均时作用——一个常见但不易识别的埋葬学现象

生物化石群落在埋葬过程中普遍经历了均时作用的过程。正是这种作用导致了同一生态环境域,但不同时期生物组合相混合的结果。因此,这种化石群落可能为一个连续演化群落的不同阶段的混合体,也可能是环境连续演化过程中不同生态群落的混合组合,这样的化石组合所记录的古生物学信息非常复杂。因此,对化石累积过程中的均时作用的清晰了解,将非常有助于古生物群落的分类学、居群动力学、埋葬学、古生态学、演化古生物学,甚至地层学研究精度的提高。文章根据前人的研究,扼要介绍和讨论均时作用的概念、过程、程度、效应和判别,及受均时作用影响的化石组合的分类。

TIME-AVERAGING: A COMMON BUT COMPLICATED TAPHONOMIC PHENOMENON

Time-averaging is a common taphonomic phenomenon of fossil accumulation in a nearly continuous time interval which was longer than the lifetime of an individual organism. Time-averaged fossil assemblages are mostly composed of the different aged fossils, representing the different stages of an evolutionary successive community, or the various communities in a successive environment. Based on the information published by the previous authors, the process, degree, effects, recognition of the time-averaging, as well as the types of the time-averaged fossil assemblages were briefly introduced and discussed in the paper, to better recognize the time-averaging, understand the time-averaged fossil communities/assemblages, and improve the reconstruction of palaeocommunities, analysis of palaeoecology, study of palaeontological evolution, and subdivision and correlation of stratigraphy.