Publication Date

Summer 2024

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Geology

Advisor

Carlie Pietsch; Maya deVries; Scott Shaffer

Abstract

During the last 300 ka of the Maastrichtian, global temperatures increased and decreased by ~2℃, likely caused by a pulse of Deccan volcanism. The Owl Creek Type Section in Mississippi records some portion of the last 400 ka of the Late Maastrichtian. It is expected that marine invertebrates will demonstrate a taxonomic, ecological, or morphological response to rapid temperature change. I anticipate a decrease in taxonomic diversity and shell volume and an increased abundance of low activity-level species, similar to the ecological impacts observed in response to Large Igneous Province eruptions in the geologic record. Clumped isotope paleotemperature reconstruction recovers partial support for nearshore warming but no evidence for increased shelf temperatures. Visual and statistical analyses support no directional change in any diversity, ecological, or shape characteristic throughout the studied time interval including; species richness and diversity, functional ecology, mean activity quotient, shell volume, and mean metabolic energy. The lack of evidence in the exposed section suggests that the Mississippi Embayment shallow marine shelf environment was buffered against global-scale climate change or that the precise stratigraphic interval was not recorded. Non-directional variation in taxonomic, functional, and morphological traits is interpreted as background variation within a stable shelf fauna. This work contributes a detailed ecosystem reconstruction for use as a baseline for end-Cretaceous mass extinction comparisons or other Cretaceous research in the U.S. Gulf Coastal Plain.

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