Trace Fossils from Brackish-Marine Shales, Upper Pennsylvanian of Kansas, U. S. A.

Several tracefossil assemblages from the clastic members of three Upper Pennsylvanian cyclothems in the state of Kansas are considered to represent marginal marine brackish marine environments Trace fossils were collected from several lenticular or f1aser bedded siltstone and fine grained sandstone horizons within the Rock Lake Shale Timberhill Siltstone and Lawrence Shale These units were commonly thought to be nonmarine freshwater to subaerial exposure due to thegeneral lack of marine body fossils Common trace fossils are Asteriacites Linglllichllus Isopodithnus Chondrites Didymaulichnus Pel ecypodicllllllS and Planolites The trace fossil assemblages are characterized by the following 1 small sized members 2 excellent preservation 3 high to moderate diversity 4 moderate abundance 5 no preferential preservation and 6 all ethological groups except grazing trails The small size of these trace fossils is related to a lowering of salinity as a result of freshwater influx into a shallow marine environment accompanying the deposition of the silts and sands upon which the ichnofauna is preserved These trace fossils may have been overlooked because of their small size and it is proposed that they could be found elsewhere within similar shallow water stratigraphic sequences