Stratigraphy Commons^™

Strontium, Lead, And Oxygen Isotopic Signatures Of Mid-Miocene Silicic Volcanism In Eastern Oregon, Emily Nancy Hess

Dissertations and Theses

Widespread, mid-Miocene rhyolite volcanism of eastern Oregon that are coeval or slightly postdate flood basalts of the Columbia River Basalt Province allows for mapping crustal domains using radiogenic and stable isotopes. Rhyolites are thought to be derived in large part by partial melting of the crust and thus yield direct information on the composition of the crust. Silicic volcanism is expressed in the form of numerous domes and tuffs exposed over a wide area (~300 km in N-S dimension and ~200 km in E-W dimension) west of the presumed craton boundary, which runs parallel but mostly east of the Oregon-Idaho …

Neogene Stratigraphy And Paleogeographic Evolution Of The Karaburun Area, İzmi̇r, Western Turkey, Fikret Göktaş

Bulletin of the Mineral Research and Exploration

The western margin of the Foça Depression (FD) is located in the NE of the Karaburun Peninsula. Terrestrial Neogene sediments in the study area which partly representing the western margin of the FD and the mafic volcanics have NW-SE directions towards ‹zmir bay and are separated from the basement rocks by synthetic normal faults. During the Miocene deposition the basin’s boundaries became structurally narrower and two main sedimentary successions have been defined namely the Karaburun group and the Eflendere group which have been separated with angular unconformity in regional scale. The Karaburun group is represented with dominantly lacustrine deposition in …

Allostratigraphy Of The Upper Ordovician Blue Mountain Formation, Southwestern Ontario, Canada, Sarah N. Sweeney

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The Upper Ordovician units in Southwestern Ontario record the distal response to the development of the Taconic Appalachian foreland basin. The proximal representation in Ohio and Pennsylvania, contain the Utica/Point Pleasant Play (!). The relationship between the proximal and distal portions of the Taconic Appalachian foreland basin is not clearly defined due to limited chronostratigraphic data and only lithostratigraphic correlations in southwestern Ontario. The first step in evaluating the relationship between the Upper Ordovician succession in Ontario and that in the United States is to develop a high frequency allostratigraphic framework that can be integrated and compared to the frameworks …

Field Trip Guidebook For The Nebraska Well Drillers Association, Duane A. Eversoll, Matt Joeckel, Lee Orton

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.

Paleoceanography And Paleoenvironmental Changes Of The Cenomanian-Turonian Boundary Interval (94-93 Ma): The Record Of Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 In The Central And Eastern Parts Of The Western Interior Sea, Khalifa Elderbak

Doctoral Dissertations

The Cenomanian/Turonian (C/T) boundary marine strata of the Late Cretaceous Western Interior Sea (WIS) exhibit a positive carbon isotopic excursion in the bulk-carbonate and organic carbon. This marks Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 (OAE 2), which spans the uppermost part of the Hartland Shale and one-third of the overlying Bridge Creek Limestone members of the Greenhorn Formation and their equivalents. The interval is characterized by alternating beds of light-colored limestone and dark-colored marlstone and calcareous shale. These lithologic couplets have been related to Milankovitch orbital cyclicity. Foraminiferal assemblages from three selected sites, including the C/T boundary Global Boundary Stratotype Section and …

Peat As An Archive Of Remote Mercury Deposition In The Hudson Bay Lowlands, Ontario, Canada, William James Goacher

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Peat from the Hudson Bay Lowlands (HBL) in Northern Ontario, Canada was used to reconstruct historical accumulation of mercury (Hg) over more than 7000 years before present. Nine cores, many with previously published paleoclimate studies, were analyzed for Hg and accumulation rates were calculated. Anthropogenic Hg enrichment factors were calculated based on accumulation rates. A more exclusive calculation of the anthropogenic enrichment factor corroborates modelling efforts that have suggested re-cycling legacy Hg is a much greater contributor to present day deposition than previously thought, but not prior to ~500 cal yrs BP. An older pre-industrial record provides a better background …

