Stable and radiogenic isotope analyses on shark teeth from the Early to the Middle Permian (Sakmarian–Roadian) of the southwestern USA

Abstract

δ18OP values and 87Sr/86Sr ratios were determined on disarticulated xenacanthiform, hybodontid and ctenacanthid shark tooth material from several Early Permian (Sakmarian–Kungurian) continental bone beds of northern Texas and southern Oklahoma as well as from the marine Middle Permian (Roadian) of northern Arizona. The δ18OP values derived from the teeth of bone beds are in the range of 17.6–23.5‰ VSMOW, and are mostly depleted in 18O by 0.5–5‰ relative to proposed coeval marine δ18OP values. This indicates an adaptation to freshwater habitats on the Early Permian coastal plain by several sharks. Distinctly higher δ18OP values from two bone beds are attributed to significant evaporative enrichment in 18O in flood plain ponds. 87Sr/86Sr ratios of around 0.71077 are notably more radiogenic than 87Sr/86Sr of contemporaneous seawater. In contrast, the isotopic composition of teeth from the marine Kaibab Formation is characterised by low δ18OP values in the range of 13.4–15.6‰ VSMOW while 87Sr/86Sr ratios of around 0.70821 are closer to the Roadian seawater value. The distinctly depleted δ18OP values cannot be readily explained by fluvially affected freshening in a nearshore marine environment, so a diagenetic alteration of the Kaibab material seems to be more likely, excluding it from further interpretation.