Allison R. Palmer

The Decade of North American Geology 1983 Geologic Time Scale

Preparation of the 27 synthesis volumes of The Geology of North America for the Decade of North American Geology (DNAG) is now in progress. In order to encourage uniformity among DNAG authors in the citation of numerical ages for chronostratigraphic units of the geologic time scale, an ad hoc Time Scale Advisory Committee was established by the DNAG Steering Committee in 1982. This advisory committee, consisting of Z. E. Peterman (Chairman) and J. E. Harrison, U.S. Geological Survey; R. L. Armstrong, University of British Columbia; and W. A. Berggren, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, was asked to evaluate numerical dating schemes that were either recently published or in press and to provide recommendations for the best numbers to use in preparation of a DNAG time scale. The chart on the opposite side of this page was developed from the recommendations of the Time Scale Advisory Committee.

Confirmation of the Carolina Slate Belt as an Exotic Terrane

An assemblage of Middle Cambrian Atlantic faunal province trilobites has been found in the rocks of the Carolina slate belt near Batesburg, South Carolina. Geologic and paleomagnetic data suggest that the Carolina slate belt and the adjacent Charlotte belt constitute an exotic terrane that was accreted to North America in early to middle Paleozoic time.

The Late Cambrian SPICE (δ13C) event and the Sauk II-Sauk III regression: new evidence from Laurentian basins in Utah, Iowa, and Newfoundland

Carbon isotope data from Upper Cambrian sections in three Laurentian basins in northern Utah, central Iowa, and western Newfoundland record a large positive d 13 C excursion (SPICE event) of up to 1 5‰. Peak d 13 C ratios are well dated by trilobite collections to the middle of the Steptoean Stage (Dunderbergia Zone) and occur during maximum regression associated with formation of the Sauk II- Sauk III subsequence boundary on the North American craton. Max- imum regression was marked by an influx of quartz sand into carbon- ate-platform settings in all three widely separated basins. In northern Utah, this quartz sand formed a thick sequence known as the Worm Creek Quartzite, which marks a conspicuous interruption of carbonate deposition during the Middle to Late Cambrian in the region. In west- ern Newfoundland, the thickness of the quartz sand unit is much re- duced but still marks a brief shutdown of the carbonate factory that is unique to the Cambrian shelf succession of the area. In the central Iowa area of the cratonic interior, an upward-shallowing carbonate succession culminates in cross-stratified trilobite grainstones at the peak of the SPICE in Dunderbergia Zone time, and the lowest point on the relative-sea-level curve is associated with the occurrence of coarse quartz sand derived from the encroaching shoreface. Although it is difficult to determine precisely the departure from baseline d 13 C that marks the beginning of the SPICE excursion in the stratigraphic successions analyzed, our results are consistent with a rise and subsequent fall in d 13 C tracking a major regressive-transgressive event recorded across northern Laurentia. The correlation of a major d 13 C excursion with regression is similar to that described for the Late Ordovician, for which the pattern has been attributed to either in- creased carbonate relative to terrigenous weathering rates as ice sheets covered up organic-matter-containing silicates at high latitudes or high productivity and organic-carbon burial driven by oceanic overturn. The lack of known Steptoean-age ice sheets that could have affected the ratio of carbonate to silicate weathering rates suggests that organic- carbon burial was the likely cause of the SPICE event. We suggest that increased weathering and erosion rates during relative sea-level fall (Sauk II-III) increased the burial fraction of organic carbon in an expanded region of fine-grained siliciclastic deposits in shelf and upper slope environments during the Steptoean.

High-resolution sequence stratigraphy of lower Paleozoic sheet sandstones in central North America: The role of special conditions of cratonic interiors in development of stratal architecture

