EAR-PF: Testing the boundaries of Burgess Shale-Type preservation with literature meta-analysis, decay experimentation, and fossil investigation

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Dr. Evan Anderson has been granted an EAR Postdoctoral Fellowship to carry out research and education plans at the University of Missouri. The research plan will focus on studying the Burgess Shale-type (BST) mode of soft-bodied preservation from multiple approaches to better understand the scope and operational mechanisms of this paleontologically important preservation mode. Soft-bodied fossils can provide ecological and evolutionary information available nowhere else in the fossil record. The education activities will include developing teaching modules for K12 and undergraduate students. The materials for these modules will include common softbodied materials (i.e. graptolites and plant debris), 3-D printed and traditional print-outs of exceptional soft-bodied materials, and materials collected for this study. This investigation will have three components. First, a literature meta-analysis will study and expand a compendium of exceptional soft-bodied fossil deposits (or lagerstätten) to isolate BST and BST-like deposits throughout earth history. Comparing these deposits will both highlight shared characteristics and explore the variation within the BST mode of fossilization. Second, decay experiments will test two models of BST preservation for their effectiveness in slowing soft-bodied degradation. One experiment will test the hypothesis that complex bioturbation prevents BST preservation by oxygenating sediments and enhancing decay by simulating different kinds of burrows penetrating the sediment in which a decay organism is buried. The second experiment will test the hypothesis that elevated calcium and alkalinity levels allows for the development of calcite permeability seals in BST deposits, protecting buried organisms from degradation. Finally, a fossil-based investigation will compare the burial context and fossil preservation of freshly collected material from the BST-like Winneshiek and Waukesha lagerstätten to traditional open marine BST deposits from the Cambrian House Range of Utah. Although the BST-like deposits come from post-Cambrian deposits with restricted water circulation, if the fossil preservational mineralogies and qualities are similar between the BST-like and BST deposits, then their burial environment conditions should be comparable (i.e. calcite seals).