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Article: The ecology of a Middle Jurassic hardground and crevice fauna

Publication: Palaeontology
Volume: 17
Part: 3
Publication Date: October 1974
Page(s): 507 524
Author(s): T. J. Palmer and F. T. Fürsich
DOI:
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How to Cite

PALMER, T. J., FÃœRSICH, F. T. 1974. The ecology of a Middle Jurassic hardground and crevice fauna. Palaeontology17, 3, 507–524.

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The Palaeontological Association (Free Access)

Abstract

The base of the Bradford Clay (Bathonian) at Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, was a hardground. Soft lime-sand below the hardground was washed out to form crevices, the walls and the floor of which also became lithified. The hardground and the crevices were colonized by encrusting and boring organisms, which polarized into: (i) an upper-surface community dominated by oysters, Apiocrinus and Nubeculinella and (ii) a crevice community, dominated by Serpula (Cycloserpula), encrusting ectoprocts, and Moorellina.Similar ecological distributions are known from other formations, and are attributed to differences in light and turbulence, which in turn influenced competition for space and food.
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