Owl Creek Type Locality: Late/Upper Maastrichtian, Mississippi

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Coccolithophyceae - Microrhabdulaceae
Lithraphidites quadratus Bramlette and Martini 1964
Coccolithophyceae - Braarudosphaerales - Polycyclolithaceae
Micula murus (Martini 1961)
Micula prinsii Perch-Nielsen 1979
Cephalopoda - Ammonitida - Sphenodiscidae
Sphenodiscus lobatus (Tuomey 1856)
Cephalopoda - Ammonitida - Scaphitidae
Discoscaphites iris Conrad 1858
Discoscaphites minardi Landman et al. 2004
Cephalopoda - Ammonitida - Baculitidae
Baculites sp. Lamarck 1799
Eubaculites carinatus (Morton 1834)
Eubaculites latecarinatus (Brunnschweiler 1966)
Gastropoda - Turritellidae
Turritella tippana Conrad 1858
unclassified
Palynodinium grallator Gocht 1970
Disphaerogena carposphaeropsis Wetzel 1933
see common names

Geography
Country:United States State/province:Mississippi County:Tippah
Coordinates: 34.7° North, 88.9° West (view map)
Paleocoordinates:38.3° North, 66.2° West
Basis of coordinate:stated in text
Geographic resolution:small collection
Time
Period:Cretaceous Epoch:Late/Upper Cretaceous
Stage:Maastrichtian 10 m.y. bin:Cretaceous 8
Key time interval:Late/Upper Maastrichtian Ammonoid zone: Discoscaphites iris
Age range of interval:72.10000 - 66.00000 m.y. ago
Stratigraphy
Formation:Owl Creek
Stratigraphic resolution:formation
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology:gray silty sandstone
Lithology description: "The stream-cut at the type locality of the Owl Creek Formation exposes the sedimentary sequence of the upper Maastrichtian Owl Creek Formation, which is unconformably overlain by the Paleocene Clayton Formation. The Owl Creek Formation is 9.2 m thick and consists of massive to thinly bedded fossiliferous, dark gray micaceous silt to very fine quartz sand with some glauconite. The absence of sedimentary structures,with the exception of thickly laminated beds at 5.2 m and 5.75 m above stream level, suggests extensive bioturbation. Concentrations of articulated and disarticulated molluscan shells with phosphatic nodules (shell beds) are present at 1.5 m and 7.2 m marking flooding surface horizons within the Owl Creek Formation. Fossiliferous pods are scattered throughout the section. These pods are interpreted as large irregular shaped burrows 10-20 cm wide and 15-25 cm high filled with shelly material. The accumulation of abundant shelly debris within the pods could be related to hydro-dynamic transport of material trapped in the depressions created by burrowing organism such as crabs, lobsters or fish (Landman and Klofak, 2012). Two shell stringers are identified in the Owl Creek Formation: a stringer of Discoscaphites dominated by D. iris at 2.2 m and a stringer of Turritella tippana at 4.1 m. Both stringers represent discontinuous lenses. The upper 32 cm of the Owl Creek Formation is thin-bedded, weathered orange micaceous quartz sandy silt topped by a ~5 cm fine-laminated clay bed. The top of the Owl Creek Formation is marked by a sharp, undulating, erosional boundary. The overlying Clayton Formation consists of 5 m of poorly fossiliferous, massive orange fine-grained quartz sand. An indurated bed with rare poorly preserved small bivalves is present at 4.5 m above the formational boundary." (Larina et al. 2016)
Environment:marginal marine indet.
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:body
Size of fossils:macrofossils,mesofossils,microfossils
Collection methods and comments
Collection methods:field collection
Reason for describing collection:biostratigraphic analysis
Museum repositories:AMNH
Taxonomic list comments:Taxon abundances by bed can be found in the original reference
Metadata
Also known as:AMNH Loc. 3460
Database number:205793
Authorizer:A. Dunhill Enterer:B. Allen
Modifier:B. Allen
Created:2019-10-22 08:59:37 Last modified:2019-10-22 09:24:19
Access level:the public Released:2019-10-22 08:59:37
Creative Commons license:CC BY
Reference information

Primary reference:
70564. E. Larina, M. Garb, N. Landman, N. Dastas, N. Thibault, L. Edwards, G. Phillips, R. Rovelli, C. Myers and J. Naujokaityte. 2016. Upper Maastrichtian ammonite biostratigraphy of the Gulf Coastal Plain (Mississippi Embayment, southern USA). Cretaceous Research 60:128-151 [A. Dunhill/B. Allen]