Why did conodonts go extinct?

Nonetheless, the Triassic-Jurassic transition in the Tethyan Sea and western margin of North America was stressful because of a general sea level drop. This may be the most easily identifiable causal factor surrounding conodont extinction.

What are conodonts made of?

Conodont elements are composed of calcium carbonate fluorapatite with additional organic matter. They are found in marine deposits, commonly in black shales associated with graptolites, radiolarians, fish remains, brachiopods, cephalopods, trilobites and palaeocopid ostracods.

What are conodonts and why are they so useful to geologists?

Conodonts are very useful fossils in the identification and correlation of strata, as they evolved rapidly, changing many details of their shapes as geologic time passed. Each successive group of strata thus may be characterized by distinctive conodont assemblages or faunas.

How are conodont fossils useful in oil exploration?

The petroleum industry uses conodonts as indicators of the degree of maturation of hydrocarbons in sedimentary basins as well as for biostratigraphy. Unburied and unheated conodonts have a light amber color because they retain complex organic molecules in the skeletal framework.

Are conodonts still alive?

Conodonts are a group of extinct microfossils known from the Late Cambrian (approximately 500 million years ago) to the Late Triassic (about 200 million years ago). They are the only known hard parts of an extinct group of animals believed to be distantly related to the living hagfish.

How long did conodonts exist?

They existed in the world’s oceans for over 300 million years, from the Cambrian to the beginning of the Jurassic. Conodont elements are widely used as index fossils, fossils used to define and identify geological periods.

When did conodonts go extinct?

What are conodonts used for?

Conodonts are used by geologists as an important tool for dating and correlating Palaeozoic and Triassic rocks regionally and globally because of their abundance, their highly diversified and rapidly evolved morphology and their wide distribution.