Ostracoda from Wells in North Carolina Part 1, Cenozoic Ostracoda
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Ostracoda from Wells in North Carolina Part 1, Cenozoic Ostracoda GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 234-A Ostracoda from Wells in North Carolina Part 1, Cenozoic Ostracoda By FREDERICK M. SWAIN GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 234-A Descriptions, illustrations, geographic distribution, and stratigraphic ranges of microfossils. UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1951 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Oscar L. Chapman, Secretary GEOLOGICAL SURVEY W. E. Wrather, Director For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office Washington 25, D. C. - Price 75 cents (paper cover) CONTENTS Page Page Abstract- ------__-_-_____-__________-______________ 1 Systematic descriptions—Continued Introduction _______________________________________ 1 Cytheridae_ _ _ ________________ 17 List of wells_______________________________________ 3 Xestoleberis _ ______________ 18 Stratigraphic summary______________________________ 5 Eucythere __________________ 18 Paleocene (?) series.____________________________ 5 Cytheridea. _______________ 19 Eocene series__________________________________ 6 Cytherideis. _ _______--__-__ 19 Lower Eocene._____________________________ 6 Haplocytheridea_ __________ 20 Middle Eocene (and upper Eocene (?) )_______ 6 Clithrocytheridea ___________ 23 Oligocene or lower part of Miocene series,_________ 6 Loxoconcha_ -___________-- 25 Miocene series.__________________J______________ 7 Trachyleberis ______________ 28 Pliocene series._________________________________ 7 Buntonia ________-__---_-_ 38 Pleistocene series_______________________________ 7 Favella. __________________ 41 Recent series.__________________________________ Pterygocythereis-. ___________ 41 Mollusks from the Esso Standard Oil Co. Hatteras Light Caudites __________________ 42 well no. l______-_-___-_________-_________________ Acuticythereis _ _ __________ 42 Stratigraphy of water wells in eastern North Carolina. __ 42 Cenozoic rocks in Esso Standard Oil Co. Hatteras Light Hemicythere- ______________ well no. 1._______________________________________ Leguminocythereis- _________ 43 Tertiary rocks in Esso Standard Oil Co. North Carolina Brachycythere- _____________ 44 Esso well no. 2__.________________________________ 11 Cytheretta. ________________ 45 Systematic descriptions..____________________________ 14 Basslerites. _ ______________ 47 Cytherellidae ___-________-___--_____--___---___ 14 Eocytheropteron. ___________ 47 Cytherella,- ___ _ ____________________________ 14 Cytheropteron- _____________ 48 Cytherelloidea___ _ ___________________________ 15 Cytheromorpha_ __________ 49 Cypridae ____________--______-_-_-___-____--___ 16 Cytherura- ________________ 50 16 Paracypris, ________________________________ MonoceratincL- _____________ 51 Bairdiidae. ________-_-___-_-----_-___-___-_____ 16 Paracytheridea- ____________ 51 Bairdia_ _________________________________ 16 Triebelina,-- ___-_-_-_______-_____-_-___---_ 17 Pellucistoma- ______________ 52 Bairdoppilatct-.-. ___________________________ 17 References ________________________ 52 Bythocypris, _______________________________ 17 Index _____________----_-----__-_- 55 ILLUSTRATIONS • Page PLATES 1-7. Cytherellidae, Cypridae, Bairdiidae, Cytheridae________--_-------------------------~---------- Following index FIGUEE 1. Index map showing eastern North Carolina localities studied_____________________-___--_--___----------- 2 2. Stratigraphic relationships of Cenozoic rocks in Esso Standard Oil Co. Hatteras Light well no. 1 and North Carolina Esso well no. 2, eastern Dare County, N. C________-__------_-_--_---------------__-----_-_- 5 3. Cytherellidae and Cytheridae_______-____-___-__________-----------------------____------------------ 15 in OSTRACODA FROM WELLS IN NORTH CAROLINA PART 1, CENOZOIC OSTRACODA By FREDERICK M. SWAIN ABSTRACT The lower Miocene apparently occurs in two facies in eastern North Carolina. At Cape Hatteras and southwestward the Cenozoic Ostracoda obtained from wells and surface ex lower Miocene is represented by as much as 485 feet of sandy, posures in North Carolina are described. Eight of the species mostly nonglauconitic limestone and sand, probably representing are new. This work provides our first knowledge of the pre- the Trent marl of surface exposures. North of Cape Hatteras Miocene Cenozoic Ostracoda in North Carolina. The names of there is a facies change to gray diatomaceous shale. the surface 'Cenozoic formations are not applied to the sub The middle Miocene beds may represent the St. Marys forma surface units in this paper because of uncertainties in correla tion of surface exposures; it consists of fossiliferous shaly tion; instead, the