Biostratigraphy and paleoecologic tolerances of Oligocene through Paleocene foraminiferal assemblages of the Gulf Coast Basin
- Applied Biostratigraphix, Houston, TX (United States)
Operationally oriented biostratigraphic and paleoecologic models are developed for Paleocene, Eocene, and Oligocene foraminifera of the Gulf Coast Basin. This paper is a companion to Breard et al. (1993), which describes models of significant paleoecologic and biostratigraphic foraminifera of the Miocene through Pleistocene of this region. Key benthic paleoenvironmental markers for particular depth zones of the Paleogene are graphically presented with updated biostratigraphic charts. Estimates of environment ranges for optimal stratigraphic utility are listed for all marker species on the biostratigraphic charts. Species depth ranges on the two biostratigraphic charts are for their zones of optimum stratigraphic utility. It is also possible to find deeper water species ranging into shallower zones in the lower bathyal to abyssal zones of the Eocene and Paleocene, where species considered characteristic of these zones range above those environments. Because relatively few wells have penetrated such deep environments in the Eocene and Paleocene, we have relied on the literature for Paleogene deep-water sections of Mexico and Trinidad to supplement our list of environmentally important species. Published material on foraminifera from deep-water Eocene and Paleocene sections penetrated in oil and gas exploration wells is almost nonexistent. Combination of data from this paper with that of Breard et al.(1993) will allow explorationists to estimate environmental tolerances for the entire Gulf Coast Cenozoic biostratigraphic column. This should serve as a predictive tool for foraminiferal studies useful in the exploration and production of oil and gas for the post-Mesozoic strata of the Gulf Coast basin and beyond.
- OSTI ID:
- 45186
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-941065--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Paleoecologic and biostratigraphic models for pleistocene through miocene foraminiferal assemblages of the Gulf Coast Basin
Foraminiferal biostratigraphy and paleoecology of Wilcox group (Paleocene-Eocene), central Louisiana