Mechanisms and Rates of Preservation of Organic and Skeletal Remains in Continental Shelf and Slope Environments

解释化石组合的一个主要障碍是对其中的偏差认识不足，这种偏差是由（a）生物原始组合的埋藏学改变和（B）时间上不同的动物群的时间平均造成的。为了更好地了解这些埋藏过程的实验被放置在各种各样的环境中的沉积在深海设置在1993年和1994年。这些实验包括各种潜在的生物体，如双壳类，腹足类，海胆，螃蟹和植物物种。这些材料自部署以来一直在海底腐烂。两年后在所有地点进行了采集，并对早期埋藏特征进行了评估。目前的工作涉及收集的实验在第8年。初步结果显示，这是软体动物遗骸的关键时期，特别是在透光带内的沃茨。钻孔生物的溶解和降解已经发展到这样的程度，即这项工作的结果可能能够将软体动物遗骸在浅水沃茨的“寿命”设定在7至10年之间，而在较深的沃茨，我们可能会发现降解速度要慢得多。

Mechanisms and Rates of Preservation of Organic and Skeletal remains inContinental Shelf and Slope EnvironmentsKarla Parsons-HubbardEAR-9909317A major impediment in the interpretation of fossil assemblages has been the inadequate understanding of the biases in it caused (a) by the taphonomic alteration of the original assemblage of living organisms and (b) by the time averaging of temporally distinct faunas. To better understand these taphonomic processes experiments were placed in a wide variety of environments of deposition in deep offshore settings in 1993 and 1994. The experiments consist of a variety of potentially preservable organisms such as bivalves, gastropods, urchins, crabs, and plant species. These materials have been allowed to decay on the sea floor since deployment. Collections were made after two years at all sites and the early taphonomic signature was assessed. The present work involves the collection of the experiments at year 8. Preliminary results show that this is a crucial time for the mollusk remains, particularly in waters within the photic zone. Dissolution and degradation by boring organisms have progressed to the point that the results from this work may be able to set the "life span" of mollusk remains in shallow waters at somewhere between 7 and 10 years and in deeper waters we may find much slower rates of degradation.