Abstract
The potential of reflectance spectroscopy to infer the paleoecological and depositional evolution of different micro and macro invertebrate fossils has been evaluated by analyzing their reflectance spectra within the spectral domain of 350–2500 nm using the FIELDSPEC3 spectroradiometer. Mineralogical information derived from the rapid and non-destructive spectral analysis has been substantiated using concurrent mineralogical data from conventional geochemical analyses. The diagnostic Fe-crystal field effect induced spectral features are identified on the representative spectra of different benthic foraminifera. These spectral features are resulted due to the incorporation of Fe during the biomineralization process. These features are absent in planktic foraminifera. The encrustation of Fe-oxides is inferred to be responsible for imprinting the Fe-crystal field feature in the spectra of micro and macrofossils at 900–1200 nm. Vibrational spectral features of the Al–OH bond are also identified. Both of these features are an indicator of post-depositional diagenetic history. The presence of Al and Fe in macrofossil shells is also believed to be related to ecological conditions as these elements are biogenically incorporated during shell formation. This study reveals the value of reflectance spectroscopy to infer ecological behavior and post-depositional environment of different organisms.
Highlights
The potential of reflectance spectroscopy to infer the paleoecological and depositional evolution of different micro and macro invertebrate fossils has been evaluated by analyzing their reflectance spectra within the spectral domain of 350–2500 nm using the FIELDSPEC3 spectroradiometer
Reflectance spectroscopy deals with the mineralogical analysis of spectral features of natural targets imprinted on their reflectance s pectra[1,2,3,4,5]
Reflectance spectroscopy being a non-contact analytical technique, the spectral information retrieved from the shells may be upscaled to infer the mineralogical variation in spatial domain based on the processing of imaging spectroscopy data
Summary
The potential of reflectance spectroscopy to infer the paleoecological and depositional evolution of different micro and macro invertebrate fossils has been evaluated by analyzing their reflectance spectra within the spectral domain of 350–2500 nm using the FIELDSPEC3 spectroradiometer. Reflectance spectroscopy being a non-contact analytical technique, the spectral information retrieved from the shells may be upscaled to infer the mineralogical variation in spatial domain based on the processing of imaging spectroscopy data (reflectance spectra collected as a two-dimensional image). This may help in relating mineralogy of fossil shells with the broader mineralogical variation of the basin if fossiliferous litho-units are mappable in the pixels of the imaging spectrometer data. The spectral contrast between the larger foraminifera specimens collected from one stratigraphic horizon of Fulra Formation would help in differentiating the ecological and depositional environment signatures as captured and distinguished by reflectance spectra. Following the aforesaid thematic approach, the spectral contrast between the bivalve-gastropods and the brachiopod-cephalopods respectively would depict their paleoecology and paleoenvironment
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