Mississippi Geology, V
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THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY • • Office of Geology P. 0. Box 20307 Volume 17 Number 1 Jackson, Mississippi 39289-1307 March 1996 TOWARD A REVISION OF THE GENERALIZED STRATIGRAPHIC COLUMN OF MISSISSIPPI David T . D ock ery III Mississippi Office of Geology INTRODUCTION The state's Precambrian subsurface stratigraphy is from Thomas and Osborne (1987), and the Cambrian-Permsylva The stratigraphic columns presented here are a more nian section is modified from Dockery ( 1981) . References informative revision on the state's 1981 column published as for the Cambrian-Ordovician section of the 1981 column one sheet (Dockery, 1981). This revision wasmade forafuture include Mellen (1974, 1977); this stratigraphy is also found in text on " An Overview of Mississippi's Geology" and follows Henderson ( 1991 ). the general format and stratigraphy as pub}jshed in the Corre When subdivided in oil test records, the state's Ordovi lation of Stratigraphic Units of North America (COSUNA) ciansection generally contains the Knox Dolomite, the Stones charts (see Thomas and Osborne, 1987, and Dockery, 1988). River Group (see AJberstadt and Repetski, 1989), and the The following discussion is a brief background, giving the Nashville Group, while the Silurian contains the Wayne major sources used in the chart preparations. Suggestions for Group and Brownsport Formation. The Termessee Valley improvements may be directed to the author. Autl10rity's (1977) description of a 1,326-foot core hole at their proposed Yellow Creek Nuclear Plant site in northeast em Tishomingo Catmty greatly refined the stratigraphy be PALEOZOJCSTRATJGRAPffiCUNITS tween the Lower Ordovician Knox Dolomite and the Ross Formation of Devonian age. TIJ.is stratigraphy is shown in the All units shown in the Paleozoic stratigraphic column are up dip Siluriansection ofth e 1981 chart and is repeatedhere. fromtheBiackWarriorBasinin northern Mississippi. Many Not shown on these charts are TVA 's (1977) differentiation of these units are known only from the subsurface, as Paleo of the Middle Ordovician Stones River Group into fonna zoic outcrops of Devonian - Mississippian age are restricted tions, including in ascending orderth.e Murfreesboro, Pierce, to the TermesseeRiver Valley inTishomingo County. Corre Ridley, and Lebanon limestones of Blackriverian age, and the lations with global and North America chronostratigraphic CartersLimestoneofRocklandianage(seealsoSauve, 1981). units are from Lindberg (1984, 1987), and the numerical time The latter section is like that of Column 11 (Cumberland scale showing ages in millions of years (m. y, or Ma) at stage Plateau and Adjacent Areas, Tennessee) of the boundaries is from Harland et al. ( 1990). COS UNA Southern Appalachian Region Correlation Chart (Luther. 198-l ). Cretaceous age. New Jurassic units appearing in this collllllil The Dcvonia.n-Petmsyh·anian section presented here is arc the Pine Hill Anhydrite Member. which overlies tlle similar to columns 17-19 of COSUNA"s Texas-Oklahoma Louann Salt, and the Frisco City Sand, a facies ofthe Buckner Tectonic Region Corrcl<ltion Chart (Thomas and Osborne. Anhydrite. These units are present on tJte nanks of the l YX7: Copeland, 1987) with the exception of the Ross Fomla basement metamorphjc rocks at tlte coreoftlte Wiggins Uplift tion. which is not shown on tJ1e COS UNA cha.11. This Lower in southern Mississippi (Rhodes and Ma:'l..'well. 1993). Devonian forrn;Hion is tJ1c oldest rock to outcrop in the state The Lower Cretaceous section of tJ1e 1981 colunm is and one ofU1e few formations in t11e swtecontain.ing trilobites essentially tltat published by Nlllmally and Fowler(l954) and (sec DockerY ru1d iv1errill. 