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Sponge communities from the Lower Liassic of Adnet (Northern Calcareous Alps, Austria)

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Abstract

The lower slope of the drowned Alpine Adnet Reef was recolonized in Hettangian time by sponge communities of hexactinellid (hexactinosid and lyssacinosid) taxa and a few demosponges. Special taphonomic processes caused an excellent preservation of these sponges. The preservation allows to define several growth forms and to study original spicule configurations of the mainly non-rigid skeletons. Sponge faunas of presumably similar associations are known from adjacent basins, but only by isolated spicules of completely collapsed specimens. In Adnet the sponges are embedded in biodetrital limestones of the Schnöll Formation. Orientation and distribution of the sponges reflect autochthonous faunas that have been mixed with dislocated individuals by local water currents. The predominance of erect sponge types indicates intermediate sedimentation rates and/or occasional high-energy events. Sponge types and community structures are comparable with those ones from Middle Paleozoic mud mounds. Several hiatuses, mostly characterized by ferromanganese crusts have been kept free of sponge settlement. Carbon stable isotopes of the sponge-rich sequence show a small negative δ13Ccarb excursion that covers the period from Lower Hettangian to Lower Sinemurian.

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Acknowledgments

The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft is gratefully acknowledged for financial support (Re 665/17-1, 17-2). We thank Dr. M. Joachimski (Institute of Geology, Erlangen) for stable isotope analyses. Special thanks to Prof. J. Paul, Prof. V. Thiel (both GZG, Göttingen) and Dr. G. Bloos (Natural History Museum, Stuttgart) for helpful comments and the Adnet marble industry “Kiefer” for access to the quarries and generous allocation of large rock material for exhibitions and research. The manuscript was carefully reviewed by Dr. F. Böhm (Leibniz-Institut für Meereswissenschaften, IFM-GEOMAR, Kiel) and Dr. J. Pálfy (Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest). This paper contributes to the IGCP-Project 458 – Triassic-Jurassic Boundary Events: Mass extinction, global environmental change, and driving forces

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    Stefan Delecat & Joachim Reitner

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Delecat, S., Reitner, J. Sponge communities from the Lower Liassic of Adnet (Northern Calcareous Alps, Austria). Facies 51, 385–404 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10347-005-0045-x

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