UCMP A3695, Marrowstone Island (Oligocene of the United States)

Where: Jefferson County, Washington (48.1° N, 122.7° W: paleocoordinates 47.7° N, 111.9° W)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Marrowstone Formation, Rupelian (33.9 - 28.1 Ma)

• "Turritella porterensis zone of Marrowstone shale (middle Oligocene)." Map in Armentrout & Berta (1977) places this site in the Marrowstone Formation. On the basis of magnetostratigraphy, Prothero et al. (2009) assigned the Marrowstone to the earliest Oligocene (Chron C13n) and placed the Eocene-Oligocene boundary in the underlying Quimper Formation. Armentrout & Berta (1977) assigned an upper Refugian age on the basis of benthic foraminifera and correlated it with the early Oligocene.

• group of beds-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: deep-water; lithified, silty shale

• Rauch (1985) found hummocky cross-stratification in the lower part of the underlying Quimper Formation and placed the lower Marrowstone Formation in his silty shale facies, representing outer shelf/offshore environments. However, Armentrout (1980) argued that the succession was characteristic of submarine fan deposition and that the paleoecology of foraminiferal assemblages from interbedded shales suggests upper bathyal (200 to 1,200 m) water depths or "sublittoral to upper bathyal deposition" in Armentrout & Berta (1977). Hickman (1984) mentions the Marrowstone as having a "deep-water" molluscan fauna. The lower Quimper is definitely offshore transition, but the extent of transgression above is uncertain. Rauch (1985) infers high sedimentation rates from the rarity of bioturbation and the presence of sandstone dikes in the Marrowstone, which sounds more consistent with a slope environment, in agreement with the faunal evidence.
• Lithified on the basis of field photos in Rauch (1985). Silty shale facies, containing some sandy beds.

Size class: macrofossils

Collected by J. Wyatt Durham; reposited in the UCMP

Primary reference: A. K. Miller and H. R. Downs. 1950. Tertiary nautiloids of the Americas: supplement. Journal of Paleontology 24:1-18 [M. Clapham/M. Clapham]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 180419: authorized by Matthew Clapham, entered by Matthew Clapham on 16.07.2016, edited by Mark Uhen

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Cephalopoda
 Nautilida - Aturiidae
Aturia cf. grandior Schenck 1931 nautiloid
Aturia angustata1 Conrad 1849 nautiloid
subspecies grandior
Gastropoda
 Seguenzioidea - Eucyclidae
"Turcicula arnoldi n. sp." = Bathybembix arnoldi1
"Turcicula arnoldi n. sp." = Bathybembix arnoldi1 Durham 1944 snail
 Opisthobranchia - Cylichnidae
Scaphander washingtonensis1 Tegland 1933 snail
 Cerithioidea - Turritellidae
Turritella porterensis1 Weaver 1912 turret shell
 Sorbeoconcha - Naticidae
"Polinices lincolnensis" = Natica lincolnensis1, Sinum obliquum1
"Polinices lincolnensis" = Natica lincolnensis1 Weaver 1916 moon snail
Sinum obliquum1 Gabb 1864 moon snail
 Neogastropoda - Siphonaliidae
"Bruclarkia columbianum" = Bruclarkia columbiana1
"Bruclarkia columbianum" = Bruclarkia columbiana1 Anderson and Martin 1914 snail
 Neogastropoda - Perissityidae
? Nekewis scowensis n. sp.1 Durham 1944 snail
 Neogastropoda - Cochlespiridae
"Irenosyrinx marowstonensis n. sp." = Aforia1
"Irenosyrinx marowstonensis n. sp." = Aforia1 aforia
 Neogastropoda - Turridae
"Irenosyrinx marrowstonensis n. sp." = Turrinosyrinx marrowstonensis1 Durham 1944 turrid
Surculites "sp. A"1 Conrad 1865 turrid
Acamptogenotia (Surculites) sp.2 Rovereto 1899 turrid
Bivalvia
 Nuculanida - Nuculanidae
Nuculana sp.1 Link 1807 pointed nut clam
 Solemyida - Solemyidae
Solemya dalli1 Clark 1925 Awning Clam
 Pectinida - Pectinoidae
"Palliolum vanwinkleae" = Pecten vanwinkleae1
"Palliolum vanwinkleae" = Pecten vanwinkleae1 Clark 1925 scallop
 Poromyida - Cuspidariidae
Cuspidaria "sp. B"1 Dall 1886 clam
 Lucinida - Lucinidae
"? Lucina acutilineata" = Lucinoma acutilineata1
"? Lucina acutilineata" = Lucinoma acutilineata1 Conrad 1849 clam
 Carditida - Carditidae
"Venericardia hannibali" = Cyclocardia (Cyclocardia) hannibali1
"Venericardia hannibali" = Cyclocardia (Cyclocardia) hannibali1 Clark 1925 clam