Ore Bin / Oregon Geology Magazine / Journal
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"' .... - "~'':'ij Tisoa has since been identified at various other places in Washington, but until very recently all of our attempts to locate specimens in Oregon opposite the Megler locality had failed. The fossil is now known from the Astoria Formation (early Miocene). Consi deri ng the potentia I environmental, pa leoeco logical, and pale ontological significance of trace fossils generally (Frey, 1970, 1971), fur ther searches should be undertaken in Oregon and Washington, aimed at documenting variations in, and the stratigraphic and facies distributions of, th i s fossi I burrow. Characteristics of Tisoa Megler specimens of Tisoa typically consist of two parallel tubes con tained within elongate calcareous concretions (Figure 2A, B), which are thus very simi lar to specimens reported from other countri es (Hantzschel, 1962, Figure 137.4i 1965). The concretions collected by us are of assorted sizes but are invariably less than 15 em in length and 7 em in diameter. The enc losed tubes are genera II y 1 to 1 .4 em in di ameter, and they ru n the fu II length of the host concretion; distances between adjacent tubes range from 2.5 to 7 mm (Frey and Cowles, 1969, Figure 1). Individual tubes are com monly lined with diagenetic pyrite, and the pairs of tubes may also be encircled by a thin layer of pyrite (Figure 3C, D). These tubes, evidently remaining open for a time during deposition of Lincoln Creek sediments, were eventually filled with a variety of detrital and diagenetic minerals. Actually, rare specimens from Megler show that the "normal" twin tubes are in reality fragments of the upper part of a single U-shaped tube (Figure 3A), conceivably as much as a meter in original length (HCintzschel, 1962, p. W218). U-shaped fragments are less common now than "normal" specimens because (I) the break-up of the original structure produced more fragments of the upper part than of the basal part (Figure 4C), and (2) the basal part may have been less well constructed by the burrowing animal originally (Frey and Cowles, 1969, p. 19). Rare Megler specimens also show that the tubes are not invariably straight (Figure 4A) and that the twin tubes may branch into additional pairs of rubes (Figure 4B). Furthermore, single-tube varieties of Tisoa are fairly common at this locality (Figure 2C); although these are identical to "normal" specimens in all other respects, no evidence for an original second tube has been observed. Peculiarly, many of the tisoans observed at various places in Wash ington, other than Megler, consist predominantly of the single-tube variety, and at some localities the "normal" twin tubes are apparently very rare. Weldon W. Rau (1968, personal communication) wrote us that: "Although we frequently find concretions with a single tube of some sort in the middle, I do not recall ever seeing any like your specimens with the double tube. Those I have 114 ·""I<»e<I(by mam "'. "'" potticvl",ly good lP<'cim ..... but Ofe" """"I. Irom outcrop> ..110<. I ..... h~ n ,*".do "".; p<>o .ibly tl.ou.ancl.. They ",e,e oil ",;.".ed ",I.h tl.. 1""9 a. i. _,..,110 .... ddtn\!. They 'ong. Ira'" a 1_ i""h .. up ." p<>o.ibly 8 inch .. in leng.h. They 011 .... m to h"", ••• ide"". 0/" cr""" .v .... tlvO"9h tl.. midel l•. ' .- • B •• Fi~'. 2. T.. "",,,, I,,,," Megl... A, a. Typieal double-tube .pee ; ... ".. C. Typic,,1 .ingle.tub•• peci",en. O. Bi.al • • Luci"""", d. L acu.i Ii "",,'a (C"",odI .",<>edded ; n , i""'n conere.i"". t. Fi'"lin on ,ide "f Ii""," concre.ion. '" J ,7'>-' (j: / .)•. \~ . ". I .. • • f;~. J. Ti_ Fro", Meg'. _ A. tongilu<l'",,1 iC'C.iOtl .hrou;/l U ..... ...,..d lub. (o."'ined in ink). t. long,'''''i ..... ' "i_ of tube " ___ t, ""',,,, w ... th .. ...! <>~, of 1" "0<1<'.""", .f.Dwing "<"Ioh .... k •. C. 1.0".",," "i_ of lilOan ~""i"ll P:I''''. <""" .. "n".lon... <>unci lube. on" cifcum!.. ' e"". of <o".".,i"" . O. 1'",,"""'< ...",00'1 """"II" <onef.,ion <on."I,,_ ;"11 .... - poi" of lubon, oooc" ti"...j with I')'<j,. (d. figute 41. The ....phol<>g1col _i".I"". ond in ••".I".;""oh'l" '''''''''II local ond '~i_1 <> ..~mbl"9.' 01 Ti"", thu. "I_I, ""td oddili"",,1 ",udy, Such wook ""'l' 0• ..,,,,,,1I1.no.. I.... ~ go"", i. _ 1><000dly c<>""ei"o" .......10". it """,ei ,... Ii"i<ol'y boo "Pli t infO ..." go".,,,, "I rhough ..e """"'eI "... "inl y cii"'...... "". «>_i< opti IIi"O a poNibl. (_ froy, 1971, p. 10J-'Q.lI , 1M ..... 