Polystrate fossil: Difference between revisions

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{{short description|Creationist term for a fossil that extends through more than one geological stratum}}

{{Paleontology}}

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[[File:Lycopsid joggins mcr1.JPG|thumb|Ancient ''in situ'' [[w:lycopsid|lycopsid]], probably [[w:Sigillaria|''Sigillaria'']], with attached [[w:stigmaria|stigmarian roots]]. Specimen is from the Joggins Formation ([[Pennsylvanian (geology)|Pennsylvanian]]), Cumberland Basin, Nova Scotia.]]

[[Image:Stigmaria Bear Valley upright.jpg|thumb|Upright ''[[Sigillaria]]'' in dipping beds of [[Pennsylvanian (geology)|Pennsylvanian]] [[Llewellyn Formation]] in [[Bear Valley Strip Mine]], [[Northumberland County, Pennsylvania]]]]

A '''polystrate fossil''' is a [[fossil]] of a single organism (such as a [[tree trunk]]) that extends through more than one geological [[stratum]].<ref name="MacRae1997a">MacRae, A., 1997, [http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/polystrate/trees.html ''"Polystrate" Tree Fossils'']. [http://www.talkorigins.org/ TalkOrigins Archive.]</ref> This term is typically applied to "[[fossil forest]]s" of upright [[fossil tree trunks]] and stumps that have been found worldwide, i.e. in the Eastern [[United States]], Eastern [[Canada]], [[England]], [[France]], [[Germany]], and [[Australia]], typically associated with coal-bearing strata.<ref name="DiMichele+2011a">DiMichele, W.A., and H.J. Falcon-Lang, 2011, [http://si-pddr.si.edu/dspace/handle/10088/15971 ''Pennsylvanian 'fossil forests' in growth position (T0 assemblages): origin, taphonomic bias and palaeoecological insights.''] Journal of the Geological Society, 168(2):585-605.</ref> Within [[Carboniferous]] coal-bearing strata, it is also very common to find what are called ''Stigmaria'' (root stocks) within the same stratum. [[Stigmaria]] are completely absent in post-Carboniferous strata, which contain either coal, polystrate trees, or both. The word ''polystrate'' is not a standard [[Geology|geological]] term. This term is typically found in [[creationist]] publications.<ref name="MacRae1997a"/><ref name="Gastaldo+1999a">Gastaldo, R.A. 1999. ''Debates on Autochthonous and Allochthonous Origin of Coal: Empirical Science versus the Diluvialists,'' In Manger, W.L., ed., The Evolution-Creation Controversy II: Perspectives on Science, Religion, and Geological Education, The Paleontological Society Papers, v. 5, p. 135-167.</ref>

This term is typically applied to "fossil forests" of upright [[Petrified wood|fossil tree trunks]] and stumps that have been found worldwide, i.e. in the [[Eastern United States]], Eastern [[Canada]], [[England]], [[France]], [[Germany]], and [[Australia]], typically associated with coal-bearing strata.<ref name="DiMichele+2011a">DiMichele, W.A., and H.J. Falcon-Lang, 2011, [http://si-pddr.si.edu/dspace/handle/10088/15971 ''Pennsylvanian 'fossil forests' in growth position (T0 assemblages): origin, taphonomic bias and palaeoecological insights.''] Journal of the Geological Society, 168(2):585-605.</ref> Within [[Carboniferous]] coal-bearing strata, it is also very common to find what are called ''Stigmaria'' (root stocks) within the same stratum. [[Stigmaria]] are completely absent in post-Carboniferous strata, which contain either coal, polystrate trees, or both.

==Geological explanation==

In [[geology]], such fossils are referred to as either upright fossil trunks, upright fossil trees, or ''T0 assemblages''. According to mainstream models of sedimentary environments, they are formed by rare to infrequent brief episodes of rapid [[Deposition (sediment)|sedimentation]] separated by long periods of either slow deposition, nondeposition, or a combination of both.<ref name="DiMichele+2011a"/><ref name=Gastaldo2004a>Gastaldo, R.A., I. Stevanovic-Walls, and W.N. Ware, 2004, ''Erect forests are evidence for coseismic base-level changes in Pennsylvanian cyclothems of the Black Warrior Basin, U.S.A'' in Pashin, J.C., and Gastaldo, R.A., eds., Sequence Stratigraphy, Paleoclimate, and Tectonics of Coal-Bearing Strata. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Studies in Geology. 51:219–238.</ref><ref name="ArcherOthers2016a">Archer, A.W., Elrick, S., Nelson, W.J. and DiMichele, W.A., 2016. ''Cataclysmic burial of Pennsylvanian Period coal swamps in the Illinois Basin: Hypertidal sedimentation during Gondwanan glacial melt-water pulses.'' In ''Contributions to Modern and Ancient Tidal Sedimentology: Proceedings of the Tidalites 2012 Conference: International Association of Sedimentologists. '' Special Publication (Vol. 47, pp. 217-231).</ref>

