Actualistic taphonomy of freshwater molluscs from the Argentine Pampas: An overview of recent research progress

Abstract

Historically, the development of taphonomic studies in freshwater environments has been scarce and mainly restricted to the Northern Hemisphere, with almost no information on how taphonomic processes work (and eventually differ) in the Southern Hemisphere. We present here an overview of the main results obtained in actualistic taphonomic studies on freshwater mollusks conducted in the Pampa Plain of Argentina, since 2008. The research included patterns of distribution of live and dead mollusks, live-dead fidelity at local and regional scales and dead and fossil shell preservation. Studies were conducted above and below the sediment-water interface, including both descriptive and experimental approaches.