STATE OF FLORIDA
STATE BOARD OF CONSERVATION
DIVISION OF GEOLOGY
FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Robert O. Vernon, Director
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5
SU~AARY OF THE GEOLOGY OF FLORIDA AND
A GUIDEBOOK TO THE CLASSIC EXPOSURES
By
Horbons S. Purl and Robert 0. Vernon
Revised
TALLAHASSEE 1964
'46. ...
4I
!, I..
1
Completed manuscript received October 15, 1964 Printed by the FlIorida Geological Survey Tallahassee ii
PREFACE
Since the publication of Cooke's "Geology of Florida" in 1945, a wealth of new information on the geology of the state, mostly by the members of the Florida and U.S. Geological Surveys, has been published. This additional information is scattered over several publications, some of them not readily available. This new knowledge has not only added
considerably to the accurate interpretation of the geologic history of Florida but has also created a marked interest on the part of geologists to visit and study Florida exposures. This renewed interest has resulted in the increasing demand by the various professional societies, academic institutions, and students for a general guidebook to classic exposures of the state. The earlier guidebooks issued by the Southeastern Geological Society and the Florida Geological Survey were prepared for a portion of the state, and most of them are out of print. It is hoped that this guidebook will be of help to future students of Florida geology in finding the various exposures.
A summary of the geology of the state appears with the guidebook. This summary is not intended to be a treatise of the geology of the state, but a resume of what is known to date. The exposures are numbered consecutively as they appear in the guidebook chronologically. These stops are located on three maps (pls. 9-11). Their exact location, together with brief road logs, appears in the insets.
The writers are indebted to their colleagues of the Division of Geology, State Board of Conservation and the U. S. Geological SurveyGround Water Branch for help in field problems, stimulating discussions, proofing of copy and preparation of illustrations. We have drawn freely from published works of many people, and Paul and Esther Applin have generously summarized their work on the Mesozoic sediments of Florida. Stanley J. Olsen compiled the vertebrate check lists, and unpublished data from studies made by William Yon, Charles Hendry and Ray Gremillion have been used. These data will be published as geologic reports of Jefferson, Leon and Gadsden counties. Mr. Gremillion also X-rayed several clay samples.
iII
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Preface .................................... .................... Iii
Structure and Geologic Setting ...................... + 4 P + 4 + .............. 1
Physiographic Setting ........................ ..................... 7
The Central Highlands ......................................... 9
The Northern Highlands ..... ..................................... 10
-.,Marianna Low londs ................ ...... ...... ...............12
The Coastal Lowlands ......................................... 12
Proposed Physiographic Divisions .................................... 13
Stratigraphy ................... .................. ............... 16
Cryptozoic Era ..... ............................................ 16
Pre-Cambrian System .......................................16
Paleozoic (?) or Pre-Cambrian (?) System .................... 16
Paleozoic Era ........ ......................................... 19
Ordovician System ......... ............................... 19
Lower Ordovicion ...................................... 19
Middle Ordovician ..................................... 21
Silurian (?) System ................................................ 21
M iddle or Upper Silurian ...... .......................... 21
Devonian System .......................................... 21
Middle (?) Devonian ................. .......... ...... 21
Mesozoic Era.................................................. 22
Triassic System .......................... ................. 22
Diabase and Basalt ..................................... 22
Unnamed Red Beds ...h 44 44................................. 22
Jurassic System ........................................... 22
Cretaceous Period ..... .......................................... 24
Lower Cretaceous System ..................................... 24
Comanche Series .................. .................... 24
Upper Cretaceous System .................................... 24
Tuscaloosa Formation .................................... 26
Atkinson Formation ....... ............................ 27
Eutaw Formation ...................................... 29
Beds of Austin Age ...................................... 29
Beds of Tay lor Age .................................... 31
Fauna ......... .................................... 31
Lawson Limestone .......... ......... ..............32
Fauna ...... ........................................ 32
Beds'of Navarro Age (?) .................................. 33
"Cretaceous and older rocks in the subsurface in the Florida
Peninsula," by P. L. Applin and E. R. Applin ............. 34
C enozoic Ero ..................................................... 42
Tertiary System ............................................42
Paleocene Series ..................................... 42
Cedar Keys Formation .............................. 42
Fauna ..... ..................................... 42
Undifferentiated Midway Stage .......... ............ 44
V
Eocene Series .. ................ ..........45
Oldsmar Limestone ............................... 45
Undifferentiated Wilcox Stage ....................... 47
Clastic Beds of Wilcox Age ....................... 48
Claiborne Stage................. .............. 48
Lake City Limestone ........................... 48
Fauna ..................50..................
Tallahatta Formation 4....... .................. 51
Avon Park Limestone ........................... 52
General Lithology ............. ........... 52
Fauna ......... ...... .. ................ 53
Lisbon Formation ... ................ ........ 56
Ocola G roup ...................................... 57
Inglis Form ation .............................. 59
Fauna ............+...................... 60
Williston Formation ........., ...... ........... 64
Fauna .................................... 66
Crystal River Formation .......... ...... .. .... 68
F auna ........... ........................ 71
Thickness .................... ............ 72
D istribution .... .......................... 73
Zonation .................................73
Oligocene Series ................. ....... ... .. 98
Vicksburg Group ................... ......... 98
Marianna Limestone .......... + 4............... 98
Byram Formation ........................ 102
Fauna ............ .. ................. 103
Suwonnee Limestone ....................... 105
Fauna ... ....... ............. ....... 107
M iocene Series .. ....... ........ ...... ............. 115
T am pa Stage ............................ .. 116
Chattahoochee Formation ....................... 118
St. Marks Formation ............ ............... 125
A lum B luff Siege ... ............................... 126
Chipola Formation ..... .......... ............... 126
Shoal River Formation ........................ 129
Oak Grove Sand .......... .................. 136
Hawthorn Formation .......................... 1 )
Alochua Formation ........................... 159
Bone Valley Formation ........................ 180
Miocene Coarse Clastics ........................ 185
Fort Preston Formation ......................... 185
Miccosukee Formation ........................ 185
Pensacola Clay ............................... 194
Choctawhatchee Stage ............................ 196
Red Bay Formation ............................ 197
Yellow River formation ........................ 200
Jackson Bluff formation ........................ 202
Tamiami Formation ........................... 212
Alva clay member ...................... .. 213
LaBelle clay member ............ *.......... 213
'uCharlton"h Formation......................... 224
Poleoecology of the Miocene ........................... 226
P liocene Series .................. .......... .....
?Plio-Pleistocene Series ..........................
High level alluvial and deltaic deposits .........
vi
Quaternary System ............................... . . 231
Pleistocene Series....................... ............ 231
Coloosahatchee Marl.............................. 231
Fort Denoud Member .......................... 231
Marine Marl.................. ............. 235
Bee Branch Member ........................... 240
Ayers Landing Member ...................... 245
Shell Bed ............. ................. .. 249
Ponape faunizone .........................4+ + 253
Paleoecology of the Coaloosahatchee Formation ....... 258 Fort Denoud Member ....................... ... 258
Cyrtopleuro costato founizone ............... 258
Brackish Shallow-Water facies .............. 258
High salinity shallow-water bay facies ...... 258 Turritella facies .......... ............ 259
Oyster Biostrome and related beds .......... 259 Brackish-water beds ...................... 261
Bee Branch Member ........................... 262
Limestone facies .........................262
Marly facies ............................. 262
Ayers Landing Member......................... 264
Shell bed ... ............. .. ........... 264
Fort Thompson Formation ...................... 268
Okaloakoochee Member ....................... 275
Lower fresh-water marl .................... 27S
Chlomys bed ............................. 275
Upper fresh-water marl .................... 276
Fresh-water limestone ..................... 276
Coffee Mill Hammock marl ................. 276
Paleoecology of the Fort Thompson Formation ....... 277 Okatoaokoochee Member ........................ 277
Coffee Mill Hammock Marl ..................... 278
Key Largo Limestone ......................... 280
Anastasia Formation .......................... 282
Miami Oolite ...............................284
Lake Flirt Marl .............................. 286
Marine Terrace Deposits....................... 286
Recent Series ......................................288
Selected References ................................... .........293
Index ........................................................... 307
ILLUSTRATIONS
Figure
1 Generalized Geologic cross sections through Florida............Pocket
2 Index to principal geologic structures in Florida ................ 4
3 Contours of the top of the Pre-Mesozoic and Cretaceous beds .... 5 4 Generalized locations of landforms............................
5 Physiographic map of WestFlorida...........................Pocket
6 Physiographic map of North Pen insular Florida................ Pocket
7 Physiographic map of South Peninsular Florida ............... Pocket
8 Strotigraphic nomenclature chart of Florida........... ++...... 17
vii
9 Stratigraphic chart of the Subsurface Panhandle 25 10 Structure map upper cretaceous top of a high resistivity curve in
Eutaw Formation ...................................... .. 30
11 Stratigraphic Cenozoic nomenclature chart ............. .. 43
12 Nomenclature and relationships of the Upper Eocene rocks in
F lorida ..... ................ ....... ............. . ....... 5 8
13 Nomenclature and relationships of the Oligocene rocks in Florida. 99 14 Nomenclature and relationships of the Miocene rocks in the Florida
P anhand le ............................................... 117
15 East-west geologic cross section through part of Highlands County
showing relationship of the marine Hawthorn formation with the nonmarine Hawthorn (Fort Presion formation?) (after Bishop, 1956). .. 138 16 Cross-bedded, coarse clastic of the Fort Preston formation containing logs and plant im pressions .............................. 139
17 Alluvium showing festoon bedding cut by 'blind shrimp borings",
Fort Preston formation? ................ ................... 140
18 Thin-bedded, contorted dolomite, quartz and phosphorite and algal
dolomite plate. Note the large more calcic mass left of center .... 141 19 Cross-bedded quartz and phosphorite sand and thin algal (? dolomite plates with mud cracks and large calcic mass .............. 142
20 View of beach area composed of algal (?) dolomite plate, ripplemarked, cross-bedded with sand and dipping steeply toward the back
of the picture ..................... ............ .......... .. 143
21 Fill of cavern formed in the Suwannee limestone by alternating thin
beds of attapulgite and quartz-phosphate sands of the Hawthorn form ation. ................................................... 144
22 View of the oyster biostrome (bed 1) in the Hawthorn formation near
White Springs, Columbia County, Florida........................ 160
23 Topographic map of the Thomas Farm, Gilchrist County, Florida,
showing location of auger holes (AS-288-AS-310), discovery well
and the various types of sediments exposed in the "Dig'". ........ 166 24 Thomas Farm 'Dig", Gilchrist County, Florido (April, 1956) .....Pocket 25 Structure map on the top of predominently clayey material, Thomas
Farm "Dig", Gilchrist County, Florida......................... 167
26 Structure map on the top of the Crystal River Formation, Thomas
Farm "'Dig"", Gilchrist County, Florida................... .... 168
27 View of the boulder bar ...................... ..... ......... 169
28 Close-up of figure 27 (area with pencil) showing the contact of the
boulder bar with cross-bedded sandy clay ...................... 169
29 Cross-bedded coarse sands (strike N. 30 to 50 W. variable) of the
Alachua Formation, Thomas Farm "Dig' ...................... 170
30 Close-up of figure 29 (area with pen) showing festoon type crossbedd ing ..................... ............... .. .. ........ 170
31 Geologic cross-section along the Caloosahatchee River from Moore
Haven and LaBelle ........................ ................Pocket
32 Geologic cross-section along the Caloosahatchee River from LaBelle
to Olga ...................................... ............ Pocket
33 Correlation of stratigraphic sections along the Alligator Creek ...Pocket 34 Paleogeographic mop of Florida during the Miocene .............. 227
viii
35 Composite stratigraphic section of the Quaternay showing stratigraphic terminology in the Caloosahatchee area.............. 232
36 Correlation of the stratigraphic sections along the Shell Creek... Pocket 37 Block diagram of the Miami area (after Parker, et. al., 1955) ..... 281
Plate
1 Preliminary age determination of the Paleozoic rocks in test wells
in Florida and adjacent areas of Georgia and Alabama ....... Pocket
2a Geologic map of West Florida .......P......................Pocket
2b Geologic map of North Peninsular Florida ..................... Pocket
2c Geologic map of South Peninsular Florida..................... Pocket
3 Panel diagram of the post-Avon Park rocks in the Florida Panhandle ................................................... Pocket
4 Panel diagram of the post-Avon Park rocks in central and northern
Florida... + + + ............................ .................... Pocket
5 Panel diagram of the post-Avon Park rocks in central Florida.... Pocket 6 Panel diagram of the post-Avon Park rocks in southern Florida. Pocket 7 Panel diagram of the Miocene rocks in the Florida Panhandle... Pocket
8 Correlation of stratigraphic sections along the Caloosahatchee
R iver 4................... .......... ...................... P ocket
9 Map of the Florida Panhandle showing route, oad log, and scheduled stops............................................... Pocket
10 Map of the northern and central peninsula showing route, road log, and scheduled stops ......... .............................Pocket
11 Map of southern Florida showing route, road log, and scheduled stops ................. ........... ................ ..... Pocket
Table
1 Data on wells penetrating pre-Cambrian rocks ................. 16
2 Data on wells penetrating rhyolitic lavas and pyroclastic rocks.. 18
3 Data on wells penetrating Paleozoic sedimentary rocks in
F lorida .................... ............... ..... ....... 19
4 Data on wells penetrating diobase and basalt ................. 23
ix
SUMMARY OF THE GEOLOGY OF FLORIDA
AND
A GUIDEBOOK TO THE CLASSIC EXPOSURES
By
Harbans S. Puri and Rabert 0. Vernon
STRUCTURE AND GEOLOGIC SETTING
Florida is a part of the eastern Gulf of Mexico sedimentary basin consisting of southern Alabama, southern Georgia, Florida, Cuba, and the Bahamas. This sedimentary basin is divided by Pressler (1947, p. 1851) into two sedimentary provinces (North Gulf Coast sedimentary province and Florida Peninsula sedimentary province) separated by a line drawn between Levy and Nassau counties. The North Gulf Coast sedimentary province consists mainly of clastic sediments and includes the Apalachicola embayment and the Southeast Georgia embayment.The Florida Peninsula sedimentary province is characterized by nonciastic sediments, predominantly carbonates and onhydrites, and includes a South Florida embayment ofthe Gulf of Mexico basin, with its center of deposition passing through the southern archipelago and paralleling the coast.
The Florida Peninsula has apparently rimmed the Gulf Coast geosyncline since at least the Early Cretaceous, perhaps as early as late Paleozoic. The dominant subsurface structure is the Peninsular arch, a Paleozoic-Mesozoic movement, that was modified by Cretaceous structures including the Broward syncline, South Florida embayment, and connecting shelves. Early Miocene structural movements formed the Ocala uplift, the Chattahoche anticine, the Kissimmee faulted flexure, the Sanford high, the Osceola low and other shallow contemporary features.
The principal geologic structures of the State are shown on figures
1 and 2, and summarized as follows:
1
2 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Peninsular Arch: This dominant subsurface structure forms the axis of peninsular Florida, and the arch trends south-southeast and extends from southeastern Georgia into central Florida and crests in the center of northern peninsular Florida around Union and Bradford counties (Applin 1951, p. 3). This structure was a topographic high during Cretaceous time and sediments of early Cretaceous age were deposited around it, but did not completely cover it. Beds of Austin Age (Upper Cretaceous) were deposited over the crest of this Paleozoic arch, where they overlie Early Ordovician sandstone.
Broward Syncline: A subsurface, local feature named by Applin and Applin (1964, ms.) for a Cretaceous syncline in Broward and Palm Beach counties. The synclinaloxis is NW-SE, and approximately parallels the inner edge of the South Florida Shelf. This syncline is shown on figure 2 as mapped on the top of the Comanche.
South Florida Shelf: A term used by Applin and Applin (1964, ms.) for a shallow area, which includes parts of Charlotte, Sarasota, Hendry, Glades, Palm Beach, Broward, Monroe counties, and all of Lee, Collier and Dade counties. The boundaries generally parallel the axis of South Florida embayment. This shelf, as mapped on the top of the Comanche, is shown on figure 2.
Suwannee Straits: The name Suwannee strait was first used by Doll (1892, p. 111)to define an area "which separated the continental border from the Eocene and Miocene Islands" in which the argillaceous sediments of the Hawthorn were deposited. He thought that the area north and west of the straits was indicative of much deeper water because the sediments contained less clay and a well developed Miocene fauna. Dall (1892, p. 121-122) included in the Strait the"Okefenokee and Suwonnee Swamps and the trough of the Suwannee River" and estimated its width to be less than 50 miles. Vaughn (1910, p. 160) discussed Suwannee straits and cited Dali's evidence for the erosion of sediments of Miocene age in the Straits. Applin and Applin (1944, p. 1727), while discussing structures of Florida referred to "a channel or trough extending southwestward across Georgia through the Tallahassee area of Florida to the Gulf of Mexico." The same structure is recognized by Jordan (1954) as an erosional feature in the subsurface, which resulted because the regional movements in the close of the Cretaceous time caused a channel to be formed along the transition zone connecting the predominantly clostic and carbonate facies of the Cretaceous. This feature is considered by Hull (1962, p. 118-121) to represent a narrow area (20-30 miles in width) of non-deposition, rather than an erosional channel that traverses over 200 miles of territory. Whatever the cause of this channel, it has affected deposition of both Mesozoic and Cenozoic sediments.
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 3
The strait is considered by Applin and Applin (1964, ms.) to be a saddle that is much wider and larger in area than visualized by earlier authors. The strait is considered by the Applins to form the southern limit of clastic beds of Navarro Age (?) on the north and northern limit of Lawson Limestone on the south.
Ocala Uplift: Adequately documented by Vernon (1951, The anticline. pp. 54-58), is a gentle flexure of Tertiary age, about 230 miles long and 70 miles wide, where exposed. The crest trends northwest-southeast and is extensively fractured and faulted. High-angle, strike faults flatten the crest and increase its cross-section. The anticline merges inconspicuously into several noses and troughs along the plunge and to each side. Murray (1961) thought the Ocala uplift was only a time and space variation of the Peninsular arch, but long periods of erosion and deposition separate distinctly datable structures, and geophysical data presented by Antoine and Harding (1963) justify the separation of the two structures (fig. 3).
Kissimmee Faulted Flexure: This structure is a fault-bounded, tilted and rotated block that includes many small folds, faults, and structural irregularities. The southern part appears to be on anticlinal fold trending west-northwest-east-southeast. The structure was erected by Vernon (1951) for a positive area extending down the center of the Peninsula and as additional data becomes available, it will be possible to more accurately define the structure.
The Sanford High: A half dome in the vicinity of Sanford, Florida, was first described by Vernon in 1951. The structure appears to be a closed fold that has been halved along the fault that bounds the Kissimmee faulted flexure. The other half may be represented by the fold in the distal end of the Kissimmee faulted flexure. Miocene sediments have been deposited upon the eroded Inglis Formation and the remaining Ocala Group and Oligocene sediments have been removed.
The Osceola Low: One of the most prominent features on magnetic and gravity maps of the State coincide with a poorly defined structural low, centered in Osceola County. Vernon (1951) interpreted the structure as being bound by steeply dipping faults. More information is needed to more adequately define the structure, but the resulting basin is filled by Miocene sediments and displacements of as much as 350 feet occur between wells to the north and east and those within the structure.
4 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
CHATTAHOOCHEE 41, 1=-TANTICLINE HEAST GEORGI.l YtfNT7
GULF OF MEXICO
SEDIMENTARY AR KISSIMMEE BASIN AU AJLTED FLEXURE
APAACHICOLSANFORD HIGH
EMBAYMENT
UPLIFT
--AREA OF
-- RYSTALLINE t 'ROCKS
NORTH GULF COAST /
SEDIMENTARY_/ .
PROVINCE
JFLORIDA OSCFOLA /PENINSULA ---t --i lo" /SEDIMENTARY ....." ,' PROINCE e---*
, I ",,SYI
TH FLORIDA
SEMBAYMENT
Figure 2. Index to Principal Geologic Structures in Florida.
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 5
If%
, 0
.< Ofy 00
,' 0
CAICTr trU oP 0o
Cbo'
on ,oa ,
-;4 .. I O
"1'I "- I" O
:A.
a' '
-F I B o I 4t 0
r- PRE- MESOZOIC
(After Antoine end Hurding, 1963, and ApplIn, 1951) "
""" CRETACEOUS
(After Antoine and lording, 1963, and Toulmin, 1955) a
Figure 3. Contours of the top of the Pre-Mesozoic and Cretaceous Beds.
6 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Chattahoochee Anticline: Chattahoochee anticline was first used by Veatch (1911, p. 62-64) for a broad flexure in the tri-state area of Georgia, Alabama and Florida. He mapped the structure on exposures of Cretaceous and Eocene rocks along the Chattahoochee River in southwestern Georgia and from the inequalities of drainage divides of the Chattohoochee and Flint rivers. Veotch thought that the shorter tributaries of the larger Chattahoochee River were developed along the crest of an anticline and the much longer tributaries of the Flint River were formed on the eastern flank of the anticline. The crustal movements which caused this arch were dated by Stephenson (1928, p. 295) as late Tertiary or early Quaternary. Applin and Applin (1944, p. 1727) mentioned an upwarped area around Jackson County, "with dips extending away from it towards the southeast, south and southwest." Pressler (1947, p. 1852, fig. 1) refers to the same feature as "Decatur arch."
