Biogenic and Physical Modes of Stratification and Shell Bed Formation in the Recent Intertidal Environments of Bahia la Choya, Northern Gulf of California

Abstract

Fossil concentrations such as shell beds are preferred collection sites for paleontological and paleoecological data. Although ample attention has been paid to the roles and implications of physical processes in shell bed formation, the role of biogenic sediment reworking in generating shell beds has received little study.Subsurface shell beds in the Recent intertidal environment at Bahia la Choya form via three distinct processes: storm deposition, tidal channel migration, and biogenic reworking. Shell beds on the outer tidal flats are produced primarily by storm sedimentation. Lateral migration of the main tidal channel produces shell beds along the channel margins. Shell beds on the inner flats distant from the main tidal channel are generated by vertical “conveyorbelt” recycling of fine sediment by deposit feeders. Biogenic reworking concentrates shells at depth into subsurface shell beds, producing a distinct form of biogenic bedding, termed biogenic stratification.These three modes of shell bed formation leave recognizable taphonomic and sedimentologic signatures. Biogenic stratification in particular has important implications for sedimentation rates, sediment reworking, and faunal condensation in ancient strata.