Date of Award

1991

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science (BS)

Department

Geology

First Advisor

Dr. Alan M. Cvancara

Abstract

The stratigraphy and paleontology of the marine Paleocene Cannonball Formation has been the subject of study since the early 1900s. The formation can be divided into three principal intervals, each consisting of a sandstone/mudstone pair: the upper, middle, and lower intervals.

Paleontological data were studied from those localities for which the stratigraphic position is known. The data from 33 of these localities were analyzed by Q-mode cluster analysis and by sorting.

The cluster analysis produced no definite results. The sorting, however, resulted in the definition of three informal biozones, the Camarocarcinus, Glycymeris, and Dosiniopsis biozones. The Camarocarcinus biozone contains those fossils restricted to the upper and middle intervals. It contains the crab Camarocarcinus arnesoni, the bivalves Cucullaea solenensis and Nucula planimarginata, the sharks Carcharias taurus and Otodus obliquus, and the ratfish group Chimaeriformes. The Glycymeris biozone contains those fossils restricted to the middle interval only. It contains the bivalve Glycymeris subimbricata, the gastropod Exilia sp., and the bony fish Arius? danicus. The Dosiniopsis biozone contains those fossils restricted to the middle and lower intervals. It contains the bivalves Dosiniopsis deweyi and Caestocorbula sinistrirostella, the bony fish Pterothrissus sp., and the gastropods Rhombopsis gracilis, Serrifusus sohli, Fusinius? sp., and Vittoconcha torelli.

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