Jordan (1951, p. 44) refers to the Chattahoochee arch as a second Paleozoic high, and it is a prominent feature on a structure map on the top of the pre-Mesozoic rocks. This structure is on elongate anticline that trends northeast-southwest and crests in Jackson, Holmes and Washington counties. This upwarp is primarily responsible for the exposures of upper Eocene, Crystal River Formation in these counties.
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 7
PHYSIOGRAPHIC SETTING
White, Vernon, and Puri (manuscript, 1964) have isolated, described and named the landforms of Florida, which will be presented as the first part of a comprehensive series of volumes on the "Geology of Florida." The distribution of the landforms is presented as figures 4, 5, 6, and 7.
Cooke's (1939, p. 14) primary physiographic divisions of the Floridon Plateau have been retained where possible. We have found the "Coastal Lowlands", the "Central Highlands" and the "Marianna Lowlands" applicable, but suggest the "Northern Highlands" as the primary term to include the series of high landmasses, separated by stream valleys, that extend from Trail Ridge on the east into Alabama on the west and which are limited to the south and east by a seaward-facing escarpment.
Florida is divided into three generalized physiographic zones, separated along transpeninsular lines, oriented about perpendicular to the length of the peninsula (figure 4). The northern zone encompasses the panhandle, and extends southward along the peninsula to a line which would pass approximately through the cities of Palatka, Hawthorn; and Gainesville. The central or midpeninsular zone, extends from this line to one that crosses the peninsula from the general vicinity of Ft. Myers to Ft. Pierce. The southern, or distal zone, extends from this line to the southern limit of the mainland shores at Biscayne and Florida Bay. Certain features cross these boundaries from one physiographic zone to another. Thus, the Gulf Coastal Lowland extends along the west coast of the peninsula from the northern to the southern zone, as also does the Eastern Valley along the Atlantic side of the peninsula. Likewise, the Atlantic Coastal Ridge reaches the entire length of the peninsula from the Georgia State boundary to Homestead, and the Atlantic Barrier Chain, with allowance for changes from sand construction to that of a coral reef, extends from the Georgia State boundary line to Key West.
This increasing southerly overlap to the east seems to result from the fact that the peninsula becomes longer as sea level dropped, and greater lengths of it emerged from beneath the sea. The present shoreline is, perforce, the lowest and, therefore, the longest of those presently above sea level. Hence, it extends farther southward than any of the higher or earlier ones. However, from Palm Beach southward to Key
8 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
MARIANNA LOWLANDS ALA A M A
-mm
\NOR THEc
.rCO -<.7a.u.a
\ NORTH E GE OR GI A
PWHAtNZONU
n~~< C .-% -- I
. LANDS "----1
C 4 "-"ne e ma-..so m
O
-
1. ...1 r
__ TAM Pn
/
/0
SOUTHERN 20NL rd
I .1 t
MIA
Figure 4. Generalized Locations of Londforms.
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 9
West, the present shore, as well as the relict shores of certain earlier stands of the sea, somewhat higher than the present one, are at the very edge of the continental shelf and., therefore, have left beach deposits in essentially the same place to form an Atlantic Coastal Ridge, which extends farther southward than do the higher features of the other more northerly zones. The oceanic shore of a somewhat higher sea level, the Pamlico, extended as far south as the southern limit of the central or midpeninsular zone thus enclosing the eastern valley across both northern and central zones. Possibly the low-lying lands of the southern zone, west of the Atlantic Ridge, did not reach elevations as high as the Atlantic Ridge on their eastern rim because they were not exposed to the high energy processes of the Atlantic shore. Or they may have been reduced by solution from former elevations comparable to those of the Atlantic Coastal Ridge.
The northern physiographic zone is distinguished by continuously high ground forming a broad upland which extends eastward to the Eastern Valley and westward continuously into the Western Highland of panhandle Florida. The central or midpeninsular zone is characterized by discontinuous highlands in the form of subparallel ridges parallel with the axis of the peninsula and separated by broad valleys. The southern or distal zone is characterized by a broad, flat, gently sloping and poorly drained plain, fenced on the east by the Atlantic Coastal Ridge.
For the most part, the northern zone is high enough to have its surface above the piezometric surface and is therefore characterized by many of the features of dry, highland, or dead zone karst, such as first generation dry sinks, abandoned spring heads, dry stream courses, and dry beds of former broad, shallow lakes which are now prairies. In general, the ridges of the central or midpeninsular zone are above the piezometric surface, but the broad valley floors are below it. Broad, shallow lakes are common on the valley floors and smaller deep lakes, many of which seem to have had a rather complex geomorphic history, pock the ridges. The southern or distal zone, is almost universally below the piezometric surface and has lakes only in its most northerly part. These lakes are apparently a carryover from the central zone and seem to exist largely because small amounts of sand overlie limestone. Farther to the south there is no sand. Limestone either lies bare or is peat-covered. There are no lakes, but there is a nearly ubiquitous swamp.
The Central Highlands
The Central Highlands comprise a number of rather localized areas of higher ground such as the Lake Wales, Brooksville, Winter Haven and Orlando ridges which rise above much broader general uplands of con-
10 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
siderably less elevation, and usually much less local relief such as the Polk, Lake, Sumter and Marion uplands. The general area also encloses large lowlands, the Central and Western valleys and the valley occupied by the St. Johns River Offset. For the most part the higher areas are elongate and ridge-like, especially the Lake Wales Ridge which is only a few miles wide but more than 100 miles long. Many of the others are more or less equidimensional in general but the arrangement of higher places within their boundaries shows strong lineution parallel with the Atlantic Coast. The lineation of these "supro-ridge" higher places is best seen on the topographic map or in some instances on aerial photographs. The great valleys also share the same general elongation, parallel with the length of the peninsula.
The larger areas of higher ground are the Lake Wales, Brooksville, Lakeland, Winter Haven, Lake Henry, Mount Dora and DeLand ridges, the Fairfield Hills and the Ocala Hills. The intervening areas of lower ground, the several broad uplands and great valleys enumerated in the paragraph above, seem for the most part to have been reduced from a once ubiquitous highland. Apparently parts of this highland still remain to form the present ridges. They seem to have been preserved by some attribute obtained from coastal features, which must have been formed during times when the several parts of the highland were undissected surfaces at sea level.
The Northern Highlands
The Northern Highlands extend across the northern part of the State of Florida from Trail Ridge on the east to the western boundary, where they extend ihto Alabama. To the north, they extend into Georgia and Alabama along the entire length of the northern boundary of Florida, west of Trail Ridge.
The almost continuous highland is parted by the larger stream valleys, several of which have combined their erosional and depositional cycles with solution to form one of the two significant low areas which break the higher land surface--the Marianna Lowlands. The marginal slopes of the Northern Highlands are well drained by dendritic streams but the tops are gently sloping plateaus. The significant forms include Trail Ridge, Florahome Valley, Tallahassee Hills, Grand Ridge, New Hope Ridge, Washington County outlier s, and the Western Highlands.
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 11
The Northern Highlands are separate from the several ridges of the Central Highlands of the Florida Peninsula, only because of greater dissection in the peninsula. Both Northern and Central highlands appear to be remnants of a once integrate highland which has been partitioned by erosion and solution, leaving a number of remnants in the peninsula to form the present ridges of the Central Highlands and a still relatively intact mass at the north, which is the Northern Highlands. Actually, the division between the two is not prominent, for the Northern Highlands are separated from the northern end of the Brooksville Ridge only by the High Springs Gap some 12 miles across; from the Fairfield Hills by the Alachua Lake Cross Valley about 8 miles across; and from the Mount Dora Ridge by the Kenwood Gap also about 8 miles wide. These gaps are in no way different from those farther south, which separate the several parts of ridges of the Central Highlands such as the Withlacoochee Gap at Du nnellon between the two parts of the Brooksville Ridge. All these highlands seem to be dissevered remnants of a once continuous residual highland.
The Northern Highlands are limited on the south and east by an outfacing scarp which extends regionally through the East Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plains (Doering, 1960, fig. 12). This scarp, which we have called the Cody Scarp in Florida, is the most persistent topographic break in the State. Its continuity is unbroken except by the valleys of major streams, but its definition is variable. In many places, it can be delineated with unequivocal sharpness; in others, it is shown only by a gradual reduction of average elevation, and a general flattening of terrain as the lower elevations are reached.
In general, this bounding scarp can be divided into three parts that are somewhat different in erosional history.
The Atlantic, or eastern part of the scarp is the southern end of what is perhaps the best known relict marine scarp of the Atlantic Coastal Plain. It is the seaward or eastern side of Trail Ridge which has been described in the literature in some detail. The second part begins near Palatka where the bounding scarp turns west to cross the peninsula. Here, there is little evidence of marine shoreline erosion, although the Wicomico sea may have reached the toe of the scarp in places as the shoreline of straits and sounds, as McNeil (1949, p. 103, pl. 19) suggested. This transpeninsular part of the scarp is much more irregular in plan than the first or relict Atlantic Coastal part. It seems to have been shaped by stream erosion and solution. Here, as in the first part, marine erosion seems to have been an important factor in shaping it. In general, it is straighter here and has more definition than in the transpeninsu lar part.
12 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Marianna Lowlands
The high remnant hills of Washington County; Orange, Rock, High, Oak and Folling Water indicate that the Northern Highlands were once continuous; and the Western Highlands, New Hope Ridge, Grand Ridge and Tallahassee Hills were connected. Stream erosion, combined with solution activity, has reduced this highland to elevations lower than the land to the south producing a steep north-facing scarp, known as the Holmes Valley scarp, that separates the Marianna Lowlands from the high sand hills of the New Hope Ridge. This scarp has relief of as much as 200 feet, and can be traced along the northern edges of New Hope Ridge, Grand Ridge, and into Georgia along the Flint River.
The lowlands in Holmes, WashingTon, and Jackson counties, Florida, cover a rectangular area 30 x 64 miles on the sides, but they extend into Alabama and Georgia along the principal streams. Because of the abandoned valleys, and stranded alluvial deposits it is believed that the lowlands were generally developed along the valleys of the Apalachicota, Chattahoochee, Chipola and Choctowhatchee Rivers. The abandoned valleys, the stranded alluviums, the distribution of stream terraces along the rivers, and the presence of a deep, wide gap along the Chocta whatchee River suggest that the lowlands were developed by the largest stream--the Apalachicola River--discharging through the Choctawhatchee gap. Stream piracy has formed the stream systems that traverse the area today.
The land surface is well drained and has a well developed dendritic stream pattern. It is pocked by sinks interspersed with rolling hills and abrupt ridges. The ridges are bounded by stream channels or by sink rims. Broad, shallow basins are generally present, some filled by water.
The Marianna Lowlands extend into Alabama and Georgia. They are bounded on the west by the Western Highlands, on the southeast by Grand Ridge, and on the south by New Hope Ridge.
The Coastal Lowlands
The land adjacent to the coastline of Florida is generally low in elevation and poorly drained. Its characterizing features are generally coast parallel, indicating a close control of their shape and form by
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 13
marine forces. Those lowlands lying east of the Central Highlands, and close to the ocean, have been called the Atlantic Coastal Lowlands. Those lying west of the Central Highlands have been called the Gulf Coastal Lowlands. Those south of the highlands, which form the southern third of the peninsula, and which have a genetic relation to both the Gulf and the Atlantic, have been called the Distal Lowlands. Coastwise terraces characterize many of the landforms of the lowlands and their scarps form the boundaries for some.
The landforms of the near coastal area are composed of barrier islands, lagoons, estuaries, coastal ridges, sand dune ridges, relict spits and bars, with intervening coast-parallel valleys. Gently sloping plains extend from the highlands coastward, and many of these are dented by well developed karst. The Distal Lowlands include those landforms that connect the Atlantic with the Gulf, and the higher elevations are found on the Okeechobee Plain and Immokalee Rise, with joining slopes and intermediate elevations in the Everglades, Caloosahotchee Valley, Calooschatchee Incline, Big Cypress Spur, Southwestern Slope, and others descending to the Florida Bay Mangrove Islands, keys and atolls.
PROPOSED PHYSIOGRAPHIC DIVISIONS
The primary, secondary and tertiary landforms of Florida, as recognized in White, Vernon and Puri (manuscript, 1964) are listed below and outlined in figures 4, 5, 6, and 7:
Coastal Lowlands
Atlantic Coastal Lowlands
The Eastern Valley
Peoria Hill Polatka Hill
San Mateo Hill Ten Mile Ridge
Green Ridge
The St. Mary's Meander Plain
Roses Bluff
Yulee Hill
Evergreen Hill
St. John's River Offset
Wekiva Plain
Atlantic Coastal Ridge, Lagoons and Barrier Chain
Silver Bluff Scarp
Duval Upland
Teasdale Hill
Crescent Ridge
Deland Ridge Geneva Hill
14 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
A Proposal Of Landforms (cont.)
Osceola Plain
Orlando Ridge
Bombing Range Ridge
Intermediate Coastal Lowlands
Okeechobee Plain
Caloosahatchee Incline
Everglades
Caloosahotchee Valley
Immokalee Rise
Big Cypress Spur
Southwestern Slope
Southern Slope
Florida Bay Mangrove Islands
Keys
High Coral Keys Low Coral Keys
Oolite Keys
Distal Atolls
Gulf Coastal Lowlands
Reticulate Coastal Swamps and Ten Thousand Islands
Gulf Coastal Lagoons and Barrier Chains
Gulf Coastal estuaries
The Coastal swamps and drowned coastal karst
Aeol ion features
Cape Sable
Desoto Plain Polk Upland
Bell Ridge
Greenhead Slope
The Deadenings
Fountain Slope
Beacon Slope
Wakulla H ills
Lake Munson Hills
Calico Hill Pea Ridge
Interlevee Lowlands Tates Hell Swamp and Pickett Bay
Relict Spits and Bars
Terraces of the Panhandle
Braided Channel of Wacissa River
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 15
A Proposal Of Landforms (cont.)
Central Highlands
Marion Upland
Mount Dora Ridge
Central Valley
Lake Wales Ridge
Inter-ridge Valley
Fairfield Hills
Martel HillOcala Hill
Cotton Plant Ridge
Sumter Upland
Lake Upland
Rock Ridge Hills
Winter Haven Ridge
Gordonville Ridge Lake Henry Ridge
Lakeland Ridge Western Valley
Tsala Apopka Plain
Brooksville Ridge
Alochua Lake Cross Valley
Lake Harris Cross Valley
Dunnellon Gap
High Springs Gap
Kenwood Gap
Zephyr Hills Gap Northern Highlands
Trail Ridge
Florahome Valley Tallahassee Hills
Cody escarpment
Grand Ridge
New Hope Ridge
Washington County Outliers
High Hill
Orange Hill
Rock Hill
Oak Hill
Falling Water Hill
Western Highlands
Drowned Valley Lakes Marianna Lowlands
Holmes Valley escarpment
16 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
STRATIGRAPHY
CRYPTOZOIC ERA
PRE-CAMBRIAN SYSTEM
The crystalline rocks encountered in wells in Florida represent the buried extension of rocks of the southern Appalachian Piedmont. These pre-Cambrian rocks are represented by granites and diorites and have been recorded in three wells in eastern central Florida (fig. 8).
2
Applin (1951, p. 5) considered the crystalline rocks encountered in Florida, like their outcropping counterpart of southern Appalachian Piedmont, to be probably in part pre-Cambrian and in part Paleozoic Age.
TABLE 1. Data on Wells Penetrating pre-Cambrian Rocks (After Applin, 1951) Top of Total Total
County Well No. pre-Combrian Thickness Depth Nature of Rocks Lake W- 275 -5983 17 6120 Granite Osceola W-1 014 -7973 14 8049 Altered and veined biotitic
granite
Volusia W-1118 -5862 48 5958 Hornblende Diorite
PALEOZOIC (?) OR PRE-CAMBRIAN (?) SYSTEM
Rhyolitic Lavas and Pyroclastic Rocks
In the central peninsula, eight wells terminated in volcanic rocks that are mostly lavas, tuffs, and agglomerates. In two wells basalt occurred in association with rhyolite and tuff. Depth of penetration and petrographic determinations of these wells are listed in table 2.
The nature of rocks encountered in the different wells, according to Applin (1951) are indicative of their extrusive origin. These rocks are considered by Applin to possibly occur either as continuous bodies of tuff and lava flows or as localized discontinuous bodies separated by intervening sedimentary rocks.
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 17
PANHANDLE PENINSULA
WEST EAST NORTH CENTRAL SOUTH
B ds at UNo rre Age (?) hagd in 0& iI . Leso n L i neR I* ga
S 4 B-l eF Taylor Ag, .... . . . . . . Bed 1 Tylr Ag ....... .....................
3-4 -1
"Im
I- a
1nn
j Seds ad Autirin Ail .. . . . . . . . @*ds of A~u-sfn Age, ,
a
:5 3 ..... .-... ...... .... ......... ...... ,' ....... .....- .. . . = . .
LB ds f Evqi Ford Age . .... ........
Miller So G
0_ Mrino E s,
044& [0l1 sog es odbifis Age ......... o T"iy [Pilal3 SgriE Loer
(0 OreRi Shal : GL
Bedi of ,asile Ago . ..
Nx
L1,
Beds of Firedrichaburg Age...... UndI RaIhI ji d Ini Loe nd Rods a f Tri.1 A.. .
Pbnf4 tCrag Anhpdr-ImL
,un-i-n L-mggigr
AG UNKNOWN Iq Al hr Ir a c
FO T Ubt I. VPP IER
JU)PtASSIC For1 Marco
l OR LWER Form n nt
tsIRP IETAC.,as ':!:, 1... .
Und ifierentn as sd
Fi U(I W II]
2 t
a.,IraI'_1 fd en4 TrfColored classic restai bordiniing, Diabase0 In Iru ions
Mt m orne w&le, int us ions ad Diebase and &alt nd /aterlason
e-Tetoi tiel Deppti I$t I WellI
O SILURIAN eack. shale
DuartEitic Sundle-0* and 60m4 Doth Shele
PRE-CAMBRIAN OR
PoPpErIrR lr I I alite I ) Rhol-Pi c Love ond Priocleslic Roc h, LOWER PALEOZOIC
PRE-CAMBRIAN ? 19o n...d o .,
)IghlIr Alrored ig ous AGE UNKNOWN L I w..n)
FbTNOT$: I. AP lI 4 AiD APftJl, 1964.
L mLasDCEK, ll. oLt?
3. DLT A INGLE STATEM OF POFJLEOZOIC AEDINTMLY lDcK',S AEIN IDEnTIfIED I.1 Amy K WELL. CLA$I rG TION IF PPALEDDIC
illIMENI LIY PDCE IS IC'MbINtG 11,0 G I)gg all[N Q l$RQ 119011. WITH1 LAIIlt JNLIJDLISI, llWC UIFIC,&TIOMS I J. M .IE NM AIE .N.SCHQP
4L MM AtlEipCtAr4 AEsIto ,JfuM CON~Pit F. E _'7 WELL I, AsTOm Coun tffY, FLOsl DA. OETEMItIATII m Aul inIc PETOLUM I UalsMPY,
WHCI KINDLY AUTNOPHID PUGLOCATIOl 4)F THlIS OTJk.
IL APP!ill. P.t., 16=, p t, 4, NID F16. 1.
apigul e .IS ANmatr, I on
Figure 8. Stratiaraphic Nomenclature chart of Florida.
18 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
TABLE 2. Data on Wells Penetrating Rhyolitic Lavas and Pyroclastic Rocks (From Applin, 1951)
De pth of Tota I
County Well No. Penetration Depth Nature of Rocks Flagler W-1474 44 4,632 Tuff and volcanic agglomerate of rhyolitic composition
Hardee W-1655 106 11,934 Lavas and pyroclastic rocks Highlands W- 966 367 12,985 Basalt rhyolite porphyry, and related kinds of volcanic rocks
H ilIsborough W-1005 119 10,129 Rhyolite and volcanic agglomerate
Marion W-1482 22 4,637 Volcanic agglomerate or tuff of rhyolitic composition
Osceola W-1411 58 8,798 Rhyolite Putnam W.1838 19 3,892 Volcanic ash and tuff Volusia W-1746 21 5,424 Rhyolitic ? volcanic rock
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 19
PALEOZOIC ERA
ORDOVICIAN SYSTEM
Lower Ordovician
Paleozoic sedimentary rocks have been encountered in 40 wells in Florida. These sediments are parts of an extensive Paleozoic strata that occupy the northern and central portion of the Florida Peninsula and southeastern Georgia. The following table summarizes the occurrence of Paleozoic sedimentary rocks (data from Applin, 1951, and from Bridge and Berdon, 1952), with recent additions by Berdan and Schopf (1960), see also Plate 1.
