PI will investigate the animal sediment relations and biogenic sedimentary structures of palagic carbonate systems in both shelf-sea and deep-sea settings. Emphasis will be on interpreting the environmentally controlled trace fossil associations, ichnofabrics (modes of occurrence, preservation, deformation and juxtaposition of trace fossils) and paleoethology (fossilized evidence of animal behavior) preserved in pelagic deposits in New Zealand and Denmark. Palagic sediment is ideal for such studies, because (a) bioturbation rates typically far exceed depositional rates, (b) pelagic ooze occurs in regimes far removed from direct perturbations of continental sediment influx, and (c) the open-water setting allows for global comparisons and synthesis. Similarities and differences of ichnofabric, ichnofacies and particular ethologic types of trace fossils will be documented in pelagic limestone and chalk deposited in mid-latitude boreal seas of the Southern and Northern Hemispheres during Late Cretaceous and Early Tertiary time. The work will focus on the Maastrichtian-Oligocene Amuri Limestone on the South Island of New Zealand and Maastrichtian-Paleocene chalk in Denmark. In addition, DSDP/ODP and commercial drill cores of deep-sea carbonate sections from nearby sites in the southwestern Pacific and northeastern Atlantic will be examined. This ichnologic research will provide a detailed picture of organism-substrate interrelationships in ancient pelagic ooze habitats, and it also will allow construction of a global picture of endobenthic communities in non-tropical, mid-latitude, epicratonic sea-bottom environments.