Using Strat Columns To Interpret Sequence Stragraphy Of Glacial Driven Stream Deposits Of The Acient San Joaquin River, Kyle R. Scharton

STAR Program Research Presentations

The sedimentary deposits of the ancient San Joaquin River tell the story of river flow through three glacial periods. A strat column shows vertical changes in deposition throughout an outcrop. It can be used to extrapolate the energy level of the flow, and other features of the river at different depositional environments. By looking at trends through the column it is possible to determine how the river’s flow changed through time. Variances in the gravel size and whether it supports itself or is held together by the surrounding sand matrix give clues as to the rate of flow and how …

The Significance Of Dolomitized Hunton Strata In The Kinta And Bonanza Fields Of The Arkoma Basin, Christopher William Trotter

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Hunton Group has been a prolific hydrocarbon-producing reservoir across much of Oklahoma and western Arkansas. The group is a Silurian-Devonian aged interval that is comprised of sequences of limestone, dolomite, and calcareous shale. The group is divided into several formations. The subdivisions include the Chimneyhill Subgroup, Henryhouse, Haragan and Bois d'Arc Formations. Reservoir quality in the Hunton Group is significantly dependent upon the diagenetic events and depositional environments of the sediments. Most hydrocarbon production, from within the Hunton Group, comes from members that have undergone dolomite replacement of the parent limestone.

The higher amounts of porosity and permeability are …

Taphonomy Of The Joanna Track Site, Cretaceous Glen Rose Formation: Is The Shrimp Mightier Than The Dinosaur?, Michael Blair, Benjamin Dattilo, Lydia Mark, James Farlow, Jerry Jacene, Shelley Mcfadin

Benjamin F. Dattilo

Dinosaur trackways are common in the Cretaceous Glen Rose Formation of central Texas. While the trackways in Dinosaur Valley State Park are well known, many other sites can be found in this region. Recently, a new track site was discovered during construction in Glen Rose, Texas. The Joanna Track Site features tridactyl tracks which have been partly obliterated by invertebrates burrowing through the thick mud which buried them.

We measured and described the interval from 0.3 m below the track layer through 2.7 m above it in a vertical outcrop directly adjacent to the track site. Samples were collected in …

Microstratigraphic Analysis Of Burrow-Reworked Dinosaur Track Bed At Joanna's Track Site, Cretaceous Glen Rose Formation, Glen Rose, Texas, Michael Blair, Benjamin Dattilo, Anthony Martin, James Farlow

Benjamin F. Dattilo

Although dinosaur trackways are common in the Cretaceous Glen Rose Formation of Texas, the recently discovered Joanna track site illustrates a unique ichnological relationship where dinosaur tracks were disrupted by invertebrate burrows made long after burial. In an effort to document the precise sequence of events, we described the interval from 0.3 m below the track layer through 2.7 m above it in a vertical outcrop adjacent to the track site, focusing on the 70-cm of strata immediately above the track horizon. An 8-meter N-S cross-section of this 70-cm interval was power-washed, examined for trace fossils, body fossils, and lithology …

An Unusual Association Of Pseudolingula And Rafinesquina From The Upper Ordovician Of Ohio, Benjamin Dattilo, Rebecca Freeman, Bryan Utesch, Steve Felton, John Pojeta

Benjamin F. Dattilo

Late Ordovician members of Order Lingulida, for the most part, resemble modern lingulids in their infaunal habits and marginal habitats. Pseudolingula, a common Cincinnatian form, is often found preserved in burrows in life position, and as such, it could probably escape moderate sediment accumulations. An unusual association of thousands of specimens of the lingulate Pseudolingula and hundreds of the strophomenid Rafinesquina in the Upper Ordovician of the Cincinnati, Ohio region presents an interesting case. This association occurs on 4-square-meter exposure of a 10 cm shell bed in the Fairview Formation at Harsha Lake, Ohio. The bed is covered with Rafinesquina …

