Degradation, Transport, and Diagenesis of Recent Crinoid Ossicles in Fernandez Bay, San Salvador Island, Bahamas

虽然鸡冠状听骨(骨板)是许多古代石灰岩和页岩的常见成分，但从化石类学的角度来看，它们相对较少受到关注。随着最近在海底沉积中发现的鸡冠状听骨的记录，现在有机会对个别板块的分类进行实际的研究。这项研究的主要重点在于板材降解：目的是确定相对耐磨性和耐溶解性，检查这些攻丝工艺和其他工艺在研究区域的分布，并对这些工艺的速度设定一些限制。在运输方面，目的是确定运输的听小骨的堆积位置，并观察听小骨是否作为泥沙运输。关于成岩作用的主要目标是确定听骨是否因沉积物充填或早期成岩作用而“预化石”，并确定在从更新世生物礁岩石中回收的听骨中是否仍然可以识别出生物层组学特征。从沉积物上部2-3厘米和1-2米岩心采集的沉积物样本将被用来绘制板块的分布及其蚀变程度和类型。对海底的磨损和溶解以及植入物的实验室实验将有助于确定过程和限制降解速度。由于化石中的绝大多数是由脱节的骨骼组成的，这种方法将有助于使大量的化石材料对其他科学家更有用，从而帮助从沉积学家到眼镜蛇专家的地质学家。

Although crinoid ossicles (skeletal plates) are common components of many ancient limestones and shales, they have received relatively little attention from the standpoint of taphonomy. With the recent documentation of crinoid ossicles in Recent sea floor sediment, the opportunity now exists to pursue actualistic studies of the taphonomy of individual plates. The main emphasis of the study lies in the area of plate degradation: objectives are to determine relative resistance to abrasion and dissolution, to examine the distribution of these taphonomic processes and others in the study area, and to set some constraints on the rates of these processes. With respect to transport, objectives are to determine the sites of accumulation of transported ossicles, and to see if ossicles travel as bedload. The primary objectives with regard to diagenesis are to determine if ossicles are "prefossilized" by sediment infilling or early diagenesis and to determine if biostratinomic signatures are still recognizable in ossicles recovered from Pleistocene reef rocks. Sediment samples taken from the upper 2-3 cm of the sediment and from 1-2 meter cores will be used to map the distribution of plates and their degree and type of alteration. Laboratory experiments of abrasion and dissolution and implants on the sea floor will aid in defining processes and constraining rates of degradation. Because the vast majority of fossil crinoid material consists of disarticulated skeletons, this approach will help to make a large volume of fossil material more useful to other scientists, assisting geologists from sedimentologists to crinoid specialists.