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Taphonomy and diagenesis in diatom assemblages; a Late Pleistocene palaeoecological study from Lake Magadi, Kenya

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Abstract

Many fossil diatom assemblages do not possess a direct modern analogue as a result of taphonomic processes and diagenesis within the assemblage. Some of these problems are illustrated with reference to core material collected from hypersaline Lake Magadi, Kenya, which during the Late Pleistocene experienced major fluctuations in water chemistry and depth. Competing multiple hypotheses are proposed for no analogue assemblages, with selection between these hypotheses being based on the results of interdisciplinary research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, University of Technology, Loughborough, U.K.

    Philip Barker & Neil Roberts

  2. Laboratoire d'Hydrologie et de Géochemie Isotopique, Université de Paris-Sud, Orsay, France

    Françoise Gasse

  3. Laboratoire de Géologie du Quaternaire, CNRS, Marseille, France

    Maurice Taieb

Authors
  1. Philip Barker
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  2. Françoise Gasse
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  3. Neil Roberts
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  4. Maurice Taieb
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Barker, P., Gasse, F., Roberts, N. et al. Taphonomy and diagenesis in diatom assemblages; a Late Pleistocene palaeoecological study from Lake Magadi, Kenya. Hydrobiologia 214, 267–272 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00050960

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