Stirred Not Shaken: Using Taphonomy To Reconstruct Paleoecological Succession And Taphonomic Feedback In A Cincinnatian (Ordovician, Ohio) Storm-Disturbed Shell Bed, Rebecca Freeman, Benjamin Dattilo, Aaron Morse, Michael Blair, Steve Felton, John Pojeta

Benjamin F. Dattilo

Walker and Alberstadt’s 1975 idea that a single shell bed contains a record of ecological succession has seemingly been refuted through stratinomic studies. These studies suggest that fossils are destroyed and accumulations are reworked by storms to the point of obliterating any record of successional-scale changes in faunas. Therefore storm-disturbed shell beds are not considered ideal for reconstruction of paleoecological succession.

Nevertheless, a storm-winnowed shell bed from the Fairview Formation, Ohio preserves a wide variety of shells in a range of taphonomic conditions that reveal succession-like changes. Exceptionally-preserved lingulid brachiopods found as intact pyrite-lined spar-filled shells rule out the final …

Chapter 33—Sauk Iii-Iv Interval In The American Quasar Horse Heaven-State 16-21a Well, Confusion Range, West-Central Utah, Kevin Evans, James Miller, Benjamin Dattilo

Benjamin F. Dattilo

No abstract provided.

Remarkable Preservation Of A New Genus And Species Of Limuline Horseshoe Crab From The Cretaceous Of Texas, U.S.A., Rodney Feldman, Carrie Schweitzer, Benjamin Dattilo, James Farlow

Benjamin F. Dattilo

A single specimen, part and counterpart of a carapace, of a horseshoe crab from the Lower Cretaceous (Albian) Glen Rose Formation in north-central Texas, forms the basis for the definition of a new genus and species, Crenatolimulus paluxyensis. The discovery represents only the fifth limuline known from the Cretaceous. Its preservational style is remarkable in that the carapace exterior is faithfully replicated by a massive overgrowth of serpulid worms.

Conodont Biostratigraphy Across A Conformable Sauk–Tippecanoe Megasequence Boundary, Western Central Utah., Raymond Ethington, James Miller, Benjamin Dattilo, Rebecca Freeman

Benjamin F. Dattilo

The Sauk–Tippecanoe Megasequence boundary is a major unconformity in cratonic Laurentia and in the Appalachians. In contrast, the western margin of Laurentia in west-central Utah preserves a thick, continuously deposited record of the Whiterockian Regression at the top of the Sauk Megasequence (Middle Ordovician). Relevant strata include the Lehman Formation (limestone, shale), Watson Ranch Quartzite (sandstone, limestone, shale), and Crystal Peak Dolomite (dolomite, limestone).

Prominent facies changes occur in the Watson Ranch Quartzite, which is all sandstone near Ibex (southern Barn Hills), is sandstone with sandy carbonate and carbonate interbeds 12 miles SW near Crystal Peak (southern Confusion Range), and …

Possible Sources For Nickel And Chromium In The Middle Part Of The Fillmore Formation In West-Central Utah, Rachel Nyznyk, Benjamin Dattilo

Benjamin F. Dattilo

Nickel and chromium are not commonly found in carbonate or mixed carbonate depositional environments. All lithologies from a 100-meter section in the middle part of the Lower Ordovician Fillmore Formation at a single locality, the “Pyramid Section”, contain anomalous levels of nickel and chromium. Preliminary data has also shown that there is significantly more nickel in the matrix of two FPCs (range of 0.22 – 0.24 ppm) from the pyramid section than found in the other lithologies at that section (0.05 – 0.10 ppm). However, at a separate locality, “Section C”, in the lower part of the Fillmore Formation neither …

Middle Paleozoic Sequence Stratigraphy And Paleontology Of The Cincinnati Arch: Part 2 Northern Kentucky And Se Indiana, Carlton Brett, Benjamin Dattilo, Patrick Mclaughlin, Thomas Schramm, James Thomka, Bradley Cramer

Benjamin F. Dattilo

No abstract provided.