TABLE 3. Data on Wells Penetrating Paleozoic Sedimentary Rocks in Florida
Top of Total Total
County Well No. Paleozoic Age thickness depth Nature of sediments
Alachua W-1465 3135 5* 15 3150 Quartzitic sandstone and shale Alachua W-1486 3170 5 50 3220 Quartz itic sandstone and shale Alachua W.1472 3217 5 11 3228 Quartzitic sandstone and shale Baker W-1500 3342 5 7 3349 Quartzitic sandstone Bradford W-1466 3140 5 27 3167 Quartzitic sandstone and shale Clay W-1590 3725 5 2137 5862 Quartzitic sandstone Cloy W-6299 3487 5 22 Quartzitic sandstone and shale Columbia W-1789 3482 1 962 4444 Weathered zone ? 3482.3492 Black shale 3492-4444
Columbia W-1987 2813 5 15 2828 Quartzitic sandstone and shale Columbia W 1915 3033 6 18 3051 Quartzitic sandstone Columbia W-1923 2922 5 7 2929 Quartzitic sandstone and shale Columbia W-1832 3303 1 8 3311 Black shale Columbia W-2164 3302 1 168 3470 Black shale 3302-3470 Dixie W-1114 5228 5 2282 7510 Quartzitic sandstone Dixie W-1568 5016 5 88 5104 Sandstone and shale Dixie W-1405 3545 5 26 3671 Quartzitic sandstone and shale Gilchrist W-1003 3588 5 168 3753 Quartzitic sandstone and shale Gilchrist W-1819 3348 5 18 3366 Quartzitic sandstone and shale Hernando W- 994 7720 5 752 8472 Quartzitic sandstone Jackson W-1886 8440 0 805 9245 Red and gray sandstone and shale Jefferson W-18S4 7909 6 4? 7913 Quartziric sandstone Lafayette W-1866 3480 5 27 3507 Quartzitic sandstone and shale Lafayette W-2000 4505 6 7 4512 Quartzitic sandstone
20 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Table 3. (Continued)
Lafayette W-1696 4205 6 30 4235 Quartz itic sand stone and shale Lafayette W- 968 4030 5 103 4133 Quartzitic sandstone and shale Levy W-1537 5810 1 40 5850 Black shale Levy W-2012 4377 5 232 4609 Six inches of altered black shale overlying quartzitic sandstone
Levy W-1007 3960 5 37 3997 Quartzitic sandstone Madison W-1596 4628 4 757 5385 Black shale Madison W-1598 4060 5 36 4096 Quartz itic sandstone and shale Marion W- 901 3660? 5 674? 4334 Quarrtzitic sandstone Marion W- 18 4100 5 2070? 6180 Quartzitic sandstone Marion W-1482 4240 5 375 4637 Quartzitic sandstone Marian W-1904 3679 5 166 3845 Quartzitic sandstone Nassau W- 336 4640 1 168 4824 Black shale Putnam W-1514 3320 5 8 3328 Quartzitic sandstone Svwannee W-1450 3040 4 121 3161 Black shale Suwannee W-1924 3135 6 3 3139 Quartzitic sandstone Suwannee W-1548 3500 1 72 3572 Black shale Taylor W-2161 4874 6 3 487B Quartziric sandstone
(0) Middle Devonian; (1) Late Silurian or Early Devonian; (2) Silurian or Late Ordovician;
{3) Middle and/or Late Devonian; (4) Middle Ordovician; (5) Early Ordovicion; (6) unplaced,
probably Early Ordovician.
Howell and Richards (1949) described a species of brachiopod (Lingulepsis floridanus) from fine grained micaceous sandstone taken at 3,668 to 3,671 feet in Dixie County, W-1405. They assigned a Late Cambrian or Early Ordovician age to this species. 8nrdan and Bridge (1951, p. 70) studied the 232 feet of Paleozoic sediments cored from the Humble-Robinson well in central Levy County. These sediments consist of gray, quartzitic sandstone and black, micaceous, sandy shale. Linguloid brachiopods were found in the upper (between 4,390 to 4,424 feet) part of the section. Berdan and Bridge (op. cit.) correlated these beds with the Union Producing Company's Kirkland No. I well, Houston County, Alabama, just north of the Florida-Alabama state line. The same type of lithology and types of linguloid brachiopods were found in the Kirkland well, which, in addition to the linguloid brachiopods, also carries a rich graptolite fauna. On the basis of this graptolite fauna and with their identification of molluscan forms associated with these Paleozoic sediments, Berdan and Bridge (op. cit.) assigned an Early Ordoviciian to the rock of these wells and to that of 22 other wells.
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 21
Middle Ordovician
Clastic sandstones and shales of Middle Ordovician (Black River) have been definitely recognized in one well (Hunt Oil Company, Gibson No. 2, Madison County), and tentatively identified in another (Sun Oil Company, Earl Odom No. 1, Suwannee County). The maximum thickness of these rocks is 753 feet in the Hunt Oil Company, Gibson No. 2 well (Bridge and Berdan, 1952), from which the only known trilobite remains in sediments underlying Florida were taken. The trilobite was identified as Colpocoryphe exsul Whittington, n. sp., and came from a core at 5154 to 5162 feet.
Quartzitic sandstone and shale of P aleozoic age was penetrated in six wells, but these were not sufficiently distinctive to identify as to age.
SILU R IAN (?) SYSTEM
Middle or Upper Silurian
Black shale encountered in five wells (Humble Oil and Refining Company, Cone No. 1, Columbia County; Sun Oil Company, Sapp No. IA, Columbia County; Sun Oil Company, J. H. Tillis No. 1, Suwannee County. St. Marys River Oil Corporation, Hilliard Turpentine Company No. 1, Nassau County; Gulf Oil Company, Kie Vining No. 1, Columbia County) are referred to Middle or Late Silurian by Berdan and Schopf (1960). The maximum thickness of these sediments is 906 feet in Humble Oil and Refining Company, Cone No. 1. The location, lithology, and probable age relationships are shown on plate 1. The Coastal Petroleum Company, Ragland No. 1, Levy County, penetrated 40 feet of black shale which is either Silurian or Devonian in age.
DEVONIAN SYSTEM
Middle (?) Devonian
In Humble Oil and Refining Company, Tindel No. 1, Jackson County, 803 feet of sediments are assigned to Middle (?) Devonian (Bridge and Berdan, 1952).
Preliminary age determinations of the Paleozoic rocks in Florida and adjacent areas of Georgia and Alabama published by Bridge and Berdan (1952) and modified by Berdan and Schopf (1960), are reproduced as plate 1.
22 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
MESOZOIC ERA
TRIASSIC (?) SYSTEM
Diabase and Basalt
Diabase and basalt have been penetrated in nine wells in Florida. Of these nine wells, diabase occurred in five, basalt in two, while two wells yielded both basalt and diabase. These volcanic rocks have been construed to be sills or dikes in some wells while in others they are presumed to be flows (Applin, 1951, p. 15). Table 4 gives the location and manner of occurrence of these volcanic rocks.
Since the diabase in W-336 agrees in mineral composition with the upper chilled zone of the Palisade diabase, these volcanic rocks were tentatively identified as Triassic by Cole (1944, p. 89-94).
Unnamed Red Beds
Red shale and sand penetrated in Brown and Ravlin No. I Philips well, Wakulla County, between 4,270 and 5,746 feet (total depth), and in the Hammonds No. 1, Granberry well, Jackson County, between 3,448 and 5,022 feet (total depth), are similar in lithology to sediments of Triassic Age along the western gulf coast. Additional study is needed to establish their exact thickness and areal extent.
JURASSIC (?) SYSTEM
In two wells in peninsular Florida, limestones, dolomites, anhydrites and shaly limestone underlying the Lower Cretaceous are referred to Jurassic (?) Age by Applin (1951). These wells are W-972, Gulf Oil Corporation, State of Florida No. 1, Monroe County; and W-1471, Humble Oil and Refining Company, Tucson Corporation No. 1, Palm Beach County. Additional studies are needed to establish a more precise age for these sediments.
SPECIAL P UBLICATION NO. 5 23
TABLE 4. Data on Wells Penetrating Diabase and Basalt (after ApplIn, 1951)
Well No, County Man nor of occurrence Remarks Diabase
W-1596 Modison Flow? or sill Underlies Lower Cretaceous or older Mesozoic clastic rocks; overlies black shale of Paleozoic Age
W-1598 Madison Flow? or sill Underlies Lower Cretaceous or older Mesozoic elastic recks; overlies sandstone and shale of Paleozoic Age
W- 336 Nassau Sill or dike In black shale of Paleozoic age
W-2106 Taylor Well terminated in Underlies early Mesozoic clastic rocks diabase gabbro
W.2099 Taylor Flow? Well terminated Underlies early Mesozoic clastic rocks in diabase
Basalt
W.1886 Jackson Sills or dike In Paleozoic strata
W-2012 Levy Flow?
Diabase and basalt
W.1789 Columbia Sills or dike In Paleozoic strata
W-1876 Taylor Well terminated in Underlies early Mesozoic clastic rocks diabase gobbro
24 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
CRETACEOUS PERIOD
Lower Cretaceous System
Comanche Series
Lower Cretaceous sediments in the Florida Panhandle are undifferentiated, argillaceous sands, interbedded with red and green shale with nodules of sandy limestone and anhydrite. More than 1,500 feet of sediments have been assigned to this stratigraphic unit although the total thickness of sediments has not yet been penetrated by the drill.
Applin and Applin (1944, p. 1721) placed certain clostic sediments penetrated in six wells in Florida in the Lower Cretaceous. In southern Florida, Lower Cretaceous sediments, called "Sunniland payzone" by Pressler (1947) and "Sunniland formation" by Raasch (1955) have been called Trinity (undifferentiated) and Glen Rose formations by some oil geologists having considerable experience in the western gulf coast. The upper part of the Lower Cretaceous in southern Florida consists of a miliolid limestone and the lower part is generally anhydrite. Specimens of Orbitolina walnutensis and Coskinolina sunnilandensis are common in this section. The oldest known vertebrate remains in Florida were taken from a core of gray, argillaceous dolomite at 9,210 feet in the Amerada No. I Marie Swenson well, Okeechobee County. These bones are as yet undescribed but are the girdle of a turtle.
Upper Cretaceous System
The Gulf Series in the Florida Peninsula consists of four distinct units. These, in descending order, are beds of Navarro Age (Lawson limestone), beds of Taylor Age, beds of Austin Age, and Atkinson Formation (beds of Eagleford and Woodbine Age). This section is based on studies by Applin and Applin (1944, 1947), Southeastern Geological Society Mesozoic Committee (1949), and Vernon (1951). These workers have correlated the Florida Cretaceous System with that of the standard section of Texas. Cole (1938, 1941, 1942, 1944, 1945), however, has correlated the Florida section with that of Alabama and has used the Alabama nomenclature for Cretaceous rocks (fig. 9).
In the panhandle, the Gulf Series are divided into five stratigraphic units. These units, in descending order, are beds of Navarro Age (?), beds of Taylor Age, beds of Austin Age, Eutaw Formation, and Tuscaloosa Formation.
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 25
ALABAMA FLORIbA
115SON Crw m -trd,qumionicranndyl liht raM bock ckar C; cem, mcdH, LISrO Imner- we; amd lghI ip, eare ousIauc0noiic sand. Soea ki izmion L B of carbomain. Sandi, mnla a d ckays myMl of oevk-'mw aw as pnnt near AL-A eoga-Aja or ma line. 300-45 F25e hick.
TA ^TALLAHAl-A: C"rm a.w.... gil hP.i,. r,ays, img, a...n,.4.,i4gr a. cm.
., sToandyealcor. ravi;y 150-500 Far hick.
HATCHETIGBEE
C= 3PIC USHI MEMER Unditerntli.cwlhed WILCC)X: 5 ,.d,emrem, glovci Inme ntone;glo:on-lic, calcaroo-us x Lai -~ - -sand; gray, whils %.seom p asy limestone, gray-green mcace.aus c'ay 2, 'niae
CJ..). Silcous,pray, cka timessork ard green-g"rr clay predom.nals m.award. A! I : a VilaSco launa.b cDr cenlrafion i oi e4oemnis, l 'he Fak..n occur in *1 it.m STUSCAH0MA 3O 10 10 fs whrc, ri, ;Hni.. lly r whit.* P rr.x..p.t, io.l.f. u, I,,rris.....
named the S.alt Mounran lijmwtow 400-1600 leei Ibick
NANAFALIA
NAHEOLA
L.hi Undi ll erenliatvd MIDWAY Grap: icaceous, sandy c ay wi'h seam. o cream. Londr PORTERS CREEK ta ui mainloe Dorki gray so bloc micace us claywilh thin bh4d gien,
0 | fied and gray p"ec0d,and burIKded i gslhircus clark make 1p 0l b, -Velasca
-j founo 250-750 e thick. se CLAYTON
1 PHAIRIE BLUFF End, d 7 - -..~a~-, PR I U NA VARRO AGE! 71 A rhk ngiay.pas mo latthe Ip al I he :Iilucn-iu,. wI60anng ,' sI, i.ccurs in the we.rr, Pa nihar d Pauibly NAVARRO inage TAYLOR petllops- up'< 'WJ I6P ghn-k
DEMOPOLIS
L. DM O .daul TAYLOR AGE CeJ% Itgrop lyp.pu.iy p LhnIL wi. -,h ni hd= l
Jc
r.l.,,.j cidey,.J troreatom e rnray ejl TAYLO H Foii u 1 hi rs easward 350 -C 4. 1 ,h, hk
IEad1 oF AUSTIN AGE: T he sa'.pabP.gry mritl .1d Imenteofh o iwearn -.at CIO*LanD EUI Panhacdle grad Giourward tograly..,l'Glon T'I ,m 'caceu-u, u ro co quortz
VUUlVILLL m.andirterbaddled mtPh 'aF grmen,sa:H. lare.,t hin bedded cla Ihl daowndi p nr crpa, -n ru;kar qv pnier.1 A ,pi6d euLcor*. w an.4 clay rrOPriLMnA. 1he bcai*e C=-- 1350-450 few thick. L. i EUTAW: A gray i cream.cakarecu, fin sandstone that dawrdip
Q ino sofh, pasly,.sandy chalk wirhl mas son wom I.15-300 Ie, nh,,:k
Li. IUpper TUSCALOOSA Grr ia crerm, Fir'x.calcoar'cuj, micacew u, clrey il
SIM sand rn w.Ih beds aF calcaraucus shape GradInkmnd p Ioiq- ailr ira-nd
-_ I arerbadded and overlying lam inatW, rwenisAi-ay, micacuou,,mbrueness.
C.. abaconate,ialearmomshalns-EAGLE FORD FOura 400-0 feeS hic
LC0..I =1
-A MILLER SAND L61 i Marine TUSCAlOOSA: Mar.ne, gry.ed," pokeLr chi pA shahl wirh Iamnled, ag 'enctceA, glucanilic, and, sJI fragmns ond carbanaceou. seam% and l- i tleck-Gltoboeruni~,o fo 250- 7VS Fu l Iick.
- MOEP.ILOTAD ../WTUSCALOOSA: Norrine,pw. ..ly e.4, giryogrmen,ine4occoar o '~al and or.gled shalei. .Th pasmI colars increa atwwd oand th* pW onloga ofa sha incrnaies dowmip. 400-750 Feei hick
ILoww CRETACEOUS:UndfFerntiated ,argilHloo ou anrm irouiebd with red
-_anJ'green shale wilh nodul i al sandy limeitane ard unhrd.ot, Thi kneos n l
Figure 9penw Stratigraphic chart of the Subsurface Panhandeed.
Figure 9. Stratiaraphic chart of the Subsurface Panhandle.
26 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Tuscaloosa Formation
The sediments of the Tuscaloosa Formation overlie elastic sediments of the Early Cretaceous or older formation. The Tuscaloosa has been divided into three members, a nonmarine lower Tuscaloosa, marine Tuscaloosa, and Upper Tuscaloosa.
The lower Tuscaloosa in the panhandle consists of nonmarine, poorly sorted, gray to green, fine to coarse sand- and variegated shales. The pastel colors increase eastwardand the percentage of shale increases downdip. The thickness of the lower Tuscaloosa ranges from 400 to 475 feet.
The term Moye (Pilot) sand reservoir is used by Winter (1954) for the glauconitic, fine grained sand at the top of the lower Tuscaloosa. This sand averages 91 feet in thickness and the upper 25 to 30 feet are relatively clean, but the sand is argillaceous below this interval. It is the most prolific of the oil-bearing sands in the Pollard field and has been identified in most wells in the panhandle.
The marine Tuscaloosa consists predominantly of marine, gray, hard, "poker-chip" shale with laminated, micaceous, glouconitic sand, shell fragments, carbonaceous seams and flecks, containing a Globotruncana fauna. The formation varies in thickness from 250 to 375 feet.
The upper Tuscaloosa generally consists of gray to cream, fine, calcareous, micaceous, clayey, silty sandstone with beds of calcareous shale. It grades downdip to a similar sand interbedded and overlying laminated, greenish gray, micaceous, carbonaceous, glauconitic, calcareous shale. This upper member contains Eagleford fauna and is 400 to 500 feet thick.
The nameMiller sandreservoir is used by Winter(1954)for lenticular fine grained sand at the base of the upper Tuscaloosa. The Miller Sand is interbedded with streaks of shale and dense sandstone. This sand is oil-bearing in the Pollard field near depths ranging from 5,624 to 5,722 feet below sea level. The thickness of this sand varies between 15 and 30 feet and has been identified in most wells in the Florida Panhandle.
Applin and Applin (1944) identified the Tuscaloosa Formation in 13 wells in Florida and adjacent parts of Alabama and Georgia, and correlated it in part with the Eagleford Shale, and in part with the Woodbine Formation of Texas.
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 27
TUSCALOOSA FORMATION
(Data from Applin and Applin, 1944)
County Well No. Top Bottom Thickness Total Depth
Dixie W.636 3626 3741 115 4776 Jackson W-285 2803 3448 645 5022 Jefferson W. 19 3410 3838 428 3838 Lake W-275 5322 5392 70 6120 Leon W. 32 3465 3755 290 3755 Levy W.166 4170 4235 65 5266 Monroe W-445 7676 8168 492 10,006 Nossau W-336 4254 4600 346 4821 Wakulla W. 44 3672 4270 598 5746 Wa Iton W-148 4133 5337 204 5337 Washington W. 1 3470? 4912 ? 4912
Atkinson Formation
The Atkinson Formation was proposed by Applin and Applin (1947, chart) with a threefold division (upper, middle, and lower) for marine micaceous shales and micaceous sands with thin shaley limestone beds of pro-Austin Age that overlie the Comanche Series in southern Alabama, Georgia, and northern Florida. Applin and Applin (1947) tentatively correlated this formation with the Tuscaloosa and McShane Formations
The lower and middle members of the Atkinson Formation in Alabama and Georgia were distinguished by the Applins (1947) on lithology. In southern Florida, the lower and middle members are indistinct lithologically and are separated mainly on microfauna.
The Atkinson Formation has been divided by the Southeastern Geological Society Mesozoic Committee into two faunizones, faunizone "A" containing Eagleford fauna, and faunizone "B" containing Woodbine fauna. This subdivision has been used by subsequent authors.
Cushman and Applin (1947, p. 53. 54) reported two species of Ammobacufltes (A. gratus Cushman and Applin and A. agrestis Cushman and Applin) from the Atkinson Formation in Florida.
28 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Faunizone "A" commonly contains, in marine shale beds, a fauna characteristic of the Eagleford shale of Texas and includes Planulina
eaqglefordensis, Valvulineria infrequens, Gumbelina moremani, G. reussi Trochammina wickendeni, Globigeina cretacea and abundant ostracodes.
Faunizone "B" contains, in micaceous, calcareous sands and sandy limestones, a microfauna characteristic of the Woodbine sand of Texas, including Ammobaculites braunsteini, A. comprimatus, A. advenus, Ammobaczloides plummerae, and Trochammina rainwaterd.
In general, the upper member of the Atkinson Formation carries a microfauna of Eagleford Age and is equivalent to faunizone "A". The middle and lower members of the Atkinson contain a Woodbine fauna and both of these members are included in faunizone "B". Applin (1955) has redefined the Atkinson Formation to consist of two members, an upper member of Eagleford Age and a lower member of Woodbine Age consisting of the former lower and middle members.
Applin (1955) has described the foraminiferal fauna of Woodbine biofocies of the Atkinson Formation. The following species are recorded from 13 wells in Florida and adjoining ports of Alabama and Georgia:
Reophax decked Tappan
Haplophagmoldes langsdlaensis Applin
Haplophragmoides advenus (Cushman and Applin)
Ammobaculltes agresfIs Cushman and Applin Ammobaculifes junceus Cushman and App lin
Ammobaculoides plummerae Loeblich
Gaudryina barlowens is Appi in
Quinqueloculina moremani barlowensis Applin Trochammina mlnwoteri Cushman and Applin
Acrullammnvlna long (Toppan)
Placopsilina lansdalensis Applin
Robulus muLsteri (Roomer)
Lenticuline cyprina (Vieaux) Nodosaria affinis Reuss var.
Citharloo recta (Reuss)
Frondicularla barlowensis Appi in
Potellina subcretacea Cushman and Alexander
Dlscorbis minino Vieaux
VaIlvulineria Infrequens Morrow var.
Globorobtulia cushmani Morrow
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 29
Globigerina cF. G. cretacea d'Orbigny Anomalina obesa Cushman and Applin
Anomalina petia Carsey
The above fauna has been found in an area northward from Levy and Putnam counties to Clinch County in southern Georgia. In Florida this biofacies has been identified in the subsurface from Jackson, Columbia, Putnam, Dixie, Suwannee, and Jefferson counties.
According to Applin (1955), the predominance of orenoceous microfauna of this facies and the lithologic character of the sediments indicate an environmentof deposition ranging from very shallow marine to estuarine and brackish water to weakly saline and poorly aerated waters.
