Beyond Beecher's Trilobite Bed: Widespread pyritization of soft tissues in the Late Ordovician Taconic foreland basin

Abstract

Research Article| October 01, 2009 Beyond Beecher's Trilobite Bed: Widespread pyritization of soft tissues in the Late Ordovician Taconic foreland basin Úna C. Farrell; Úna C. Farrell 1Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Markus J. Martin; Markus J. Martin 2371 Pawling Street, Watertown, New York 13601, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar James W. Hagadorn; James W. Hagadorn 3Department of Geology, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts 01002, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Thomas Whiteley; Thomas Whiteley 4105 White Village Drive, Rochester, New York 14625, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Derek E.G. Briggs Derek E.G. Briggs 1Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA 5Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information Úna C. Farrell 1Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA Markus J. Martin 2371 Pawling Street, Watertown, New York 13601, USA James W. Hagadorn 3Department of Geology, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts 01002, USA Thomas Whiteley 4105 White Village Drive, Rochester, New York 14625, USA Derek E.G. Briggs 1Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA 5Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA Publisher: Geological Society of America Received: 25 Feb 2009 Revision Received: 15 May 2009 Accepted: 17 May 2009 First Online: 03 Mar 2017 Online ISSN: 1943-2682 Print ISSN: 0091-7613 © 2009 Geological Society of America Geology (2009) 37 (10): 907–910. https://doi.org/10.1130/G30177A.1 Article history Received: 25 Feb 2009 Revision Received: 15 May 2009 Accepted: 17 May 2009 First Online: 03 Mar 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Permissions Search Site Citation Úna C. Farrell, Markus J. Martin, James W. Hagadorn, Thomas Whiteley, Derek E.G. Briggs; Beyond Beecher's Trilobite Bed: Widespread pyritization of soft tissues in the Late Ordovician Taconic foreland basin. Geology 2009;; 37 (10): 907–910. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/G30177A.1 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyGeology Search Advanced Search Abstract Pyritization of soft tissues is extremely rare. Pyritized fossils have been discovered at six new localities spanning 54 km of outcrop of the Ordovician Lorraine Group of New York State, suggesting that soft-tissue pyritization is widespread in the Taconic basin. Notable new taxa with soft-tissue preservation include ostracods and other arthropods. Such fossils are rare and occur within 4–9-cm-thick mudstones representing single rapid depositional events. High ratios of reactive iron to total iron and high values of δ34S, together with a near-absence of disarticulated and fragmented skeletal material, suggest that organisms in these pyritic horizons were buried rapidly and underwent bacterial sulfate reduction in porewaters rich in highly reactive iron and low in organic carbon. These conditions facilitated iron sulfide precipitation within and on decaying carcasses. Such conditions occur repeatedly in some fine-grained distal turbiditic facies of the Taconic foreland basin. Pyritized soft-bodied fossils await discovery elsewhere in the Lorraine Group. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.