How Many Track Horizons Are Exposed At Dinosaur Valley State Park? Stratigraphy Of The Cretaceous Glen Rose Formation Track Sites Of The Paluxy River, Glen Rose, Texas, Benjamin Dattilo, Sadye Howald, James Farlow, Anthony Martin

Benjamin F. Dattilo

The dinosaur tracks of the Glen Rose Formation in the Paluxy River at Dinosaur Valley State Park are among the best preserved and most abundant in the world. While many track sites are easily correlated to the Main Tracksite, others, especially those at the extreme ends of the park, are differently preserved and not obviously correlated. To count track horizons, several stratigraphic sections were measured along the river from upstream at the McFall Ledge Site to 7.6 km downstream at the County Road 1001 crossing (3.1 km linear distance). These reveal 6 meters of strata separating two track-bearing horizons exposed …

Provenance, Sorting, And Secular Variation In Late Cambrian And Early Ordovician Carbonate Flat-Pebble Conglomerates In West-Central Utah, Rachel Nyznyk, Benjamin Dattilo, Kevin Evans

Benjamin F. Dattilo

Flat-pebble conglomerates (FPCs) are deposits that include tabular clasts of carbonate facies in shallow marine successions. They are common features in Cambrian and Ordovician successions and are more rarely preserved in post-Ordovician strata. Traditional interpretations suggest they are storm deposits, but more recently, they have interpreted as cycle caps and products of sea-level change. Examining FPCs in detail may further our understand of possible origins, including major Earth events such as meteorite impacts, seismic events, superstorms, slope failures, and mass wasting events. This study, which is in its initial phase, examines FPCs based on intrinsic features and seeks to document …

The Mollusk-Rich Ordovician Miamitown Shale Mapped From Cincinnati To The Bluegrass: Probing Contemporaneous Peritidal Deposits To Decipher The Paleobathymetric Problem Of A Puzzling Pelite., Benjamin Dattilo, Thomas Schramm, Sasha Mosser, Lydia Mark, William Ward

Benjamin F. Dattilo

While most Upper Ordovician (Katian stage) strata in the Cincinnati region can be characterized as mixed carbonates and mudstones, there are a few carbonate-poor silty mudstone units including the Maysvillian Miamitown Shale and the Richmondian Waynesville Formation. These are characterized by molluscan faunas that contrast with the typical brachiopod-bryozoan fauna of the Cincinnatian, or, for that matter, of the Lower Paleozoic in general. The paucity of more widespread common taxa makes it difficult to use such assemblages in determining paleoenvironmental conditions, particularly water depth. Thus, combined with the lack of distinctive sedimentological indicators, it is difficult to say if these …

Sedimentology And Microstratigraphy Of A Cincinnatian Edrioasteroid Obrution Deposit., Aaron Morse, Benjamin Dattilo, David Meyer, Lydia Mark, Michael Harrison

Benjamin F. Dattilo

The Manchester edrioasteroid pavement is a shell layer in mudrock from the Corryville Formation (U. Ordovician, Maysvillain). No previous studies have examined sediments that buried Cincinnatian edrioasteroid pavements. To address this problem, a 16 cm thick stratigraphic sample measuring 90 cm by 30 cm was collected with a plaster jacket, dried for 2 years, then encased in fiberglass for dry cutting into slabs 2-4 cm thick. These were hardened with epoxy and polished dry with sandpaper. A prepared slab was sent to Bruker AXS for analysis using the M4 Tornado µ-XRF.

