Astogeny of amural colonial Rugosa from the Famennian of the Sudetes - a palaeoenvironmental study

Abstract

The astogeny of three species of the amural rugosan genus Scruttonia coming from the Famennian so-called main limestone cropping out in Dzikowiec (the Middle Sudetes) is described. The colonies studied reveal cyclomorphic variation usually regarded as seasonal in nature. The character and shape of the colony as well as the character of the internal skeletal elements has been investigated to determine the colony-sediment interactions. The character of those interactions and the taphonomy of the colonies helped to make a determination of the colony growth rate and the sedimentation rate of the beds where colonial corals occur.