Disarticulated Echinoid Ossicles in Paleoecology and Taphonomy: The Last Interglacial Falmouth Formation of Jamaica

Abstract

Echinoids from the last interglacial (=Sangamon; ca. 125,000 years old) Falmouth Formation fo north Jamaica, a raised reef plaeoenvironment, are almost invariably preserved as disarticulated skeletal ossicles. Comparison of over 11,000 of these ossicles with extant shallow-water echnoids from the island has enabled half of the living genera to be recognized from the Pleistocene raised reef. The paleoecological distribution of these ossicles is in good agreement with the ecological distribution of these taxa within reeefs at the present day, and supports the reconstruction of the Falmouth Formation reef ecosystem based on sedimentological and coral data