Eutaw Formation
The Eutaw Formation in the Florida Panhandle consists of a gray to cream, calcareous, fine sandstone that grades downdip into soft, pasty, sandy chalk with limestone seams. The thickness of the Eutaw varies from 150 to 300 feet (fig. 10).
BEDS OF AUSTIN AGE
The following facies are recognized by Applin and Applin (1944, p. 1715-1716) in the beds of Austin Age:
Predominantly shale and sand facies (western and northern Florida)
Shales and morly limestone facies (central Florida)
Limestone faces (southern Florida)
The shale and sand facies of western and northern Florida grades into beds composed mainly of shales and marly limestones in central Florida, which in turn grades into limestone in southern Florida.
Beds of Austin Age in the westernmost Florida Panhandle consist of soft, pasty, gray mars and limestones. Eastward, these sediments grade into gray, soft, glauconitic, micaceous, fine to coarse quartz sand, interbedded with gray-green, soft, calcareous, thin bedded clay that increases in calcareous content downdip. The base of these beds is
C,
0
G E 0 R
zrcr
>
,.-- . -: 0
G U L F -L0 0
STRUCTURE MAP 4 o
UPPER CRETACEOUS
TOP OF A HIGH RESISTIVITY x CURVE IN EUTAW FORMATION M!LES
DZ4661* 20 s0 40 50 APPROxIMATE ECA.E
CoNrL*-JH 'INTFRVJAL !Cx FEET
FIGURE 10
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 31
characterized by a speckled, calcareous, soft clay. The thickness of the beds of Austin Age varies between 350 and 450 feet.
In central Florida, these sediments are composed of gray and greenish gray marl or calcareous shale with streaks of limestone and and lenses of fine grained sand. The speckled, calcareous shale is commonly present in central Florida. In southern Florida, beds of Austin consist of hard, white limestone. In peninsular Florida, the beds of Austin Age have a uniform thickness of 250 to 350 feet (Applin and Applin, 1944). Vernon (1951, 0. 80, 81) records the maximum thickness of these sediments to be 527 feet.
BEDS OF TAYLOR AGE
Beds of Taylor Age, in the Florida Panhandle, are composed of cream to gray, clayey, pasty, chalk with thin beds of calcareous clay and soft, cream to gray marl. These beds are 350 to 700 feet thick, thinning eastward.
Beds of Taylor Age underlie the beds of Navarro Age (?) in the Florida Panhandle, except in the Tallahassee area, where Paleocene beds overlie beds of Taylor Age, with beds of Navarro Age (?) being absent. Over most of the Florida Peninsula these sediments are composed of hard, white, cream colored, chalky limestone with thin, irregular streaks of shale and gray marl occasionally present. Applin and Applin (1944) give the thickness of beds of Taylor Age in the central part of the peninsula to be 400 feet, increasing northeastward to 600 feet, and the southern penninsula to be more than 1,200 feet.
The top of the beds of Taylor Age can be picked by the first appearance of an abundance of fragments of Inoceramus.
Fauna
Foraminifera (Applin and Jordan, 1945):
Anornalina cosdeni Applin and Jordan
Anomalina scholtzensis Cole
Bolivina incrossata Reuss
BolIvinoides decomta (Jones) Bullminella cushmani Sandidge
Globigerina cretacea (?) d'Orbhgny
32 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Globotruncana arca (Cushmrnan)
GIobotruncana canaliculate (Reuss) Gyroidina michellnlana (d'Orbigny)
Planulina cedarkeysensis Cole
Planulina texana Cushman
Stensioeina americana Cushman and Dcwsey
Lawson Limestone
The name Lawson (from J. S. Cosden-Lawson well No. 1, Marion County) Limestone was named and described by Applin and Applin (1944, p. 1708-1711) for a limestone facies of the Upper Cretaceous beds occurring in northeast Florida and in the peninsula below the Cedar Keys limestone and above beds of Taylor Age. They (1944) divided this formation into a lower and on upper member, each with a distinctive microfauna. The upper member is a white to cream colored, gypsum impregnated calcitic limestone, 40 to 300 feet thick. The average thickness of the upper member is about 200 feet. The upper member carries a recrystallized microfauna, which is difficult to identify both specifically and generically. Species of Vaughanina, Orbitolina, Pseudor. bitoides and Lepidorbitoides are common (Applin and Applin, 1944).
The lower member is white to cream colored, hard, chalky limestone, generally 300 to 400 feet thick, although it reaches a maximum of 700 feet in wells in Levy County. Applin and Applin (1944) noted only a small amount of gypsum in the lower member.
Fauna
The lower member of the Lawson has a distinctive microfauna in which the following species are common and characteristic (Applin and Jordan, 1945):
CbicIdes horpert (Sandidge)
LepidorbItoldes (Asterobts) aguayol D. K. Palmer
Lepidorbitoldes (Lepldorbitoides) minima H. Douville
Lepidorbitoides (Lepidorbltoldes) nortoni (Vaughan)
Lepidorbitoldes (Lepidorbitoldes) pianos# M. G. Rutten
Loxostoma clavatumrn (Cushman)
Robulus munsteri (Roomer)
Sulcoperculina cosdeni Applin and Jordan
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 33
BEDS OF NAVARRO AGE (?)
The Lawson Limestone grades laterally into clastic beds of Navarro Age (?) in the Florida Panhandle, composed of a thin, gray, pasty marl, containing few fossils. These sediments are up to 100 feet thick and are possibly Novarro in age; but they may perhaps be equivalent to the upper part of beds of Taylor Age.
It is hoped that current studies by Paul L. and Esther R. Applin on the Cretaceous sediments of Florida, Georgia, and Alabama will clarify some of the problems in Cretaceous stratigraphy and paleontology.
34 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
CRETACEOUS AND OLDER ROCKS IN THE SUBSURFACE IN THE FLORIDA PENINSULA1
By
Paul L. Applin and Esther R. Applin
U. S. Geological Survey (retired)
Jackson, Mississippi
INTRODUCTION
The lithology, paleontology, Facies changes, and stratigraphic sequence of the Cretaceous and older rocks that underlie the Florida peninsula are known from the microscopic study of cores and cuttings from about 175 oil test wells drilled since 1927. The samples from the wells have been released to the public by the different oil companies, and commercial electric logs that are available for most of the wells aid in the correlation nf the different stratigraphic units. The present report, prepared for this guidebook, is mainly a synthesis of some oj the material discussed in greater detail in publications of the U. S. Geological Suryvy, and in articles that were published in various scientific bulletins (Applin, E.R., 1955; Applin, E.R., and Jordan, Louise, 1945; Applinr, P. L., 1951a; 1951b; 1952; 1957; Applin and Applin, 1944; 1947; 1964, unpublisheddata; Berdan and Bridge, 1951; Bridge and Berdan, 1951). References to these publicatioans, and to publications by other writers, are made in the text of this report. After a description of the older rocks of the Coastal Plain floor is presented, the report describes the stratigraphy of the unconformably overlying Jurassic (?)and Cretaceous rocks.
1 Publication authorized by the director of the United States Geological Survey.
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 35
COASTAL PLAIN FLOOR
The Coastal Plain floor in the Florida peninsula is the truncated surface of a wide variety of igneous and sedimentary rocks that are, chiefly, Precambrian (?) and early Paleozoic in age. In the northern part of the poninsula, scattered occurrences of Upper Triassic (?) rocks evidently form a part of the truncated surface on which the coastal plain rocks were deposited.
The pre-Mesozoic rocks (Applin, P.L., 1951a, p. 5-15; Berdan and Bridge, 1951; Bridge and Berdan, 1951) that compose the greater part of the Coastal Plain floor in central and northern Florida have been provisionally classified as Precambrian (?) granite and diorite; Precambrian (?) or lower Paleozoic (?) rhyolite and pyroclastic rocks; unmetamorphosed or weakly metamorphosed sedimentary rocks ranging in age from Early Ordovician to Middle (?) Devonian (J. M. Berdan, written communication to H. S. Puri, 1960, quoting J. M. Schopf) that are composed mainly of quartzitic sandstones, gray to black, noncalcareous, micaceous shales, and gray to black, noncalcareous, nonmicaceous shales. A well drilled in 1957 in St. Lucie County, Fla., on the southeast coast of the peninsula, terminated in highly altered igneous intrusive rocks of undetermined age (Applin and Applin, 1964).
Several wells in the northwestern part of the peninsula penetrated a sequence of rocks that has been tentatively classified (Applin, P.L., 1951a, p. 15-16; 1957) as the Upper Triassic (?) Newark (?) Group. The rocks, which are chiefly terrestrial or marginal clastic deposits cut by intrusions and flows of diabose and basalt, seem to form a westward-thickening wedge between the Paleozoic rocks, below, and the Cretaceous elastic strata, above. Elsewhere in the northern part of the peninsula, diabase of Triassic (?) age cuts early Paleozoic strata in several wells; in a few others, a thin layer of weathered diabase rests on early Paleozoic strata and underlies Lower Cretaceous clastic rocks.
The depth below sea level to the Coastal Plain floor ranges from about 2600 feet in a well in Columbia County, in northern Florida, to more than 12,500 feet in several wells in the vicinity of Lake Okeechobee. Oil test wells in the southern part of the peninsula and on the Keys were not drilled sufficiently deep to penetrate the Coastal Plain floor, although a few reached depths in excess of 15,000 feet (fig. 3).
36 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
JURASSIC (?) AND CRETACEOUS ROCKS Nomenclature
The major stratigraphic units of the Jurassic (?) and Cretaceous rocks are from oldest to youngest, an Upper Jurassic (?) or Lower Cretaceous (?) unit in south Florida that has been named the Fort Pierce Formation (Applin and Applin, 1964), and the Comanche Series and Gulf Series that are present throughout most of the peninsula. The carbonate rocks and evaporites that characterize the Comanche rocks in central and south Florida are separable into three units, chiefly on the basis of distinctive microfaunal assemblages occurring in a uniform sequence in the different wells in the area. These units of the Comanche Series are, from oldest to youngest, beds of Trinity age, beds of Fredericksburg age, and beds of Washita age. Distinctive units in the beds of Trinity age that have been formally named and described are the Punta Gorda Anhydrite (Applin and Applin, 1964) and the Sunniland Limestone (Pressler, 1947, p. 1859; Applin, P.L., 1960, p. B 209; Applin and Applin, 1964). Unfossiliferous, marginal elastic or continental deposits that characterize the Comanche rocks in north Florida are largely undifferentiated. Overlying the Comanche rocks in south Florida, and underlying the rocks of the Gulf Series, an unnamed thin layer of distinctive green shale is classified as Comanche Series (?) or Gulf Series (?) (Applin and Applin, 1964). The Gulf Series in the northern part of the peninsula is divisible into four major stratigraphic units of which the Atkinson Formation (Applin and Applin, 1947; Applin, E.R., 1955, p. 187) is the oldest. The Atkinson Formation consists of two unnamed members, a lower member containing a microfauna of Woodbine age, and an upper member containing a microfauna of Eagle Ford age. Overlying the Atkinson Formation, the progressively younger units of the Gulf Series are classified as beds of Austin age, beds of Taylor age, and the Lawson Limestone (Applin and Applin, 1944, p. 17151716; p. 1711.1713; p. 1681 and p. 1708-1709; unpublished data) of Navarro age. The Lawson Limestone consists of two unnamed members, a lower member composed, mainly, of white chalk containing a distinctive microfauna, and an upper member that is, chiefly, a highly dolomitized algal and rudistid biostrome. The units of the Gulf Series are less clearly differentiated in south Florida, although the basal beds of the Atkinson Formation have been definitely determined (Applin and Applin, 1964) in several wells.
Thickness
The Jurassic (?) and Cretaceous rocks are, in general, a port of the seaward-thickening wedge of sediments that forms the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain of the United States and extends outward onto the continental shelf.
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 37
Cretaceous rocks that crop out in a northeastward-trending belt across central Georgia at the inner margin of the Coastal Plain, dip southeastward under the younger Tertiary rocks and thicken wedge-like toward the coast. The southeastward thickening is interrupted, however, by a relatively stable element of the Coastal Plain floor in northern Florida that subsided much less rapidly than the neighboring elements. This stable element coincides closely with the Peninsular arch (Applin, P.L., 1951a, p. 3-5) and markedly affects the distribution, thickness, lithology, and biostratigraphy of the Cretaceous sedimentary units in the Florida peninsula and adjacent parts of southern Georgia.
The clastic rocks of the Comanche Series, which pinch out around an area of lower Paleozoic sedimentary rocks at the crest of the Peninsular arch, thicken eastward, southward, and westward toward the coast (Applin, P.L., 1952, fig. 3; Applin and Applin, 1964; Jordan, 1954, fig. 4). On the crest of the arch, and along the axis of the Suwannee saddle (preferred name for "'Suwannee strait" of Dall, 1892, p. 111 and p. 122) in southeastern Georgia, the rocks of the Gulf Series range in thickness from 1000 to 1500 feet, in marked contrast to greater thicknesses that have been penetrated in the surrounding areas (Applin, P.L., 1952, fig. 2; Applin and Applin, unpublished data; Jordan, 1954, fig. 3; Hull, 1962, fig. 2 and fig. 3). In southern Florida near Key West, the Jurassic (?) and Cretaceous rocks are more than 10,000 feet thick in a well that stopped above the Coastal Plain floor.
Lithofacies
Judging from the areal distribution and the variations in thickness of the Jurassic (?) and Cretaceous rocks, regional submergence of the Florida peninsula apparently began early in the Mesozoic Era and was definitely in progress in Late Jurassic (?) or earliest Cretaceous (?) time. The Jurassic (?) and Cretaceous sediments were deposited, in general, in a transgressing sea whose margin encroached northward accompanied by progressive subsidence of the Coastal Plain floor.
The Fort Pierce Formation and the Comanche Series are predominantly a carbonate-evaporite facies in south Florida, but significant faces changes in these units mark the advance of the sea in the central part of the peninsula. By a series of onlaps, the Fort Pierce Formation and the units of Trinity, Fredericksburg, and Washita age transgress northward from south Florida and wedge out on the Peninsular arch. In central Florida, the carbonate-evaporite facies of each unit thins progressively northward and grades into lithologically diverse d. noosits, termed a mixed facies (Applin and Applin, 1964), that are mainly
38 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
argillaceous and arenaceous limestones and dolomites, neritic elastic rocks, and some evaporites. The mixed facies, in turn, grades northward and shoreward into an unfossiliferous marginal classic or "red bed" facies composed of irregularly interlensing mudstones, siltstones, poorly-sorted fine to coarse-grained sandstones, and red, green, and varicolored shales.
In each well in central Florida, the marginal clastic facies is at the base of the Comanche rocks and rests unconformably on the Coastal Plain floor. Inasmuch as this facies was deposited along the margin of an advancing sea, it follows that it is of different ages at different places, and although the marginal facies is a unit of more or less uniform lithology, it is not here considered to be a time unit. In our opinion, its geologic age ranges from Late Jurassic (?) or Early Cretaceous (?)to Washita. The prevailing type of lithology of the largely undifferentiated Comanche rocks in northern Florida and the Coastal Plain of Georgia is also a marginal clastic facies. However, a shallow-water marine facies in the upper part of the Comanche Series in the Magnolia Petroleum Co. State of Florida Block 5B well 1A, Franklin County, contains specimens of species of microfossils of Buda (Washita) age, marking a significant environmen. tal change (Applin and Applin, unpublished data).
Facies changes in the rocks of the Gulf Series are less striking than in the rocks of the Comanche Series but are nevertheless significant. AnhydrFte, a major constituent of the carbonate rocks of the Comanche Series, is a minor constituent of the Gulf Series.
The Atkinson Formation in northern Florida is characteristically composed of dark fossi liferous marine shales, predominantly fine-grained sandstones, and, in the upper part of the unit, scattered lense of silty limestone. The Atkinson unconformably overlies the unfossiliferous, nonmarine clastic beds of the Comanche Series, except in the area near the crest of the Peninsular arch where the Comanche rocks are absent. Most wells in this area penetrated the Atkinson unconformably overlying early Paleozoic strata, although it, too, seems to be absent in a few scattered wells in which the beds of Austin age rest unconformably on the older rocks. Overly ng the Atkinson Formation, the progressively younger beds of Austin and Taylor age, and the Lawson Limestone are composed, chiefly, of fossiliferous limestone, dolomite, chalk, and some chalky marl. A unique and distinctive sandstone facies in the lower part of the beds of Austin age occupies a narrow belt across the northern part of the peninsula.
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 39
In the central part of the peninsula, the ratio of calcareous rocks to clastic rocks in the Atkinson Formation increases progressively southward; the limestone and dolomite in the beds of Austin and Taylor age change gradually southward into sparsely fossiliferous chalk. The basal part of the Atkinson Formation in central Florida is a sandy chalk that ranges in thickness from 10 to about 50 feet, and contains specimens of fossils diagnostic of the lower part of the formation. The sandy chalk in several wells overlies the green shale unit of questionable Comanche (?) or Gulf (?) age, but in several other wells it rests directly on the sequence of carbonate rocks and evaporites in the upper part of the beds of Washita age.
Underlying the Lawson Limestone in south Florida, the beds of Taylor and Austin age are a nearly uniform sequence of chalk containing relatively few specifically determinable fossil specimens. The chalk sequence, in turn, is underlain in the southwestern part of the peninsula by a gray, dense, somewhat fossiliferous limestone, about 50 feet thick, that has been classified an the basis of its fauna as the basal part of the Atkinson Formation. The gray limestone rests on the thin stratum of green shale that lies between the Comanche Series below and the Gulf Series above.
Structural I Features
Regional subsurface structural Features in the Jurassic (?) and Cretaceous rocks are, in addition to the already mentioned Peninsular arch and Suwannee saddle, the Ocola uplift (Hopkins, 1920; Vernon, 1951, p. 54-56, pl. 1 and 2); the south Florida embayment (Pressler, 1947, p. 1956 and fig. 1; Applin and Applin, 1964); the south Florida shelf (Applin and Applin, 1964); the Broward syncline (Applin and Applin, 1964); the Okefenokee embayment (Pressler, 1947, p. 1856), also known as the Savannah or southeast Georgia basin (Murray, 1961, p. 96-97); the Apalachicola embayment (Pressler, 1947, p. 1853 and 1856), frequently called the southwest Georgia basin (Murray, 1961, p. 103); the bight of Florida (Antoine and Harding, 1963, p. 12, fig. 6 and fig. 7; Applin and Applin, unpublished data).
40 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
REFERENCES CITED
Antoine, J. W.
1963 (and Harding, J.L.) Structure of the continental shelf, northeastern
Gulf of Mexico (preliminary report): The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, Dept. of Oceanography and Meteorology,
A. & M. Project 286-1, 18 p., 9 figs.
Applin, E.R. (also see Applin, P. L.)
1955 A biofacies of Woodbine age in the southeastern Gulf Coast region:
U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 264-1, p. 187-197.
Applin, E.R.
1945 (and Jordan, Louise) Diagnostic Foraminifera from subsurface formotions in Florida: Jour. Paleontology, v. 19, p. 129.148.
Applin, P. L.
1951a Preliminary report on buried pre-Mesozoic rocks in Florida and adjacent states: U. S. Geol. Survey Cire. 91, 28 p.; also in Fla. Geol.
Survey, Guidebook, Am. Assoc. State Geologists 44th Ann. Meeting, Field Trip, Apr. 1952, p. 1-28, (1952).
1951b Florida in Ball, M. W., chinm., Possible future petroleum provinces
of North America: Am. Assoc. Petroleum Geologists Bull., v. 35,
p. 405-408.
1952 volume of Mesozoic sediments in Florida and Georgia, Pt. 1 of
Murray, G. E., Sedimentary volumes in Gulf Coastal Plain of the
United States and Mexico: Geol. Soc. America Bull., v. 63, p. 1159
1163.
1957 Alabama, Georgia, Florida, in Reeside, J. B., chm. Correlation of
the Triassic formations of North America exclusive of Canada:
Geol. Soc. America Bull., v. 68, p. 1486-1489.
1960 Significance of changes in thickness and lithofacies of the Sunniland Limestone, Collier County, Florida: U. S. Geol. Survey Prof.
Paper,400-B, p. B 209- B 211.
Applin, P. L. (and Applin, E. R.)
1944 Regional subsurface stratigraphy and structure of Florida and
southern Georgia: Am. Assoc. Petroleum Geologists Bull., v.
28, p. 1673-1753.
1947 Regional subsurface stratigraphy, structure, and correlation of
middle and early Upper Cretaceous rocks in Alabama, Georgia, and north Florida: U. S. Geol. Survey Oil and Gas Inv. Prelim.Chart 26.
1964 The Comanche Series and associated rocks in the subsurface in
central and south Florida: U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 447, in
press.
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 41
Berdan, J. M. (also see Bridge, Josiah)
1951 (and Bridge, Josiah) Preliminary notes on the Paleozoic strata beneath Levy and Citrus Counties, Florida, in Vernon, R. 0., Geology of Citrus and Levy Counties, Florida: Florida Geol. Survey
Bull. 33, p. 68-71, (1951).
Bridge, Josiah (also see Berdan, J. M.)