more general terms Paleocene (?), lower sands and sandy clay as much as 340 feet thick. Paracytheri- Eocene, middle Eocene, Oligocene or lower Miocene, lower Mio deal weatherelli (Jones) and Trachylebris rosetta Swain, n. sp. cene, middle Miocene, upper Miocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene, and were found only in the unit. The highest occurrence of Tra- Recent are used. chyleberis evax (Ulrich and Bassler) was used in selecting the The Paleocene (?) rocks consist of fine-grained, sandy, glau- upper boundary of the middle Miocene. conitic shale and marl, and contain tiny benthonic Foraminifera. The upper Miocene consists of a maximum of 560 feet of The unit is 277 feet thick beneath Cape Hatteras and thins unconsolidated sand and shell beds that probably represent trfe abruptly westward. Its tentative assignment to Paleocene is Yorktown formation and the Duplin marl of surface exposures. based on stratigraphic position and on the fact that it differs The following ostracodes are restricted to the upper Miocene: markedly in lithologic character and fauna from the adjoining Acuticythereis laevissima, punctata Edwards, A. cf. A. multi- units. punctata Edwards, Basslerites cf. B. giffanticus Edwards, Cy- The lower Eocene consists of as much as 485 feet of fine theromorpha curta Edwards, Cytherura cf. C. reticulata Ed grained glauconitic sandstone and sandy limestone in which, wards, Favella mesicostalis Edwards,, Hemicythere confragosa from Cape Hatteras southwestward, many layers are highly Edwards, Loxoconcha edentonensis Swain, n. sp. Paracytheridea, siliceous. Brachycythere marylandica (Ulrich), Bythocypris cf. P. rugosa Edwards, Pellucistoma cf. P. magniventra Edwards, parilis Ulrich, Cytherelloidea howei Swain, Haplocytheridea Trachyleberis'! triplistriata, Edwards, Xestoleberisl ventro- hopkinsi, (Howe and Garrett), Trachyle'beris? sp. aff. T.f corn- striata Swain, n. sp. munis aquia, (Schmidt), and Xestoleberis cf. X. longissima The Pliocene, Pleistocene, and Recent are not clearly dis Schmidt are ostracodes characteristic of the lower Eocene. tinguishable lithologically in the wells. The middle Eocene rocks are coarse-grained, glauconitic, sandy The Tertiary ostracode fauna of the North Carolina wells is limestones and calcareous sandstones with a maximum total strikingly similar to those of the Gulf region but several prob thickness of 647 feet. This zone contains abundant ostracodes lems of correlation and facies relationships remain unsolved. of which many are indicative of Claiborne age. The species that are restricted to the unit are: Buntonia howei (Stephenson), INTRODUCTION Clithrocytheridea cf. C. smithvillensis Stephenson, Cytheretta daren§is Swain, n. sp., Cytheromorpha cf. C. eocenica Stephen- Several collections of Mesozoic and Cenozoic Ostra son, Cytheropteron cf. C. variosum Martin, Cythet-ura sp. aff. C. coda from water wells and exploratory oil wells in the loashburni Stephenson, Haplocytheridea cf. H. goochi Stephen- coastal plain of eastern North Carolina (Fig. 1) have son, H. cf. H. noicotnyi Stephenson, Loxoconcha sp. aff. L. clai- been furnished to the Geological Survey. The species bornensis Murray, L. cf. L. mcbeanensis Murray, L. cf. L. sur- of Cenozoic ostracodes obtained from 13 wells are re reala Murray, Monoceratina, cf. M. harrisi Stephenson, Ptery- corded in this paper, and a second paper will discuss the gocythereis washingtonensis Swain, n. sp., T.f rukasi (Gooch), Cretaceous species. The only published study on the and T. smithvillensis (Sutton and Williams). North Carolina Cenozoic ostracodes is that by Edwards The upper Eocene rocks, if present in the subsurface of eastern North Carolina, do not contain a distinctive ostracode fauna. (1944), who provided excellent descriptions of the A unit of sandstone, glauconitic shale, and sandy limestone upper Miocene Duplin marl species. McLean (1947) beds totalling as much as 258 feet thick overlying the middle listed several species from the Miocene and Oligocene Eocene in the two deep Esso Standard Oil Co. wells, Dare occurring in a water well at Camp Lejeune, Onslow County, is here referred to the Oligocene or lower Miocene. County, N. C. OSTRACODA FROM WELLS IN NORTH CAROLINA 77° I GATES \-r '-\^ ~N__ -**\ *^ ^ / C.-X /HERTFORD V-M \ * H A L I F A X \ / ____I ..—— .-Jo / A R T I M'X /WASHINGTON /TYRRE \____.__/ H N S T 0 N / CsAMPSONlQ '^s ! X 0 N*S L 0 W 78° 77' ^T FIGURE 1.—Index map of eastern North Carolina showing localities studied. The Cenozoic Foraminifera of surface exposures in lished report deals with several of the water wells North Carolina are better known (Cushman, 1918,1935; involved in the present study. A large collection of Cushman and Cahill, 1933). McLean (1947) and Cush- Foraminifera was obtained from the Hatteras Light man (unpublished report dated April 24, 1946) re-