Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Application of the Glossifungites ichnofacies to the recognition of sequence stratigraphic boundaries: Examples from the Cretaceous of the Western Canada sedimentary basin, Alberta, Canada

Conference · · AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (United States)
OSTI ID:7013219
The Glossifungites ichnofacies is a substrate-controlled assemblage of trace fossils, characterized by sharp-walled, unlined, passively filled, vertical to subvertical domichnia, excavated into semiconsolidated (firmground) substrates. In Cretaceous siliciclastic rocks of the Western Canada sedimentary basin, the assemblage is dominated by the ichnogenera Diplocraterion, Skolithos, Arenicolites, Thalassinoides, and Rhizocorallium. The Glossifungites assemblage demarcates discontinuity surfaces that reflect pauses in sedimentation accompanied by erosion. Colonization of erosionally exhumed substrates and excavation of domiciles occur predominantly within marine to marginal marine settings. In the subsurface of Alberta, several of these discontinuity surfaces correspond to important sequence stratigraphic boundaries. Caution must be employed when applying these discontinuity surfaces to regional stratigraphic problems. These surfaces can also develop in response to autocyclic processes including tidal channel migration and episodic storm erosion. Consequently, the sequence stratigraphic significance of Glossifungites-demarcated discontinuity surfaces can only be resolved through detailed regional mapping.
OSTI ID:
7013219
Report Number(s):
CONF-910403--
Conference Information:
Journal Name: AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (United States) Journal Volume: 75:3
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Similar Records

Trace fossils, storm beds, and depositional sequences in a clastic shelf setting, Upper Cretaceous of Utah
Conference · Tue May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1990 · AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (USA) · OSTI ID:6692091

Ichnology and paleosubstrates of Austin Chalk (Cretaceous) outcrops: Southern Dallas and Ellis Counties, Texas
Conference · Thu Feb 28 23:00:00 EST 1991 · AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (United States) · OSTI ID:5739942

Trace fossils from the Athabasca oil sands, Alberta, Canada
Journal Article · Fri Aug 27 00:00:00 EDT 1982 · Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States) · OSTI ID:6410894