Soft-bottom succession and the fossil record.

Abstract

Preservation here depends on the time required for succession, sedimentation rates, rates of physical and biological mixing, and rates of carbonate dissolution. Spatial patterns of living and dead molluscan shells in near-surface sediments are compared. Such patterns cannot be used to establish with certainty the dominant controls of the distribution of living fauna, and therefore cannot be used with confidence in inferring past community dynamics.-P.J.Jarvis