Ichnology of transgressive-regressive surfaces in mixed carbonate-siliciclastic sequences, early Permian Chase Group, Oklahoma

Abstract

Early Permian rocks of the Chase Group in north-central Oklahoma consist of repeated couplets of carbonates and clastics. The carbonates and clastics correlate to major transgressive and regressive events, respectively. The sole of the lowest (first) transgressive carbonate bed of each depositional couplet is covered with ubiquitous horizontal boxworks of the trace fossil Thalassinoides isp. Horizontal forms of the trace fossil Rhizocorallium isp. characterize the top bedding-plane surface of the highest (last) carbonate unit of each couplet, and mark the discontinuity surface at the culmination of a major transgression and the initial onset of a major regression. These trace-fossil associations are assigned to the substrate-controlled Glossifungites ichnofacies.