198-t ). Devery ( 1981. 1982). withtlle exception that it recognizes tlle TheM ississippirul sections ofboth the I Y8 1 and current Stuart C i t~'-Edward s -Gi cn Rose ''Reef'' trend in the subsur \lississippi colu1ruts were drllfted with the help of Black face of southern Mississippi and tlle James Limestone as a Warrior Basin geologist Stcw;"~rt \V. \Vdch. Published charts do·wndip equivalent of the Rodessa Formation. This section used as reference include Welch ( 1959. Figure -l). Thomas has not been modi lied in U1e co lumn presented here. (I n2a. Figure 10: see replies of ;v-I ellen. 1972. rutd Welch. The Upper Cretaceous section of tJte new column in 1972 }, Thomas ( I 972b. figure 2). and Clean::s( 1983. fig1u·es cludes several revisions over the 198 1 column. Hiatuses are I and 2). Revisions to the current Mississippian section are: shown above and below the Tuscaloosa Group. rutd tJte Eagle ( I) the omission of Morse· s ( 19 .10) archaic stratigraphy. Ford Shale is placed in the Tuscaloosa Group rather tJ1an as a which w<ts also omitted by Mcnill ct al. ( 1988). (2) the downdip equivalent to tJte McShan Formation of tlle Eutaw truncation of the Brutgor Limestone by the Carter Sru1d (as GrolLp. Palynology studies indicate the McShan to be of suggested by Rick Ericksen), rutd (3) tJte subdivision of the Santonian age (Smith and Mancini, l9R3), and thus not an .\lillerella Zone into a lower ";\1illerella sand'' and upper equivalent to tlle Turonian Eagle Ford. Forgotson ( 1958) .. :\li/lerella limestone ... recognized problems witll the McShan-Eagle Ford correlation Mississippi's Pennsylvanian section in botll the 1981 and argued that tlle Eagle Ford was below the Austill and current columns contains only the Pottsville Fom1ation. unconfom~ity. The shale above tl1is unconformity he named However. tllis section is shown by Thomas ;md Osbome the Rap ides Fom1ation. This unit was correlated from Loui ( !9S7) to reach tl1ick.nesses of 5,900 to 9,180 feet in tJ1e siana into Mississippi by Spooner ( 1964) and is adopted here. subsurface ofOktibbeha County. It contains important coal Additions to thcCamp;u1i<ul section(Selma Group)ofthe resources in Clay County and elsewhere (Mellen. 1949: new column include the transgressive sands of the Sardis Ericksen. l YY2) . Fomtation (Russell. l Y8o, Figure 3) and the "Frankstown No rocks of Penni an age are shown to occur in the state sand" (Mruming and Dockery, 1992). which overlie tJ1e Coffee on the current or 1981 colunms: howe,·er. Pernti:m-agc Sand. Also tJ1eDemopolis Fom1ation is further divided into a metamorphic basement rocks arc known to occur in tlte lowerTibbee Creek Marl Member and a "mlddlechalk mem Wiggins Uplift of Jackson County in soutJ1em tvlississippi. ber·· (in place of Russell's Artesia Chalk Member. the name Here Chrunplin Oil Company geologists found metamorphic Artesi a being preoccupied) after Russell in Hancock et al. rocks at 18.678-18.689 feet in their No. I lntcmational