1. Paleoecology Lab: 2 Versions
James R. Ebert
Earth Sciences Department
SUNY College at Oneonta

2. Paleoecology Lab: Context
Earth History and the Fossil Record
Commonly second geoscience course taken
Majors in
Geology
Water Resources
Earth Science
Adolescence Education Earth Science
Childhood Education (K-6)

3. Paleoecology Lab: Objectives
Practice observation
Recognize fossils in matrix
Deduce paleoecological requirements of
Individual species
Assemblages of species
Interpret environment based on paleoecological factors
Support interpretations with specific observations and associated inferences

4. Paleoecology Lab – Lab Version
Follows first lab on fossils
Taphonomy – focus on mode of preservation
Identification – major Paleozoic invertebrate groups
First experience with assemblages
First real experience with fossils in matrix
First lab that requires interpretation of their own observations
Materials: 4 assemblages

5. Assemblage 1: Reef Framework

6. Assemblage 2: High Abundance, Low Diversity - Intertidal

7. Assemblage 3: High Abundance, High Diversity – Open Shelf

8. Assemblage 4: High Abundance of Some Taxa, Moderate Diversity – Deeper Shelf

9. Paleoecology Lab – Field Version: Rickard Hill Road Project – Peering into Deep Time

10. Paleoecology Lab – Field Version
Fall Semester: Replaces Lab version
Spring Semester Done late in spring semester as one of two culminating field projects
Combines paleontological observations with lithology and sedimentary structures
First experience with fossils in the field
Requires interpretation of their own observations
Overall Objective: Reconstruct Environments of Deposition and Interpret Changes in Environment

11. Rickard Hill Stratigraphy
Limestones of the Helderberg Group (L. Dev.)
Upper Unit = Becraft Formation
Lower Unit = Old Stone Fort Member (informal) of Becraft Formation (formerly Kalkberg Formation)

12. Old Stone Fort Member Rich and diverse fauna - 300+ species
Brachiopods – minimum of 65 different species
Bryozoans
Sponges
Crinoids
Trilobites
Rare Cephalopods, Tabulate corals, Pelecypods, Gastropods
Some fossils are articulated and in life position
Skeletal Wackestones to Grainstones
Sedimentary Structures:
Burrows
Remnant ripples
Cross stratification (small scale)
Storm-Influenced Shelf

13. Becraft Formation Fauna is abundant, but disarticulated and abraded
Diverse fauna, but less so than OSF
Echinoderms predominate
Aspidocrinus scutelliformis holdfasts in lower part
Root-like holdfasts of Clonocrinus sp. in upper part
Brachiopods
Bryozoa
Rare Tabulate Corals, Stromatoporoids, large Gastropods, Cephalopods, Trilobites
Sedimentary Structures:
Cross Stratification
Alternations of coarse and finer beds/laminae
Coarse Skeletal Grainstone
Shallow, Tide-Dominated Shelf

14. Changing Environments: OSF – Becraft Contact
Sharp
Weathered reentrant into outcrop
Clay at contact – weathered volcanic ash
Intraclasts of OSF in lowest bed of Becraft
Some intraclasts are exhumed fossils with adhered micrite
Disconformity