首页|Taphonomy and Paleoecology of Lycoptera: A Case Study from the Lower Jehol Group in Western Liaoning, Northeastern China

Taphonomy and Paleoecology of Lycoptera: A Case Study from the Lower Jehol Group in Western Liaoning, Northeastern China

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Taphonomy and paleoecology (biological behavior) of the Early Cretaceous fish fossils are poorly described. This study reports for the first time a detailed taphonomical and paleoecological study on Lycoptera in the Mesozoic strata of western Liaoning Province, NE China. The XRD analysis shows that gismondine is the dominant clay minerals that could have contributed to the preservation of Lycoptera fossils and microbial mat fragments in the fossil-bearing horizon. Gismondine may have formed under volcanism-related hydrothermal regime that was transformed from crystal and lithic fragments. The μ-XRF imaging analysis shows a dominant chemical composition of Al, Si, P, S, Rh, K, Ca, Ti, C, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, among which P, Ca, C and S are enriched in the fish skeleton in comparison to the matrix. This suggests a dominant apatite composition for the fish skeleton. Hydrothermal influ-ence did not smear off these organic signals probably because of protection of gismondine. The coex-istance of C and S with Ni is assumed to represent recovered primary productivity following volcanic explosions and toxic gas emissions. The head of juvenile fish stays close to the body of adult fish. Pend-ing further discoveries, such phenomenon is interpreted to suggest that adult fish actively protected ju-venile fish in the presence of environmental pressures such as anoxia and deterioration of water quality induced by volcanism. Ocean acidification and hypoxia in association with volcanism created a harm-ful environment causing mass extinction of fish. The adult Lycoptera protected their juveniles by its body at the moment before death. Such biological behavior will be increasingly reported given the wide occurrence of Lycoptera in Mesozoic strata.

LycopterataphonomypaleoecologyfishJehol GroupNE China

Zhongwu Lan、Rong Cao、Shujing Zhang

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State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric Evolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100029, China

State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China

State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430078, China

College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

Department of Geology, Trinity College, Dublin 999015, Ireland

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State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy,Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology,Chinese Academy of Sci

223115

2024

10.1007/s12583-023-1922-1

地球科学学刊(英文版)
中国地质大学

地球科学学刊(英文版)

CSTPCD
影响因子：0.724
ISSN：1674-487X
年,卷(期)：2024.35(3)
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