Spencer Shroyer

Master's Thesis: Using Ecological Gradients in Offshore Facies to Reconstruct Stacking Patterns: Pennsylvanian Breathitt Group of Eastern Kentucky, U.S.A.
 

As part of my M.S. research at the University of Georgia, I am attempting to develop a new approach to sequence stratigraphy by analyzing fossil communities in offshore marine mudrocks of the Pennsylvanian Breathitt Group. These deeper-water facies are typically understudied due to a lack of sedimentary features, but they preserve fossil assemblages that reflect ecological gradients linked to water depth. I applied multivariate ordination techniques (DCA and NMS) to quantify these gradients and reconstruct stratigraphic stacking patterns where traditional lithologic tools fall short.

My fieldwork spanned four weeks in eastern Kentucky, where I systematically surveyed roadcuts to locate fossiliferous marine units. Using a combination of elevation data and USGS geologic quadrangles, I identified marine zones by correlating them with underlying coals. I am now back in the lab working through all of my collected samples to identify and count the fossils present in each. Once these counts are complete, they will serve as the datasets for applying ordination techniques to reconstruct ecological gradients and interpret stacking patterns.