A Revision of the Lithostratigraphic Units of the Coastal Plain of Georgia THE OLIGOCENE Paul F. Huddleston DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION DIVISION GEORGIA GEOLOGIC SURVEY I BULLETIN 105 Cover photo: Seventy feet of Bridgeboro Limestone exposed at the the type locality in the southern-most pit of the Bridgeboro Lime and Stone Company, 6.5 miles west-southwest of the community of Bridgeboro, south of Georgia 112, Mitchell County. A Revision of the Lithostratigraphic Units of the Coastal Plain of Georgia THE OLIGOCENE Paul F. Huddlestun ·Georgia Department of Natural Resources Joe D. Tanner, Commissioner Environmental Protection Division Harold F. Reheis, Director Georgia Geologic Survey William H. McLemore, State Geologist Atlanta 1993 BULLETIN 105 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ............................................................................................................................................... v ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................................................................ 1 ACKN"OWLEIJGMENTS ................................................................................................................................................. 1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................. :.............................. 2 Methods ........................................... ,.................................................................................................................... 2 Oligocene Correlation Problems ....................................................................................................................... 12 LITHOSTRATIGRAPHY ................................................................................................................................................... 15 Eastern Gulf of Mexico Stratigraphic Association ......................................................................................... 15 Vicksburg Group .................................................................................................................................... 15 Marianna Limestone .............................................................................................................. 16 Glendon Limestone ............................................................................................................... 20 Shellstone Creek beds ............................................................................................................................. 21 Undifferentiated residuum .................................................................................................................. 25 Gulf Trough Stratigraphic Association ............................................................................................................ 28 C>chlockonee Formation ....................................................................................................................... 28 Pridgen Limestone Member ................................................................................................. 35 Wolf Pit Dolostone ........................................................................... ~ ..................................................... 41 Okapilco Limestone .............................................................................................................................. 44 Bridgeboro Limestone .......................................................................................................................... 46 Florala Limestone Member ................................................................................................... 55 Florida Bank Stratigraphic Association ........................................................................................................... 61 Ellaville Limestone ................................................................................................................................ 61 Suwannacoochee Dolostone .............................................. ~ ................................................................. 67 Suwannee Limestone ............................................................................................................................ 70 · Atlantic Continental Shelf Stratigraphic Association ............................................................................................................................................. 77 Lazaretto Creek Formation ................................................................................................... 77 Cooper Formation ......................... :........................................................................................ 82 Stratigraphic Association of Uncertain Affinities ............................................................................................................................. 86 Undifferentiated calcareous sand and sandy limestone ...................................................................................................... 86 DISCUSSION ..................................................................................................................................................................... 88 Primary Structural Elements ............................................................................................................................ 88 Florida Platform ........................................................................ ~ ........................................................... 88 South Georgia rift .................................................................................................................................. 88 Piedmont Slope ...................................................................................................................................... 91 Peninsular Arch ..................................................................................................................................... 91 Constructional features of sedimentary origin ............................................... :.............................................. 94 Georgia Channel System ...................................................................................................................... 94 Southeast Georgia Embayment ........................................................................................................... 98 Beaufort Arch .................................. ,...................................................................................................... 98 C>cala Arch ............................................................................................................................................ 100 Hypothetical Structure ..................................................................................................................................... 100 Chattahoochee Arch ........................................................................................................................... 100 Barwick Arch ....................................................................................................................................... 101 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS (CONT.) Page Faults .................................................................................................................................................................. 102 Paleogeographic Elements ........................................................................................................................................... 103 Florida Bank ....................................................................................................................................................... 103 Suwannee Strait ............................................................................................................................................... 106 Atlantic Continental Shelf .............................................................................................................................. 110 Suwannee Current .......................................................................................................................................................... 110 Oligocene Faunal Provinces ........................................................................................................ , ................................. 112 Eocene/Oligocene Boundary ........................................................................................................................................ 116 Correlation of Oligocene Stratigraphic Units, Sequence Stratigraphy, and Paleogeography Across Georgia and Northern Florida .......................................................................................................... 116 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 116 Depositional History ......................................................................................................................... 119 Bumpnose-Red Bluff-Forest Hill depositional sequence .......................................................................................... 120 Post-Bumpnose-Red Bluff hiatus ..................................................................................... 122 Ellaville-Glendon-Marianna-