"Algal biscuits" from the Lower Permian Herington/Krider limestones of southern Kansas-northern Oklahoma; paleoecology and paleodepositional setting

Study of collections of "algal biscuits" from the Lower Permian (Wolfcamp) HeringtonlKrider Limestones of southern Kansasl northern Oklahoma indicates that these relatively large accretionary structures were formed on shallow subtidal grassy seabottoms, within a lagoonal depositional setting. The biscuits are composed of concentric growth laminations of algae and encrusting foraminifers, with various entrapped epizoans. At different times during biscuit growth, the biscuits themselves fell prey to burrowing barnacles and boring annelid worms. That results in modification of originally concentric growth laminae, into distinctive organism-modified, digitate algal-foraminiferal colonies.