Serpulid-Frutexites Assemblage From Shadow-Cryptic Environments in Jurassic Marine Caves, Betic Cordillera, Southern Spain

Oxfordian neptunian dykes with brachiopods from the southern part of the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland (southern Poland) and their links to hydrothermal vents

“…The formation of such fissures is interpreted as an effect of: (1) depositional processes, (2) synsedimentary features, (3) diagenetic transformations of sediments, and, above all, (4) extensional tectonics in the sedimentary basin (see e.g., Land and Goreau 1970;Wendt 1971;Smart et al 1988;Martire 1996;Winterer et al 1991;Santantonio 1993;Winterer and Sarti 1994;Molina et al 1995;Wieczorek and Olszewska 2001;Łuczyński 2001;Flügel 2004;Wall and Jenkyns 2004;Črne et al 2007;Montenat et al 2007;Kandemir and Yilmaz 2009;Kołodziej et al 2010;Reolid and Molina 2010;Nieto et al 2012;Barski 2012).…”

Frutexites encrustations on rugose corals (Middle Devonian, southern Morocco): complex growth of microbial microstromatolites

“…Frutexites Maslov 1960, also referred to as ferruginous or manganiferous microstromatolites (e.g., Szulczewski 1963;Hofmann 1969;Horodyski 1975), are arborescent, finely laminated to opaque structures consisting of iron and/or manganese oxides and calcite; they are known from Proterozoic to Cretaceous marine carbonates (Hofmann 1969;Mišík and Aubrecht 2004;Reolid and Molina 2010). The origin of Frutexites remains a matter of ongoing controversy, as they have no obvious modern marine analogues; the only reports of contemporary, subfossil Frutexites shrubs come from some alkaline lakes (Kaźmierczak and Kempe 2006;Kaźmierczak et al 2011), and similar structures have been reported from modern deserts (desert varnish; Krumbein and Jens 1981), terrestrial caves and tunnels (Rodríguez-Martínez et al 2011a) and hot springs (black travertine shrubs; Chafetz et al 1998).…”

“…Where present in shallow-water settings, in turn, Frutexites are typically limited to cryptic environments, such as such as small cavities and sheet cracks (Hofmann 1969;Horodyski 1975;Walter and Awramik 1979;Myrow and Coniglio 1991). Frutexites shrubs are rarely associated with contemporaneous benthic metazoans, although in some cases they encrusted other organisms after their death (Préat et al 2008;Reolid and Molina 2010), and, occasionally, were overgrown themselves by foraminifera (Reolid and Molina 2010;Rodríguez-Martínez et al 2011b). Hence, the presence of hostile, oligotrophic conditions is often regarded a prerequisite for the development of Frutexites in marine settings.…”

The morphological adaptation of Lithocodium aggregatum Elliott (calcareous green alga) to cryptic microhabitats (Lower Aptian, Spain): an example of phenotypic plasticity

“…Generally, cavities and other cryptic habitats provide well-protected, space-limited living spaces for low-light adapted organisms (e.g., Kobluk 1988a, b;Meesters et al 1991;Richter and Wunsch 1999). From modern and fossil cryptic habitats diverse groups of organisms have been reported and described: brachiopods (e.g., Logan et al 2007;Zuschin and Mayrhofer 2009), bryozoans (e.g., Kobluk et al 1988;Pachut et al 1995), corals (e.g., Kobluk and Lysenko 1987), benthic foraminifera (e.g., Lukeneder and Harzhauser 2003;Guilbault et al 2005), mollusks (e.g., Kase and Hayami 1992;Yamamoto et al 2009), polychaetes (e.g., Kobluk 1988aBastrop et al 1998;Reolid and Molina 2010) and sponges (e.g., Reitner and Engeser 1987;Wörheide 1998). In both modern and ancient cryptic habitats, microbialites are also well documented (Zankl 1993;Reitner et al 2000;Allouc and Harmelin 2001).…”