Delicate colonies of bryozoans, embedded in mudrock were found …

High-Resolution Correlation And Sedimentology Of Carbonate-Shale Cycles In The Type Cincinnatian (Upper Ordovician; Katian): Implications For A Revived "Layer Cake Stratigraphy", Carlton Brett, Benjamin Dattilo, Patrick Mclaughlin, Thomas Schramm

Benjamin F. Dattilo

Strata of the type Cincinnatian Series form an exemplar of the denigrated notion of “layer cake stratigraphy”; Edward Oscar Ulrich, founder of the “Cincinnati School” of paleontology (ca. 1910s), argued that the stratigraphic record is composed of stacks of continuous, far-traceable layers. This view was fostered by observations of limestone-shale strata, then-exposed on the hillsides and riverbanks of Cincinnati. Subsequently, most geologists rejected this notion and favored a “mosaic” view of strata as local patches, based on studies of modern marine environments. Cincinnati reference sections such as those of Eden and Fairview Parks are now largely overgrown or under concrete. …

Upper Ordovician Strata Of Southern Ohio-Indiana: Shales, Shell Beds, Storms, Sediment Starvation, And Cycles, Carlton Brett, Thomas Schramm, Benjamin Dattilo, Nathan Marshall

Benjamin F. Dattilo

The Cincinnatian Series (ca. 450 to 442 Ma) of the Cincinnati Arch features some of the most spectacular Ordovician fossils in the world. The rich faunas of bryozoans, brachiopods, molluscs, echinoderms, and trilobites are preserved as discrete shell-rich limestones, cyclically interbedded with sparsely fossiliferous shales and mudstones that may yield exceptionally preserved trilobites and crinoids. Similar successions of shell beds interbedded with mudstones are common components of Paleozoic successions. In such successions, the genesis of the highly concentrated shell beds is often attributed to storm-winnowing, but is this the whole story? This trip will offer an overview of the classic …

Integrating Bio-, Chemo-, Chrono-, Gamma-Ray, Litho-, And Sequence Stratigraphy In The Upper Cambrian And Lower Ordovician: Progress Toward A Comprehensive Stratigraphic Framework, James Miller, Benjamin Dattilo, Raymond Ethington, Kevin Evans, Rebecca Freeman, James Loch, John Repetski, Robert Ripperdan, Anthony Runkel, John Taylor

Benjamin F. Dattilo

Chronostratigraphic classification of the Laurentian Upper Cambrian and Lower Ordovician is based on strata in Utah, Nevada, Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Alberta. Biozonations are based on strata there as well as in Texas and Oklahoma. Regional trilobite zonations vary somewhat because of facies influence and periods of regional endemism; the zonation is quite different in slope deposits. Conodont zonation begins in the middle Upper Cambrian; many taxa occur in a variety of facies and are cosmopolitan, so zones can be correlated across Laurentia and globally. Calcitic brachiopod zones established in Oklahoma have been identified in other areas where faunas have …

Fine-Scale Lithologic Variations In Late Ordovician (Katian) Pertidal Depositions Of The Kentucky Bluegrass Suggest Sea-Level Fluctuations As The Primary Mechanism For Type Cincinnatian Meter-Scale Cycles., Sasha Mosser, Thomas Schramm, Benjamin Dattilo, Carlton Brett, Rebecca Freeman, Michael Blair

Benjamin F. Dattilo

Late Ordovician peritidal facies of central Kentucky are laterally equivalent to cyclic subtidal facies of the Cincinnati region but correlation details, and causes of cyclicity are poorly understood. If type Cincinnatian shale-limestone (meter scale) cycles were driven by sea-level fluctuations then equivalent peritidal facies should be cyclic. Likewise, the same magnitude of base level change should result in greater environmental variability in these shallow facies. If cycles are of Milankovitch origin, it should be reflected in cycle duration. We attempt to test these predictions by examining litho, sequence, and macro-biostratigraphic evidence at Point Leavell, KY and other localities. Exposures at …

The Great American Carbonate Bank In The Miogeocline Of Western Central Utah: Tectonic Influences On Sedimentation., James Miller, Kevin Evans, Benjamin Dattilo

Benjamin F. Dattilo

No abstract provided.

