Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T20:59:59.138Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Growth rhythms in the brachiopod Rafinesquina alternata from the Late Ordovician of southeastern Indiana

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2016

Gary D. Rosenberg
Gary D. Rosenberg*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Indiana/Purdue University at Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Growth rhythms are described in the accretionary skeletons of Rafinesquina alternata, a Late Ordovician brachiopod from southeastern Indiana. Contiguous growth increments widen and narrow in repeating series, giving the appearance of adjacent clusters of increments. Fourier analyses of growth increment widths and counts of the number of increments within individual clusters yield similar periodicities. Increments vary in width over a period of approximately 19 increments, modulated with a lower amplitude oscillation of 27 increments. The number of increments per cluster falls into two groups; clusters having between 8 and 17 increments outnumber those having between 18 and 30 increments.

All specimens were obtained from a Maysvillian facies of the Dillsboro Formation, previously inferred to represent a shallow subtidal environmental setting. The growth periodicities described here are consistent with this interpretation. The intensity of tidal parameters such as emersion-immersion cycles, substrate shifts, changes in nutrient supply or in oxygen tension declines with depth as would the number of growth increments added each month in response to these factors. Thus, for these specimens, the maximum number of increments per cluster probably approximates the true number of “tidal” days in the Late Ordovician synodic month (period between full moons).

The paleoecological model derived from these analyses can be used in future studies to predict the rate of the earth's rotation and the motion of the moon in the Late Ordovician and, equally importantly, to evaluate the limits of uncertainty of such studies.

Type
Articles
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 8 , Issue 4 , Fall 1982 , pp. 389 - 401
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

