Taphonomic Models

• Biostratinomic models/classification (Kidwell et al. 1986)
• Biogenic
• Sedimentological
• Diagenetic
• mixed

Taphonomic Models
• Biostratinomic classification
• Coastal gradient

Taphonomic Models
• Taphonomy Applied to Sedimentology, Stratigraphy, & Depositional Reconstruction
• Sedimentologic implications of fossil concentrations -- Kidwell (1985)
• can use fossil concentrations to make qualitative assessments about sedimentation accumulation rates

Taphonomic Models
• R-sediment model - 4 types of beds:
• Types I and II = top of bed accumulations
– Type I - shell bed => less fossiliferous sediment to more fossiliferous: terminates at an omission, decrease in sed. rates upward
– Type II - same as type I but ends in erosion

Taphonomic Models
• Types III and IV = base of bed accumulations
• Type III - shell bed rests on an omission surface and grades upward into less fossiliferous sediment: increasing sed. rate from zero
• Type IV - same as III but with erosional base
• - uses a set of taphonomic observational criteria to interpret changes in sedimentation rates
• - this very simple concept revolutionized sedimentology

Taphofacies
• Models for fossil assemblages accumulated in Paleozoic epeiric seas (continental)