Palaeoenvironmental signatures revealed from rare earth element (REE) compositions of vertebrate microremains of the Vesiku Bone Bed (Homerian, Wenlock), Saaremaa Island, Estonia

Abstract

Rare earth elements (REEs) have been analysed from fossil vertebrate microremains (thelodont scales) from the Vesiku Bone Bed, Saaremaa, Estonia, using in situ microsampling by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). Well-preserved scales of three species of the genus Thelodus (T. carinatus, T. laevis and Thelodus sp.) show very uniform REE patterns with slightly lower overall REE concentrations in enameloid than in dentine, with enrichment in middle REEs, depletion in heavy REEs and pronounced negative europium anomaly, but no cerium anomaly. The results of this study suggest a similar diagenetic history and possibly contemporaneous habitats for all three Thelodus species, as well as possible suboxic to anoxic conditions of the bottom and pore waters during the formation of the Vesiku Bone Bed.

Keywords

• Vesiku Bone Bed
• rare earth element
• REE
• palaeoenvironment
• thelodonts
• Silurian.