PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF THE BIODIVERSITY OF THE BONNER SPRINGS SHALE LAGERSTTTEN, PARKVILLE, MO' Sco

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PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF THE BIODIVERSITY OF
THE BONNER SPRINGS SHALE (LAGERSTÄTTEN?),
PARKVILLE, MO. Scott A. Hageman 1Tim
Northcutt 2Brian L. Hoffman 1 1 Department of
Natural and Physical Sciences, Park University.
2 Mission, Kansas (fslcache_at_hotmail.com)
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Park University
Bonner Springs Shale
Farley Limestone
Island Creek Shale
Bonner Springs Shale
Farley Limestone
Island Creek Shale
Argentine Limestone
Argentine Limestone
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Characteristics of the Bonner Springs Shale

• Upper Pennsylvanian (Kansas City Group)
• Variable Thickness
• Sandy-Silt composition
• (alternating)
• Blocky Weathering
• Fluvial Influence
• Fossils (Plants)

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Park University Bonner Springs Shale

• Average thickness in Kansas is about 20 feet (6
  m) but ranges from 1- 60 feet (19 m).

Fluvial deposits
( Zeller, 1968)
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The Flora

• FERNS SEED FERNSAlethopterisAlloiopterisAphle
  biaAsterotheca
• NeuropterisOdontopteris brardii
• Pecopteris
• Sphenophyllum
• Sphenopteris
• CORDAITES
• Cordaites
• ARTICULATES (Sphenopsids)
• Calamites (Annularia and Asterophyllites)
  
• LYCOPOD
• Asolanus
• Lepidophylloides
• Lepidostrobus
• Lepidostrobophyllum
• SEEDS

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Ferns and Seed Ferns
Asterotheca
Alloiopteris
Sphenopteris
Pecopteris
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Ferns and Seed Ferns
Sphenophyllum
Aphlebia
Odontopteris brardii
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Calamites
cones
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Annularia
Asterophyllites
Asterophyllites
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Seeds
Trigonocarp (seed cast)part and counterpart
Cardiocarpus
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Lycopods
Asolanus
Lepidostrobus
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Jarmila Kukalova-Peck
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Insects

• Order Plecoptera (stonefly)
• Order Blattodea (cockroaches)
• Family Spiloblattinidae Handlirsch, 1906
• Family Archimylacridae Handlirsch, 1906
• Order Paleodictyoptera (most primitive winged
  insects)

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Order Plecoptera (Stonefly)

cm
Angular Low light
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Family Archimylacridae
(mm)
Part and Counterpart
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Family Archimylacridae
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Sysciophlebia
Part and Counterpart
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Sysciophlebia dohrni (Scudder, 1879)
Sysciophlebia sp.?
Schneider Werneburg, 2006)
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Wings
Sysciophlebia fragment
Sysciophlebia
Sysciophlebia
Paleodictyoptera ?
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Part and Counterpart
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Part and Counterpart
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Paleodictyoptera ?
Part and Counterpart
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Wing vs. Neuropteris Leaf
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Ootheca?
Part and Counterpart
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Ootheca of Modern Roach
Ootheca of Modern Mantis
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Conclusions

• This locality provides the unique opportunity to
  reconstruct a Pennsylvanian tropical biome in
  terms of the flora and the insect population.
• The absents of large tree stumps, roots along
  with the alternating layers of sand and silt
  suggests vegetation was being rapidly deposited
  in a floodplain.
• The matting of the leaves along with horizontal
  and vertical distributions are all consistent
  with the concept that lighter material (leaves)
  were being repeatedly deposited into a
  floodplain.

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Conclusions continued

• 4. Due to the higher variability on the Bonner
  Springs in terms of composition and thickness any
  additional information will only help give
  geologists a better understanding of facies
  changes in the Bonner Springs.
• 5. With additional collecting and research the
  likelihood of finding additional material that is
  remarkable preserved would make the
  classification of the locality as a lagerstätten
  plausible.

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References

• Jarmila Kukalova-Peck, 1993. Personal
  Communication.
• Schneider, J.W. and R. Wernebrug, 2006. Insect
  biostratigraphy of the Euramerican continental
  Late Pennsylvanian and Early Permian. Geological
  Society, London, Special Publications 2006 v.
  265 p. 325-336
• Krings, M., Klavins, S.D., Taylor, T.N., Taylor,
  E.L., Serbet, R. Kerp, H. (2006) Frond
  architecture of Odontopteris brardii
  (Pteridospermopsida, ?Medullosales) new evidence
  from the Upper Pennsylvanian of Missouri, U.S.A.
  - J. Torrey Bot. Soc., 133 33-45.
• Zeller, D. E., 1968. The Stratigrahic Succession
  in Kansas. KGS Bulletin 189.