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What would the indicators be for a shallow or shoreline environment.


Innocentx

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I've been exploring a lower Permian site I think may have intermittently been a shallow marine environment. The location is Eastern Flint Hills, Kansas.

What type and size of creatures would indicate a shallow or shoreline environment?

Thanks ahead of time for any information.

"Journey through a universe ablaze with changes" Phil Ochs

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@Walt. Thanks for the link. Lots of information in the PDF but not quite what I'm needing, but it's caused me to think of looking for any evidence of evaporites. I'm not sure what these would look like in local exposures but I'll research that. I'm east of the areas studied in that paper.

The ancient shoreline receded and advanced across time and across the state. My area is the red dot.

 

Inkedsea on the cambridge plain.gif5b916c6a8f17a_Inkedseawithshorelines.gif.ac7286e6191707a9a57ad17326eed324.gif

"Journey through a universe ablaze with changes" Phil Ochs

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Yep, figured you were east of there but thought methodology might be the same.  Good luck :)

Everything is generated through your own will power ~ Ray Bradbury
 

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On 9/6/2018 at 9:21 AM, Innocentx said:

I've been exploring a lower Permian site I think may have intermittently been a shallow marine environment. The location is Eastern Flint Hills, Kansas.

What type and size of creatures would indicate a shallow or shoreline environment?

Thanks ahead of time for any information.

 

For the lower Permian I would do a general search for articles on marine environments of that period.  Many of them will be shallow water simply because deepwater sites of any age are rare.  Also, whenever I've looked for papers on the Permian, they are usually about the lower Permian anyway.  Then, of course, you want to look for articles about sites in your general area.  Those publications will discuss why the environment was interpreted as shallow water and provide indicators.

 

It depends on how technical you want to get.  You could also look for mainstream books on earth history that talk about the Paleozoic Era in and the boundaries between periods.  A college textbook on historical geology or paleontology (a "life through time" type book) would be helpful.  A book like that will list animal groups that were or were not diverse or common and where they lived.

 

Keep in mind that the continents were tightly clustered and already largely connected by the lower Permian so information about shallow water animals from France or Russia might still be helpful to you.

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Beside a view in detailed geological maps and palaeoenvironemental studies about the strata cropping out in your area, there can be several proxies in the field giving hints to shallow marine environments. Palaeontological proxies can be some special types of fossil algae or some genera of larger benthic foraminifera, but these proxies have to be combined with sedimentological ones, like special types of bedding, grain-types, etc. Shorelines are identficable by sedimentological proxies, too. Palaeontological ones are hard to recognize for this environement.

 

Glück Auf!

 

J:

 

 

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@Johannes Thanks for your helpful information! I've been looking for algae and will look for more today.  

I did find this already and thought it might be evidence of algae. What do you think?

 

The darker areas are slightly raised. It's approximately 2 cm thick.

 

IMG_4304.thumb.JPG.6dcae752f785ee4e041e5a41e434afdc.JPGIMG_4306.thumb.jpg.5625f20deef2bf1956b8df941134717f.jpg

"Journey through a universe ablaze with changes" Phil Ochs

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nice uncluttered pangea reconstruction(s):notice the changing paleoposition of North America (present day outline conveniently shown)during the Permian

pangea7y774ett77archime44e5tmedtr2m35pltwillist.jpg

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, doushantuo said:

nice uncluttered pangea reconstruction

It IS! :)

"Journey through a universe ablaze with changes" Phil Ochs

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