DEFINITION OF CONODONT

An extinct group of small, tooth-like phosphatic

marine fossil fragments that range in age from Cambrian

through Upper Triassic. Their range was widespread and they

diversified quickly, making them ideal index fossils that can

help paleontologists identify the age of specific strata. One

hundred and forty different conodont zones are recognized

from the Paleozoic through Triassic, making them one of the

widest applicable biostratigraphic markers in the fossil

record. They grew by successively forming layers of the mineral

apatite around a nucleus, and most fossil fragments were

apparently interior parts of bilaterally symmetric animals that

were embedded in some secretionary tissue. The conodont

animal was apparently a several-centimeter-long worm-like

animal with tail fins, and most of the preserved fossil elements

are from the hard feeding apparatus located in the

head of this animal.

Conodont fossils are common from benthic (bottom

dwelling) and pelagic (free swimming) deposits, but rare from

shallow water paleoenvironments, and absent from the deep

ocean and basin deposits. Their fossils are most commonly

from nutrient-rich continental shelf environments in warm,

equatorial paleolatitudes.

With burial and metamorphism, conodonts have been

shown to change colors in a remarkably consistent way that

can quickly tell the geologist the maximum temperature the

rock that the fossil is enclosed within has reached. This amazing

property has proved extremely useful to the petroleum

industry, as hydrocarbons are only formed and preserved

within a narrow temperature window. Simply determining

the color of a conodont is often enough to tell the exploration

geologist whether or not it is worthwhile to search for

petroleum in a specific area any further.

See also PALEONTOLOGY.

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