Paleoecology of an estuarine sequence in the Breathitt Formation (Pennsylvanian), central Appalachian Basin

A sequence of strata containing 24 or more ichnogenera was investigated along the western outcrop margin of the Breathitt Formation in eastern Kentucky. Tour facies were delineated within the study interval. Dark shales of the Carbonaceous Shale Facies (CSF) exhibit a low-diversity/low-abundance ichnofossil assemblage dominated by small Conostichus, Planolites, and Thalassinoides. Some interbedded siltstones exhibit greater diversity with Lockeia, Paleophycus, Monocraterion, and Rhabdoglyphus. The CST is truncated by the Bioturbated Heterolithic Facies (BHF), consisting of bioturbated sandstones with robust Asterosoma, Conostichus, and Rosselia, soltstones and gray shales with abundant Planolites and Teichichnus, and non- bioturbated sideritic claystones