[[Image:Fossil forest.jpg|thumb|left|Coastal erosion exhumed the fossil forest of [[Takapuna Reef]] in New Zealand when the sea level rose to its current height following the [[last glacial period]].]]

In [[geology]], such fossils are referred to as upright fossils, trunks, or trees. Brief periods of rapid [[Deposition (sediment)|sedimentation]] favor their formation.<ref name="DiMichele+2011a"/><ref name=Gastaldo2004a>Gastaldo, R.A., I. Stevanovic-Walls, and W.N. Ware, 2004, ''Erect forests are evidence for coseismic base-level changes in Pennsylvanian cyclothems of the Black Warrior Basin, U.S.A'' in Pashin, J.C., and Gastaldo, R.A., eds., Sequence Stratigraphy, Paleoclimate, and Tectonics of Coal-Bearing Strata. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Studies in Geology. 51:219–238.</ref> Upright fossils typically occur in layers associated with an actively subsiding coastal plain or [[Rift (geology)|rift]] basin, or with the accumulation of volcanic material around a periodically erupting [[stratovolcano]]. Typically, this period of rapid sedimentation was followed by a period of time - decades to thousands of years long - characterized by very slow or no accumulation of sediments. In [[river delta]]s and other coastal-plain settings, rapid sedimentation is often the end result of a brief period of accelerated subsidence of an area of coastal plain relative to sea level caused by [[salt tectonics]], global sea-level rise, growth faulting, [[continental margin]] collapse, or some combination of these factors.<ref name=Gastaldo2004a/> For example, geologists such as John W. F. Waldron and Michael C. Rygel have argued that the rapid burial and preservation of polystrate fossil trees found at [[Joggins, Nova Scotia]] directly result from rapid subsidence, caused by salt tectonics within an already subsiding [[pull-apart basin]], and from the resulting rapid accumulation of sediments.<ref name="Waldron+2005a">Waldron, J.W.F., and M.C. Rygel, 2005, ''Role of evaporite withdrawal in the preservation of a unique coal-bearing succession: Pennsylvanian Joggins Formation, Nova Scotia,'' Geology 33(5):337-340.</ref><ref name="Waldron+2005b">John W.F. Waldron, John C. White, Elizabeth MacInnes, and Carlos G. Roselli, 2005, ''Field Trip B7 Transpression and transtension along a continental transform fault: Minas Fault Zone, Nova Scotia.'' Geological Association of Canada Mineralogical Association of Canada - Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists - Canadian Society of Soil Sciences Joint Meeting - Halifax, May 2005. Special Publication no. 33. Atlantic Geoscience Society, Department of Earth Sciences, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. ISBN 0-9737982--2-X</ref> The specific layers containing polystrate fossils occupy only a very limited fraction of the total area of any of these basins.<ref name="Waldron+2005a"/><ref>Popular articles on their findings include (1.) [http://www.geotimes.org/july05/NN_Jogginstrees.html ''Sedimentology: Fossil forests sunk by salt''] by Sara Pratt, July 2005 Geotimes and (2.) [http://physpalaeoblog.orgblogspot.com/news44172005/04/joggins-fossil-forest.html ''GeologistsJoggins probeFossil mystery behind Nova Scotia's fossil forestsForest''] PhysOrgPaleoBlog, JuneApril 725, 2005</ref>

