Position of the Upper Devonian Frasnian--Famennian boundary in the central Appalachians
- Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC (United States). Dept. of Geology
Biostratigraphic analysis of eight Upper Devonian sections in VA and WV reveals that the section at Huttonsville, Randolph County, WV, is a key locality for determining the Frasnian-Famennian boundary. The Foreknobs Formation at Huttonsville indicates a higher stratigraphic placement of the Frasnian-Famennian boundary than has been generally assumed. Conodonts are not known within that section, so placement of the boundary uses the last occurrence of tentaculitids and the last and first occurrences of several species of brachiopods. It is believed that the Frasnian-Famennian boundary can be identified independently of the atrypoid brachiopods. Stratigraphic ranges of the cricoconarid Tentaculites discusses and the brachiopod Tropidoleptus carinatus, both considered Frasnian marker fossils, indicate that the Frasnian extends well into the Red Lick Member of the Foreknobs Formation at Huttonsville, with T. carinatus occurring up to 70% of the stratigraphic thickness of the Red Lick. The Famennian marker fossils A. angelica and C. sulcifer are both found at Huttonsville above the last recorded occurrence of all the Frasnian marker fossils. To the northeast of Huttonsville the Frasnian-Famennian series boundary has been placed by other workers within or at the top of the Pound Member of the Foreknobs Formation. This discrepancy implies that either the Pound Member is diachronous or that to the northeast paleoecologic factors caused local disappearances of critical fossils before their extinction at Huttonsville.
- OSTI ID:
- 5688797
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-921058-; CODEN: GAAPBC
- Journal Information:
- Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States), Vol. 24:7; Conference: 1992 annual meeting of the Geological Society of America (GSA), Cincinnati, OH (United States), 26-29 Oct 1992; ISSN 0016-7592
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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The Frasnian-Famennian boundary (Upper Devonian) in black shale sequences: US Southern Midcontinent, Illinois Basin, and northern Appalachian Basin
Frasnian-Famennian boundary near Jasper, Alberta, Canada
Related Subjects
APPALACHIAN BASIN
STRATIGRAPHY
VIRGINIA
WEST VIRGINIA
BIOLOGICAL EXTINCTION
BIOLOGICAL INDICATORS
BOUNDARY CONDITIONS
DEVONIAN PERIOD
FOSSILS
PALEONTOLOGY
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOLOGY
NORTH AMERICA
PALEOZOIC ERA
SEDIMENTARY BASINS
USA
580000* - Geosciences