Paper ( 19<:!2, Figure 1). Company well with an radiometri c age or 282± 14 million The plrulktonie foraminiferal zonation of the Mesozoic years. This age is similar to the 272 million vear age of column begins in tlte Lower Cretaceous and is taken from basement rock from the ncarb_,. A111oco 1\o I Cumbcst well Caron ( 1985). fn ascending order according to stages. these (Harrelson ;lJld Jennings. I Sl90) These rocks indicate the zones are the Hauterivian Globuligerina hoterivica. tlte Penniau to b~ a time of mountain building and erosion in Barremian Hedherge/la sigali, the Aptian G/ohigerineffoides Mississippi blvwi. Schakoina cabri, Glohigerinelloides algeriana, and 1/edberge//a gorbachikae, tlle Albian Ticine/la bejavuensis. Ticinel/a primula, Biticinella hreggiensis. Rotalipora i\IESOZO IC STRATIGRAPHIC UNITS subticinensis, Rotalipora ticinensis. and Rotalipora appenninica, the Cenomanian Rota/ipora brotzeni. The Triassic - basal Lower Cretaceous section of the Rotalipora reicheli, and Rotalipora cushmani, tJte Turonian 198 1 column followed tJ1at given in Dinkins et al. (1968. Whiteine/la archeocretacea, Helvetoglolmtrunc:ana helvetica. Plate I) with the addition of an informal unit. the B Lime and Marginotruncana sigali, tJ1e Coniacian Dicarinella stone. in t11e upper Cotton Valley Group. This unit is primitiva and Dicarinella concavata, the Santonian recogni zed mainly in northern Louisiana and is not included Dicarinel/a asymetrica, tlle Campanian Globotnmcanita in tJte colunm presented here. Also tJ1e Schuler Fonnation eleva/a, Globotruncana ventricosa, and Globotruncanira and its Shongaloo and Dorcheat members are dropped be calcarata, and the Maastrichtian Globotruncanella cause of disuse in tlle state, and the Cotton Valley Group is havanensis, Globotruncana aegyptiaca. Gansserina gansseri, shown as an undifferentiated section of botll Jurassic and and A bathomphalus mayaroensis. The CC (=Cretaceous cal- 2 MISSISSIPPI GEOLOGY, V. 17, No. 1, MARCH 1996 I t«)(U\ Ametocan ? .... CNonostrai!Qf....,•• Crwoncs!;ahg•auh.: ,: > PALEOZOIC STRATIGRAPHIC UNITS I 1--.--"-·_·"---+--""-''-·-- -l ~ ~ IN MISSISSIPPI ~ ~~ ~ Ser1es/ Stagn ~1\o U:red ::.t.: J Ser1u1 Stages z :>illS I I [ ' : I >00 (b:nt)ll• n V•'U•I•un : I I 0 ~I! . ~I<· I(:UIITW)vhtn tJh ~:.;ou•• a •, ~· cii~ ~ = ! .. ~ ()u,Sm()-11'\eSIRn ~~ M Q$COV1tlll j Alo~al'\ I I I I I I ~ ?. 30. Q ~ ~ ~ Pou sv·llu I '" S..Shkfll' •an M (W r('Wan ~ r- 313 - ; P~r\~ frn i •w;;;; limestone'" £ ~~ ...twr <; . '5!• "Aburnf..llh'f sand" •~ ~ $ ~ ·.~ ! e Che$tent'ln 0 $ ·no• """"" ~ ! < % ~ ~ ~ I <.> VI ~ • ~ ::! ~ i Oevon•a" c:hon {Arll.un~s Nov 3C•.If•tc?J Edan 301 D xon r"' r-----+• :.- .. Wayne Group urod•U~,.-rl'!r• l+81~ Waldron SMift taufCJ f '" O~gOOd Fm ='--+-r---- -+'00 'i: f---------------- - ---1 ~ Tremoealeauan "' CoppN ~l fJ\,Ic Ootomittt 6 ur---Francon1o1n--i ~ r-------------~--------1 ri; l)i(:$t);}r. h ,:~.n ~ 6 11 f--+-+----4------+ s,.o ~ J IJ JJllJ J ll I Ill J J J lllllll Ig,,, .... 11:10•30n'oy I MISSISSIPPI GEOLOGY, V. 17, No.1 , MARCH 1996 3 careous nannoplankton) zonation is that of Sissingh (1977) as Coast Region Correlation Chart (Dockery, 1988, column illustrated in Perch-Nielsen (1985, Figure 7). only without 14). showing subzones (i.e. those labeled a, b, or c). Conclations of Paleogene microfossil zonations are Mesozoicradiometricagesare from Gradstein eta I.