Unusual occurrence and stratigraphic significance of the Glossifungites ichnofacies in a submarine paleo-canyon — Example from a Pliocene shelf-edge delta, Southeast Trinidad

Abstract

Sedimentary rocks belonging to the upper-slope shelf-margin delta of the Paleo-Orinoco River are present at the southeast coastline of Trinidad in the Columbus Basin. The Pliocene Mayaro Formation, exposed as foreshore cliffs, represents the wave-influenced delta front and mouth bar of this system. These deposits consist of thick to very thick hummocky cross-stratified sandstone beds and thin-bedded to laminated heterolithic sediments. They also contain abundant soft-sediment deformation structures and sparse well-preserved softground burrows (e.g. Ophiomorpha nodosa). Towards the north-central part of the outcrop, the delta front deposits are cut across by a paleo-canyon filled with younger mud-dominated prodeltaic sediments. The rare exposure of the canyon-wall exhibits an unusual occurrence of Glossifungites ichnofacies. Contrastingly distinct from archetypal examples, this monospecific suite contains a low abundance of firmground Thalassinoides filled with mud rather than sand. The tracemakers burrowed into a firm medium-grained sandy substrate of the delta front, and the burrows were subsequently passively filled by the mud from the overlying prodeltaic sediments filling the canyon. The deep-tier firmground Thalassinoides suite crosscuts the pre-existing softground trace fossils. Integration of ichnologic, sedimentologic and sequence-stratigraphic datasets indicates that the older delta front sediments are separated from the prodeltaic deposits by distinct episodes of fluctuating relative sea-level controlled by the basin-bounding growth-fault activities and the development of the canyon. Whereas the entire shelf-margin megasequence might have been deposited through a regional scale sea-level lowstand, the local fluctuations in accommodation space resulting from the growth-fault movements and the incision of the canyon were responsible for the shifting positions of the depositional architectural elements of the shelf-edge delta.