PPP# 485 - Cativa [lower Gatun Fm] (Miocene of Panama)

Also known as NMB Loc. 17866

Where: Colon, Panama (9.4° N, 79.9° W: paleocoordinates 9.1° N, 78.5° W)

• coordinate stated in text

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: lower Gatun Member (Gatun Formation), Tortonian (11.6 - 7.2 Ma)

• STRATIGRAPHIC RELATIONS: The Gatun Fm rests unconformably on formations of different ages in different parts of the Panama Canal Basin. To the east of Colon, the Gatun Fm rests nonconformably on unamed Cretaceous volcanics. To the west of Colon, including several islands in Lake Gatun, the Gatun Fm rests with angular unconformity on the upper Oligocene Caimito Fm. BIOSTRATIGRAPHY: The Middle Gatun Fm is early Late Miocene (8.8-8.3 MA) according to Collins et al. (1999). Local section name: Sabanita to Payardi. AGE: Tortonian based on more recent dating (Hendy, 2012). Sr dating for nearby sections indicates an age of approximately 11.3 Ma (Hendy, unpublished data).

• bed-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: coastal; unlithified, bioturbated siltstone and unlithified, bioturbated siltstone

• ENVIRONMENT: from Collins et al. (1999), open, inner neritic.
• GENERAL LITHOLOGY: From Collins et al. (1999), the Middle Gatun Fm consists of alternating siltstone and sandstone with occasional 4-5 m units of interbedded sandstone and conglomerate. Pervasive bioturbation is extensive. LITHIFICATION: lithification data not reported, but assumed to be unlithified based on observation of specimens in Woodring (1957-1982).

Size class: macrofossils

Reposited in the NMB

Collection methods: bulk, sieve,

• COLLECTORS: unknown (PPP staff) collected on 6/12/88. REPOSITORIES: Naturhistorisches Museum Basel (NMB),

Primary reference: L. S. Collins and A. G. Coates. 1999. A paleobiotic survey of Caribbean faunas from the Neogene of the Isthmus of Panama. Bulletins of American Paleontology (357) [A. Miller/A. Hendy/A. Hendy]more details

Purpose of describing collection: paleoecologic analysis

PaleoDB collection 79987: authorized by Austin Hendy, entered by Kate Bulinski on 31.03.2008

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

• COVERAGE: Exhaustive for gastropoda, bivalvia and scaphopoda. NOMENCLATURE: modern nomenclature, though only identified to subgenus resolution.
Gastropoda
 Neogastropoda - Olividae
Oliva (Oliva) sp. Bruguière 1789 olive snail
 Cerithioidea - Turritellidae
Turritella sp. Lamarck 1799 turret shell
Bivalvia
 Arcida - Arcidae
Anadara (Rasia) sp. Gray 1857 ark
 Pectinida - Pectinoidae
Amusium sp. Röding 1798 scallop
Aequipecten sp. Fischer 1886 scallop
 Ostreida - Ostreidae
Ostreola sp. Monterosato 1884 oyster
 Mytilida - Mytilidae
? Septifer sp. Récluz 1848 mussel
 Pholadida - Teredinidae
Teredo sp. Linnaeus 1758 clam
 Cardiida - Veneridae
Dosinia sp. Scopoli 1777 venus clam
Clementia sp. Gray 1847 venus clam
 Cardiida - Tellinidae
Psammacoma (Psammacoma) sp. Dall 1900 tellin clam