===Yellowstone===

The upright fossil trees of the Gallatin Petrified Forest in the [[Gallatin Range]] and the Yellowstone Petrified Forest at [[Amethyst Mountain]] and [[Specimen Ridge]] in [[Yellowstone National Park]], occur buried within the [[lahar]]s and other volcanic deposits comprising the [[Eocene]] Lamar River Formation as the result of periods of rapid sedimentation associated with explosive volcanism. This type of volcanism generates and deposits large quantities of loose volcanic material as a blanket over the slope of a [[volcano]], as happened during the 1991 eruption of [[Mount Pinatubo]]. Both during and for years after a period of volcanism, lahars and normal stream activity wash this loose volcanic material downslope. These processes result in the rapid burial of large areas of the surrounding countryside beneath several meters of sediment, as directly observed during the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo.<ref name=newhall>Newhall, C.G., and R.S. Punongbayan, 1996, ''Fire and Mud: Eruptions and Lahars of Mount Pinatubo, Philippines'', University of Washington Press. {{ISBN |0-295-97585-7}}</ref> As with modern lahar deposits, the sedimentary layers containing upright trees of the Yellowstone petrified forest are discontinuous and very limited in areal extent. Individual layers containing upright trees and individual buried forests occupy only a very small fraction of the total area of Yellowstone National Park.<ref name="Amidon, L. 1997">Amidon, L., 1997, ''Paleoclimate Study of Eocene Fossil Woods and Associated Paleosols from the Gallatin Petrified Forest, Gallatin National Forest, SW Montana''. unpublished Master's thesis, University of Montana.</ref>

===Fossil soils===

Geologists have recognized innumerable [[fossil soil]]ssoils ([[paleosol]]s) throughout the strata containing upright fossils at Joggins in Nova Scotia, in the Yellowstone petrified forests, in the coal mines of the [[Black Warrior Basin]] of [[Alabama]], and at many other locations. The layer immediately underlying [[coal seam]]s, often called either "[[seatearth]]" or "[[underclay]]", typically either consists of or contains a paleosol. Paleosols are soils which were formed by [[subaerial]] [[weathering]] during periods of very slow or no accumulation of sediments. Later, renewed sedimentation buried these soils to create paleosols. These paleosols are identified on the basis of the presence of structures and microstructures unique to soils; animal burrows and molds of plant roots of various sizes and types; recognizable soil-profile development; and alteration of minerals by soil processes. In many cases, these paleosols are virtually identical to modern soils.

Geologists, who have long studied upright fossils found in sedimentary rocks exposed in various outcrops for decades., have described the upright fossil trees as being deeply rooted in place and typically rooted in recognizable [[paleosol]]s. This is in sharp contrast to the claims made by creationists such as Harold Coffin and N. A. Rupke. Geologists,Researchers such as Falcon<ref>Falcon-Lang, H.J., 2003a, ''Late Carboniferous dryland tropical vegetation, Joggins, Nova Scotia, Canada'', Palaios 18:197– 211.</ref><ref>Falcon-Lang, H.J., 2003b, ''Early Mississippian lycopsid forests in a delta-plain setting at Norton, near Sussex, New Brunswick, Canada'', Journal of the Geological Society, London 161:969–981.</ref><ref name=falcon2005>Falcon-Lang, H.J., 2005, ''Small cordaitalean trees in a marine-influenced coastal habitat in the Pennsylvanian Joggins Formation, Nova Scotia'', Journal of the Geological Society 162(3): 485-500.</ref><ref name=falcon2006a>Falcon-Lang, H.J., 2006a, ''Latest Mid-Pennsylvanian tree-fern forests in retrograding coastal plain deposits, Sydney Mines Formation, Nova Scotia, Canada'', Journal of the Geological Society 163(1): 81-93.</ref><ref name=falcon2006b>Falcon-Lang, H.J., 2006b, ''Vegetation ecology of Early Pennsylvanian alluvial fan and piedmont environments in southern New Brunswick, Canada'', Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 233(1-2): 34-50.</ref> and Rygel et al.,<ref>Rygel, M.C., M.R. Gibling, and J.H. Calder, 2004, ''[[Vegetation-induced sedimentary structures]] from fossil forests in the Pennsylvanian Joggins Formation, Nova Scotia'', Sedimentology 51:531– 552.</ref> have published detailed field-sketches and pictures of upright tree-fossils with intact root systems, which are rooted within recognizable paleosols. In the case of the upright fossil trees of the [[Yellowstone National Park|Yellowstone]] petrified forests, geologistsit – again in sharp disagreement with creationists like Harold Coffinhas –been found that the upright fossil trees, except for relatively short stumps, are rooted in place within the underlying sediments. Typically, the sediments within which trees are rooted have paleosols developed within them.<ref name="Amidon, L. 1997"/><ref name=Retallack1981>Retallack, G.J., 1981, ''Reinterpretation of the depositional environment of Yellowstone fossil forest: Comment'', Geology 9:52-53.</ref><ref name=Retallack1997>Retallack, G.J., 1997, ''A Colour Guide to Paleosols.'' John Wiley and Sons. {{ISBN |0-471-96711-4}}</ref> Retallack (1981, 1997) has published pictures and diagrams of the Yellowstone upright fossil trees having intact root systems developed within paleosols found within these strata.<ref name=Retallack1981 /><ref name=Retallack1997 /><ref>Geologists,Since at this time1997,{{when?|date=June 2016}}geologists agree with Harold Coffin that his "organic levels" are not paleosols. Neither Harold Coffin nor other creationists discuss the layers which geologists currently recognize as being paleosols in their papers about the Yellowstone petrified forests. Geologists such as Amidon (1997) have documented the presence of structures, microstructures, profile development, and mineralogical alteration either characteristic or of consistent with a buried-soil profile within numerous thin layers, which are identified as paleosols, found within the strata containing Yellowstone petrified forests</ref>