1951 (and Berdan, J. M.) Preliminary correlation of the Paleozoic rocks
from test wells in Florida and adjacent parts of Georgia and Alabama: U. S. Geool. Survey open file report, mimeographed, 8 p.:
also in Fla. Gaol. Survey, Guidebook, Assoc. Am. State Geologist
44th Ann. Meeting, Field Trip, Apr., 1952, p. 29-38, (1952).
Dall, W. H.
1892 (and Harris, G. D.) Correlation papers, Neocene: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 84, 349 p.
Harding, J. L. (see Antoine, J. W.)
Harris, G. D. (see Doll, W. H.)
Hopkins, O. B.
1920 Drilling for oil in Florida: U. S. Geol. Survey Press Bull., Apr.,1920
Hull, J. P. D., Jr.
1962 Cretaceous Suwannee Strait, Georgia and Florida: Am. Assoc. Petroleum Geologists Bull., v. 46, p. 118-121.
Jordan, Louise (also see Applin, E. R.)
1954 Oil possibilities in Florida: Oil and Gas Journal, v. 53, no. 28, p.
370-372, 375, (November 15, 1954).
Murray, G. E.
1961 Geology of the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Province of North America: New York, Harper & Brothers, 692 p.
Pressler, E. D.
1947 Geology and occurrence of oil in Florida: Amrn. Assoc. Petroleum
Geologist Bull., v. 31, p. 1951-1862.
Vernon, R. O.
1951 Geology of Citrus and Levy Counties, Florida: Florida Geol. Sur.
vey Bull. 33, 256 p.
42 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
CENOZOIC ERA
TERTIARY SYSTEM
Paleocene Series
Cedar Keys Formation
This formation was proposed by Cole (1944, p. 27, 28) for a mostly tan limestone containing Borelis gunteri Cole and Borelis floridanus Cole in its upper portion, and which overlies Cretaceous calcarenite. As defined, this formation is a stage and is synonymous with Midway Stage of the western gulf states. As used by Cole, the formation extended from the uppermost occurrence of Borelis fauna to the top of the Upper Cretaceous, as identified by him, and included a transition zone at base, which is considered by most workers to represent the top of Upper Cretaceous (upper member of the Lawson Limestone). The Cedar Keys is here used as emended by Applin and Applin (1944) and Vernon (1951) and covers the interval between the top of the Borells fauna, the first occurrence of a small foraminiferal assemblage associated with Borelis, to the top of the Cretaceous. This current usage includes in the Cedar Keys on indefinite thickness of beds at the top and excludes the Upper Cretaceous beds. This definition of Cedar Keys makes the formation much more uniform in its occurrence and thickness (fig. 11).
Fauna
Foraminifera (Applin and Jordan, 1945)
Borelis florldanus Cole
Borelis gunterl Cole
Cribrospira ? bushnellensis Applin and Jordan
Planispirina ? kissengenensis Applin and Jordon
Valvulammina nassauensis Applin and Jordan
Ostracoda (Applin and Applin, 1944)
Cytherella symmetrica Alexander
Cytherels aff. C. sculptilis Alexander
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 43
w Ud U)
il w Lii
I
w cc2 PANHANDLE PENINSULA
2 Urroramrd Sand, ta. and Clap
r-
Uj
Ll
La keFinelMaiL1
4 SirIvte Blitf Formal Dn
6. ~ Pomlica Formurivi Carbonatem and
iW.cniIco rorm loA Suaid Depasili
aEa laoosohGEuheE ForFmgiqn
"j1 0 ~O eI enc. Frm al ar
CL
Eohardi frorpma t.on
F PLIO~PLE T C High level Alluvral an4 D*Imic tpDsits PLE ISTOCENE
ULpper M'Dcene 'ourst l urI
... -- 1111j -..._i-Zn ..--- oV.am
Une**~d1 dcralp Iiri& /*
--4-- .--1 I Fnremri on oulh A ce / tr dC one GC-irrdip .- Sol' IV
2 re cr Ln dCafa ';:1' a F r.b me
- --.Zi.
'1 ASheo 310Ch.,.a R. I Frmor. n
I I
LLJ _j r. e 1L- g-- DI ~ II c Wt "
r1r m C n I UGr. h pr a HOWPhorr J.
N ~I a' V 4 tcas~t 5.auffer LoCrm 111111-0
.uC L"mes- ne .vI..a n r. e r. 6n I "
. 0 r ~ -. -a - ', u n-.,
< -. -, .. ... : m ion ,
-- .... -- --.- ---- --- ------------ -----.--------"
M r n." L ii n
"lL e.r1 I ...,i rOr
OL C. hii 1* 3 C uIO A *t FZ.rie "
II n Formalren Oc a G Z 4:[-glrmnFormer an
Yji 1-1rrh'larf
Ial
lAmon Par L' mestanei
0 _j
T l lah *Ia .'' Ch .rmusione
pnda oer'en Ocala ilnuq.du Im
.nd.' er, r io" d -* Iw d-r K, r Lml Atoni
Figure 11. Straitigrapbic Cenozoic Nomenclature Chart
La , A oi 'fkLrre"~.
1A-- -. P... ,. ... ..- -,. j
TLoln. l,.:'r-rp." -rv3Ie Civy Fi.riedltr, n
.U .lld| 1 r
r.0~lthFcan aa .7J
" Ir"lflrlli ig ii ii I i .i FertOPI c fl
.j -- --
Lu 1 n lf rnil- ddw yi*eeK l.LWm tn haI LLI I[ bI1h.L~ drk ImE$ ,
3,
F igure 11 St .- --atig--'-a-- h-----..Cen----,_-------,._m ----nc l ---tur -e-------h--r-t.-
44 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
LIMESTONE FACIES- CEDAR KEYS FORMATION (Data from Applin and Applin, 1944)
County W.II No. Top Bottom Thickness Total Depth
Dade W-215 3675 5432 (T.D.) 1757 5432 Dade W-147 3773 4560 (T.D.) 787 4560 Dixie W-636 2561 1894 333 4776 Hillsborough W. 8 3090 3255 165 3255 Lake W-275 1570 3365 795 6120 Levy W.166 2051 2489 438 5266 Marion W.901 1730 2235 505 4334 Monroe W-445 3310 5430 2120 10,006 Nassau W-336 2215 2750 535 4827
Polk W- 61 2630 4300 1670 4540 Sumter W- 3 2005 2940 935 3070
UNDIFFERENTIATED MIDWAY STAGE
In the Florida Panhandle, clastic beds of Midway Age have not been differentiated into the three units (Clayton, Porters Creek, and Naheola) recognized in Alabama. The undifferentiated Midway in the panhandle consists of gray, micaceous, sandy clay with seams of cream, sandy, pasty, soft limestone; the basal portion is composed of a dark gray to black, micaceous clay with thin beds of green, red, and gray, speckled, and banded fossiliferous clays. The thickness of these sediments vary from 250 to 750 feet. In some wells in Jackson, Jefferson, Washington, and Wakulla counties, these sediments in the lower part contain a very characteristic Tamesi fauna which is composed of the following species (Applin and Jordan, 1945):
Ammodlscus Incertus d'Orbigny
Anomalina rubiginosa Cushman
Sulimina (Desinobulimina) qyodrota Plummetr
Clbicides cognatus Galloway and Morrey
Clavulinoides midwayensis Cushman
Dorothia alabomensis Cushman
Eponides waltonensis Applin and Jordan
Gaudryina s p.
Globigerino cretaceca d'Orbigny
Globigerina pseudobulloides PI ummet
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 45
Globigerino trilocullnoides Plummer
Globigerina velascoensis Cushman
Glaoborofolia cf. G. membranacec (Ehrenberg)
Globorotalia veloscoensis Cushman
Gyroidina sparksi Whi te
Gyroidina subangulata (Plummer)
Marssonella oxycona floridana Applin and Jordan
Planulina waltonensis Applin and Jordan
Pseudoglandulina manifesta (Reuss)
Pullenia quinqueloba Reuss
Pulvinutinella obtusa (Burrows and Holland)
Trochammrnlnoides Irregularis White
Vaginulna robusta Plummer
Vailvulineria allomorphlnoldes (Reuss)
CLASTIC FACIES OF MIDWAY AGE (Data from Applin and Applin, 1944)
County Well No. Top Bottom Thickness Total Depth
Jackson W-285 1672 1761 89 5022
(Tamesi fauna) 1761 1934 173
Jeffers on W- 19 2490 3056 app. 566 3838 (Tamesi fauna)
Leon W- 32 2235 2675 440 3755
Wakulla W-440 2665 2715 50 5746 (Tamesi fauna)
Wa Iton W-148 2010 2400 app. 390 5337 Washington W. 1 ? 2060 Unknown 4912
(Tamesi fauna) 2060 2545 485
Eocene Series
Oldsmar Limestone
The name Oldsmar Limestone was given by Applin and Applin (1944, p. 1699) to a series of faunizones to include stratigraphic intervals overlying the Cedar Keys Limestone which is marked by the abundance of Helicostegina gyralis Barker and Grimsdale. The following four faunizones were recognized by the Applins:
46 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Helicostegina qyralis faunizone
Salt Mountain Limestone faunizone characterized by
Pseudophraqmina cedarkeysensis Cole
Coskinolina elongata faunizone
Unnamed faunizone, characterized over the north
peninsular Florida by Miscellanea nassauensis
Applin and Jordan, and over the central and
southern peninsula by "Lockhartia" cushmani
Applin and Jordan.
Levin (1957) reports the following Foraminifera and Ostracoda from the Oldsmar Limestone:
Foramrinifera
Volvulina sp.
Coskinolina elongata Cole
Quinqueloculina akneriana d'Orbigny
Quinquelocullno sp.
Nonion mimica Levin
Nummulites s p.
Miscellanea nassauensis Applin and Jordan
Miscellanea nassouensis var. reticulosus Apptin and Jordan
Borelis floridonus Cole
Tubulogenerina turbina Levin
Discorbis inornatus Cole
Discorbis tallabcattensis Bandy
DiscorbIs yeguaensis Weinzierl and Applin
Gyroidina lot tens is Garrett
Gyroidina lattensis var. impenso Levin
Eponides oldsmarensis Levin
Rotalia trochidiformis (Lamarck)
Lockhartia gyropapuloso Levin
Lockhorfio praeolta Levin
Siphonina wilcoxensis Cushman
Asterigerina primrnaria var.heligma Levin
Asterigerinr texana (Stadnichenko)
Helicostegino gyralls Barker and Grimsdale
Amphistegina Iopeztrigoi Palmer
Cibicides sassei Cole
Pseudophragmina (Proporocyclina) cedarkeysensis Cole
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 47
Ostracoda
Aulocytherideo margodentata Howe
Haplocytheridea cf. HFf. gochi (Stephensor)
Xestoleberis sp.
Cythereis ? Iongicostata Blake
Besides the foraminiferal species listed above, Clavulina floridana Cole, Lituonella elegans Cole, and "Lockhartia" cushmani Applin and Jordan have been reported from the Oldsmar Limestone.
UNDIFFERENTIATED WILCOX STAGE
Stratigraphic equivalents of NanafaliaTuscahoma, and Hatchetigbee formations of Alabama have been recognized in the Florida Panhandle as undifferentiated Wilcox. These sediments consist of sandy, cream, glauconitic limestone; gray, glauconitic, calcareous sand; white to cream, pasty limestone; gray-green micaceous clay at base. Siliceous, gray,argillaceous limestone and greenish gray clay predominant eastward. The entire section has a Velasco fauna but concentration of elements of fauna occurs in the bottom 100 to 300 feet, which is principally a white to cream, nasty, fossiliferous limestone, named the Salt Mountain Limestone. The sediments of Wilcox Age vary in thickness from 400to 1,600 feet. The clostic beds of the panhandle grade laterally across Jefferson and adjacent counties into a limestone facies called the Oldsmar Limestone (Applin and Applin, 1944).
LIMESTONE FACIES OLDSMAR LIMESTONE (Data from Applin and Applin,1944)
County Well No. Top Bottom Thickness Total Depth Broward W-150 2500 app. 3010 510 3010 Columbia W299 1010 1012 (T.D.) 02 1012 Dade W-215 2737 3675 938 5432 Dade W-147 3720 3773 53 4560
Dixie W-636 1085 1561 476 4776 Hillsborough W- 8 2165 3090 925 3255 Lake W.275 1750 2570 820 6120 Levy W-166 1308 2051 743 5266 Marion W-901 1285 1730 445 4334 Monroe W-445 2050 3310 1260 10,006 Monroe W- 2 1920 2310 390 2310 Nassau W-336 1370 2215 845 4821 Polk W- 61 1960 2630 670 4540 St. Johns W.236 1350 (last sample) 1350 Sumter W. 3 1430 2005 575 3070
48 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
CLASTIC BEDS OF WILCOX AGE
County Well No. Top Bottom Thickness Total Depth Jackson W.285 776 1672 896 5022 Jefferson W. 19 2223 2490 ? 267 3838 Leon W. 32 1995 2235 240 3755 Wakulla W-440 2122 2665 543 5746 Wa Iton W.148 1508 1980 472 5337 Washington W- 1 970 ? 4912
CLAIBORNE STAGE
Lake City Limestone
The Lake City Limestone was erected by Applin and Applin (1944) for a chalky limestone faces of the early middle Eocene in northern and peninsular Florida. The type section is a well (W-229) at Lake City, Columbia County. The limestone grades laterally into and interfingers with unnamed, chalky, glauconitic, sandy, clastic facies of western Florida that contains a fauna related to the Cook Mountain Formation.
Vernon (1951, p. 91-92) reported that the formation is characterized by several lithologies which probably occur as thin beds in a thick carbonate section. The formation is composed of a matrix of tan to cream, fragmental, often peat-flecked, granular, and pasty limestone in which are embedded quantities of foraminifers, crystals of calcite, and echinoid plates. The limestone is irregularly dolomitized and dolo. mitization is present in all stages from incipient dolomite crystals in the matrix to complete dolomite. The change is usually accompanied by decalcification of the fauna to a degree comparable to the amount of dolomitization. Such decalcification is present in stages from unaltered fossils, calcite dust retaining some of the fossil forms, to molds surrounded by crystalline dolomite. The complete removal of fossils sometimes results in a dolomite that retains the texture of a former granular limestone, in which the matrix and interiors of the faunas have been filled by dolomite and the calcite shells removed, to form a very porous scab and skeletal spongy texture. Sometimes the limestone is essentially a coquina of specimens of Dictyoconus, Coskinolina, Lockhartia and associated foraminifers, and rarely this coquina may be so impregnated with gypsum that the fossils appear to be embedded in gypsum.
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 49
Gypsum has impregnated much of the Lake City Limestone and commonly the rock is completely impregnated with anhydrite and gypsum, all porosity being filled, this resulting in rare gypsum casts of the fossils. Thin beds and seams of anhydrite and selenite are also present and these may represent cavity fills, since the impregnation appears in most samples to have occurred after dolomitization.
The general lithology is emphasized by beds which apparently characterize the Lake City Limestone. These beds occur throughout the formation but many are concentrated at the top and serve with the diagnostic foraminifers to mark the top of the formation.
These beds include a pseudo-oolite, a brown to coffee colored chert, a bentonitic (?) clay, and a brownish gray, laminated, finely crystalline dolomite containing seams of black carbon and flattened decalcified specimens of Fabularia vaughani, Coskinolina sp., Archaias columbiaensis, and larger Valvulinidae giving it a mottled and laminated (molasses and butter) appearance. Occasionally, the last mentioned rock is seamed with peat and is not fossiliferous. The finely crystalline dolomite matrix grades vertically in some wells to a granular fragmental matrix containing many small calcareous foraminifers, making a white and brown speckled limestone with a dolomite matrix.
At the top of the formation, and sometimes also in samples below, a cream, yellowish and brownish gray, very fissile, waxy, highly absorptive possible bentonitic clay was encountered in a number of wells that penetrated the Lake City Limestone. Silica is commonly associated with the clay and occurs at the top of the formation in great abundance. The silica is dense, mammillary, hard, brown to tan colored chalcedony which is transparent on thin edges. The chert is frequently peat flecked and rarely contains specimens of Archaias columbiaensis, Lockharia cushmani, and Dictyoconus sp. The brown chert is frequently associated with a white chalcedony and milky quartz and rarely all the silica is white and milky. The clay and silica usually occur with the laminated and speckled dolomite described above.
The limestone facies laterally grades into a clastic facies in a series of wells extending from Wakulla County westward to Walton County.
Paleontologically, the formation is very distinct and can be identified from its fauna, the top of the formation being picked on the first occurrence of Dictyoconus americanus (Cushman).
50 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
The Lake City Limestone overlies the Oldsmar and underlies the Avon Park Limestone. The formational contacts are known only from rock cuttings taken from oil and water wells. The Lake City probably rests unconformably upon the Oldsmar. Vernon (1951, p. 92) noticed that peat content increases toward the top of the Oldsmar, indicating progressive near shore facies.
The contact of the Avon Park Limestone upon the Lake City Limestone is undoubtedly nonconformable. The development of peat and lignite beds, clay and sand stringers, and phosphorite and limonite nodules along the contact are evidences of an unconformity. In some well penetrations, the rock cuttings show signs of oxidation and weathering of the Lake City Limestone at the contact and locally the formation appears to have been thinned.
Fauna
Foraminifera (Applin and Jordan, 1945)
Amphistegina lopeztrigoi Palmer
Amphistegina nassauensis Applin and Jordan
Archalas columbiaensis Applin and Jordan
Asterigerina cedarkeysensis Cole Dictyoconus americanus (Cushman)
Asterocyclina rnmonticellensis Cole and Ponton
Discorbis inornatus Cole
Fabiania cubensis (Cushman and Bermudez)
Epistornaria semirmarginata (d'Orbigny)
Eponldes gunteri Cole
Fabularia gunteri Applin and Jordan Fobulario vaoughani Cole and Ponton
Gunteria floridana Cushman and Ponton
Lepidocyclina (Polylepidina) antillea Cushman
Lepidocyci na (Pliolepidina) cedarkeysensis Cole
Linderina floridensis Cole
"Lockhartla"' cushmnani Applin and Jordan
Operculinoides jennyl Barker
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 51
LIMESTONE FACIES LAKE CITY LIMESTONE (Data from Applin and Applin, 1944)
County Well No. Top Bottom Thickness Total Depth
Bravard W-104 756 872 (T.D.) 116 872 Broward W-150 2127 2500 373 3010 Columbia W-299 492 1010 518 1012 Dode W-215 2490 2737 247 5432 Dixie W-636 525 1085(1st sample) 560 4776 Duval W.304 805 1005 (T.D.) 200 1005 Duval W-581 965 980 (T.D.) 15 980 Hillsborough W- 8 1910 2165 255 3255 Jefferson W. 19 1740 2223 483 3838 Lake W-275 1010 2000 990 6120 Leon W- 32 1600 1995 395 3755 Levy W-166 811 1308 497 5266 Ma rion W-901 915 1285 370 4334 Monroe W-445 1810 2050 240 10,006 Monroe W- 2 1740 1920 180 2310 Nassau W-336 945 1370 425 4821 Nassau W.670 853 1060 (T.D.) 207 1060 Polk W- 61 1540 1960 (T.D.) 420 4540 Polk W-668 930 1040 110 1040 St. Johns W-236 590 1350 (T.D.) 760 1350 Sumter W. 3 890 1430 540 3070 Suwannee W- 6 475 650 (T.D.) 175 650 Wakulla W- 12 1750 2169 (T.D.) 419 2169 Wakulla W-440 1750 2122 372 5746
Tallahatta Formation
Cream to white, glauconitic, sandy, clayey limestone and gray to cream, sandy, glauconitic clay constitute the Tallahatta Formation. In the Florida Panhandle, thickness of these beds varies from 150 to 500 feet. These beds are called "clastic beds of Cook Mountain Age" by the Applins (1944). These clastic sediments merge laterally into the limestone facies (Lake City Limestone) from Wakulla County eastward into the Florida Peninsula.
52 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Avon Park Limestone
The term Avon Park Limestone was proposed by Applin and Applin (1944, p. 1680, 1686) for the sediments of late middle Eocene in Florida. The type locality is in a well at Avon Park Bombing Range in Polk County. This formation in its type area is a cream colored limestone that contains a very distinct middle Eocene microfauna. The surface exposures of this formation have only been found in Citrus and Levy counties (Vernon, 1951, p. 95).
General L ithology
The Avon Park Limestone is composed of several lithologies having in common a distinct and prolific fauna and a high content of lignitic and other carbonaceous plant residues. Three general lithologic types, all carbonates, are present in Citrus and Levy counties in exposures and well penetrations of the formation. These are as follows (Vernon, 1951, p. 96, 97):
'.(j) Cream to brown, highly fossiliferous, miliolid-rich, marine, fragmental to pasty limestone that weathers cream to white, and purpletinted (stop 1). The bed contains abundant specimens of mollusks, foraminifers, and corals. In its porosity and fauna it resembles a reef, and grades laterally and vertically through a tan to brown, dense, brittle, thin lithographic limestone; a 4. to 6-inch fucoldCerithlum' fragmental dolomite; an irregular lens of lignite and a Foraminifera-filled dolomite-clay into the other rock types (stop 2).
A(2) Cream to brown, pasty and fragmental, peat flecked and seamed,
very fossiliferous, marine limestone, not exposed. This bed is extremely rich in well preserved Bryozoo, foraminifers and ostracods, and the fauna is concentrated and somewhat deformed along thin beds that are interbedded with peat and more barren pasty limestone seams to give the rock a laminated and mottled appearance, to which the term 'molasses and butter' has been applied by some geologists.
