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Taphovenatrix: Dinosaur Taphonomy PhD
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Video: Taphonomy aka How Are Fossils Formed?
Podcast/audio: Interview with Smart Enough to Know Better

Taphonomy of the Winton Formation fossils at Isisford

As part of my PhD, I am currently researching the taphonomy of the vertebrate fauna from the Winton Formation in Queensland, Australia. The taphonomic process can be divided into biotic and abiotic factors or agents acting upon a carcass and the surrounding matrix. There are some excellent specimens coming out of sandstone concretions, beautifully preserved partially articulated skeletal elements, which in itself is a little bit of an enigma! And obviously, what my research will be focused on. 

As well as examining prepared fossils from this formation, I will also be conducting a fresh water decay experiment using modern crocodile and fish carcasses, to determine the rates at which limb and other skeletal elements disarticulate. 
Picture
A simplified overview of taphonomic process.
From Fastovsky, D. E. and Weishampel, D. B., 2009. Dinosaurs: A Concise Natural History. Cambridge University Press, New York.

Biotic taphonomic factors

Biotic factors include:
  • the health of the animal before it died, and potential influence on rates of decay
  • agents acting upon the carcass before burial (including scavengers, aerobic or anaerobic microbial decay, trampling etc...)
  • agents acting upon the carcass immediately after burial (microbial decay including the break down of tissues, fats and bone into adipocere)

Abiotic taponomic factors

Abiotic factors include:
  • environmental agents (water, wind, gravity) as erosional forces
  • formation of concretions
  • mineralogical alteration of bone and surrounding sediment (diagenesis)
  • influence of groundwater movement and composition on bone chemistry
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