Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Clary, Renee M.

Committee Member

Nagel, Athena

Committee Member

Kirkland, Brenda L.

Committee Member

Phillips, George

Date of Degree

8-8-2023

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Campus Access Only

Major

Geosciences

Degree Name

Master of Science (M.S.)

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Department of Geosciences

Abstract

Evidence of the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) extinction can be seen across the Mississippi Embayment, however research examining the K-Pg boundary in the state of Mississippi is lacking. The objective of this study addresses how macrofauna changed across the K-Pg boundary in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi and subsequent comparison to other Early Paleogene and Late Cretaceous benthic marine macrofaunal localities. Comparison included previously collected material as well as specimens collected during this study in order to reconstruct the biological community living on the seafloor in the earliest Paleocene Mississippi Embayment. The primary fauna present after the K-Pg extinction was mainly composed of small suspension and deposit feeding oysters and clams as well as carnivorous gastropods. New Paleocene fauna and survivor species exhibited drastically smaller body sizes than organisms in the Cretaceous; postulated to be due to a relative decrease in primary producers and environmental nutrients.

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