"(3) Tan to brown, thin bedded and laminated, very finely crystalline
marine dolomite. Molds of characteristic Avon Park foraminifers are common. The dolomite is composed of euhedral, silt-sized crystals of dolomite interbedded with layers of lignite and carbonaceous plant remains, each layer being commonly one-sixteenth to one-fourth inch in thickness. The structure of the rock resembles varves and the poor consolidation and grain size cause the rock to
resemble siltstones."
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 53
Most of these generalized types will be seen at stops I and 2.
The equivalent clastic beds in the panhandle are not exposed. The Avon Park Limestone is correlated with the Gosport Sand and with the Lisbon Formation in part. These names have been used for the Florida sediments although they differ from the sediments at the type sections. Glauconitic, calcoreous sand; hard, sandy, glauconitic limestone; soft, sandy, glauconitic marl with minor seams of shale near the glauconitic, cherty, limestone and fossiliferous bentonitic clay, have been placed in the late middle Eocene and called Gosport Sand or Lisbon Formation.
Fauna
Foraminifera (Applin and Jordan, 1945)
Coskinolina floridana Cole
Cribrobulimina cushmaoni Applin and Jordan
Cyclammina watersi Applin and Jordan
Dictyoconus cooked (Moberg)
Discorinopsis gunteri Cole
Flinina avonporkensis Applin and Jordan
Lituonella floridana Cole
Rotalia avonporkensis Applin and Jordan
Spirolina coryensis Cole
Textularia coryensis Cole
Volvulammin minute Applin and Jordan
Valvulina avonporkensis Applin and Jordan
Valvulina intermedia Applin and Jordan Voalvullrna matii Cushman and Bermudez
Gastropoda (Palmer, 1953)
Tecturiopsis (?) avonensis Palmer
Velates floridanus Richards Bellatam americana Pa lmer
Bellatum citmna Palmer
Bellataram floridana Palmer H ipponix floridanus Pa lmer
Pseudocrommnium occiduum Palmer
Conomitmra sp.
54 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Pelecypoda (Richards, 1953)
Anomla cf. A. lisbonensis Aldrich
Crassatella Inglisia Richards
Venericardia scabricostata Guppy
Pseudomiltha megameris DalI
Here s p.
FImrbria olssont Richards
Cardium (Trigoniocardium) protoaliculum Richards
Cardium (Trachycardium) of. C. claibornensis Aldrich
Cardium (Anthocardia ?) avonum Richards
Macrocallisto annex (Conrad) Blagriveia ? gunteri Richards
Stop 1: (Section after Vernon, 1951, p. 105-106.)
Bed Description Thickness (feet)
Eocene Series
Middle Eocene Stage
Avon Park Limestone
3 Mottled cream to gray, very soft, granular, fragmental, massive,
weathered, marine limestone topped by blocky, red, sandy clay
soils that extend back into a cultivated field . . . .. 4.0
2 Cream to white, mottled, hard ledge of dense, very fossiliferous, marine, limestone containing excellent specimens of Peneroplis sp. "X" and other Avon Park microfauna. Mollusk molds are abundant and several Lucinids, Corbis sp. cF.
C. claiborrmnsis and Trigoniocardio, n. sp., ore common .. 1.5
1 Lithology above, but softer and containing hard nodules .... 3.0
Water level
Total thickness .. ...................... ........ 8.5
Stop 2: (Section after Vernon, 1951, p. 108-110
Bed Description Thickness (feet)
Pleistocene Series
Pamlico Formation
8 Whiteto gray, fine, argillaceous, quartz sand . . . . 1.5 to 4.0
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 55
Unconformity
Upper Eocene Stage
Ocala Group
Inglis Formation
7 Tan, dense, hard, massive dolomite containing scattered
molds of foraminifers and broken mollusks . . . ... 2.35
6 Tan, very soft, friable, finely crystalline, porous to dense,
thinly bedded dolomite composed of silt-size euhedral crystals. Grades laterally into large, massive, dolomite beds containing platy dolomite pebbles, apparently reworked from beds below. This bed varies in height along the quarry face and apparently has covered an erosional surface of relief up
to 10 feet ................. ... ....... ....... ................... .. 9.75
Unconformity
Middle Eocene Stage
Avon Park Limestone
5 High areas extending into bed 6, tan to brown, extremely
platy and laminated by alternate layers of plant remains and silt-size euhedral crystals of dolomite. The base is dark brown, heavily laminated and contains thin beds of peat and specimens of Peneroplid sp. "X", Coskinolino, Dictyoconus and Lituonella. Extensively exposed in the south side of
the quarry .. .... ... .... . .... .. ........ (variable)3.00
4 Tan to brownish gray, dense, fine grained, fragmental dolomite, cut by numerous long narrow borings made by worms or boring mollusks. Many molds of "Cerithiurn" n. sp., are
present and the bed is absent in places . . .. . . . 0.35 to 0.85
3 Brownish gray, purple tinted, very dense, fine groined, lithographic dolomite. Beds 3 and 4 grade laterally and vertically
into bed 2 or where absent into bed I & & b . . 0.70to 1.60
2 Brown to greenish gray, very pure, thin bedded, dense, carbonate having the texture and consistency of clay when wet and a nalyzing 95 to 98 percent calcium-magnesiumcarbonate.
Upon drying the material cements solidly. The bed is laonmi.nated by carbonized plant remains, thin peat beds in places, and a pavement-like Bryozoa. It contains an abundant and beautifully preserved microfauna of the Avon Park Limestone and includes Elphidium sp. "A", Coskinolina floridana and
Dictyoconus cookei in great abundance.. ...9 .. 0.70 to 1.00
1 Brownish gray to brown, purple tinted, soft but tough, granular, massive, porous limestone containing an abundant Avon
Park fauna .... .... ... ......... ........ ......... 3.00
Maximum cumulative thickness ..... ....... ..... ...... 25.55
56 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Howe (1951) reports the following ostracode fauna from bed 2:
Cytherello Iebonensls Howe Cytherelloidea floridano Howe Baddoppilata levyensIls Howe
Balrdoppllata vemoni Howe
Clithrocytheridea sagittaria Howe
Clithrocytheridea lebanonensis Howe
Aulocytherldea rargodentata Howe
Paracytheridea scorplona Howe
Paracytheridea scorpiona var, pernmatatoa Howe
Paracytheridea vernoni Howe
Cytheretta in firma Howe
Brachycythere lebanonensis Howe
Nephokirkos aquaplanus Howe Hemlcythere phrygion ia Howe
Hemicythere lienosa Howe
Hemicythere cribrarla Howe
Hemicythere bellule Howe
Hemicythere morta Howe
Hemicythere aleotorla Howe
Hemicythere iemniscata Howe
Urocythere attenuata How.
5pongicythere spissa Howe
Occultocythereis delumbala Howe
Hirsutocythere hornmotina Howe
Leniocythere lebanonens is Howe
Cytherels ? scutulata Howe
Cythereis ? blaltao Howe
Xestoleberis gunteri Howe Xestoleberts coplosa Howe
Lisbon Formation
The clastic beds, stratigraphically equivalent of the Avon Park Limestone of the Florida Peninsula, are recognized in the panhandle as the Lisbon Formation. These sediments are composed of cream colored, glauconitic, sandy limestone; light gray, blocky clay; cream, soft, chalky, pyritic limestone; and light gray, calcareous sand. Some dolomitization of carbonates occurs in some places. Sands, mars, and clay typical of the outcrop areas ore present on the Georgia-Alabama state line. The thickness of these clastics varies from 300 to 425 feet.
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 57
OCALA GROUP
The term Ocala Limestone, first proposed by Doll (1892, p. 103, 104), has been widely used, primarily as a rock unit. The name was employed thus by various writers to cover all the calcareous sediments in eastern Alabama and Florida deposited between middle Eocene (Claiborne) and Oligocene (Vicksburg) time, although the exact stratigraphic position of the sediments remained in doubt until Cooke (1915) established them as Eocene and proved that the Ocala Limestone underlies the Marianna Limestone and that its fauna is essentially of Jackson Stage. Since then Ocala Limestone, Jackson Group, Jackson Stage, have been used indiscriminately by various writers for these upper Eocene calcareous sediments. Vernon (1951) showed that "Ocala Limestone" consists ot at least three easily recognizable lithologic units. Murray (1952, pl. 13) used the term Ocala Group on a diagram to include the Moodys Branch and Ocala Limestone (restricted) of Vernon (op. cit.) or"lower Ocala" and "upper Ocala" of the Applins (op. cit.).
The Ocala Limestone was described from exposures in the vicinity of Ocala, Marion County, Flewida (Dall, 1892, p. 103-104), and the term has been commonly used to include all calcareous sediments of upper Eocene age until the Applins (1944) showed that it could be divided into an upper and a lower member. Because Vernon (1951) has recognized three units and has established its subdivisions into a lower Moodys Branch Formation and upper Ocala Limestone (restricted) and because its regional nature has long been recognized, the Ocala was used by Puri (1953, p. 130) as a group name. Since the "Ocala Limestone"' at the type locality has been quarried and the type section destroyed, and the exposures in the vicinity of Ocala represent only about 40 feet of sediments (the basal section in most pits belongs to the Williston member), the Zuber pit of the Cummer Lime and Manufacturing Company in the SE/NW/ sec. 11, T. 14 S., R. 21 E., Marion County, was designated by Puri (1957, p. 24) as a cotype locality for the Ocala Group. Seventy feet of limestone is exposed here.
The following three formations are assigned to the Ocala Group (Puri, 1953) and their relationship, together with their thickness is shown on plates 3-6 and figure 12.
Jackson Stage
Ocala Group
1. Crystal River Formation
2. Williston Formation
3. Inglis Formation
o
U 3
PANHANDI.E
PENISL
*S "NEE tIMEON NEE MEST DUNCAN CHURCH beds O ABSENT PAR NEE UMESt SHUBUTA PENINSULA
. I''.t\L M ff
w ~r". A LA r""n
< CRYSTAL RIVER FORMATION rr
coco- GROUP ,
MOODS LIMESTONE
BRANCH ? MEMBR
F FORMATION I INGS FORMATION
GOSPORT -. PERAcKHs ILL AVON PARK LIMESTONE
SAND
Figure 12. Nomenclature and Relationships of the Upper Eocene Rocks in Florida.
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 59
Inglis Formation
Vernon (1951, p. 115-116) proposed the name Inglis member of the Moodys Branch Formation for 50 feet of the basal section of the Ocala Limestone as expsoed in the vicinity of Inglis, Levy County. Since these sediments differ both faunistically and lithologically from the overlying Williston and the underlying Avon Park Limestone and has been recognized in the field and mapped, Puri (1953, p. 130) has raised the Inglis to formational rank.
Type Locality
The type locality of the Inglis Formation is in the vicinity of Inglis, Levy County, where the limestone is exposed in several pits and quarries, and also along the Withlacoochee River. Vernon (1951, p. 123) gives the following section, about one-eighth mile below the right bank of the Withiacoochee River in the SEZNW% sec. 3, T. 17 S., R. 16 E.
Stop 3:
Bed Description Thickness (feet)
Pleistocene Series
Parnlico Formation
2 Quartz sand ...... .... F .4 .* ..* l ... . Variable
I Cream to tan, soft, porous, but casehardened and densely
crystalline where weathered, massive, granular, miliolid, marine limestone. Contains numerous ecbinoids, particularly Eupatagus mooreanus, Periarchus lyeIi floridanus, and assatociated Foraminifers. Exposed to water level in the stream
bank.... ... .... ..... 9 ... ....... .... 5.0
Total thickness . ............................. 4 4 4 5.0
The channel was improved in 1942 and the contact of the limestone facies with the underlying dolomite facies of the Inglis member was penetrated. Boulders of the following lithologies can be seen along the banks of the river at this stop:
1. Gray, granular limestone as exposed along the river banks.
2. Cream colored, soft, granular, porous miliolid limestone with specimens of Velates floridanus, Lucinid sp. "A", buckshot miliolids, echinoids,
and mollusks.
60 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
3. Mottled gray and brown, porous, finely crystalline, massive, sugary textured
dolomite with rare molds of motlusks and Periarchus lyelli floridanus.
Probably the thickest exposure of the Inglis member in Citrus and Levy counties is oresent at locality L-136 along a small stream that crosses State Highway 40, NE/SW sec. 1, T. 17 S., R. 16 E., 1.65 miles east of State Highway 55 along the escarpment between the Pamlico and Wicomico terraces. An aggregate thickness of 11.35 feet of cream, soft, porous, massive limestone is exposed.
Stop 4. (Section after Vernon, 1951, p. 127.) Sink located in a field east of the section road in the SWNWV sec. 13, T. 12 S., R. 14 E.
Bed Description Thickness (feet)
Pleistocene Series
Wicomico Formation ?
4 Quariz sand soil.... ................ . .. 1.0
Unconformity
Eocene Series
Upper Eocene Stage
Ocala Group
Williston Formation
3 Typical Opercutinoides coquina in a cream colored, pasty
limestone ..... . . . .......... .. . 5.0
2 Buff, pasty, hard, tough, porous limestone, with numerous
Operculinoides mrnoodybranchensis . .. . . . .... . 1.0
Inglis member Elevation 25 feet
1 Light tan, weathering pink, massive, hard, porous limestone.
Many mollusk molds, Peneroplid "'X", Operculinoldes moody.
branchensis and rare Fabiania cubensis. . . . . . . T.25
Total thickness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.25
Fauna
The Inglis Formation has a highly diversified and prolific fauna. Swain (1946) described some Ostracoda from the Ocala, including some Inglis species. Vernon (1951) lists species of Foraminifera and Mollusca from the Inglis Formation in the outcrop area. Fischer (1951) described the echinoid fauna. The molluscan fauna has been described by Richards
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 61
and Palmer (1953). Roberts (1953) described a species of decapod crustacean from the Inglis.
Palmer (1953, p. 10, 11) lists the following gastropods from the Inglis:
Astraea withlacoochensis Palmer
Velates floridanus Richards
Turritella fischeri Palmer
Diastoma sp.
Botillaria advent Pa mer
Bellatra americana Pa Ilmer
Bellatara cltrano Palmer
Bellatara floridana Palmer Pseudoaluca clarki Palmer Hipponix floridanus Palmer
Calypfraea aperta (Solander)
Xenophore sp.
Tugurium gray Palmer
Loevella floridano Palmer
Terrebellum (Seraphs) belemnitum Palmer
Cypruedia fenestralis Conrad
Ampullinopsis citrinensls Palmer
PseudocrommIum brucel Palmer
Distorsio (Personella) jaicksonensis (Meyer)
Papillina gunteri Palmer Agaronia inglisia Palmer
Ol ivella (Callianox) poinciana Pa lmer
Conomitra s p.
Lapperin conradi Pa I mer Eovasum vernoni Polmer
Athlete orangia Pa I mer
Sycospira eccenica Palmer Carlicella obsoleta Palmer
Voluticella levensis Palmer
Lyria citrusensis Palmer
Lyria pycnopleura eccenia Pa I mer
Pseudotomea floridana Polmer
Conus sp. A Conus sp. B
Scarphander richards i Pa I mer
62 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Richards (1953, p. 42, 43) lists the following pelecypods from the Inglis:
Bo9rbatla par lmeme Ri chards Barbatia ? lnglisa Richards
Glycymeris lisbonensis Harris
Ostrea faico Da Il
Ostrea s p.
VolseIaIo sp.
Crassatella Inglisfa Richards
Crossatella eutowcolens Harris
Crassatella s p.
Venericardia scabricostata Guppy
Venericardia withlocoochensis Richards
Pseudomiltha megameris Do II
Here cf. H. wacissana Dail
Here a p.
DivarIcella robertsi Richard s
Fimbria vernonia Richards
Cardium (Dinocardium) levyi Richards
Cardium (Trigoniocardium) protoollcum Richards
Cardlum (Trachycardium) cf. C. (T.) claibornense Aldrich
Gari jacksonense Harris
Mocrocallista annex Conrad Blagraveia ? gunteri Richards
Corbula densata Conrad
Fischer (1951) lists the following species of irregular echinoids from the Inglis:
Fibularla vaughani (Twitchell) Oligopygus haldemoni (Conrad)
Loganum ocolanum Cooke
Peronella crustuloldes (Morton)
Peronella doalli Cooke
Peronella archerensis (Tw i tch el )
Periarchus lyelli floridanus Fischer
Cassidulus (C.) ericsoni Fischer
Cassidulus (Parclampos) lyelli (Conrad)
Cassidulus (Paralampas) giobosus Fischer
Agassizia floridana de Loriol Eupofagus mooreanus P is bry
Eupoatagus clevei Cotteau
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 63
Cidaris (Phyllacanthus) mortoni (Conrad) is the only regular echinoid known from the Inglis (Fischer, 1951, p. 55).
The following foraminiferol assemblage is contained in the Inglis (Puri, 1957, p. 27):
Ammospirato ? levyensis Puri
Ampnhistegina plnarensis cosdeni Applin and Jordan
Archaias withlacoochensis Puri
Camagueyia perplexa Cole and Bermudez
Cyclamina sp.
Dentolina vertebralis albatrossi (Cushman)
Dictyoconus cookei (Moberg)
Discorinopsis gunferi Cole
Elphidium sp.
Epistomaria seminwrginata (d'Orbigny)
Fabiania cubensis Cushman and Bermude
Globigerino sp.
Globulina gibbo dOrbigny
Globulina gibba globossa (Von Munster)
Lepidocyclina sp. (small, noded)
Llebusella byramensis turgida (Cushman)
Lituonella sp.
MIIola ef. M. saxorum Lamrnarck
Nonion advenum (Cushman)
Plectofrondiculario ? inglisiona Purl
Quinqueloculina ocalano Puri Reussel!a socena (Cushman)
Reussella sculptilis (Cushman)
Rotalia cushmani Applin and Jordan
Sphaeogypsina globula (Reuss)
Spirolina coryensis Cole
Spiroloculina newberryensis Puri
Spiroloculina seminotensis Applin and Jordan
Textularia adaita Cushman
Textularia dlbollensis Cushman and Applin
Textularia ocalana Cushman
Textularia recta Cushman Textularia triangulate Puri
Valvuino floridana Cole Vernonia tuberculata Puri
64 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Puri (1957) lists the following species of ostracodes from the Inglis:
Aulocytheridea nargodentata Howe
Clithrocytheridea sagiftoria Howe
Cytheretta daytonensis Swain
Cytheretto infirma Howe
Echinocythereis nuda Puri
Hemicythere mota Howe
Jugosocythereis bicarinata (Swain) Jugosocythereis lebanonenasts Howe
Paracytheridea scorpiona Howe
Spongicythere caudata Purl Spongicythere spissa Howe
Trachyleberis parexanthemato (Swain)
Xestoleberis gunteri Howe
Williston Formation
Vernon (op. cit., p. 141) proposed the name Williston member for about 30 feet of foraminiferal limestone overlying the Inglis and placed it in the Moodys Branch Formation. Over 60 feet of the basal section at Newberry belongs to this formation. Vernon (1951, p. 122, 144) recorded that the Williston and Inglis thicken toward Polk, Baker, and Volusia counties and this is confirmed by the presence of 25 feet of Inglis sediments in water well W-381, Polk County. Furthermore, two faunizones (Operculinoides jacksonensis faunizone and Operculinoides moodybranchensis faunizone) can be recognized in the Williston. Because it was lithologically and faunistically distinct from the underlying Inglis Formation, and because faunizones were recognizable in it, Puri (1953) raised the Williston to formational rank.
Type Local ity
The Williston Formation is typically exposed west of the town of Williston in Levy County. Vernon (1951, p. 145) gives the following section on the southeast side of a limestone quarry in the SE NE4 sea 21, T. 12 S., R. 18 E.
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 65
Stop 5:
Bed Description Thickness (feet)
Eocene Ser lies
Upper Eocene Stage
Ocala Group
Wi Iliston Formation
4 Cream to ton, soft, detrital limestone containing numerous
hard crystalline nodules, many Pecten sp., rare Amusumn sp., Lepidocyclina ocalana, Operculinoides floridens is, Ampnhis.
tegina pinarensis cosdent and abundant Cornerina vanderstoki 0.60
3 Cream colored, massive, somewhat nodular, pasty foraminiferal
coquina limestone with numerous spongiform concretions.
Foraminifers of bed 4, Operculinoides floridensis, Nonion advenun, Rotalia cushmani and Eponides jacksonensis are
very abundant.. ... . . ...... * .... . 6.80
2 Cream colored, very hard ledge, porous, somewhat crystalline,
very fossiliferous limestone containing numerous mollusks, molds, echinoid plates, abundant miliolids and other rare
forominifers . ................. ..... .. 0.45
1 Cream colored, granular, detrital, soft, porous, miliolid limestone containing the fossils above. Somewhat more resistant
to weathering and more massive than beds above.. ..... . 9.30 Total thickness .............. . . . ........... 17.15
On the northwest side of the pit an additional 3.6 feet of bed 4 is exposed in the face of the quarry and an additional 2 feet, 50 feet back of the rim.