Well-known difficulties in applying sequence stratigraphic concepts to deposits that accumulated across slowly subsiding cratonic interior regions have limited our ability to interpret the history of continental-scale tectonism, oceanographic dynamics of epeiric seas, and eustasy. We used a multi-disciplinary approach to construct a high-resolution stratigraphic framework for lower Paleozoic strata in the cratonic interior of North America. Within this framework, these strata proved readily amenable to modern sequence stratigraphic techniques that were formulated based on successions along passive margins and in foreland basins, settings markedly different from the cratonic interior. Parasequences, parasequence stacking patterns, systems tracts, maximum flooding intervals, and sequence-bounding unconformities can be confidently recognized in the cratonic interior using mostly standard criteria for identification. The similarity of cratonic interior and foreland basin successions in size, geometry, constituent facies, and local stacking patterns of nearshore parasequences is especially striking. This similarity indicates that the fundamental processes that establish shoreface morphology and determine the stratal expression of retreat and progradation were likewise generally the same, despite marked differences in tectonism, physiography, and bathymetry between the two settings. Our results do not support the widespread perception that Paleozoic cratonic interior successions are so anomalous in stratal geometries, and constitute such a poor record of time, that they are poorly suited for modern sequence stratigraphic analyses. The particular arrangement of stratal elements in the cratonic interior succession we studied is no more anomalous or enigmatic than the variability in architecture that sets all sedimentary successions apart from one another. Thus, Paleozoic strata of the cratonic interior are most appropriately considered as a package that belongs in a continuum of variable stratigraphic packages reflecting variable controls such as subsidence and shelf physiography. Special conditions of exceptionally slow subsidence rate, shallow bathymetry, and nearly flat regional shelf gradient are manifest mostly by the presence of individual systems tracts of relatively long duration that extend for much greater distances across depositional strike than those that characterize successions deposited in more dynamic tectonic and physiographic settings. These results suggest that if other cratonic interior successions are as anomalous as reported, a low sediment supply may have played a primary role in development of their apparently condensed stratal architecture. The results also lead us to suggest that a nonvegetated lower Paleozoic landscape played a relatively insignificant role in the development of what are commonly perceived to be enigmatic stratigraphic features of sheet sandstones, particularly their widespread yet thin geometry, and a scarcity of shale and siltstone.

Origin of a classic cratonic sheet sandstone: Stratigraphy across the Sauk II–Sauk III boundary in the Upper Mississippi Valley

The origin of cratonic sheet sandstones of Proterozoic and early Paleozoic age has been a long-standing problem for sedimentologists. Lower Paleozoic strata in the Upper Mississippi Valley are best known for several such sandstone bodies, the regional depositional histories of which are poorly understood. We have combined outcrop and subsurface data from six states to place the Upper Cambrian Wonewoc (Ironton and Galesville) Sandstone in a well-constrained stratigraphic framework across thousands of square kilometers. This framework makes it possible for the first time to construct a regional-scale depositional model that explains the origin of this and other cratonic sheet sandstones. The Wonewoc Sandstone, although mapped as a single contiguous sheet, is a stratigraphically complex unit that was deposited during three distinct conditions of relative sea level that span parts of four trilobite zones. During a relative highstand of sea level in Crepicephalus Zone time, quartzose sandstone lithofacies aggraded more or less vertically in nearshore-marine and terrestrial environments across much of the present-day outcrop belt around the Wisconsin arch. At the same time, finer grained, feldspathic sandstone, siltstone, and shale aggraded in deeper water immediately seaward of the quartzose sand, and shale and carbonate sediment accumulated in the most distal areas. During Aphelaspis and Dunderbergia Zones time a relative fall in sea level led to the dispersal of quartzose sand into a basinward-tapering, sheet-like body across much of the Upper Mississippi Valley. During early Elvinia Zone time a major transgression led to deposition of a second sheet sandstone that is generally similar to the underlying regressive sheet. The results of this investigation also demonstrate how subtle sequence-bounding unconformities may be recognized in mature, cratonic siliciclastics. We place the Sauk II-Sauk III subsequence boundary at the base of the coarsest bed in the Wonewoc Sandstone, a lag developed through erosion that occurred during the regional regressive-transgressive event that spanned Aphelaspis to early Elvinia Zones time. Such sequence-bounding unconformities are difficult to recognize where they are contained within coarse siliciclastics of the Upper Mississippi Valley, because they separate strata that are texturally and mineralogically similar, and because erosion occurred on a loose, sandy substrate along a low, uniform gradient, and in a nonvegetated terrestrial environment. Furthermore, the ultramature mineral composition of the exposed substrate is resistant to the development of a recognizable weathering profile. The well-known sheet geometry of the Wonewoc and other units of lower Paleozoic sandstone of this area is not dependent on atypical terrestrial depositional conditions conducive to the widespread distribution of sand, as commonly believed. Sand was spread into a sheet dominantly within the marine realm in a manner similar to that inferred for many better-known sandstone bodies deposited in the North American Cretaceous Western Interior seaway and Tertiary Gulf of Mexico. The laterally extensive, thin character of the Upper Mississippi Valley sandstone bodies compared to these other sandstone bodies simply reflects deposition of a continuously abundant supply of sand on a relatively stable, nearly flat basin of slow, uniform subsidence during changes in sea level. The dearth of shale in this and other cratonic sandstones can be indirectly attributed to the same controls, which led to an uncommonly low preservation potential for fairweather deposits on the shoreface.

