High-Latitude Bioerosion: The Kosterfjord Experiment

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-XI

   PDF

2. Introduction

   Pages 1-36

3. Material and methods

   Pages 37-42

4. The Kosterfjord study site

   Pages 43-48

5. Bioerosion patterns

   Pages 49-114

6. Carbonate accretion patterns

   Pages 115-130

7. Quantitative bioerosion and carbonate accretion

   Pages 131-146

8. Ecological and palaeoenvironmental implications

   Pages 147-155

9. Summary and conclusions

   Pages 157-167

10. Outlook

    Pages 169-170

11. Back Matter

    Pages 171-202

    PDF

Bioerosion is the major force driving the degradation of marine skeletal carbonates and limestone coasts. A wide spectrum of mechanical and/or chemical boring, scraping or crushing organisms break down calcereous substrates, comprising various grazers, macroborers and especially microborers.  Their traces on and within hard substrates are known from fossil carbonates as old as the Precambrian and serve as valuable palaeoenvironmental indicators. Bioerosion processes have been extensively studied in tropical seas, while corrsponding investigations from cold-temperate to polar settings remain sparse. For the first time, an experimental study yields insight into the pace of carbonate degradation and the chronology of boring community development along a bathymetric gradient in a high-latitude setting.

• Actuopalaeontology
• Bioerosion
• Carbonates
• Erosion
• Ichnology
• Taphonomy
• environment

• Institute of Palaeontology, Erlangen, Germany

  Max Wisshak

Policies and ethics