The following founizones are recognized by Puri (1957, p. 50-52) in the Williston:
Operculinoides jacksonensis Founrizone
This faunizone consists of 15 to 59 feet of basal Williston sediments. Operculina mariannensis (in the Newberry section, stop 12) and Operculinoides jacksonensis (in Polk County, well W-381) are its markers. Operculinaides jacksonensis seems to be confined to this faunizone. The basal 15 feet of the section at Newberry (stop 12) belongs to this faunizone, which is easily recognized by the marker species. Its top is marked by the uppermost occurrence of either Operculina mariannensis or Operculinoides jacksonensis in peninsular Florida. In West Florida, however, Operculina mariannensis occurs in the Asterocyclina founi zone. This faunizone as such cannot be recognized in West Florida.
66 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Operculinoldes moodybranchensis Faunizone
The uppermost occurrence of Operculinoides jacksonensis overlain by an abundance of Operculinoides moodybranchensis, Amphistegina pinarensis cosdeni and the occasional occurrence of Spiroloculina seminolensis and Spongicythere willistonensis mark the base of this faunizone. Lepidocyclina ocalana and its varieties are uncommon and the top of the faunizone is marked by the disappearance of Operculinoides moodybranchensis, together with the gradual increase in number of arenaceous forms (various species of Textularia, Valvulina and Neoclavulina), Miliolidae (species of Spiroloculina and Quinqueloculina) and Lepidocyclina ocalana and its varieties. At some places Nummulites vanderstoki is associated with Operculinoides moodybranchensis but occurs only in small quantities. Relatively large individuals of Operculinoides floridensis and Operculinoides willcoxi are associated with Operculinoides moodybranchensis and Amphistegina pinarensis cosdeni and make it easy to identify this zone in the field.
The Operculinoides moodybranchensis faunizone varies in thickness from 14 feet at Bell (stop 18) to 25 feet in the Polk County well (W-381). At Newberry (stop 12) it is 30 feet thick while at Kendrick (stop 9) it is only 5 feet.
Fauna
Puri (1957) reports the following Foraminifero and Ostrocoda from the Williston:
Foraminifera
Amphlstegina plnarensis cosdeni Applin and Jordan
Millolao cf. M. saxorum Lamarck
Reussella eocena (Cushman)
Reussella sculptills (Cushman)
Rotalia cushmani Applin and Jordan
Sphaeorgypsino globula (Reuss)
Spiroloculina newberryensis Puri
Spiroloculina seminolensis Applin and Jordan
Textularia adailta Cushman
Textularalo dlbollensis Cushman and Applin
Textularia ocalana Cushman
Textularia recta Cushman Vernonia tuberculata Puri
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 67
Ostracoda
Aulocytheridea margodentuta Howe
Balrdoppilata vernon i Howe
Cytherelloldeo floridano Howe Cytheretto daytonensis Swain
Echinocythereis okeechoblensis (Swain)
Jugosocythereis bicarinata (Swain)
?Spongicythere caudata Purl
Trachyleberls parexanthemnata (Swain)
Stop 6: Abandoned quarry, 0.9 mile north of northern city limits of Bell, SEANW sec. 24, T. 8 S., R. 14 E., Gilchrist County, Florida. Section measured on east wall of quarry. (Section after Puri, 1957, p. 60.)
Bed Description Thickness (feet)
Eocene Series
Upper Eocene Stage
Ocala Group
Crystal River Formation
6 Cream to white colored, granular limestone, with abundant
Lepidocyclinas. Limestone is filled with pockets of gray and pink to brown sand of Hawthorn and post-Hawthorn Age;
solution funnels common. .. ..... . ...... . ... ** .. 7.7
5 Hard, granular limestone, with molds of Spondylus sp., and
other Mollusca ..... ..... . . . ... 4 4. .. . 1.0
4 Cream to white colored, granular limestone, almost a foraminiferal coquina. ..... . ... .. . .. . -. .. 3.0
3 Hard, white, chalky limestone, with abundant Foraminifera
and Mollusca; some of the Foraminifera and Mollusca are of
brownish color and are embedded in a white chalky matrix 2.9
2 White, chalky, granular limestone, with occasional Lepidocyclirmna sp.* a P .. ... ... 4.. .................. .... 6.5
Williston Formation
1 White to cream colored, chalky limestone with abundant
Foraminifera and Mollusca; almost a foraminiferal coquina
in places; abundant Pecten sp., Solen sp. In lower 3 feet 7.0
Total thickness . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. 27.2
68 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Stop 7: Marvin Stoncel's pit SW/44E sec. 11, T. 8 S., R. 14 E., Gilchrist County, Florida. (Section after Puri, 1957, p. 64.)
Bed Description Thickness (feet)
Eocen. Series
Upper Eocene Stage
Ocala Group
Crystal River Formation
5 White to cream colored, hard granular, fossiliferous limestone;
many Lepidocyclina sp., Bryozoa, 5pondylus sp... ...... 3.0
Williston Formation
4 Coarsely granular limestone; in places almost a coquina of
large foraminifers ... * * * .. ... 3.5
3 Cream colored, granular limestone, with very little smaller
foraminifers. Modiolus sp., Xenophora sp. present . .* ... 4.0
2 Modiolus bed. Cream colored, large foraminiferal coquina,
loosely cemented . ............................ 2.0
1 Soft, granular limestone with fewer large Foraminifera than
bed 2 ..................................... I 4 4 2.0
Total thickness ................. S a .. 4 . 4 .. ... 14.5
Crystal River Formation
The name Crystal River Formation (Puri, 1953, p. 130; Vernon and Puri, 1956, p. 35, 38) proposed for the 108 feet of limestone exposed in the Crystal River Rock Company quarry, sec. 6, T. 19 S., R. 18 E., Citrus County, Florida, includes all calcareous deposits of upper Eocene Age, lying stratigraphically between the Williston Formation and the Oligocene limestones. It consists of a homogeneous microcoquina, almost entirely made up of tests of Foraminifera. The basal portion may contain a few beds, as much as 12 feet thick, of secondary dolomite. The Crystal River Formation is synonymous with "Ocala Limestone (restricted)" of Vernon (op. cit.). The entire Crystal River Formation is nowhere exposed, because its top is marked by an erosional unconformity, but a total of 310 feet of sediments belonging to this formation is present in water well W-381, Polk County.
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 69
The following faunizones are recognized in the formation:
Lepidocyclina (Nephrolepidlna) chaperi Faunizone
Asterocyclina-Splrolaea vernonia Faunizone
Nummul ltes vanderstoki-.Hemicythere Faunizon.
Lepidocyclina-Pseudophragmino Faunizone
Spiroloculina newberryensis Faunizone
A thickness of over 300 feet of the formation occurs in the subsurface of Jackson County, Florida, where its upper portion has been designated Lepidocyclina fraqgilis Faunizone by MacNeil (1944).
Type Locality
Stop 8: Crystal River Rock Company quarry, NE SW sec. 6, T. 19 S., R. 18 E., Citrus County, Florida. (Section after Vernon, 1951, p. 166167.)
Bed Description Thickness (feet)
Oligocenu Series
Suwannee Limestone
13 A cream colored, porous, firmly cemented, detrital limestone
composed of echinoid plates and spines, poorly preserved foraminifers and granular calcite. Chlamys brooksviilensis, Chione sp., Clypeaster rogersi, Cassidulus gouldii, Kuphus incrassatus, and numerous specimens of Dictyoconus cooked, Coskinolina floridana are present. The :ed measured 9 feet from the top of the highest pinnacle east of the quarry to the
rim and an additional 8 feet is exposed in the quarry face 17.0
12 Cream to tan, hard, crystalline, nodular, very porous limestone
with seams of the limestone of bed 13 and containing many poorly preserved mollusk molds, including Chione sp. cf. C.
baInbridgens Is, Turrifella martinensis, T. vicksburgensis and rare specimens of Cassidulus gouldii and Lepidocydina
sp.. . ... ... .. ..... .... .. 1.0
11 White to light gray, dense, thin bedded, pasty to cryptocrystalline limestone containing rather numerous molds of Turritella martinensis and T. vicksburgens is. Weathered
surfaces appear brecciated . ........... ., . . . 2.0
70 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
10 Layer of light gray to cream colored, weathered brown, cryptocrystal ine, sublithographic, hard, dense, thin bedded limestone
with an occasional seam of light green, waxy marl .. . . . 0.30
9 Light gray, dense, thin bedded, hard, lithographic limestone with rare molds of Turritella ......... .... . . . 1.65
8 Brown to light gray, dense, hard, cryptocrystalline limestone with porous detrital limestone seams .... . ....... . . 1.00
7 Light greenish gray clay with fibrous, crystalline, light greenish gray calcite growths lying along a very irregular
surface developed upon bed 6 .. ....... .. ... (variable) 0.50
Unconformity
Eocene Series
Upper Eocene Stage
Ocola Group
Crystal River Formation Elevation 124.65 feet
6 Cream colored, detrital, porous, firmly cemented limestone with seams of dense, crystalline limestone and numerous poorly preserved molds of mollusks and rare specimens of Gypsino sp. cf. G. globula. The upper few inches ore very
indurated and the top of the limestone is very irregular 1.90
5 Cream to white, massive, bedded, pasty, soft coquina composed of mollusks, Bryozoo, corals and large foraminifers in a pasty calcite matrix. Specimens of Camerina vandersfoki are common in the lower 25 feet, but decrease upward and are replaced by Operculinoides ocalana. Turritella sp., Pecten sp., corals, Lepidocyclina ocalanor, Gypsina globula, Eponrides jacksonensis were identified .............. .. * ... ... ... 43.25
4 Cream to white limestone of bed 5, but containing irregular crystalline nodular concretions and Ostrea podogrina, Amusium ocalanum, Pecten sp., Gyps ina globula, Lepidocyclina ocalano, Reusselo eoceno, Discocyclina flintensis, Nonion
preadvenumn, Cibicides mississippiensis ocalanus ......... 9.50
3 Cream colored, coquina limestone composed of foraminifers, Bryozoa, echinoid plates and spines, corals, Pecten sp. cf. P.
"perplanus", Agassizia Floridana, Oigopygus holdemanl, Fibularia voughani, Loganum floridanum, L. ocalanum, PeronelJa cubae, Schizoster ocolanus, and some of the foraminilors a above . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.00
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 71
2 Cream colored, pasty, massive, coquina limestone with numerous irregular and spongiform concretions, and Amusiumrn ocalanum, Ostrea podagrina, Pectun sp., P. "perplanus", Fibularia vaughani, Peronella cubae, Lagena laevis and
foraminifers of bed4 ...... ... ......... . .. .. 38.00
1 Cream colored, very pasty, porous, soft limestone containing
Lepidocyclina ocalanoa, Heterostegina ocalarna, Operculinoldes floridensis, Operculinoldes sp., Gypsino globuta, Cibicides mississippiensis, Rotalia cushmani and other poorly preserved
foraminifers .... ..... ....... .. ... ....... 8.25
Total thickness .... ...... ... . ... ....... 131.25
Fauna
The Crystal River Formation has an abundnt molluscan fauna. Mrs. Katherine Van Winkle Palmer is presently engaged in a comprehensive study of the molluscan fauna collected by Survey personnel from numerous outcrop sections in Florida.
Harris (1951) lists the following pelecypods from the "Ocala" (most of Harris' locations belong to the Crystal River Formation):
Ostrea georgiana Conrad
Ostrea "podagrino" Dall Ostrea trlgonalis Conrad
Pl icatua filamentosa Conrad
Spondylus hollisteri Harris
Pecten perplanus Morton, var.
Pecten (Chlamys) spillmnani (GaCobb), var.
Pecten (Chlaomys) anatipes (Morton)
Amusium ocalanum (Dail)
Lima tricincto Harris
Lima vicksburgiona Doll
Pinna quadrate Da II
Atrino jacksoniana DalI
Pteria of. P. argenteo (Conrad)
Volsella ocalensis MacNeil
Arcoa cf. A. rhomnboidellao Lea, var.
Area (Barbotia) cucalloides (Conrad)
Nuculana sp.
Glycymnerts orcfatus var. cooked Dolla II Glycymeris cf. G. antepaorilis Kellum
72 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Venericardia planicosota var. ocalaedes Harris
Venericardia cf. V. nodifer Kellum
Euloxa s p.
Crassatello protexfa var. sinus Harris
Crassatella sp.
Crassatellao porcus Harris Crmssatetla ocordia Harris
L/rodiscus jacksonensis (Myer)
Here of. H. wacissona (Dali)
Miltha ocolano (Dall)
Lucina perovata (Da I1)
Pitar cf. P. nuttali Conrad
Pitar ef. P. subimpresa Conrad
Pitar trigoniata (Lea)
Cardium nicolletti Conrad
Cardiumrn cf. C. cabezal (Gardner)
Cardium eversurn? Conrad
Cardium sp.
Cardium eversum Conrad
Gar cemsium (Doall)
Panope obiongata (Conrad) Spis ulo pmroetenuis Conrad
Acroperna? s p.
Arcoperna sp. (sic.)
The only known Eocene vertebrate in Florida is Basilosaurus cetoides, remains of which have been found in limestone quarries at Mayo, Branford, and Buda, Florida (Ray, 1957).
Thickness of Ocala Group
An exact estimate of the thickness of the Crystal River Formation is rendered difficult because the rock is unevenly eroded at the top and its base is of transitional nature. A maximum of 310 feet of the formation is present in water well W-381, Polk County. Over 300 feet of the formation occurs in thke subsurface in Jackson County.
Vernon (1951, p. 141) assigned 30 to 50 feet of sediments to the Williston Formation. The Williston Formation thickens at the expense of the Inglis Formation in the Florida Panhandle, nd may replace the Inglis locally.
The Inglis Formation seems to have a more or less constant thickness of 50 to 55 feet in the vicinity of Inglis, Levy County, which is the
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 73
type locality. In northeastern and eastern peninsular Florida (Columbia, Bradford, Duval, and Volusia counties) the Inglis Formation appears to thicken to as much as 150 feet (Vernon, op. cit., p. 122).
Distribution of Ocala Group
The limestones of the Ocala Group are exposed in two extensive areas in Florida. The more extensive area is a regional feature, the Ocala uplift, which borders the Gulf of Mexico in the northwest part of peninsular Florida. The other area is the northern half of Washington and Jackson counties, and the eastern portion of Holmes County, whence the limestones extend into southern Alabama and southwestern Georgia.
From subsurface samples, it is known that the Ocala Group underlies the entire Stateof Florida except for small areas in northern Seminole County, Volusia County, southern Orange County, northern Osceola County, Lake County, Marion County, and in southern Levy County, where it is absent (Vernon, op. cit., pl. 2). Applin and Applin (1944) showed that their upper member of the "Ocala" which is the typical Crystal River Formation, occurs in subsurface throughout Florida except on the east coast in parts of Seminole County. The wells in this area, on the east coast, penetrated the lower less fossiliferous member of the "Ocala" directly beneath a thin cover of Miocene or Pliocene beds.
The surface distribution of the Ocala Group is shown on plate 2.
Zonation
Detailed faunal studies of the subsurface of Florida are limited to a few wells studied by Cole (1938, 1941, 1942, 1944). Surface reconnaissance work has been confined to a few selected localities and the faunal succession has not been precisely determined. In this work, most of the species were described by Heilprin (1882), Cushrman (1917, 1920, 1921, 1934), Vaughan (1928), Cole (1938, 1941, 1942, 1944), and Applin and Jordan (1945).
Among scores of papers published on the "Ocala Limestone," only four have a direct bearing on its zonation. Gravell and Hanna (1938, p. 99-106) reported three faunal zones in the "Ocala Limestone." These in descending order are:
74 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
1. Discocyclina (Asterocyclina) zone including several species of Discocyclina and Lepidocyclina ocalana Cushman, Operculinoides ocalanus (Cushman), Operculinoides willcori (Heilprin) andHeterostegina ocalana Cushman.
2. Operculinoides mariannensis zone.
3. "Camerina" jacksonensis zone including "Camerina" jacksonensis Gravell and Hanna, "Camerina" moodybranchensis Gravell and Hanna, and Lepidocyclina (Lepidocyclina) mortoni Cushman.
Applin and Applin (1944, p. 1684) divided the "Ocala Limestone" informally into lower and an upper member. The lower member is hard crystalline limestone and contains a few species and specimens of larger Foraminifera, the most abundant of these being "Camerina" aff. "C. vanderstoki (Rutten and Vermunt). Other species present in the lower member are Amphisteqina pinarensis Cushman and Bermudez var. lawsoni Applin and Jordan. The upper member, which is mostly a chalky, porous coquinoid limestone, is made entirely of Foraminifera containing Lepidocyclina ocalana Cushman and its varieties, Operculinoides willcoxi (Heilprin), and Operculinoides ocalanus (Cushman). This informal division did not designate any names for these two members.
Vernon (1951) divided the upper Eocene into two formations, a lower one, the Moodys Branch Formation, and an upper one, the "Ocola Limestone (restricted)" on the basis of both lithology and fauna. He recognized and mapped two units (Inglis and Williston) in the Moodys Branch Formation which also differs faunistically from the overlying strata designated by him as "Ocala Limestone (restricted)."
The following faunizones were recognized in the Crystal River Formation by Puri (1957):
Lepidocyclino (Nephrolepidinar) chaperi fo unizone
Asterocyclina-Spirolaeo vernonia founizone
Nummulites vanderstoki-Hemicythere founizone
Lepidocyclina-Pseudophrmgrnina founiz one
Spiroloculina newberryensis founizone
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 75
Spiroloculina newberryensis Faunizone
Spiroloculina newberryensis is the most common miliolid species in this faunizone. Arenaceous Foraminifera such as various species of Textularia, Valvulina and Neoclavulina, and Spiroloculina newberryensis are abundant. The fauna is suggestive of shallow warm water conditions, not over 60 feet in depth, in an open sea. The thickness of the Spiroloculina newberryensis founizone varies between 25 feet (at Kendrick, stop 9) to 48 feet (at Crystal River, stop 8). Forty feet of sediments in the Polk County section (W-381) and at Zuber (stop 11), and 40 feet of sediments at Newberry (stop 12) belong to this zone.
Lepidocyclina-Pseudophragmina Faunizone
This faunizone is marked by the abundance of Lepidocyclina ocalana and its var ieties, and Pseudophraqmina (Proporocyclina) floridana. Several species, like Jugosocythereis tricarinata, Absonocytheropteron carinata, Valvulina jacksonensis, Textularia howei, Nonion planatum, Cancris sp., and Bulimina sp., occur at the base of this zone and help to delineate it. The fauna is suggestive of an environment similar to a modern bioherm or reef in which large Foraminifera thrived at depths of 60 to 150 feet.
The thickness of the Lepidocyclina-Pseudophragmina faunizone varies from 10 feet (at Kendrick, stop 9) to 60 feet (in the Polk County section, W-381). Thirty-two feet of sediments at Crystal River (stop 8) and at Newberry (stop 12), and 10 feet of sediments at Kendrick (stop 9) are referred to this zone.
Nummrnulites vanderstoki-Hemicythere Faunizone
The base of this faunizone is marked by the epidemic occurrence of Nummulites vanderstoki in the Crystal River section (stop 8) and is indicated by the occurrence of Hlemicythere punctaia in the Polk County section (W-381). This composite zone, which by some geologists may be considered as two distinct bathymetric zones, is essentially contemporaneous. There is a suggestion of relatively deeper water conditions in the sediments referred to this faunizone in the Polk County section (W-381). The top of this faunizone is taken at the uppermost occurrence of Hemicythere punctata. Twenty-seven feet of sediments in the Crystal River section (stop 8)and 30 feet of sediments in the Polk County section (W-381) are referred to this zone.
76 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Asterocyclline-Spiroloeae vernonia Faunizone
The abundance of Asterocyclina spp. is characteristic of this faunizone in the Florida panhandle. This fauinzone is exposed in Jackson County (stops 14, 15, 20), where it is overlain by Lepidocyclina (Nephrolepidina) chaperi faunizone (stops 14, 15). The species confined to this zone are: Asterocyclina americana, Asterocyclina chipolensis, Asterocyclina georgiana, Asterocycina mariannensis. In the outcrop area in Jackson County, this faunizone is about 30 feet thick. In central peninsula, Spirolaea vernoni is the dominant and diagnostic species in this faunizone. The top of the Spirolaea vernoni faunizone is marked by an unconformity and the zone is overlain by beds of Oligocene or younger age in peninsular Florida. The smaller Foraminifera are dominant over larger species and the sporadic occurrences of Uvigerina suggest deeper water conditions than those prevalent during the deposition of the Lepidocyclina-Pseudophragmina zone. This faunizone reaches a maximum thickness of 75 feet in Polk County.
Lepidocycl ino (Nephrolepidina) chaperi Faunizone
This faunizone, "Bumpnose Limestone" of Moore (1955), represents the youngest upper Eocene sediments in Florida which contain specimens of Lepidocyclina (Nephrolepidina) chaperi Lemoine and Douville. This faunizone is represented by 14 feet of sediments at stop 20, 10 feet of sediments at stop 15, and 15 feet of sediments in W-276.
Sections of the Crystal River Formation:
Stop 9: Kendrick pit of the Cummer Lime and Manufacturing Company, NE NE4 sec. 26, T. 14 S., R. 21 E., Kendrick, Marion County, Florida. (Section after Purl, 1957, p. 72.)
