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Taphonomic Range and Sedimentary Dynamics of Modern and Fossil Rhodolith Beds: Macaronesian Realm (North Atlantic Ocean)

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Book cover Rhodolith/Maërl Beds: A Global Perspective

Part of the book series: Coastal Research Library ((COASTALRL,volume 15))

Abstract

Distribution of living rhodoliths in the Macaronesian realm is limited by extensive rocky shores and narrow insular shelves that rapidly drop off beyond the 50-m isobath. Wind and wave erosion is most intense on north and northeast-facing shores due to the prevailing northeasterly trade winds over much of the region. Southern shores offer more sheltered, leeward settings. Rhodolith beds tend to thrive on eastern shores with strong long-shore currents and southeastern shores that benefit from wave refraction. Rhodoliths are not entirely absent off northern shores, but may fail to reach maximum size before being washed ashore to make berms and beaches. Islands considered in greater detail in this survey include Santiago, Maio, and Sal from the Cape Verde Islands, Fuerteventura and the related islet of Lobos in the Canary Islands, Selvagem Grande and Pequena from the Savage Islands, Porto Santo in the Madeira Islands, and Santa Maria in the Azores. This contribution expands on the concept that living rhodoliths enter the fossil record through a range of taphofacies defined by the degree of breakage and corrosion and further characterized by sedimentological criteria regarding the amount of matrix and packing among bioclasts. Rhodolith deposits in Macaronesia seldom reflect settings under natural growth conditions. Rather, rhodoliths are subject to transportation and post-mortem disintegration resulting in the accumulation of rhodolith materials captured by subtidal storm deposits, tidal pools and platform over-wash deposits, as well as beachrock, beach, berm, hurricane, tsunami, and coastal dune deposits. Some of this material is transferred farther offshore, but exposed island strata show a tendency for shoreward migration of taphofacies. Rhodolith beds provide a habitat for some species of marine invertebrates, including epifaunal and infaunal elements directly associated with whole rhodoliths and these features play a role in rhodolith biostratinomy.

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Acknowledgments

Funding for fieldwork in the Madeira, Canary, and Cape Verde island groups from 2011 to 2013 was provided under grant CGL2010-15372-BTE from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation to project leader Eduardo Mayoral (University of Huelva). E. Mayoral and A. Santos acknowledge the support given by the research group RNM-276. Esther Martín González and Carolina Castillo (La Laguna University, Canary Islands) are thanked for their help and expert guidance on Fuerteventura during the 2011 field season of research. We are grateful to the rangers at the nature preserve in the Savage Islands for providing beach and dune samples from the landing place on the southwest side of Selvagem Pequena. Thanks also go to Mónica Albuquerque at EMEPC for her assistance in providing dredge data from the Selvagems. We are grateful to Julio Aguirre Rodriguez (University of Granada) for engaging us in stimulating discussions that helped to clarify outlooks on taphonomy and to an anonymous reviewer for comments that helped to improve this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geosciences, Williams College, Williamstown, MA, 01267, USA

    Markes E. Johnson & B. Gudveig Baarli

  2. Facultad de Ciencias Marinas, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, Ensenada, BC, 22800, Mexico

    Jorge Ledesma-Vázquez

  3. School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Wills Memorial Building, Queens’s Road, Bristol, BS8 1RJ, UK

    Ricardo S. Ramalho

  4. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University, Comer Geochemistry Building, 1000, Palisades, NY, 10964, USA

    Ricardo S. Ramalho

  5. Departamento de Geologia e Centro de Geologia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, 1749-016, Lisbon, Portugal

    Carlos M. da Silva & Mário Cachão

  6. Departamento de Biologia, Universidade dos Açores, Campus de Ponta Delgada, 9501-801, Ponta Delgada, Açores, Portugal

    Ana Cristina Rebelo

  7. Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde, Rosenstein 1, Stuttgart, Germany

    Ana Cristina Rebelo

  8. Departamento de Geodinámica y Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias Experimentales, Universidad de Huelva, Campus de El Carmen, Avd. 3 de Marzo, s/n, 21071, Huelva, Spain

    Ana Santos & Eduardo Mayoral

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  1. Markes E. Johnson
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  2. Jorge Ledesma-Vázquez
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Correspondence to Markes E. Johnson .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Biología Marina, Universidad de Baja California Sur, La Paz, BCS, Mexico

    Rafael Riosmena-Rodríguez

  2. School of Biological Sciences University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Wendy Nelson

  3. Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain

    Julio Aguirre

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Johnson, M.E. et al. (2017). Taphonomic Range and Sedimentary Dynamics of Modern and Fossil Rhodolith Beds: Macaronesian Realm (North Atlantic Ocean). In: Riosmena-Rodríguez, R., Nelson, W., Aguirre, J. (eds) Rhodolith/Maërl Beds: A Global Perspective. Coastal Research Library, vol 15. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29315-8_9

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