Chemosymbiotic bivalves and stable carbon isotopes indicate hydrocarbon seepage at four unusual Cenozoic fossil localities

Content Provider	Semantic Scholar
Author	Kiel, Steffen Peckmann, Jörn
Copyright Year	2008
Abstract	Four unusual Cenozoic fossil localities are identified here as ancient hydrocarbon seep sites using palaeontological, petrological, and stable carbon isotope data. Late Eocene carbonate-cemented sandstone bodies in the Wagonwheel Mountains in California were previously suspected to represent ancient hydrocarbon seep sites, but the relatively high ô"C£•i,o,•te values (-12.2 to -5.0%o) suggest ou rather than methane seepage. The Oligocène fauna of the Elmira asphalt mine, Cuba, was previously interpreted as a mbc of freshwater and marine taxa, but all species are here identified as belonging to marine groups, including the bivalve families Lucinidae and Vesicomyidae, whose extant members live largely in symbiosis with chemoautotrophic endosymbionts. A carbonate concretion from this site showed ô"Cc•i,••j,e values as low as -32.2%o, which most likely indicates methane seepage. A previously unpublished Oligocène fossil locality in Atlántico, northern Colombia, is dominated by large solemyid, mytilid, lucinid, and vesicomyid bivalves, which most likely lived with chemotrophic endosymbionts. Seepage of biogenic methane without a significant contribution of thermogenic methane is indicated by ô"Cc•i,o••e values as low as -51.3%o. We confirm that the Pleurophopsisdominated sites of the Heath Shale and Lomitos Chert in northern Peru are ancient seep sites, although the previous identification oi Pleurophopsis peruviana as a vesicomyid is doubtful. D Chemosymbiosis, deep-sea, hydrocarbon seep, Lucinidae, Mytilidae, Solemyidae, Thyasiridae, Vesicomyidae.
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Language	English
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