Alexander, R. R. 1975. Phenotypic lability of the brachiopod Rafinesquina alternate (Ordovician) and its correlation with the sedimentologic regime. J. Paleontol. 49:607–618.Google Scholar
Anstey, R. L. and Fowler, M. L. 1969. Lithostratigraphy and depositional environment of the Eden Shale (Ordovician) in the tri-state area of Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio. J. Geol. 77:668–682.Google Scholar
Berry, W. B. N. and Barker, R. 1975. Growth increments of fossil and modern bivalves. Pp. 9–26. In: Rosenberg, G. D. and Runcorn, S. K., eds. Growth Rhythms and the History of the Earth's Rotation. John Wiley; London.Google Scholar
Bretsky, P. W. and Bretsky, S. S. 1975. Phenetic variation in some Middle Ordovician strophomenid brachiopods. Geol. Soc. Am. Mem. 142. 36 pp.Google Scholar
Crabtree, D. M., Clausen, C. D., and Roth, A. A. 1980. Consistency in growth line counts in bivalve specimens. Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclimatol., Palaeoecol. 29:323–340.Google Scholar
Creer, K. M. 1975. On a tentative correlation between changes in the geomagnetic polarity bias and reversal frequency and the earth's rotation through Phanerozoic time. In: Rosenberg, G. D. and Runcorn, S. K., eds. Growth Rhythms and the History of the Earth's Rotation. John Wiley; London.Google Scholar
Davis, J. C. 1973. Statistics and Data Analysis in Geology. 536 pp. John Wiley; New York.Google Scholar
Dolman, J. W. 1975. A technique for the extraction of environmental and geophysical information from growth records in invertebrates and stromatolites. Pp. 191–222. In: Rosenberg, G. D. and Runcorn, S. K., eds. Growth Rhythms and the History of the Earth's Rotation. John Wiley; London.Google Scholar
Evans, J. 1975. Growth and microbiology of two bivalves exhibiting non-daily growth lines. Pp. 119–134. In: Rosenberg, G. D. and Runcorn, S. K., eds. Growth Rhythms and the History of the Earth's Rotation. John Wiley; London.Google Scholar
Ford, J. P. 1967. Cincinnatian geology in southwest Hamilton County, Ohio. Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol. Bull. 51:918–936.Google Scholar
Gray, H. H. 1972. Lithostratigraphy of the Maquoketa Group (Ordovician) in Indiana. State of Indiana, Dept. of Nat. Res., Geol. Surv. Spec. Rept. 7. 31 pp.Google Scholar
Harris, F. W. and Martin, W. D. 1979. Benthic community development in limestone beds of the Waynesville (Upper Dillsboro) Formation (Cincinnati Series, Upper Ordovician) of southeastern Indiana. J. Sed. Pet. 49:1295–1306.Google Scholar
Hay, H. B. 1977. Cincinnatian stratigraphy from Richmond to Aurora, Indiana. In: Pope, J. K. and Martin, W. D., eds. Field Guidebook to the Biostratigraphy and Paleoenvironments of the Cincinnatian Series of Southeastern Indiana. Seventh Annual Field Conference of the Great Lakes Section, SEPM. Miami Univ.; Oxford, Ohio. I-1–I-34.Google Scholar
Hughes, W. W. and Clausen, C. D. 1980. Variability in the formation and detection of growth increments in bivalve shells. Paleobiology. 6:503–511.Google Scholar
Jones, D. S. 1981. Repeating layers in the molluscan shell are not always periodic. J. Paleontol. 55:1076–1082.Google Scholar
Kahn, P. G. K. and Pompea, S. M. 1978. Nautiloid growth rhythms and dynamical evolution of the Earth-Moon System. Nature. 275:606–611.Google Scholar
Martin, W. D. 1977. Petrology of the Cincinnatian Series Limestones (Upper Ordovician) of Indiana and Ohio. In: Pope, J. K. and Martin, W. D., eds. Field Guidebook to the Biostratigraphy and Paleoenvironments of the Cincinnatian Series of Southeastern Indiana. Seventh Annual Field Conference of the Great Lakes Section, SEPM. Miami Univ.; Oxford, Ohio. II-1–II-26.Google Scholar
Mazzullo, S. 1971. Length of the year during the Silurian and Devonian Periods: new values. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 82:1085–1086.Google Scholar
Mohr, R. E. 1975. Measured periodicities of the Biwabik (Precambrian) stromatolites and their geophysical significance. Pp. 43–56. In: Rosenberg, G. D. and Runcorn, S. K., eds. Growth Rhythms and the History of the Earth's Rotation. John Wiley; London.Google Scholar
Paine, R. T. 1963. Ecology of the brachiopod Glottidia pyramidata. Ecol. Monogr. 33(3):187–213.Google Scholar
Pannella, G. 1972. Paleontological evidence on the earth's rotational history since Early Precambrian. Astrophys. Space Sci. 16:212–237.Google Scholar
Pannella, G. 1975. Paleontological clocks and the history of the earth's rotation. Pp. 253–284. In: Rosenberg, G. D. and Runcorn, S. K., eds. Growth Rhythms and the History of the Earth's Rotation. John Wiley; London.Google Scholar
Pannella, G. 1976. Tidal growth patterns in Recent and fossil mollusc bivalve shells: a tool for the reconstruction of paleotides. Die Naturwissenschaften. 63:539–543.Google Scholar
Pope, J. K. 1976. Comparative morphology and shell histology of the Ordovician Strophomenacea (Brachiopods). Paleontogr. Am. 8(49):129–214.Google Scholar
Rhoads, D. C. and Lutz, R. A. 1980. Skeletal Growth of Aquatic Organisms: Biological Records of Environmental Change. 723 pp. Plenum; New York.Google Scholar
Richards, R. P. 1969. Biology and ecology of Rafinesquina alternata (Emmons). Geol. Soc. Am. Abstr., Pt. 6. North Central Section.41–42.Google Scholar
Richards, R. P. 1972. Autecology of Richmondian brachiopods (Late Ordovician of Indiana and Ohio). J. Paleontol. 46:386–405.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. R. 1981a. Recent brachiopods from New Zealand—Background to the study cruises of 1977–1979. N.Z. J. Zool. 8:133–143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richardson, J. R. 1981b. Distribution and orientation of six articulate brachiopod species from New Zealand. N.Z. J. Zool. 8:189–196.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. R. 1981c. Brachiopods and pedicles. Paleobiology. 7:87–95.Google Scholar
Rickwood, A. E. 1977. Age, growth, and shape of the intertidal brachiopod Waltonia inconspicua Sowerby, from New Zealand. Am. Zool., 17:63–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenberg, G. D. 1972. Patterned growth of the bivalve Chione undatella Sowerby relative to the environment. PhD Diss.220 pp. Geol. Dept. Univ. California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Rosenberg, G. D., Ashton, M., Hewitt, R., Simmons, D. J. 1980. Application of normalized power spectra to the analysis of chemical and structural growth patterns. Pp. 675–686. In: Rhoads, D. C. and Lutz, R. A., eds. Skeletal Growth of Aquatic Organisms: Biological Records of Environmental Change. Plenum.Google Scholar
Rosenberg, G. D. and Runcorn, S. K. 1975. Growth Rhythms and the History of the Earth's Rotation. 538 pp. John Wiley; London.Google Scholar
Rudwick, J. J. S. 1965. Ecology and Paleoecology. Pp. 564–603. In: Moore, R. C. ed. Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology. Pt. H. Brachiopoda. Vol. 1. Geol. Soc. Am.; Boulder, Colorado.Google Scholar
Rudwick, M. J. S. 1970. Living and Fossil Brachiopods. 184 pp. Hutchinson Univ. Library; London.Google Scholar
Runcorn, S. K. 1964. Changes in the earth's moment of inertia. Nature. 204:823–825.Google Scholar
Runcorn, S. K. 1980. Nautiloids and the rotation of the Earth. EOS. 61(7). February 12. Abstract.Google Scholar
Scrutton, C. T. 1964. Periodicity in Devonian coral growth. Palaeontology. 7:552–558.Google Scholar
Scrutton, C. T. 1978. Periodic growth features in fossil organisms and the length of the day and month. Pp. 154–196. In: Brosche, P. and Sundermann, J., eds. Tidal Friction and the Earth's Rotation. Springer-Verlag; Berlin.Google Scholar
Thayer, C. W. 1981. Ecology of living brachiopods. Pp. 110–126. In: Dutro, J. T. Jr. and Boardman, R. S., eds. Lophophorates: Notes for a Short Course. Univ. Tennessee, Dept. Geol. Sci., Studies in Geol.Google Scholar
Wells, J. 1963. Coral growth and geochronometry. Nature. 197:948–950.Google Scholar
Williams, A. 1968. A history of skeletal secretion among articulate brachiopods. Lethaia. 1:268–287.Google Scholar