CONODONT BIOSTRATIGRAPHY and ... -.: Palaeontologia Polonica
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CONODONT BIOSTRATIGRAPHY AND PALEOECOLOGY OF THE PERTH LIMESTONE MEMBER, STAUNTON FORMATION (PENNSYLVANIAN) OF THE ILLINOIS BASIN, U.S.A. CARl B. REXROAD. lEWIS M. BROWN. JOE DEVERA. and REBECCA J. SUMAN Rexroad , c.. Brown . L.. Devera, 1.. and Suman, R. 1998. Conodont biostrati graph y and paleoec ology of the Perth Limestone Member. Staunt on Form ation (Pennsy lvanian) of the Illinois Basin. U.S.A. Ill: H. Szaniawski (ed .), Proceedings of the Sixth European Conodont Symposium (ECOS VI). - Palaeont ologia Polonica, 58 . 247-259. Th e Perth Limestone Member of the Staunton Formation in the southeastern part of the Illinois Basin co nsists ofargill aceous limestone s that are in a facies relati on ship with shales and sandstones that commonly are ca lcareous and fossiliferous. Th e Perth conodo nts are do minated by Idiognathodus incurvus. Hindeodus minutus and Neognathodu s bothrops eac h comprises slightly less than 10% of the fauna. Th e other spec ies are minor consti tuents. The Perth is ass igned to the Neog nathodus bothrops- N. bassleri Sub zon e of the N. bothrops Zo ne. but we were unable to co nfirm its assignment to earliest Desmoin esian as oppose d to latest Atokan. Co nodo nt biofacies associations of the Perth refle ct a shallow near- shore marine environment of generally low to moderate energy. but locali zed areas are more variable. particul ar ly in regard to salinity. K e y w o r d s : Co nodo nta. biozonation. paleoecology. Desmoinesian , Penn sylvanian. Illinois Basin. U.S.A. Ca rl B. Rexroad /[email protected]!u/. Indiana Geologica l Survey. 6 11 No rth w alnut Grove, Bloomi ngton, IN 4 7405. U SA . Lewis M. Brown, Department ofGeology. Lake Superior Sta te Uni versi ty. Sa ult Ste. Marie, MI49783 U SA Joe Deveru. Department ofGeological Sciences. S0 ll1 11em lllin ois University, Carbondale, 11... 62901 U SA . Rebecca 1. Suman, Department ofGeolo gy, Lake Sup erior Stat e University, Sault Ste. Ma rie, MI49783 USA Rece ived IS January 1l)'J7. acce pted 15 Sep tem ber )l)lJ7 248 eARL B. REXR OAD ET AL. INTRODUCTION Study of conodonts from the Perth Limestone Member of the Staunton Formation in the eastern and southern part s of the Illinois Basin is part of our ongoing project on Desmoinesian conodont biostrati graphy in the Illinois Basin . One part of the overall study involves collecting individual marine units over broad areas; the other component is sampling long core s to pro vide vertical continuity that can be problematic in working with limestones that are only presumed to be more or less contemporaneous and more or less continuous in lateral extent. In total we emphasize interpreting the vagaries of paleoenviron ment and co mpiling a local biostratigraphic zonation in the Illinois Basin to pro vide a reference for compariso n with other areas in North Am eric a and ultimately the world. Our study of the Perth is part of the first component (Fig. I). 50 Miles I 50 Km Fig. I Map showing collecting localities for the Perth Limestone Member (numbered) and the type sections of the Mitchellsville Limestone Bed (M) and the "Boskydell Sandstone" (Bd). Precise locations are given in the Appendix . PERTH CONODONTS 249 Ac knowledgments. - We particular ly want to thank David WILLlAMS of the Kentucky Geological Survey for taking us to the Curlew section in Kentucky. Thanks are also due to Glen K. MERRILL, University of Ho uston - Downtown, and Rodney D. NORBY, Illinois State Geological Survey, for critically reading the manuscript and providing helpful comments. Finally, we appreciate the kindness of the landowners who allowed us to collect samples on their property. All specimens are housed in the Indiana Geo logical Survey-Indiana University Repository curated by Alan S. HOROWITZ. GEOL OGY At the type section the Perth (locality 2, Figs 1, 2) consists of a gray, argillaceous, and fossiliferous limestone 2.0 m thick that contains a 0.5 m thick medial band of chert and additional scattered chert in the upper part. The Perth varies considerably in lithologic character and is reported to range up to 5.8 ill thick (HUTCH ISON 1986), but 3.7 m is the thickest section we co llec ted . In Indiana the Perth was assigned to the Desmoinesian on the basis of ostracodes (SHAVER and SMITH 1974); palynological and fusulind data, however, suggest a late Atokan age (PEPPERS 1996). An unnamed limestone in southern Illinois overlying the Oldtown Coal Bed of the Tradewater Formation approximately in the Perth posi tion also is considered to be Atokan (Fig. 3). c -: I (I I ~ c \ I I 6 ( I I tr- r-- I I I 6 I I I ( I I ( I I 1- I - 4 ( II ---- ------ - 5 I I ---- - ( ----- - l-r- II --- -- I- 5 ------ ( II f--- I - -- -- 4 I- I. - I _-.1.