Tempestites In A Teapot? Condensation-Generated Shell Beds In The Upper Ordovician, Cincinnati Arch, Usa., Benjamin F. Dattilo, Carlton E. Brett, Thomas J. Schramm

Benjamin F. Dattilo

Skeletal concentrations in mudstones may represent local facies produced by storm winnowing in shallow water, or time-specific deposits related to intervals of diminished sediment supply. Upper Ordovician (Katian) of the Cincinnati region is a mixed siliciclastic-carbonate succession including meter-scale cycles containing a shelly limestone-dominated phase and a mudstone-dominated phase. The “tempestite proximality model” asserts that shell-rich intervals originated by winnowing of mud from undifferentiated fair-weather deposits. Thus shell beds are construed as tempestites, while interbedded mudstones represent either fair-weather or bypassed mud. Meter-scale cycles are attributed to sea-level fluctuation or varying storm intensity. Alternatively, the “episodic starvation model” argues, on …

The Brachiopod Trap: What Their Oldest (Upper Ordovician, Ohio) Failed Escape Burrows Tell Us About The Evolution Of Burrowing In Lingulids, Rebecca Freeman, Benjamin Dattilo, Aaron Morse, Michael Blair, Bryan Utesch, Steve Felton, John Pojeta

Benjamin F. Dattilo

Infaunal organisms living in shallow marine settings are vulnerable to exhumation during storms or entombment by storm-deposited sediments. Cambrian­–Early Ordovician lingulids included epifaunal as well as possible infaunal forms. However, many epifaunal forms became extinct during the Middle Ordovician, and Late Ordovician lingulids were similar in their infaunal habits and marginal habitats. Modern infaunal lingulids are able to reorient themselves after burial in sediments, but it is unclear when this ability evolved. Initial burrowing of juvenile lingulids, as well as re-burrowing of exhumed modern lingulids involves digging downwards and then back up in a u-shape, but successful escape burrowing involves …

Paleoenvironments And Geochemical Signals From The Late Barremian To The Middle Aptian In A Tethyan Marginal Basin, Northeast Spain: Implications For Carbon Sequestration In Restricted Basins, Yosmel Sanchez Hernandez Mr.

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The hallmark of oceanic anoxic event 1a (OAE1a) (early Aptian ~125 Ma) corresponds to worldwide deposition of black shales with total organic carbon (TOC) content > 2% and a d¹³C positive excursion up to ~5‰. OAE1a has been related to large igneous province volcanism and dissociation of methane hydrates during the Lower Cretaceous. However, the occurrence of atypical, coeval and diachronous organic-rich deposits associated with OAE1a, which are also characterized by positive spikes of the d¹³C in epicontinental to restricted marine environments of the Tethys Ocean, indicates localized responses decoupled from complex global forcing factors.

The present …

Sedimentological And Stratigraphic Study Of A Falling-Stage Delta Complex In The Upper Cretaceous (Turonian) Ferron Sandstone Member Of The Mancos Shale, South-Central Utah, Usa, Fares Alaboud

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The character and distribution of lithofacies in falling-stage deltas are incompletely documented. This paper presents a sedimentological and stratigraphic evaluation of a superbly-exposed interval of Cretaceous deltaic strata that are believed to be of falling stage origin. The studied interval forms part of the Upper Cretaceous (Turonian) Ferron Sandstone Member of the Mancos Shale in the southernmost Henry Mountains Basin of south-central Utah, USA. The interval of interest is exposed in three dimensions over a 20 km² area in a series of canyon walls. Observed facies include fine-grained mudrocks (offshore basin), mudrocks with thinly interlaminated sandstone (prodelta), thinly interbedded …