The Middle through lower Upper Ordovician Lexington Limestone and lower part of the Clays Ferry Formation contain an abundant and diversified ostracode fauna. More than 10,000 specimens belonging to 39 genera and 53 species have been found in 73 collections made by members of the U.
Adequate discrimination between ancient intertidal and supratidal limestones and dolomites is often difficult because of vagueness of terms, problems of resolution, and the fact that most ‘diagnostic’sedimentary features are not restricted to narrow environmental zones. Furthermore, the rise and fall of sea‐level in restricted, epeiric seas is usually due more to storm surges than to true tides, and hence the occurrence and extent of tidal‐flat inundations are quite irregular. ‘Rank exposure index’is a concept introduced (1) to quantify the relative percentage of time that sediments are subaerially exposed and (2) to produce a more refined subdivision of shoreline carbonate rocks. The scheme employed to determine this index is a combination of numerical methods: cluster analysis separates 46 Tonoloway Limestone samples (Silurian of Maryland) into groups based on 16 sedimentary, mineralogic, and organic features, and minimum spanning tree produces a connected series of the five resultant groups. These groups are then ranked in sequence from 1 (greatest subaerial exposure) to 5 (least). Rocks of rank 1 are thought to have been deposited at the highest position within the tidal zone, as on a beach ridge. Rocks of decreasing rank reflect greater frequency of flooding. Those of rank 5 represent sediments deposited closest to low‐water level, as in a tidal pond. Rock type, mineralogy, fossil content, algal stromatolites, and sedimentary structures are closely related to exposure rank as interpreted for the Tonoloway carbonates. Rank exposure index, therefore, is a semi‐quantitative measure to aid in the detailed reconstruction of ancient shoreline environments.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.