Geology 432/532 - Paleontology II (Winter 1999) [Assessment] [Project] [Excursion] [Schedule] [Laboratories]

Instructor: Dr. Gregory J. Retallack, 310G Cascade, gregr@darkwing.uoregon.edu
Office Hours: M, W, 1300 - 1350

Teaching Assistant and Lab Instructor: Jonathan G. Wynn, 310D Cascade, jgwynn@darkwing.uoregon.edu
Office Hours: M, W, 1:00 - 2:00 pm

Class Time and Location: M, W, 12:00 - 12:50, Cascade 202; Lab, F, 1:00 - 3:50, Columbia 254

Textbooks:

	Boardman, R. S., Cheetham, A. H., and Rowell, A. J. 1987. Fossil Invertebrates. Blackwell Scientific, Palo Alto, 713 p.
	Retallack, G. J., 1997. Laboratory Exercises in Invertebrate Paleontology, University of Oregon Printing Services, Eugene, 69 p.

Assessment:

Mid-term exam	10%
Final examination	20%
Laboratory exercises	40%
Term paper	30%

Project:

A report 10-15 pages long is expected as a result of your fieldwork, either on the organized excursion or on your own. It is important that this report is written in the form of a scientific paper, complete with abstract, acknowledgments and references. Use the format of the Journal of Paleontology as a style guide. Appropriate topics include the following. Discuss your project with me if it deviates markedly from these suggestions.

• 1. Sketch, describe and identify several (at least 5 different kinds) of fossils, and make some comments on their likely paleoenvironments, based on the habitats of related living organisms.
• 2. By careful comparison with allied living forms and consideration of the degree to which morphological features may be adapted for a specific purpose, attempt to reconstruct the habitats and life style of one fossil species.
• 3. By making collections from two adjacent lithologies and observations on the way in which the fossils are preserved, assess the degree to which differences in the specific composition of faunal assemblages are due to the original habitats of the organisms or due to taphonomic alteration of the original living communities.
• 4. Construct a survivorship surve (by plotting percentage of numbers of fossils against size classes related to age) for a large (30 specimens or more) collection of a single species, to determine whether the collection is an attritional or catastrophic death assemblage, and whether any features of the original population can be reconstructed.
• 5. Determine whether growth to maximum thickness (in cross section) in a large (30 specimens or more) collection of a single species is isometric or allometric with respect to its dorso-ventral length (for bivalves) or diameter( for scaphopods) and advance some explanations for your observations.

Excursion:

There will be a voluntary, one-day excursion on Saturday, January 16, 1999, to collect Oligocene and Miocene fossils from between Florence and Newport, Oregon. There will be a modest charge for transportation in state vans.

Lecture and Examination Schedule:

Date	Fossils	Subject	Reading (Boardman et al.)
Jan 4		Introduction	Ch 1-7
Jan 6		Foraminifera	Ch 8
Jan 11		Sponges & Stromatoporoids	Ch10-11
Jan 13		Archaeocyathids & Receptaculitids	Ch 9
Jan 20		Bryozoans	Ch 17
Jan 25		Minor classes of molluscs	Ch 14
Jan 27		Gastropods	"
Feb 1		Gastropods	"
Feb 3		Bivalves	"
Feb 8		Bivalves	"
Feb 10		Mid-term test: 1 hour multiple choice and short answer
Feb 15		Worms and problematica	Ch 12
Feb 17		Minor classes of echinoderms	Ch 18
Feb 22		Crinoids, blastoids and cystoids	Ch 18
Feb 24		Sea urchins and starfish	Ch 13
Mar 1		Arthropods other than trilobites	Ch 21
Mar 3		Trace fossils	Ch 21
Mar 8		Exceptional faunas
Mar 10		Evolutionary implications
Mar 16		1300 hrs: Final examination: 2 hrs, 1st hour as for mid-term, 2nd hour essays

Lab Schedule:

Week	Fossils	Date	Lab Work
1		Jan 8	Paleoecology of Foraminifera.
2		Jan 15	Biomineralization in sponges, stromatoporids, archaeocyathids, recaptaculitids, and bryozoans.
3		Jan 22	Functional morphology of molluscs.
4		Jan 29	Methods of classification of gastropods.
5		Feb 5	Populations of bivalves.
6		Feb 12	Constructional morphology of echinoderms.
7		Feb 19	Growth in crinoids and blastiods.
8		Feb 26	Describing sea urchins, sand dollars and starfish.
9		Mar 4	Trace fossils and preservation of arthropods.

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