-_-_-_- .J..- l-r- 4 -- - -- l I I _ .1. ____.- .l. I· I 3 3 I I I - _ - ..l.- ___-.- - .L - 3 ------- ( I I - ------ 2 I II ( I 4 I I r II 2 ( I II 2 I II ( I I cl II f- 1 ----- ----- coa I - - ----- ---- 3 1 1 ------ ----- - ---------- - - 1 ------- ------------- )- ----- - -- -- - 2 - -- --- - - ------ 4 ~ .--Y_ 1 2 3 5 ft c=covered interval 1= inaccess ible c 1 m 3 2 ° ° 1 69 .3 C C 2 70.6 ~ L M B 1 5 8 M 7 Fig. 2 Columnar sections showing generalized lithologies and sample intervals (numbers and letters on right side of each column) for the Perth Limestone Member (numbered) and the Mitchellsville Limestone Bed (M). 250 CARL B. REXROAD ETAI.. INDIANA ---r-WESTERN KENTUCK Y SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 11 This report I Peppers , 1996 Nelson , et al. 1991 ---- -+- .----"--"---'------- --- Cl) w Holland Ls. Mbr. er: - w Cl) C Z 0 I Mitchellsville Ls. Bed « .~ enw E Cs c I Z LL .2 i f ~ id' ~B~_ 1 6 C l iii ~ 0 E Cl) c o I ~ w =' LL I -- I ell - 0 li3 li3 Delwood Coal Bed CJ5 iii ~ ~ <ll "tJ - Lewisport "tJ ~ Curlew ~ Perth Ls. Mbr. Ls. Mbr. Unnamed limestone I- Ls. Mbr. I- Buffaloville Lewisport z E Minshal.1 Coal Mbr. - Mining City / ( -~coal= ;2 u.. Coal Mbr. Manninglon coal OId1own Coal Bed J I - -- o 'N ~ JS Fig. 3 Stratigraphic nomenclature of part of the Atokan and Desmoinesiun Series in Indiana. Kentucky. and Illinois in the southern part of the Illinois Basin. Corre lations are only approximate. Th e Perth lies varia bly from abo ut 0.1 to 4.9 m above the Atokan Min shall Coal Member of the Brazil Formation in west-ce ntra l Indiana. but in the so uthern part of the state it is above the Buffaloville Coal Mem ber of the Brazil Format ion (Fig. 3). Gray shale or gray shale and black shale ge nerally interve ne. Wh ere ca rbonates are absent. gray shale or fine- to medium-grained. gray to brown sands tone occupies the Perth position . We interpret the Perth. like most Pennsylvanian carbonate unit s in this part of the Illinois Basin . to be very thin discontinuou s lenses representing only approx ima tely the same stratigraphic positi on . In adjacent Kentucky the Cur lew Lim estone Member of the Tradcwater Formati on is co nside red to be equiva lent to the Perth. and in so uthern Illinois an unn am ed lim estone is in the positi on of the Perth and Curlew. A yo unger limestone in Illin ois was ca lled Curlew. but becau se of the di fferen ce in stratigraphic positi on. it was nam ed the Mit ch ell svill e Lim eston e Bed of the Tradewater Formati on (NELSO N et al . 199 1). It is near the base of the Desmoinesian. We co llected the type sec tion of the M itch ell svi lie and fou nd that the co nodo nts. like the ot her fossils. indicated an age younge r than the Perth and C urlew. Th e term Curlew. while still used in western Kentucky. has been abandoned in Illinois bec au se of the confusion with the yo unge r Mit chel lsvil le Lim eston e Bed. Pa lyn ological data (PEPPE RS 1996) ag ree that in northern Ill inois the Sevill e Limestone Member of the Tradew ater Formation is equiva lent to the Perth and Curlew. Th e Seville is also mark ed by lateral di scontinuity (MERR ILL and KING 1971 ; MERRI LL 1975). Th e Perth-Curlew-Sevill e interva l also includes a spo radic but widespread fossiliferou s marine sa nd sto ne that co ntains we ll-preserved ichnofossil assemblages in so uthe rn Illino is. Fossil spo res rec overed from the New Burnside Coal Bed above and the Oldtown Coal Bed below a foss ilife rous sa nds to ne near Bosk yd ell. Illino is (F ig. I). brack et thi s sa nds to ne within the Perth inter val (Fig. 3) (PEPPERS 199 3). It is important to note that the "B osk ydell Sandstone" is no lon ger used as a formal stratigraphic name. There are multiple "B osk ydell Sand ston e" inter vals co nta ining marine fossils and marine tra ce-fossil indi cators that have rendered the nam e useless du e to over-applica tion. In addition to the Mitchellsvill e typ e sec tion. samples were coll ected fro m ten sec tions in Indiana and one each in Kentucky and Illinois (Figs I.