Blockhouse Slide, Gay Head, sample R1280 (Pliocene of the United States)

Where: Dukes County, Massachusetts (41.4° N, 70.8° W: paleocoordinates 41.4° N, 69.9° W)

• coordinate stated in text

When: Pliocene (5.3 - 2.6 Ma)

• Ostracods from the shelly sand are very similar to those from the Yorktown Formation and indicate that the shelly sand is Pliocene or possibly latest Miocene in age. Overlying R1270A (Collection number 231795).

Environment/lithology: marine; fine-grained, coarse, glauconitic, shelly/skeletal, gray, green, argillaceous, silty sandstone

• Interbedded sand, silt and clay, light-greenish-gray, glauconitic, shelly; sand is fine- to coarse-grained.

Size class: microfossils

Preservation: original sporopollenin

Collected by C. A. Kaye; reposited in the USGS

Collection methods: bulk, chemical, hydrochloric, hydroflouric,

• Stored at the U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Va.

Primary reference: N. O. Frederiksen. 1984. Stratigraphic, Paleoclimatic, and Paleobiogeographic Significance of Tertiary Sporomorphs from Massachusetts. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1308:1-35 [P. Jardine/H. Morck/H. Morck]more details

Purpose of describing collection: biostratigraphic analysis

PaleoDB collection 231796: authorized by Phillip Jardine, entered by Hannah Morck on 11.09.2023

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

• Ostracods are present, but not included in the list.
Show authors, comments, and common names
Sphagnum
  - Sphagnaceae
Sphagnum sp.
Sphagnum sp. Linnaeus 1753 peat moss
Lycopodiopsida
 Lycopodiales - Lycopodiaceae
Lycopodium sp.
Lycopodium sp. Linnaeus 1753 ground pine
Dicotyledoneae
 Ericales - Ericaceae
Ericaceae indet.
Ericaceae indet. Jussieu 1789 heather
Angiospermae
 Fagales - Juglandaceae
Carya sp.
Carya sp. Nuttall 1818 hickory
Paleogene type
 Fagales - Betulaceae
Betula sp., Alnus sp.
Betula sp. Linnaeus 1753 birch
Alnus sp. Miller 1754 alder
 Asterales - Asteraceae
"Compositae "short spine"" = Asteraceae
"Compositae "short spine"" = Asteraceae Berchtold and Presl 1820 daisy
 Caryophyllales - Caryophyllaceae
Caryophyllaceae indet.
Caryophyllaceae indet. Jussieu 1789 carnation
occurrence denoted by a question mark
 Poales - Poaceae
"Gramineae indet." = Poaceae
"Gramineae indet." = Poaceae Barnhart 1895 true grass
 Mesangiosperms - Arecaceae
"Palmae indet." = Arecaceae
"Palmae indet." = Arecaceae von Berchtold and Presl 1820 palm
Pinopsida
 Pinales - Pinaceae
Pinus sp., Picea sp.
Pinus sp. Linnaeus 1753 pine
Picea sp. Dietrich 1824 spruce
occurrence denoted by a question mark
Pteridopsida
 Ophioglossales - Ophioglossidae
Botrychium sp.
Botrychium sp. Swartz 1800
occurrence denoted by a question mark
Polypodiopsida
  - Gleicheniaceae
Gleicheniidites sp.
Gleicheniidites sp. Dettmann 1963