Bivalvian trace fossils from the Lower Devonian Pingyipu Formation in northwestern Yangtze Platform
ZHANG Xiaole1,2, WANG Yi1, LIU Jianbo3, HUANG Pu1, XU Honghe1
1 State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy,Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences,Nanjing 210008,China; 2 State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology,China University of Geosciences(Wuhan),Wuhan 430074,China; 3 School of Earth and Space Sciences,Peking University,Beijing 100871,China
Abstract：Abundant bivalve trace fossils are found in the Lower Devonian Pingyipu Formation in Guangyuan area,northern Sichuan Province,but systematic ichnological work and behavioral and paleoecological analysis have not been carried out. Close observations on the occurrence,preservation style and morphological features of bivalvian traces provide invaluable information to guide the interpretation of their trace maker,ethological and paleoecological features. Here we carried out sedimentary and systematic ichnology studies on the middle part of the Lower Devonian Pingyipu Formation at the Majia section,Guangyuan area. The results suggest occurrence of bivalvian trace fossils,including Lockeia siliquaria,Protovirgularia rugosa, Ptychoplasma vagans as well as trace fossils of other invertebrate groups such as Cruziana problematica, Dimorphichnus isp.,and Lophoctenium isp. in the lower shoreface to off shore settings. The overall morphological and taphonomic features of the trace fossils suggest that,two major groups,including the cleft-footed(protobranchia)and wedge-footed bivalves occurred in the middle part of the Pingyipu Formation. The protobranchia were deposit-feeding bivalves distributed in the transitional zone and off shore settings. The transition from resting to “escape”state of these bivalves,probably due to erosive events or a higher sedimentation rates,produced the trace fossil Pro. rugosa. The wedge-footed bivalves could be further divided into two groups. The vagile,deposit-feeding type occupied the transitional zone and off shore settings. Their crawling behavior,probably linked to an effort to search for edible material from the sediment generated the trace fossil Pty. vagans. While in the lower shoreface setting,colonies of suspension-feeding bivalves colonized the sediment during relatively tranquil intervals between erosional events. The vertical transition of trace fossil composition in the middle Pingyipu Formation suggests a substitution of Cruziana ichnofacies developed on a relative stiff substrate by the latter Skolithos ichnofacies in an upward shallowing succession.
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