1I lin,,,!!, _n In many Ii""", ,...be ••uw"'" !h" ••he burowi"" ""i_I '0;"10«" h. do<r!;cil .. with ""poi" ...... ,OM, .. hich I",.. ,..., •..:1 blogeodo.",;caily and ""u. helped =n<o"no'. _oncIcooy ",i_al. ""eh ... pyrite ( .... F,~, 1971, p. 101-101). Th ... o l'.. g.igfll O<>d .h I","", . ig~ of Itnv.loping <0""'.""'" .ook piCK • .."Iy in di"llo-n.,i., '" "'We••• d by ° n_ly in.oc. Ii", lin or>d" d",.,y <r.i<ulo.'" tlo," I""nd ."o.dded In ,i_ COO"IC' ••i.,... (fil/lu 2 0, Eli ott..wi... , blo .... botion ond oth. W<li _ _ MOly on<! dI~ne.ic I"oc ..... p<obobly w""'d """. dl_.ic~la'''' ond .<0"..... th ••• I_II ,...,.",in •. On .... boll> 01 mo<pt.ol"llY, ''''Iui,ile b-ohaviOf, and m. pr . .. n~. 0/ ."",11 '(;fo.ch """k. on <r<toln bunow wall. (FillY'. 38), "". in'.pre' Ii ..... '" c~ .I. Fiil"' •• ' Ret_,we,'''''' of M-sI'" ,ilOOm. A S~ifalod ",be. ' B ~Q""h.d ,yb .. (d. fllrJl. 3D). C. Hypolhe.icQ' ope<:lme .. IIIY.~"'i"" h..... ' . ~ " GI shoo " dovble-tube lisoor.o may be';"_ iyood If_" .ingl. long, U",,-d tube '" .h. <toY.lli"" bu,,,,.. of" ,htimp_ or """"'ipod_li'. ormropod {f rey cnd C_I .. , 1969, p. ~. No"e of ...... b..-""", sp<llcime". <"'"'oin "'tNopod ......; ... , end .;..... ally ........ of .... Fcnoil "' .... opodr. ,_," by W."... (19(2, cr. lik." <",,",ido,.. ; ye, .... Ih,opod ,_in,,.. ,ar.l, Io..ond ••.., i" .... II_doc .." '''.'' ted Holoc...,. ""d 10.. , I '" ",,0,>0<1 bur,,,,,,,, (eroml.y, 1~1 , p. I I I ..c~'i"" <>n><>ng '_.,,,boc'., '.p::><.ed i»' W'tf>V<r ar ... ok Ii 1m, p. 112 _113, 1'1.38, • • By ",i"'?h• • 196<1 ), II dofl <>or . bo.>rr ..... boo. <"rlain o,h.. Ie"""", of 0."011, .... bu<,owing hGb' It ,.11,,<. 0<1 by Meg'. Ii ... """. I ike """ of .... Holoc_ ...,..,.,ipod C",ophium vatufO"" (... H""' zse .... '. 193'11, ol~ Ph. ti.-, "'90".'........ have b-n iUbI'antiolly I.. ~ in ,i ... '" Distribution of Tisoa Tisoa was previously known only from foreign localities, including the OligoC""eru!of Tunisia, Cretaceous of Russia, and Jurassic of France and Madagascar (Hontzschel, 1962, p. W218). Hartmut U. Wiedemann (1970, personal communication) informed us that he has also observed the trace fos sil in Jurassic marls near Aalen, Wurttenberg, Germany. Specimens from all of these localities consist predominantly of the twin-tube variety. We have collected additional specimens southeast of Megler, espe cially on the western slope of K M Mountain, half a mile or more below the summit, along U.S. Highway 101. Weldon W. Rau (1968, 1971, personal communications) notes having seen Tisoa-like concretions in several other places, including the structures mentioned in his report on the Quinault Formation (Rau, 1970, p. 10). We examined a few of his specimens and found them extremely similar to those from Megler. Specimens from all of these localities consist mostly (or perhaps wholly) of the single-tube variety however. In contrast, we have not personally located any unequivocal tisoans in Oregon. On the Oregon si de of the Columbia we collected certain of the fossils and other concretions associated with Tisoa at Megler but no unmistakable evidence of Tisoa itself. Recently, however, Sam Boggs of the University of Oregon informed us (1971, personal communication) that he has collected a few specimens from an area along Youngs River near Astoria; we examined some of these specimens (from the Astoria Formation) and indeed found them to be single- and double-tube varieties of Tisoa, the latter being rare. -- We strongly suspect that continued searching will eventually yield many additional specimens from Oregon, which will help establish further the morphological variation and overall distribution of this trace fossi I in the Pacific Northwest. Conclusions Additional observations on the morphology and distribution of Tisoa are needed. Primary consideration should be given to the documentation of behavioral, biostratigraphic, and facies relationships of the different varieties of this trace fossil in Oregon and Washington. Only with this kind of information at hand can the full paleontological and environmental sig nificance of Tisoa be evaluated. Acknowledgments We are grateful to Weldon W. Rau, Washington Department of Nat ural Resources, Ewart M. Baldwin, University of Oregon, and Richard E. 118 Thoms, Portland State University, for their comments and suggestions con cerning this manuscript, and to Sam Boggs, University of Oregon, for send ing us specimens of Tisoa collected by him in Oregon.