Micro-trace fossils reveal pervasive reworking of Pliocene sapropels by low-oxygen-adapted benthic meiofauna

Nature Communications
S C Löhr, M J Kennedy

Abstract

Animal burrowers leave an indelible signature on the sedimentary record in most marine environments, with the seeming exception of low-oxygen environments. In modern sedimentary settings, however, sub-millimetre-sized benthic animals (meiofauna) are adapted to low oxygen and even sulfidic conditions. Almost nothing is known about their impact on ancient marine sediments because they leave few recognizable traces. Here we show, in classic Pliocene-aged anoxic facies from the Mediterranean, the first reported trace fossil evidence of meiofaunal activity and its relation to changing oxygenation. A novel approach utilizing electron imaging of ion-polished samples shows that meiofauna pervasively reworked sediment under oxygen-depleted conditions that excluded macrofauna, fragmenting organic laminae and emplacing 15- to 70-μm-diameter faecal pellets without macroscopically influencing the fabric. The extent of reworking raises the question: how pervasively altered are other sediments presently assumed to lack animal influence and how far into the geological record does this influence extend?

References

May 25, 1984·Science·R G Bromley, A A Ekdale
May 18, 2011·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Martin J Kennedy, Thomas Wagner
Aug 4, 2011·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Laura Wegener ParfreyLaura A Katz

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Citations

Jul 10, 2020·Interface Focus·M Gabriela Mángano, Luis A Buatois
Aug 16, 2017·Nature Ecology & Evolution·Thomas H P Harvey, Nicholas J Butterfield

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