The DOI matches its Crossref record; 11 of the 11 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
SEDIMENT EFFECTS ON THE PRESERVATION OF BURGESS SHALE–TYPE COMPRESSION FOSSILS
Abstract
Experimental burial of polychaete (Nereis) and crustacean (Crangon) carcasses in kaolinite, calcite, quartz, and montmorillonite demonstrates a marked effect of sediment mineralogy on the stabilization of nonbiomineralized integuments, the first step in producing carbonaceous compression fossils and Burgess Shale–type (BST) preservation. The greatest positive effect was with Nereis buried in kaolinite, and the greatest negative effect was with Nereis buried in montmorillonite, a morphological trend paralleled by levels of preserved protein. Similar but more attenuated effects were observed with Crangon. The complex interplay of original histology and sediment mineralogy controls system pH, oxygen content, and major ion concentrations, all of which are likely to feed back on the preservation potential of particular substrates in particular environments. The particular susceptibility of Nereis to both diagenetically enhanced preservation and diagenetically enhanced decomposition most likely derives from the relative lability of its collagenous cuticle vs. the inherently more recalcitrant cuticle of Crangon. We propose a mechanism of secondary, sediment-induced taphonomic tanning to account for instances of enhanced preservation. In light of the marked effects of sediment mineralogy on fossilization, the Cambrian to Early Ordovician taphonomic window for BST preservation is potentially related to a coincident interval of glauconite-prone seas.
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“Some decay experiments were performed with the presence of a substrate and indicated that animals could eventually get preferentially preserved in the presence of clays, in particular kaolinite (Wilson & Butterfield, 2014; Naimark et al., 2016a; Naimark et al., 2016b).”
From Probability-based preservational variations within the early Cambrian Chengjiang biota (China) (2022) · cites this paper as Wilson & Butterfield, 2014
Citations
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“At a broader scale, there is a conspicuous correlation between BST preservation and a Cambro–Ordovician spike in the occurrence of anomalously shallow-water glauconite (see Brasier 1980; Chafetz and Reid 2000; Nielsen and Schovsbo 2011; Peters and Gaines 2012).”
BackgroundExceptional Fossil Preservation and the Cambrian Explosion
Butterfield, N. J. (2003) · Integrative and Comparative Biology · doi:10.1093/icb/43.1.166 · Cited by 348 · cited 4×
“The recognition of secondary, diagenetically induced shifts in preservation potential also has important implications for interpreting the histological and phylogenetic affiliations of problematic BST fossils (Butterfield 2003).”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationOrdovician faunas of Burgess Shale type
Van Roy, P., Orr, P. J., Botting, J. P., Muir, L. A., Vinther, J., Lefebvre, B., Hariri, K. E., & Briggs, D. E. G. (2010) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature09038 · Cited by 340
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Butterfield, N. J. (1990) · Paleobiology · doi:10.1017/s0094837300009994 · Cited by 265
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Briggs, D. E. G., & Kear, A. J. (1994) · PALAIOS · doi:10.2307/3515135 · Cited by 260
Secular distribution of Burgess-Shale-type preservation
Butterfield, N. J. (1995) · Lethaia · doi:10.1111/j.1502-3931.1995.tb01587.x · Cited by 255 · cited 8×
“…BST preservation invoke mineralspecific diagenesis as an essential factor, either by suppressing normal enzyme–microbial-based decay processes (e.g., Butterfield 1990, 1995; Gaines et al. 2005, 2012) or secondarily by enhancing the recalcitrance of relatively labile substrates (e.g., Orr et al.…”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationMechanism for Burgess Shale-type preservation
Gaines, R. R., Hammarlund, E. U., Hou, X., Qi, C., Gabbott, S. E., Zhao, Y., Peng, J., & Canfield, D. E. (2012) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1111784109 · Cited by 230 · cited 2×
“…mineralspecific diagenesis as an essential factor, either by suppressing normal enzyme–microbial-based decay processes (e.g., Butterfield 1990, 1995; Gaines et al. 2005, 2012) or secondarily by enhancing the recalcitrance of relatively labile substrates (e.g., Orr et al. 1998; Petrovich 2001).”
BackgroundNon-random decay of chordate characters causes bias in fossil interpretation
Sansom, R. S., Gabbott, S. E., & Purnell, M. A. (2010) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature08745 · Cited by 227 · cited 1×
“…enhancing the preservation potential of more labile substrates, early diagenetic tanning—like early diagenetic mineralization—undermines assumptions of tapho-anatonomic ordering based on sediment-free degradation experiments (e.g., Allison 1988; Briggs and Kear 1993, 1994a; Sansom et al. 2010).”
BackgroundDecay and preservation of polychaetes: taphonomic thresholds in soft-bodied organisms
Briggs, D. E. G., & Kear, A. J. (1993) · Paleobiology · doi:10.1017/s0094837300012343 · Cited by 186
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“More generally, it has been argued that the rise and fall of BST preservation tracked the weathering flux of Al-rich clays as well as particular biogeochemical conditions that affected the composition of clay in marine sediment (Butterfield, 1995; Wilson & Butterfield 2014).”
InfluentialThe Emu Bay Shale Konservat-Lagerstätte: a view of Cambrian life from East Gondwana
Paterson, J., García-Bellido, D., Jago, J., Gehling, J., Lee, M. S. Y., & Edgecombe, G. (2015) · Journal of the Geological Society · doi:10.1144/jgs2015-083 · Cited by 105
“…decay rate versus pre-burial residence time on the seafloor (Zhao et al. 2009; O’Brien et al. 2014), but the relationships between preservational fidelity, original histology and host sediment types (including mineralogy) should also be considered (Gaines et al. 2012b; Wilson & Butterfield 2014).”
BackgroundThe role of experiments in investigating the taphonomy of exceptional preservation
Briggs, D. E. G., & McMahon, S. (2016) · Palaeontology · doi:10.1111/pala.12219 · Cited by 103
“The widespread occurrence of glauconite during the Cambrian and Ordovician, interpreted as a result of the contribution of extensive weathering to the clay content of marine sediments, may have reduced rates of decay at this time (Wilson and Butterfield 2014).”
BackgroundInfluential
Metadata
- Authors
- WILSON, L. A., & BUTTERFIELD, N. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Venue
- Palaios
- Publisher
- Society for Sedimentary Geology
- Published
- 2014-04-01
- Volume
- 29
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 145-154
- ISSN
- 0883-1351 (ISSN-L)
- 1938-5323
- OpenAlex
- W2143409804
- Cited by
- 120
- References
- 64
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 7
- FWCI
- 5.60
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Palaios (publishedVersion)
- Department of Earth Sciences EPrints Repository (acceptedVersion)
- BioOne Complete (BioOne) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Natural Environment Research Council
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geochemistry and Petrology › Geochemistry and Elemental Analysis
- Keywords
- sediment mineralogy, taphonomy, Nereis, Crangon, kaolinite, montmorillonite, calcite, quartz, collagen, protein preservation, diagenesis, glauconite, Cambrian-Ordovician, fossilization
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