S. M., and Mitchell, C. E. 1995. Revision of the Zone 13 graptolite biostratigraphy in the Marathon, Texas, standard succession and its bearing on Upper Ordovician graptolite biogeography. Lethaia 28:115–128.Google Scholar
Goldman, D., Mitchell, C. E., Joy, M., Baird, G. C., and Brett, C. B. 1997. A sequence stratigraphic model for the Middle and Upper Ordovician strata in the Taconic Foredeep of New York: eustacy and tectonics. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 29(1):22.Google Scholar
Hall, J. 1847. Descriptions of the organic remains of the lower division of the New York system. Paleontology of New York 1. Benthuysen, Albany.Google Scholar
Hay, B. J., and Cisne, J. L. 1989. Deposition in the Oxygen-deficient Taconic foreland basin, late Middle Ordovician. In Keith, B. D., ed. The Trenton Group (Upper Ordovician Series) of eastern North America. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Studies in Geology 29:113–134.Google Scholar
Holland, S. M. 1993. Sequence stratigraphy of a carbonate-clastic ramp: the Cincinnatian Series (Upper Ordovician) in its type area. Geological Society of America Bulletin 105:306–322.Google Scholar
Holland, S. M. 1995a. The stratigraphic distribution of fossils. Paleobiology 21:92–109.Google Scholar
Holland, S. M. 1995b. Depositional sequences, facies control, and the distribution of fossils. Pp. 1–23in Haq, B. U., ed. Sequence stratigraphy and depositional response to eustatic, tectonic and climatic forcing. Kluwer Academic Publishing, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Holland, S. M., and Patzkowsky, M. E. 1996. Sequence stratigraphy and long-term lithologic change in the Middle and Upper Ordovician of the eastern United States. In Witzke, B. J., Ludvigsen, G. A., and Day, J. E., eds. Paleozoic sequence stratigraphy: views from the North American Craton. Geological Society of America Special Paper 306:117–130.Google Scholar
Jackson, J. B. C., and Cheetham, A. H. 1994. Phylogeny reconstruction and the tempo of speciation in cheilostome Bryozoa. Paleobiology 20:407–423.Google Scholar
Jacobi, R. D. 1981. Peripheral bulge—a causal mechanism for the Lower/Middle Ordovician disconformity along the western margin of the northern Appalachians. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 56:245–251.Google Scholar
Joy, M. P., Mitchell, C. E., and Delano, J. 1994. Structural controls on facies relationships and sedimentation rates, Taconic Foredeep, NYS: a graphic correlation approach. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 26(7):A181.Google Scholar
Kay, M. G. 1935. Distribution of Ordovician altered volcanic materials and related clays. Geological Society of America Bulletin 46:225–244.Google Scholar
Kay, M. G. 1937. Stratigraphy of the Trenton Group. Geological Society of America Bulletin 48:233–302.Google Scholar
Kay, M. G. 1953. Geology of the Utica Quadrangle, New York. New York State Museum Bulletin 347.Google Scholar
Kellogg, D. E. 1976. Character displacement in the radiolarian genus, Eucyrtidium. Evolution 29:736–749.Google Scholar
Ladd, H. S. 1929. The stratigraphy and paleontology of the Maquoketa Shale of Iowa. Iowa Geological Survey Annual Report 34:307–448.Google Scholar
Lenz, A. C., and Chen, Xu 1985. Graptolite distribution and lithofacies: some case histories. Journal of Paleontology 59:636–642.Google Scholar
MacLeod, N. 1991. Punctuated anagenesis and the importance of stratigraphy to paleobiology. Paleobiology 17:167–188.Google Scholar
Mitchell, C. E., and Bergström, S. M. 1991. New graptolite and lithostratigraphic evidence from the Cincinnati region, U.S.A., for the definition and correlation of the base of the Cincinnatian Series (Upper Ordovician). In Barnes, C. R. and Williams, S. Henry, eds. Advances in Ordovician geology. Geological Survey of Canada Paper 90–9:59–77.Google Scholar
Mitchell, C. E., Goldman, D., Delano, J. W., Samson, S. D., and Bergström, S. M. 1994. Temporal and spatial distribution of biozones and facies relative to geochemically correlated K-bentonites in the Middle Ordovician Taconic Foredeep. Geology 22:715–718.Google Scholar
Nilsson, R. 1977. A boring through Middle and Upper Ordovician strata at Koangen in western Scania, south Sweden. Seriges Geologiska Undersökning, C 766:1–18.Google Scholar
