Thomas W. Henry

Carbonate platform facies and new stratigraphic nomenclature of the Morrowan Series (Lower and Middle Pennsylvanian), northeastern Oklahoma

Marine carbonates dominate the Morrowan Series in northeastern Oklahoma and contain abundant megafossils in beds that correlate with sparsely fossiliferous strata in the type area of the series in Arkansas. Greatly refined biotic zonations are feasible for brachiopods, coelenterates, and pelmatozoans, all sparsely represented in northwestern Arkansas. The type area should be extended 64 km (40 mi) westward to include this highly fossiliferous facies. A regional unconformity within the Morrowan Series in northeastern Oklahoma and northwestern Arkansas occurs at the base of the Dye Shale Member (Bloyd Shale) in Arkansas and separates the Sausbee Formation from the overlying McCully Formation (both new names) in Oklahoma. The Sausbee Formation (Lower Pennsylvanian) is divided into the Braggs and Brewer Bend Limestone Members (both new names), correlating eastward with the Hale Formation plus the Brentwood Limestone and Woolsey Members of the Bloyd Shale. The McCully Formation (lower Middle Pennsylvanian) includes the Chisum Quarry, shale “A,” Greenleaf Lake Limestone, and shale “B” members (all new names) and correlates with the Dye Shale Member and possibly the Kessler Limestone and Trace Creek Shale Members (upper Bloyd Shale) in Arkansas. The Sausbee Formation represents marine transgression across an irregularly eroded surface cut into Mississippian strata, followed by widespread, shallow, open-marine carbonate deposition (Braggs Member). The shelf subsequently shoaled, and a widespread carbonate mudbank developed (Brewer Bend Limestone Member). This regressive cycle terminated with regional emergence of the shelf and limited erosion. The McCully Formation was subsequently deposited on the resubmerged shelf, with periodic, widespread influxes of terrigenous mud from the northeast (shale “A” and shale “B” members), which prevented normal carbonate deposition except in limited areas (Chisum Quarry and Greenleaf Lake Limestone Members). Morrowan to Atokan deposition was continuous in Arkansas and easternmost Oklahoma, but a regional tilting to the south in the area west of Tenkiller Reservoir produced subareal erosion of the post-Morrowan surface in that area. Fluviatile and deltaic complexes of early Atokan age were deposited on the erosional surface and were derived from the northwest, in contrast to a predominantly northeastern terrigenous source during the time of deposition of the Morrowan series.

Mackenzie Gordon, Jr. (1913–1992)

Mackenzie Gordon, Jr., 78 (Figure 1), was a geologist and paleontologist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) for more than 40 years. Mac, as he was affectionately known, died of cardiac arrest at his home on 30 January 1992 after a very brief illness. He is survived by his wife Barbara Walker Gordon of Washington, D.C.

MINUTES OF THE 1999 MID-YEAR COUNCIL MEETING

The Mid-Year Meeting of the Council of The Paleontological Society (PS) was called to order by President Peter R. Crane. Other Officers and Committee Chairs present: Karl W. Flessa, Patricia H. Kelley, Thomas W. Kammer, Thomas W. “Woody” Henry, Douglas H. Erwin, Ann F. “Nancy” Budd, Mary L. Droser, William I. Ausich, Dale A. Springer, and Donna D. Carlson. The agenda was distributed, reordered, and approved. The minutes of the 1998 Incoming Council Meeting of 28 October 1998 were read, amended, and approved unanimously (moved Erwin, seconded Droser). Flessa presented a summary of PSs status and relationship as an affiliated society with the Geological Society of America (GSA), noting that PS members were the largest contributors of abstracts and talks to the annual GSA meetings and that GSA needs to be kept aware of PSs vitality and presence. Flessa and Crane emphasized that the affiliated Societies including the PS desired continued enfranchisement. Donald M. Davidson, Executive Director of GSA, and Pat Chenwerth, his assistant, met with Council and a lengthy discussion of issues between the societies. The forthcoming “strategic plan” of the GSA would proscribe new developments in GSA orientation and its relationship with the affiliated societies, perhaps including restructuring of the current GSA divisions and inclusion of possibly a Paleontological Division. Flessa agreed to follow up on the possibility of a Paleontology Division in GSA and was to report back at the Incoming Council Meeting . With the new GSA “strategic plan,” the Pardee Keynote Symposium committee would rotate and PS would get a representative on that committee, although not necessarily each year. Emphasis would be on integrated sciences, how paleontology influences and interacts with the other branches of science, and practical social applications. Davidson requested a list of PS Members who would be good candidates to serve on …