Application of the Glossifungites ichnofacies to the recognition of sequence stratigraphic boundaries: Examples from the Cretaceous of the Western Canada sedimentary basin, Alberta, Canada
- Univ. of Alberta, Edmonton (Canada)
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-; CODEN: AABUD
- Journal Information:
- AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (United States), Vol. 75:3; Conference: Annual meeting of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), Dallas, TX (United States), 7-10 Apr 1991; ISSN 0149-1423
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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