Raatz, W. D., and Ludvigsen, G. A. 1996. Depositional environments and sequence stratigraphy of Upper Ordovician epicontinental deep water deposits, eastern Iowa and southern Minnesota. In Witzke, B. J., Ludvigsen, G. A., and Day, J. E., eds. Paleozoic sequence stratigraphy: views from the North American Craton. Geological Society of America Special Paper 306:143–159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riva, J. 1969. Middle and Upper Ordovician graptolite faunas of St. Lawrence Lowlands of Quebec, and of Anticosti Island. In Kay, M., ed. North Atlantic—geology and continental drift: a symposium. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 112:579–595.Google Scholar
Riva, J. 1972. Stop 21. Jacques Cartier River below Pont Rouge. Pp. 50–54in Clark, T. H., ed. Stratigraphy and structure of the St. Lawrence Lowland of Quebec. 24th International Geological Congress guidebook, excursion C52.Google Scholar
Riva, J. 1974. A revision of some Ordovician graptolites of eastern North America. Palaeontology 17:1–40.Google Scholar
Riva, J. 1987. The graptolite Amplexograptus praetypicalis n. sp. and the origin of the typicalis group. Canadian Journal of Earth Science 24:924–933.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruedemann, R. 1904. Graptolites of New York, Part I. Graptolites of the lower beds. New York State Museum Memoir 7.Google Scholar
Ruedemann, R. 1908. Graptolites of New York, Part II. Graptolites of the higher beds. New York State Museum Memoir 11.Google Scholar
Ruedemann, R. 1912. The lower Siluric shales of the Mohawk Valley. New York State Museum Bulletin 151.Google Scholar
Ruedemann, R. 1925. The Utica and Lorraine Formations of New York, Part 1. Stratigraphy. New York State Museum Bulletin 258.Google Scholar
Samson, S. D., Matthews, S., Mitchell, C. E., and Goldman, D. 1995. Tephrochronology of highly altered ash beds: the use of trace element and strontium isotope geochemistry of apatite phenocrysts to correlate K-bentonites. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 59:2527–2536.Google Scholar
Signor, P. W., and Lipps, J. H. 1982. Sampling bias, gradual extinction patterns, and catastrophes in the fossil record. Geological Society of America Special Paper 190:291–296.Google Scholar
Skevington, D. 1969. Graptolite faunal provinces in the Ordovician of Northwest Europe. In Kay, M., ed. North Atlantic—geology and continental drift: a symposium. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 112:557–562.Google Scholar
Skevington, D. 1974. Controls influencing the composition and distribution of Ordovician graptolite faunal provinces. Special Papers in Palaeontology 13:59–73.Google Scholar
Sloan, R. E. 1987. Tectonics, biostratigraphy and lithostratigraphy of the Middle and Late Ordovician of the upper Mississippi Valley. In Sloan, R. E., ed. Middle and Late Ordovician lithostratigraphy and biostratigraphy of the upper Mississippi Valley. Minnesota Geological Survey Report of Investigations 35:7–20. University of Minnesota, St. Paul.Google Scholar
Snyder, J., and Bretsky, P. W. 1971. Life habits of diminutive bivalve molluscs in the Maquoketa Formation (Upper Ordovician). American Journal of Science 271:227–251.Google Scholar
Sweet, W. C. 1984. Graphic correlation of Upper Middle and Upper Ordovician rocks, North American Midcontinent Province, U.S.A. In Bruton, D. L., ed. Aspects of the Ordovician System. Paleontological Contributions from the University of Oslo 295:23–36.Google Scholar
Sweet, W. C. 1988. Mohawkian and Cincinnatian chronostratigraphy. In Landing, E., ed. Proceedings of the Canadian paleontology and biostratigraphy seminar. New York State Museum Bulletin 462:84–89.Google Scholar
Ulrich, E. O. 1911. Revision of the Paleozoic Systems. Geological Society of America Bulletin 22:281–680.Google Scholar
VandenBerg, A. H. M., and Cooper, R. A. 1992. The Ordovician graptolite sequence of Australasia. Alcheringa 16:33–85.Google Scholar
Westrop, S. R. 1996. Temporal persistence and stability of Cambrian biofacies: Sunwaptan (Upper Cambrian) trilobite faunas of North America. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 127:33–46.Google Scholar
Williams, S. H. 1982a. Upper Ordovician graptolites from the top Lower Hartfell Shale Formation (D. clingani and P. linearis zones) near Moffat, southern Scotland. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (Earth Sciences) 72:229–255.Google Scholar
Williams, S. H. 1982b. The Late Ordovician graptolite fauna of the Anceps Band at Dob's Linn, southern Scotland. Geologia et Palaeontologia 16:29–56.Google Scholar
Williams, S. H. 1995. Middle Ordovician graptolites from the Lawrence Harbour Formation, Central Newfoundland, Canada. Palaeontographica, Abteilung A 235:21–77.Google Scholar