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Photographs included in tfie original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any ptwtographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. Bell & Howell Information and teaming 300 North zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 4810B>1346 USA 800-521-0600 UMI* PALEONTOLOGY AND PALEOECOLOGY OF THE NADA MEMBER OF THE BORDEN FORMATION (LOWER MISSISSIPPIAN) IN EASTERN KENTUCKY DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fullfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University by Aiguo Li, M.S. ***** The Ohio State University 2000 Dissertation Committee: Dr. W.I. Ausich, Adviser Approved by Dr. L.E. Babcock Dr. Michael Barton Adviser Dr. S.M. Bergstrom Geological Sciences UMI Number 9962423 UMI* UMI Microform9962423 Copyright 2000 by Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Bell & Howell Information and Leaming Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. 00x1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ABSTRACT The Nada Member of the Borden Formation (Mississippian) in northeastern Kentucky was the delta platform deposit of the Borden delta. It consists mainly of siliciclastic mudstones with carbonates and siltstone interbeds. The dominant fossil groups that it contains are crinoids, brachiopods, rugose corals, and bryozoans. Biostratigraphic study bears out that the Nada Member is middle Osagean in age, and again, confirms the westward progradation of the Borden delta. The Nada Member represents the very distal part of the subaqueous delta platform, and it was more controlled by marine processes than by terrestrial influences. The Nada Member has beds with abundant phosphates and glauconites. Field and microscopic study of the phosphates and glauconites indicate that a major transgression occurred at the end of the time of Nada deposition. The Abandonment phase of the Borden delta in present-day northeastern Kentucky occurred toward the end of the time of Nada deposition. Community paleoecological study was carried out with the application of the concepts of community components, tiering, and guilds. Biotic interactions were represented in the Nada fauna by the platyceratid-crinoid, the platyceratid-tabulate coral, and the tabulate coral-crinoid relationships. The Nada community was compared with the Edwards ville Formation community of southern Indiana because they were deposited in similar delta platform environment, but at different times. The Edwards ville community is more diverse and has more guilds than the Nada community. The increase in diversity is a result of the increase in the number of guilds. Temporal changes in the communities ii (communia development or communia évolution) have attracted much recent attention in paleoecological smdies. A complete comparison of the Nada and Edwardsville mudstone communities was carried out in terms of taxonomy and trophic structures. The community development patterns displayed by the two communities do not support coordinated stasis, but instead, are indicative of coincident relative stability. Crinoids are the predominant group of fossils in the Nada Member of the Borden Formation. Systematics of the Nada Member crinoids are reviewed in this paper. One new genus and four new species occur in this fauna. The new genus is Discocrinus. The four new species are Uperocrinus acwninatus, Aorocrinus nodulus, Discocrinus protuberatus, and Atelestocrinus kentuckyensis. The dominant crinoid group in the Nada is monobathrid crinoids, followed by cladids, and disparids. The fact that monobathrid camerates dominated the Nada fauna in the mudstone facies counters the general pattern, in which crinoid faunas dominated by monobathrid camerates were largely in carbonate facies. m Dedicated to my mother IV ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I owe thanks to many individuals who have helped me in the completion of this dissertation. In particular, my adviser. Dr. William I. Ausich has provided much needed help, both in my academic pursuits and in encouragement and enthusiasm for my dissertation project. I am especially grateful to him for his great insight and patience in revising drafts of my dissertation. I also want to thank my dissertation conunittee members. Dr. Loren E. Babcock, Dr. Michael Barton, Dr. Stig M. Bergstrom and Dr. Lawrence A. Krissek for their willingness to serve on my dissertation committee and for their advice. I thank William I. Ausich, Yuping Xu, Alex Li and Charles Mason for their assistance in fieldwork. I thank Stephen A. Leslie for his help in processing the microfossils. I also want to thank my fellow geology graduate students whose names are too many to be listed here. I want to thank Tom Kammer of West Virginia University, Charles Mason of Morehead State University of Kentucky and Royal H. Mapes of Ohio University for providing some fossil specimens. VUA November 28, 1963 ........................................ Bom in Shandong, China 1983................................................................. B.S., Beijing University Geological Sciences 1986 ................................................................. M.S., China University of Geosciences, Geological Sciences 199 7................................................................. M.S., The Ohio State University, Food Sciences and Technology 1998 to 2000.................................................. Graduate Teaching and Research Associates, The Ohio State University PUBLICATIONS Li Aiguo, and Yang Shipu. 1989. Ontogeny, autecology and evolution ofCleiothyridina obmaxima McChesny (Bracluopoda). Geosciences, 3:175-184 (in Chinese). Li, Aiguo. 1994. Platyceratid gastropo^ from the Borden Formation of northeastern Kentucky and their biostratigraphic and paleoecologic implications. Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs, 26(5):50. FIELD OF STUDY Major Field: Geological Sciences Minor Field: Paleobiology and Paleoecology VI TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract .............................................................................................................. ii Dedication............................................................................................................. iv Acknowledgments ............................................................................................. v Vita ......................................................................................................................... vi List of Tables ..................................................................................................... x List of Figures .....................................................................................................xii Chapters: 1. Introduction ............................................................................................... 1 1.1 History and geological setting of the Borden D elta....................... 2 1.2 Geology and paleoecology of delta platform deposits.................... 7 1.3 Introduction to the Borden Delta Deposits northeastern Kentucky .............................................................. 9 1.4 Research methods applied ........................................................... 13 2. Biostratigraphy, sedimentology and the Borden delta progradation ................15 2.1 Facies analysis and sedimentology .................................................15 2.1.1 Interdistributary mudstone facies .................................. 17 2.1.2 Carbonate stringer / tempestite facies ...............................21 2.2 Phosphates and glauconites in the Nada and their paleoenvironmental implications............................................... 27 2.3 Faunal analysis and biostratigraphy ...............................................28 2.4 Westward progradation of the Borden Delta .................................. 34 vii 3. Taphonomy, autecology and biotic-mteractions of the Nada fauna..............38 3.1 Introduction to taphonomy ...................................................... 38 3.2 Autecology of the major Nada fossil groups............................... 40 3.2.1 Autecology of crinoids ................................................40 3.2.2 Autecology of brachiopods .........................................47 3.2.3 Autecology of trilobites .............................................. 52 3.2.4 Autecology of cephalopods ........................................54 3.2.5 Autecology