MAGNETIC ANOMALY MAP OF NORTH AMERICA

Data presented on the magnetic anomaly map in the continental areas have largely been derived from published map sources. However, these maps for the most part have been digitized and subjected to various processing steps in preparation for compositing. The marine areas of the map consist mostly of digital data track, except in the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea and the continental shelf areas of Alaska where the data were obtained from digitized maps.

GRAVITY ANOMALY MAP OF NORTH AMERICA

The Gravity Anomaly Map of North America is the product of a 12-year international effort to compile, critically edit and merge gravity anomaly data on a continental and global scale. This color‐pixel map, printed on four quadrant sheets at a scale of 1:5 000 000 and including a fifth sheet showing a color index map with data references, is the first such map at this large scale to include several hundreds of thousands of precise surface data of the United States, Canada, Mexico and Central America as well as other high‐quality surface data from neighboring continental and oceanic areas. The map, which shows Bouguer gravity anomalies on land and free‐air gravity anomalies over oceans, is remarkable for its detail. Sixty‐six colors or shadings have been used in a carefully conceived nonlinear scheme to show anomalies at a 5 or 10 mGal interval over a dynamic range from about −300 mGal to +130 mGal.

Biogeographical significance of Cambrian trilobites from the Carolina slate belt

Abundant middle Middle Cambrian trilobites of the Ptychagnostus atavus Interval-zone are described from the upper Asbill Pond formation (informal name) near Batesburg, South Carolina. The fauna, containing at least nine species, has strong affinities with cool-water faunas of both Armorica and Baltica, but little affinity with warm-water, shelf faunas of Laurentia. This is compatible with previous conclusions that the Carolina slate belt is an exotic terrane that was accreted to North America during the early or middle Paleozoic. Further evaluation, however, introduces an alternative possibility that the fauna could have lived in deep, cool-water environments along the periphery of Laurentia, and subsequent displacement need not necessarily have been great. Combined faunal and stratigraphic components of the Carolina slate belt do not precisely match those of any known region, but may be closest to those of Bohemia. Although a southpolar location in proximity to Armorica, Baltica, and Gondwana seems likely, a definitive placement in a reconstruction of the Cambrian world is not yet possible. Included in the trilobite fauna are the agnostoids Hypagnostus mammillatus , H. parvifrons , Peronopsis fallax , Ptychagnostus sp.,and Tomagnostus fissus . The polymeroids include Agraulos sp., Paradoxides cf. polonicus , Paradoxides sp., and Skreiaspis ? sp.

Geological implications of Middle Cambrian boulders from the Haymond Formation (Pennsylvanian) in the Marathon basin, west Texas

Fossiliferous Middle Cambrian boulders from a previously unknown boulder unit in the Haymond Formation of Pennsylvanian age in the southeastern part of the Marathon basin, Texas, contain trilobites, brachiopods, and mollusks indicative of the seaward margin of a late Middle Cambrian carbonate platform. The source area was to the southeast of present outcrops. Paleogeographic relocation of the source, about 100 to 200 km southeast of the present Marathon basin, provides the first clear evidence for the position of the seaward margin of the earliest Paleozoic carbonate platform along the southern sector of the United States. Metamorphic rocks of the “interior zone” of the late Paleozoic Ouachita orogen now lie well inboard of the seaward edge of the carbonate platform and are most likely allochthonous on a scale of tens of kilometres.

A Search for Iridium Abundance Anomalies at Two Late Cambrian Biomere Boundaries in Western Utah

Iridium concentrations have been measured in samples taken across two Late Cambrian biomere boundaries (crisis zones) in search of evidence for possible elemental abundance anomalies similar to the one observed at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary. Sampling was performed in uplifted marine limestone deposits in the House Range of western Utah. Although the two trilobite-brachiopod extinction boundaries could be assigned to �4 millimeters of vertical section by laboratory examination of the rocks, only background amounts of iridium (2 x 10-12 to 17 x 10-12 gram per gram of whole rock) were observed.