===Formation by regeneration===

Geologists have also found that some of the larger upright fossil trees found within Carboniferous coal-bearing strata show evidence of regeneration after being partially buried by sediments. In these cases, the trees were clearly alive when they were partially buried by sediments. The accumulated sediment was insufficient to kill the trees immediately because of their size. As a result, some of them developed a new set of roots from their trunks just below the new ground surface. Until they either died or were overwhelmed by the accumulating sediments, these trees would likely continue to regenerate by adding height and new roots with each increment of sediment, eventually leaving several meters of former "trunk" buried underground as sediments accumulated.<ref name=Gastaldo2004a/><ref name= Gastaldo1997a>Gastaldo, R.A., 1992, ''Regenerative growth in fossil horsetails (Calamites) following burial by alluvium''. Historical Biology, 6(3):203-220.</ref>

===Formation by Carboniferous deglacial meltwater-pulses===

In addition, part of the Carboniferous Period was a period of extensive and thick continental [[ice sheet]]s. During the Carboniferous ice age, the repeated [[Glacial period|glacial]] – [[interglacial]] cycles caused major changes in the thickness and extent of continental ice sheets. When these ice sheets expanded in extent and thickness, [[eustatic sea level]] typically fell by over {{convert|100|m|ft|sp=us}}. When these ice sheets shrank in extent and thickness, eustatic sea level typically rose again by typically over {{convert|100|m|ft|sp=us}}.<ref name="Heckel1986a">Heckel, P.H., 1986. ''Sea-level curve for Pennsylvanian eustatic marine transgressive-regressive depositional cycles along midcontinent outcrop belt, North America.'' Geology, 14(4), pp.330-334.</ref><ref name="VeerversOthers1987a">Veervers, J.T. and Powell, C.M., 1987. ''Late Paleozoic glacial episodes in Gondwanaland reflected in transgressive-regressive depositional sequences in Euramerica.'' Geological Society of America Bulletin, 98(4), pp.475-487.</ref> As occurred during the [[Holocene]] Epoch for [[Meltwater pulse 1A]] and [[Meltwater pulse 1B]],<ref name="Gornitz2009a">Gornitz, V., 2009. ''Sea level change, post-glacial.'' In ''Encyclopedia of paleoclimatology and ancient environments'' (pp. 887-893). Springer Netherlands. In: Encyclopedia of paleoclimatology and ancient environments (Ed. V. Gornitz) pp. 887–893. Springer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands.</ref> brief episodes of rapid melting of Carboniferous, Gondwanan continental ice sheets likely caused very rapid rises in sea level that would have abruptly inundated low-lying coastal swamps and drowned the forests growing on them. Based on the sedimentology of roof strata of surface and underground coal mines and cyclothems containing the fossils of upright and ''[[in situ]]'' tree trunks, geologists proposed that the flooding of coastal swamp by [[Deglaciation|deglacial]] [[meltwater]] pulses resulted in the rapid flooding of coastal forests, particularly along preexisting coastal rivers and streams, over large areas of coastal swamp. During and after their submergence, upright trunks of drowned coastal forests were buried by tidally influenced sedimentation.<ref name="ArcherOthers2016a"/><ref name="CecilOthers2014a">Cecil, C.B., DiMichele, W.A. and Elrick, S.D., 2014. ''Middle and Late Pennsylvanian cyclothems, American Midcontinent: Ice-age environmental changes and terrestrial biotic dynamics.'' Comptes Rendus Geoscience, 346(7), pp.159-168.</ref>

