ABSTRACT: Incrusting and Boring Bryozoans from the Dessau Chalk Formation (Cretaceous), Little Walnut Creek, Austin, Texas

Penny A. Morris

Four sections were measured along a ¼ mi length of Little Walnut Creek. The first section was 165 ft north of the U.S. 290 bridge while the fourth was ¼ mi upstream.

Structurally, the stream follows the fault in this section. Small faults can be found perpendicular to the primary fault and apparently account not only for minor variation in local dip (8°SE, parallel to 5°NW) but also for the placement of at least one tributary.

Megainvertebrate exoskeletons were found to have been inhabited by incrusting bryozoans, boring bryozoans, and sponges. These fossils were found on both interior and exterior surfaces of Exogyra laeviuscula, E. tigrina, and interior surfaces of Inoceramus. A low-energy environment allowed exposure of megainvertebrate exoskeletons after death but also prevented fracturing. Low siltation rates also extended exoskeleton availability after organismic death.

The nonboring bryozoans are cheilostomes and at least one species, Pyripora, has been described from the Kansas Cretaceous as well as European Cretaceous sites. The boring bryozoans are primarily represented by Terebripora sp.

In conclusion, this section of Dessau Chalk Formation, Upper Austin Group, was mostly a low-energy environment, shallow, limy mud platform. This substrate was probably not stable enough for bryozoan colonization as unattached colonies have not been found in sediments. Therefore, bryozoan substrates were limited to living and dead Exogyra sp. and dead Inoceramus sp. exoskeletons.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90999©1990 GCAGS and Gulf Coast Section SEPM Meeting, Lafayette, Louisiana, October 17-19, 1990