Petruny MS Thesis TDP Site 27 (Paleocene of Tanzania)

Where: Lindi, Tanzania (10.0° S, 39.7° E: paleocoordinates 21.8° S, 31.3° E)

• coordinate stated in text

When: P3a foram zone, Kivinje Formation (Kilwa Group), Selandian (61.6 - 59.2 Ma)

• formation-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: offshore; lithified limestone

• The upper 5.7 m of this site (cores TDP27/1–4) show grayish

•orange, weathered limestones, with macrofossil fragments (e.g.,

•bivalves and corals) that become more abundant down core

•(Figs. 2 and 3a). Cores TDP27/5–6 (from 8 to 10 m) yield brecciated

•limestones, with angular clasts (up to 10 cm across) and occasional

•carbonaceous smears in a dark orange, lithified, sandy matrix. A

•0.8-cm-thick, soft, olive gray claystone layer (Figs. 2 and 3b)

•overlies 2.8-cm-thick, gray, calcareous sandstone beds (from 10.8

•to 13.6 m) that include fossiliferous (e.g., gastropods and corals)

•limestone clasts (cores TDP27/7–9) (Figs. 2 and 3c). Claystone

•interbeds occur within this interval. From 14 m to the bottom of

•the hole (cores TDP27/10–14), the dominant lithologies are olive

•gray, bioturbated, sandy limestones (Figs. 2 and 3d) that showdispersed shell debris and become finer-grained and more clayrich

•towards the bottom.

•Highly bioclastic packstone–grainstone fabrics are visible in

•thin-sections of cores TDP27/1 and 6. The bioclasts correspond to

•coralline encrusting red algae, dasyclad green algae, recrystallised

•corals, Paleocene peyssonellid encrusting algae, and benthic and

•planktonic foraminifera (Fig. 3e), together with quartz grains. The

•presence of dasyclad green algae suggests a depositional setting

•of <30 m water depth. Thin-sections of cores TDP27/11, 13 and

•14 show wackestone–packstone textures and a lower percentage

•of bioclasts, which mainly consist of benthic and planktonic foraminifera

•(Fig. 3f) and sporadic occurrences of ostracods and red algae.

•This assemblage may indicate a slightly deeper depositional

•setting.

Size class: microfossils

Preservation: original calcite, replaced with calcite

Collected by Tanzania Drilling Project Expedition in 2008; reposited in the UNSM

Collection methods: bulk, core, smear slide,

Primary reference: À J. Berrocoso, B. T. Huber, K. G. MacLeod, M. R. Petrizzo, J. A. Lees, I. Wendler, H. Coxall, A. K. Mweneinda, F. Falzoni, H. Birch, J. M. Singano, S. Haynes, L. Cotton, J. Wendler, P. R. Bown, S. A. Robinson, and J. Gould. 2012. Lithostratigraphy, biostratigraphy and chemostratigraphy of Upper Cretaceous and Paleogene sediments from southern Tanzania: Tanzania Drilling Project Sites 27-35. Journal of African Earth Sciences 70:36-57 [M. Uhen/L. Petruny]more details

Purpose of describing collection: biostratigraphic analysis

PaleoDB collection 179310: authorized by Mark Uhen, entered by Loren Petruny on 11.06.2016

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

unclassified
  -
Coccolithophyceae
 Discoasterales - Fasciculithaceae
Fasciculithus spp. Bramlette and Sullivan 1961
 Braarudosphaerales - Polycyclolithaceae
Micula spp. Vekshina 1959 coccolithophore
 Isochrysidales - Prinsiaceae
Prinsius spp. Hay and Mohler 1967
  -
 Eiffellithales - Eiffellithaceae
Eiffellithus spp. Reinhardt 1965
 Eiffellithales - Chiastozygaceae
Zeugrhabdotus sigmoides Bramlette and Sullivan 1961
 Prymnesiophycidae - Prymnesiophycidae
 Watznaueriales - Watznaueriaceae
Watznaueria spp. Reinhardt 1964
 Syracosphaerales - Calciosoleniaceae
  -
Sphenolithus spp. Deflandre 1952
 Podorhabdales - Cretarhabdaceae
Retecapsa spp. Black 1971
 Coccolithales - Coccolithaceae
Ericsonia spp. Black 1964
Umbilicosphaera
  -
Foraminifera
 Globigerinoidea - Globigerinidae
"Parasubbotina varianta" = Globigerina varianta Subbotina 1953
Globothalamea
 Rotaliida - Cancrisidae
Gyroidinoides sp. Reiss 1963
 Rotaliida - Anomalinidae
Anomalinoides sp. Brotzen 1942
 Rotaliida - Cibicididae
Foraminifera
 Globigerinina - Hedbergellidae
 Globigerinina - Truncorotaloididae
Nodosariata
 Vaginulinida - Vaginulinidae
Neoflabellina sp. Bartenstein 1948
Lenticulina sp. Lamarck 1804
 Nodosariida - Nodosariidae
Toweius
  - Coccolithacea
Toweius spp. Hay and Mohler 1973
Toweius eminens
  - Coccolithacea
Toweius eminens Bramlette and Sullivan 1961