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of the University of Victoria, a specialist on this fauna, has proposed that
the vent/seep communities first arose in the middle Paleozoic, although this
theory has never been rigorously tested. Cold-seep deposits dating from the
early Paleozoic and oldet are still problematic.
The inoceramid clam accumulates are surely related to cold seeps. 1 sur-
mise that they were clams that housed symbiotic algas or (more probably)
bacteria and lived preferentially in areas of the sea bottom whete methane
gas was being released. The fact that so many regions of the Cretaceous
oceans seem to have been colonized by inoceramid clams, presumably all liv-
ing on methane, tells us something fascinating about that long ago time. The
oceans then were clearly different in chemical structure. They were far less
homogeneous, they were mote turbid, and they retained organic material in
sediment to a far greatet degree than now.
The pristine inoceramid beaches of Gabriola Island have given us a
priceless glimpse into the deep past—thanks to an isotopic time machine
or two.
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