Abstract
The Glossifungites ichnofacies is a substrate-controlled assemblage of trace fossils, characterized by sharp-walled, unlined, passively filled, vertical to subvertical domichnia, excavated into semiconsolidated (firmground) substrates. In Cretaceous siliciclastic rocks of the Western Canada sedimentary basin, the assemblage is dominated by the ichnogenera Diplocraterion, Skolithos, Arenicolites, Thalassinoides, and Rhizocorallium. The Glossifungites assemblage demarcates discontinuity surfaces that reflect pauses in sedimentation accompanied by erosion. Colonization of erosionally exhumed substrates and excavation of domiciles occur predominantly within marine to marginal marine settings. In the subsurface of Alberta, several of these discontinuity surfaces correspond to important sequence stratigraphic boundaries. Caution must be employed when applying these discontinuity surfaces to regional stratigraphic problems. These surfaces can also develop in response to autocyclic processes including tidal channel migration and episodic storm erosion. Consequently, the sequence stratigraphic significance of Glossifungites-demarcated discontinuity surfaces can only be resolved through detailed regional mapping.
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