Department of Geology

Research
Cretaceous Paleoecology and Depostional Environments

Dr. J Bret
Bennington 

This image shows Hofstra geology students collecting bulk fossil and sediment samples for analysis from the Cretaceous Navesink Formation in New Jersey. Note that three of the students pictured are now science teachers in Long Island public schools.
Marine and coastal plain deposits from the Upper Cretaceous outcrop along the inner Atlantic Coastal Plain from Long Island to Georgia. In central New Jersey the Navesink Formation is well known for its abundant fauna of shelly fossils and shark teeth. In addition to studying the depositional environments preserved within the Navesink strata, my students and I have been using the fossiliferous layers in the Navesink to investigate the spatial pattern of preservation in the fossil record and the history of predation in the Late Mesozoic.

References and Links to Related Publications:

Predation in the Cretaceous

Bennington, J Bret, 2002. Cretaceous oysters on the half-shell: A record of durophagous predation preserved in Pycnodonte convexa. Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs, 34 (6): 541.

Bennington, J Bret, 2001. Shell color and predation in the Cretaceous oyster Pycnodonte convexa from New Jersey. Long Island Geologists Conference, Stony Brook, New York, April 2001.

Bennington, J Bret, Selss, M., and Vinnik, A., 2000. Original color banding preserved in the Cretaceous oyster Pycnodonte convexa records repeated disruption to shell growth, possibly related to episodes of predation. Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs, 32 (7): A371.

Bennington, J Bret and Selss, Mark, 2000. Shell color, predation, and the fate of gryph-shaped oysters. American Paleontologist 8(5):2-4.

Navesink Community Paleoecology and Depositional Environments

Bonelli, J., and Bennington, J Bret. 2000. Sequence stratigraphic interpretation of the Upper Cretaceous Navesink formation, central New Jersey: Evidence from macrofossil distribution and taphonomy. Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs, 32 (1): A6.

Bennington, J Bret, Bonelli, J., Chandler, J., and Selss, M. 1999. Paleoecological evidence for the formation of a backlap shell bed during maximum flooding, Upper Cretaceous Navesink formation, New Jersey. Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs, 31 (7): A468.

Bennington, J Bret, Miller, J. and Bonelli, J., 1999. Paleocommunities and depositional environments of the Upper Cretaceous Navesink Formation: A report on work in progress. Long Island Geologists Conference, Stony Brook, New York, April 1999.

Bennington, J Bret, Aluskewicz, P., Apostolou, V., Daniello, O., DeMaine, A., Forsberg, N., Miller, J., Schwager, K, and Verdi, Elisheva, 1998. Callianassid, burrowing bivalve, and Gryphaeid-oyster biofacies in the Upper Cretaceeous Navesink Formation, Central New Jersey: Paleoecological and sedimentological implications. Long Island Geologists Conference, Stony Brook, New York, April 1998.

Last modified 5-18-09 by Bret Bennington. All rights reserved by the author. This document may not be distributed or posted in any format or reposted on any other server without permission.
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