===Association with marine fossils===

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A detailed study by Taylor and Vinn (2006) of the microstructure of fossils which have been traditionally identified as ''"Spirorbis"'' in the geological literature revealed that they consist of the remains of at least two completely different animals. Taylor and Vinn discovered that the ''"Spirorbis"'' fossils found in sedimentary strata, including the Joggins and other Carboniferous coal measures deposited from the [[Ordovician]] to [[Triassic]] periods are the remains of an extinct order of [[Lophophore|lophophorates]] (now called [[microconchids]]) unrelated to modern marine tube-worms ([[Annelid]]s) to which the genus ''Spirorbis'' belongs.<ref name=TaylorOthers2006a>Taylor, P.D. and O. Vinn, 2006, ''Convergent morphology in small spiral worm tubes ('Spirorbis') and its palaeoenvironmental implications''. Journal of the Geological Society, London 163:225–228.</ref> This contradicts arguments made by Harold Coffin and other creationists that ''"Spirorbis"'' fossils within strata containing polystrate fossils indicate their deposition in a marine environment, because these fossils are classified as the remains of extinct fresh and brackish water microconchids instead of the remains of the marine genera ''Spirorbis'' as they have been misidentified in the geologic literature.<ref name=ZatonOthers2012a>Zaton, M., O. Vinn, A.M.F. Tomescu, 2012, ''Invasion of freshwater and variable marginal marine habitats by microconchid tubeworms – an evolutionary perspective.'' Geobios. vol. 45, pp. 603-610.</ref>

===HoloceneQuaternary examples===

Scientists interpret ''polystrate fossils'' as fossils buried in a geologically short time span - either by one large depositional event or by several smaller ones. Geologists see no need to invoke a global flood to explain upright fossils. This position of geologists is supported by numerous documented examples, a few of which are discussed in the paragraphs below, of buried upright tree-trunks that have been observed buried in the Holocene volcanic deposits of [[Mount St. Helens]], [[Skamania County, Washington]], and Mount Pinatubo, Philippines; in the deltaic and fluvial sediments of the [[Mississippi River Delta]]; and in glacial deposits within the midwestern United States. These buried upright trees demonstrate that conventional geologic processes are capable of burying and preserving trees in an upright position such that in time, they will become fossilized.<ref name="DiMichele+2011a"/><ref name="KaroweOthers1987a)">Karowe, A.L. and T.H. Jefferson, 1987, ''Burial of trees by eruptions of Mount St. Helens, Washington: Implications for the interpretation of fossil forests'', Geological Magazine 124(3):191-204.</ref>

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====Glacial deposits====

Unfossilized, late [[Pleistocene]] upright trees have been found buried beneath [[glacial deposit]]s within North America along the southern edge of the [[Laurentide iceIce sheetSheet]]. These buried forests were created when the southern edge of the Laurentide iceIce sheetSheet locally dammed valleys. As a result, meltwater lakes filled these valleys and submerged forests within them. Sediments released by the melting of the adjacent ice sheet rapidly filled these lakes, which quickly buried and preserved the submerged forests lying within them. One forest of ''in situ'', 24,000-year-old unfossilized upright trees was exposed by excavations for a quarry near [[Charleston, Illinois]].<ref>Hansel, A.K., R.C. Berg, A.C. Phillips, and V. Gutowski, 1999, ''Glacial Sediments, Landforms, Paleosols, and a 20,000-Year-Old Forest Bed in East-Central Illinois'', Guidebook 26. Illinois State Geological Survey.</ref> Excavations for a tailings pond about [[Marquette, Michigan]], exposed an ''in situ'' forest of unfossilized trees, which are about 10,000 years old, buried in glacial lake and stream sediments.<ref>Pregitzer, K.S., D.D. Reed, T.J., Bornhorst, D.R. Foster, G.D. Mroz, J.S. Mclachlan, P.E. Laks, D.D. Stokke, P.E. Martin, and S.E. Brown, 2000, ''A buried spruce forest provides evidence at the stand and landscape scale for the effects of environment on vegetation at the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary". Journal Ofof Ecology 88(1):45-53

</ref><ref>

Illustrated articles about unfossilized upright trees found within glacial deposits of North America include： (1.) [http://www.museum.state.il.us/muslink/forest/htmls/how_bury.html ''How Do We Know?:Buried Forests'']; (2.) [http://www.admin.mtu.edu/urel/breaking/2000/forest.html ''Researchers Study 10,000-Year-Old Buried Forest'']; and (3.) [http://www.geo.msu.edu/geogmich/chippewa.html ''Glacial Lake Chippewa and Stanley''].

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==References==

==Notes and references==

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