Composite section Elevation 115.39 feet Bed Descriptio n Thickness (feet)
Miocene Series
?Hawthorn Formation
5 Pale to cream colored hard molluscan limestone with abundant,
large Turritella sp ................ . . . 10
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 77
Unconformity
Eocene Series
Ocala Group
Crystal River Formation
4 Amusium bed. White chalky limestone with beds of calcite
and cheart. Lepidocyclina oca lana and vars. common; abundant
specinmensof Amuslumsp. ............... ....... 22
3 White chalky limestone, in places a larger Foraminifera coquina, abundant large specimens of Lepidocyclina ocalona
and vars., Heferostegino oca/ana and Operculinoides ocalanus 15
2 Cream to white, soft limestone, chalky in places, with large
specimens of Lepidocyclina ocalana very common ......... 3 Willistan Formation
1 Cream to white, granular limestone with dwarfed Lepidacyclina
ocalana, Operculinoides moodybranchensis, Operculinoides
wvlicoxI ........... ........................ 5
Total thickness ...................., ............. 55
Canu and Bassler (1920) recorded the following species of Bryozoc occurring in Jackson-Eocene "Ocala Limestone" from "9 miles north of Ocala."
Desmeplagioecli plicata Canu and Bassler
Plagioecia botula Canu and Bassler
Aetea anguina (?) (Linnaeus)
Beisselina implicata Canu and Bass ler Dacryonella octonaria Canu and Bass ier
Diplopholeos fusiforme Canu and Bass leor
Gramme/la crass imarginata (Hincks)
Onychocella laclniosa Canu and Bassier Rectonychocella tenuis Canu and Bassler
Stanmenocella Infermviculifera Canu and Bass ler
Velumeila levigata Canu and Bass ler
Stop 10: Dixie Limestone Products Company pit at Reddick, NW/NE sec. 10, T. 13 S., R. 21 E., Marion County, Florida. (Section after Purl, 1957, p. 70.)
78 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Composite section Elevation 156.83 feet
Bed Description Thickness
(feet)
Miocene Series
?Hawthorn Formation
3 Cream colored molluscon limestone, crossbedded in places.
The lower portion is honeycombed with molds of large Turritella sp., and containing dugong ribs. The upper 3 feet is a
beach rock 8 .... ...... .... .......... .. 8
Unconformity
Eocene Series
Ocala Group
Crystal River Formation
2 Arnmusium bed. White chalky limestone with abundant specimans of Amusium sp. ... ................ ... 20
1 White chalky limestone, a coquina of larger Foraminifera,
mostly Lepidocyclina ocalona and vers. . . . .* . .. 22
Total thickness ...................... ...... . A *.. 50
Pleistocene sediments fill the inverted funnel-shaped solution pipes in the vicinity of this locality. These sediments have yielded abundant vertebrate fauna. The following is a complete list, by. S. J. Olsen, of the vertebrate remains discovered from Kendrick (stop 9) and Reddick pits (in the vicinity of stop 10). A discussion of the environment in which these animals live is given on page
Amphibia
Siren lacertina Linnaeus: Salamander (Amphibian not Rodent)
Reptilia
Ophisaurus ventfrolis (Linnaeus): Glass lizard
Anolis carollnensis (Voigt): Lizard
Cnemidophorus sextineatus (Linnaeus): Lizard
Eumaces cf. fasclarus (Linnaeus): Lizard
Terrapene carolina (Linne): Box turtle
Testudo sp.: Land tortoise
Gopherai sp.: Gopher tortoise
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 79
Aves
Podilymbus podiceds (Linnaeus): Pied-billed grebe
Anas fulvigula (Ridgway)t Mottled duck
Anas acute Linnaeust Pintail
Querquedula discors (Linnaeus): Duck
Nettfon camrllnense (Gmelin)t Duck
Spatula clypeata (Linnaeus): Shoveler
Aythya coflaris (Donovan): Ring-necked duck
Gynmogyps arnplus Miller: Extinct condor
Cadharfes aura (Linnaeus): Mexican turkey vulture
Corogyps occidentoals (Miller): Extinct vulture Acclpiter cooperli (Bonaparte): Cooper's hawk Accipiter striatus Vielllor: Sharp-shinned hawk
Butto jamicensis (Gmelin): Red-tailed hawk
Bumtoo lineatus (Gmelin): Red-shouldered hawk
Foalco peregrinus Tunsta il Peregrine falcon
Faico sparverius Linnaeus: Sparrow hawk
Polyborus prelutosus Howard
Colinus virginionus (Linnaeus)
Meleagrls gallopava Linnaeus: Turkey Roailus limicola Vieillor: Virginia rail
Persono carolina ( Linnaeus): Sara
Porsona auffenbergi Brodkorb: Extinct sore
Coturnicops neveboracensis (GmeIin): Yellow rail
LateramIlus guti Brodkorb: Extinct rail
Fulica minor Shufeldt: Extinct coot
Charadr&ius vociferus Linnaeust Killdeer
Tringo flavlpes (Gmelin): Lesser yellowlegs
Copella delicate (Ord): Snipe
Ectopistes migmtorius (Linnaeus): Passenger pigeon
Zenaldura macroura (Linnaeus): Mourning dove
Tyro alba (Scopoli): Barn owl
Otus asoia (Linnaeus): Screech owl
Speofyto cunicularla (Molina): Burrowing owl
Sfrix varla Barton: Barred owl
Coloaptes aumratus (Linnaeus): Yellow-shafted flicker
Melanerpes erythrocephalus (Linnaeus): Redheaded woodpecker
Tyrannus tyrmnnus (Linnaeus): Kingbird Progne subls (Linnaeus): Purple martin
Tachycineto speleodytes Brodkorb: Extinct swallow
Corvus brochyrhynchos Brehm: Crow Corvus ossifragus Wilson: Fish crow Pmrtocitta dixi Brodkorb: Extinct joy
80 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Cyanocittfa cristata (Linnaeus): Bluejay Troglodytes aedon Vieilot: House wren
Cistotihorus brevis Brodkorb: Extinct sedge wren
Geothlypis trichas (Linnaeus): Maryland yIellowthroat
Pandanaris floridana Brodkorb: Extinct cowbird
Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus): Red-winged blackbird
Quiscalus quiscula (Linnaeus)- Grackle
Sturnella magna (Linnaeus): Eastern meadowlark
PipIo erythrophthalmus (Linnaeus): Towhee
Passerherbulus henslowi (.Audibon): (Henslow's sparrow)
Mamma ia
Didelphis marsupialis Linnaeus: Opossum
Blarina brevicaud (Soy): Shrew
Crytotis floridana (Merriam): Shrew
Scalopus aquaticus (Linnaeus): Mole
Desmodus rnagnus Gut: Vampire bat
Myofis sp.: Bat
Megalonyx cf. wheatleyi Cope: Sloth
Paramylodon cf. harlani (Owen): Sloth
Chlomytherium septentrioalis (Leidy): Giant Armadillo
Dosypus bellus (Simpson): Armadillo
Boreastracon floridanus Simpson: Glyprodont
Sylvilagus floridanus (Allen): Florida cottontail
Sylvilagus palustris (Bachman): Marsh rabbit
Geomnys pinetis Rafinesque: Pocket gopher
Oryzomys polustris (Harlan): Rice rat
Peromyscus floridcnus (Chapman): Florida white-footed mouse
Peromyscus gossypinus (LeConte): Cotton mouse
Peromrnyscus nuttffalli (Harlan): Golden mouse
Peromyscus polionotus (Wagner): Oldfield mouse
Sigmodon hispidus Say and Ord: Cotton rot
Neofiber alleni True: Florida water rat
Pityrnys pinetorum (LeConte): Pine mouse
Synaptomys oustralis Simpson: Bob lemming
Aenocyon ayersi (Sellards): Dire wolf
Conis olatrans Say: Coyote
Urocyon cinereoargenteus (Schreber): Fox
Ursus americanus PaIlas: Black bear
Arctodus floridanus (Gidley): Extinct bear
Procyon lotor (Linnaeus): Raccoon
Mephitis mephitis (Schreber): Striped s kunk Spilogale ambarvalis Bongs: Spotted skunk
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 81
Lynx rufus Schreber: Bobcat
Ponthera augusta (Leidy): Extinct Jaguar
Mammuf americanum (Kirr): American mastodon
Mammufum sp.: Mammoth
Equus a p.: Horse
Tapirus veroensis Sollards: Tapir
Mylohyus gidleyi Simpson: Extinct peccary
Platygonus sp.: Extinct peccary
Tanupolama mirifica Simpson: Camel
Odocoifeus virginianus (Boddaert): Whitetail deer
Bison sp.: American "buffalo"
The reader is referred to Ray (1957) for a complete bibliography and on index to the fossil vertebrates of Florida.
Stop 11: Zuber pit of the Cummer Lime and Manufacturing Company near Martin, SEV4SW 4 sec. 11, T. 14 S., R. 21 E., Marion County, Florida. (Section after Puri, 1957, p. 70-72.)
Bed Description Thickness (feet)
Eocene Series
Oca la Group
Crystal River Pormation Elevation 134.67 feet 6 Amus$um bed. White chalky limestone with abundant Amusiumn
sp., upper portion with several horizontal beds of silicified
I imestone .. .. .. . 31
5 White, soft, chalky limestone with occasional specimens of
5pondylus s p.and Pecten sp. ..................... 5
4 Cream colored, soft, chalky tlmestone, in places a coquina
of larger Foraminifero; specimens of Pecten :p. and Turritella
sp. common ....... .................... 10
3 Pale granular limestone, in places almost entirely a larger
Foraminifera coquina, with casts and molds of mollusks 9
2 Very hard, consolidated limestone, a shell bed of Ostrea
sp., Sporndylus sp., and several gastropod casts and molds 5
1 Pale, soft, granular limeston., in places a coquina of Lepidocyclifna ocalana and nummulitids; specimens of Xenophora
sp., Cardium sp., and Ostrea sp. common . ........... 10
Total thickness ........... ............ ..... 70
82 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
;top 12: Newberry Corporation pits, SW/5EI4 sec. 13, T. 9 S., R. 17 E., \lachua County, Florida. Measured on the southern wall of quarry Section ofter Purl, 1957, p. 58.)
led Description Thickness (feet)
:ocmne Series
)cala Group
:rystal River Formation Elevation 91.91 feet
5 Amusium bed. Shell coquina of Foraminifera, Mollusca and
abundant Amusium sp., cemented in a granular matrix, nodular
weathering ... .. . * . * . . . . . 16.0
1 Moderately hard, granular limestone, with several holothurian.
like concretions and Mollusca, grades into a foraminiferal
shell coquina toward the upper portion. ...... .. .. ... 4.0
S Modiolus bed. Soft, chalky limestone, with molluscon, echia
noid and foraminiferal skeletal material; first smooth oval
Amuslum sp. at 8.5 feet ................ .. . ..h 7.5
2 Soft, granular limestone, with Spondylus sp. and holothurian.
like concretions . . . . . . . ............ 2.5
1 Ferominiferal shell coquina. Holothurian-like concretions 5.0
Tota I th i c kn s s s .............. a a A ........... 9 35.0
Two more sections were also measured; one on the east wall and the other on the west wall of the quarry. The succession of beds throughout the quarry is the same. Section on the west wall measured 36 feet.
Newberry Corporation pits have been referred to as "Haile" by earlier workers. Vertical solution pipes are well developed in the crea and younger sediments of Hawthorn Formation or Pleistocene sands generally fill these solution pipes. A very rich vertebrate fauna has been obtained from the various pits in this locality and also in surrounding pits. The following list, by S. J. Olsen, includes only the forms that have so far been reported in the literature from this area:
Amph ib1a
Bufo fiheni Auffenberg: Extinct toad Siren tacertina Linnaeus: Great siren
Siren siimpsoni Gain and Auffenberg: Extinct siren Siren hesterna Gain and Auffenberg: Extinct siren
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 83
Pseudobranchus robustus Goin and Auffenberg: Extinct mud siren Pseudobranchus vetustus Gain and Auffenberg: Extinct mud siren
Reptilia
Gavio!osuchus americanus (Sellards): Extinct gavial Ophisaurus compressus (Cope): Coastal glass lizard
Anolis carolinensis (Voigt): Common anole, "Chameleon" Ayes
Porzona auffenbergi Brodkorb: Extinct rail
Podilymbus podiceps (Linnaeus): Pied-billed grebe
Guara alba (Linnaeus): White ;bis
Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus: Mallard
Porphyrula mortinica (Linnaeus): Purple gallinule Gallinula chloropus (Linnaeus): Common gallinule
Fulica americana Gmelin: American coot
Ammodramus sovonnarum (GmeFin): Grasshopper sparrow
Mammalia
Hipparion cf. minor (Sellords): Extinct horse
Stop 13: S. M. Wall quarry, SWIANEI /4 sec. 36, T. 9 S., R. 18 E., Alachua County, Florida. Section measured on northwest wall of quarry. (Section after Puri, 1957, p. 58.)
Bed Description Thickness (feet)
Eocene Series
Ocolo Group
Crystal IRiver Formation Elevation 108.62 feet
4 Arnmusium bed. White, coarsely granular, chalky limestone with abundant Amusium sp., (flat, smooth, oval sp.) . . 21
3 A coquina of large foraminiferal shells in a chalky matrix with some Amusium sp. (flat, smooth, oval sp.) present 10
2 Soft, chalky, limestone matrix cementing a lepidocyclinic camerinid shell coquina. Spondylus sp. and Pecten sp.
common. Holothurian-like concretions present in lower part
of section a... . E .. .D * a a. .. * 30
1 Modiolus bed. Soft, granular limestone with pockets of ModioI us sp. ............. .......... 4.. 5
Total thickness . * ........... ......... 66
84 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Water percolating through the Modiolus bed has formed beautiful stalacitites around individual Modiolus. Toward the top of the section boulders of chert occur. These boulders are round and unlike the trunkshaped boulders around Kendrick, Marion County.
Vertebrae and ribs of Basilosaurus cetoides (Owen) commonly occur in this quarry.
Stop 14: Abandoned quarry near Springfield Church, SENE4 sec. 32, T. 6 N., R. 11 W., Jackson County, Florida. (Section after Puri, 1957, p. 65.)
This is type locality of the Asterocyclina faunizone:
Bed Description Thickness (Feet)
Eocene Series
Ocala Group
Crystal River Formation Elevation 115 feet 8 White, very hard, dolomrnitic limestone, with rounded solution
cavities. (Two to three feet behind the hill, hardening due to solution.) Back of the hill several pinnacles of hard limestone
occur with the softer part eroded away .......... . . . 2-3
7 Amrnusiurnm-Asterocycline bed. Hard, white limestone, well
cemented, colcitic, with abundant specimens of Amusium sp.
Top bed has crystals of calcite, horizontal pocket and veins
of calcite 1 to 2 feet thick .... ......... . . ..... 5.5
6 White, chalky limestone, composed of broken pieces of echinoid
fragments, Bryozoa, Mollusca, and larger Foraminifera. Lepidocyclina sp. common, occasional specimens of Asterocyclino s p. on weathered exposures. Massive ly bedded with spec imens of lepidocyclinas oriented in all directions; geodes of calcite
common .. * a a a * m 9 2"
5 Hard, white calcitic limestone composed of tests of Foraminifera, skeletal remains of Bryozoa, and some specimens of Lepidocyclino, Amiusium sp., Pecten sp., and Spondylus sp.
WeatktredA exposures pink to brown ... ...... *. .* 3
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 85
4 White, chalky, nodular limestone, coarsely granular, specimens of Lepidocyclina, Spondylus sp., and Pecten sp., and
echinoids common on weathered exposures ...... F . I 1
3 White, chalky limestone, with occasional specimens of Asterocyclino, abundant tests of Foraminifera and skeletal remains of Bryozoa, Pecten sp., Amusium sp., and Spondylus sp. fairly
common ,. S ,, . 4 F ,, F * , 2
2 Hard, cream to white limestone, pink on weathered exposures,
almost microcoqulna, lower portion calcitic. Lepidocyclina sp. frequent, and occasional specimens of Pecten sp., Spondylus sp., Amusium sp. .. ....................... F 1.5
1 White, granular, fossiliferous limestone, composed mostly of
calcite grains and tests of smaller Foraminifera. Bryozoa
and Lepidocyclina sp., Lepidocyclina ocalana rare .... . 3
Total thfckness ................................... 2792"
Stop 15: NE1/NW/4 sec. 3, T. 4 N., R. 10 W., on the west side of Chipola River, under bridge on U. S. Highway 90, about 1 mile east of Marianna, Jackson County, Florida. (Section after Puri, 1957, p. 68.)
This is the type locality of the Lepidocyclina (Nephrolepidina) chaperi founizone.
Bed Description Thickness Ol igocene Series
Vicksburg Group
Byram Formation
6 Buff colored, dense, finely crystalline dolomite . . . . 3 Marianne Limestone
5 Hard, white to cream colored granular limestone, Lepidocyclina
maontelli common .... 4 ....................... ... 3
4 Soft, white, massive limestone with abundant Lepidocyclina rnantelli ................ 4 .* * ..... ........ 15
3 White limestone with glauconite; Lepidocyclina mantelfi and
Pecten poulsoni common... ..........* ............1 6
Covered
86 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Eocene Series
Ocala Group
Crystal River Formation
2 Lepldocyclina (Nephrolepidina) chaperi faunizone. Very
hard, cream colored limestone with abundant Lepidocyclina
(Nephrolepidina) chaperi ........ ............. 10
1 Asterocyclina faunizone. Scft, cream colored microcoquinoid
l imestone with Asterocycltino a p., Lepidocyclina ocalana,
Heterosteglna ocalana, and Operculina ocalona ..... . . .
Total Thickness............ .. h.... A. h S* S 4 a e ..- 44
Canu and Bassler (1920) report the following Cheilostome Bryozoo from this locality:
Buffonella microstoma Canu and Boss ler
Docryonella minor Canu and Bass ler
Docryonella octonaria Canu and Bassler
Diplopholeos fusiforme Canu and Bassler
Ellisina /axa Canu and Bossier
Figularla(?) crossicostulata Canu and Bassier
Gephyrotes quadriserialls Canu and Bassler
Gigantoporo filiformis Canu and Bossier
Grammella pusilla Canu and Bassler
Hincksina ocalensis Canu and Bassler
Hippothoo sp.
Hippozeugosella teges Canu and Bassler
Lacerna hexagonalis Canu and Bossler Lunularia verrucose Canu and Bass ler
Memnibraniporid pyriformis Canu and Bass lr
Membraniporidra spissimurolls Canu and Bassler
Membrendoecium duplex Canu and Bossier Membrendoecium rectum Canu and Bossier Metradol ium transversum Canu and Bass ier
Micropora coriacea (Esper)
Perigastrella ovoiclea Canu and Bossier Perigastrefla tubulosa Canu and Bass ler Plaglosmittia regularis Canu and Bassler
Puel line radaiota (Moll)
Rectonychocella elliptica Canu and Bass ler
Retepora scutulata Canu and Bassler
Schizomavella granulifera Conu and Bossier
5.mthaswellia exlis Canu and Bass ler
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 87
Srniffina angulato (Reuss)
Smittina strornbecki (Reuss)
Strnamenocella gmndis Canu and Bassler
Steganoporella Incrustans Canu and Bossier
Tetraplaria tuberculata Canu and Baossier
Trematoichas rectifurcatum Canu and Bossler
Trypostego inornata (Gabb and Horn)
Velurnmella plicata Canu and Bassler
Stop 16: Gordon Philpot's quarry, 1.9 miles south of bridge over Santa Fe River on State Highway 49, on section line, between secs. 12 and 13, T. 7 S., R. 14 E., Gilchrist County, Florida. Section measured on north wall of quarry. (Sectinn after Puri, 1957, p. 60.)
Bed Description Thickness
(feet)
Eacene Series
Oca la Group
Crystal River Formation Elevation 37.33 feet
2 Hard, white, foraminiferal coquinoid limestone; weathers
yeTlowish brown, Pecten sp., solution funnels common, filled
with gray and brown, waxy clay and sand . b . . . 7010"
White, granular, foraminiferal limestone, soft and Friable;
lower portion at the base of quarry with large Ostrea sp. 6 Total thickness .. * * * * * * 13'10"
Stop 17: Bill Rush's pit, NE/4W1 sec. 15, T. 8 S., R. 14 E., Gilchrist County, Florida. (Section after Puri, 1957, p. 64.)
Composite section
Bed Description Thickness (feet)
Eocene Series
Oca la Group
Crystal River Formation Elevation 30.36 feet
4 Cream to white colored, granular, chalky, pure limestone;
lower 6 to 9 inches with some calcite lenses; larger Foraminifera abundant ..... . .....* * ................. 4.0
88 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
3 Cream to white colored, granular limestone, with some foraminiferal and molluscan casts and molds . ....... 4#7" Williston Formation
2 Modiolus bad. Hard, granular limestone, with abundant
Lepidocyclina sp. and Mollusca; Modiolus sp., Turritello
sp., Xenophora spE .. * ** 4 b * 1 t 9 ....... 2.0
1 White, granular limestone, very few larger Foraminifera, few
lepidocyclinas ..... I .. F .. 9 4t10C"
Total thickness .................................. 15'5"
Stop 18: Abandoned quarry SE1/SE sec. 23, T. 8 S., R. 14 E., Gilchrist County, Florida. (Section after Puri, 1957, p.65.) Composite section
Bed Description Thickness (feet)
Eocene Series
Ocala Group
Crystal River Formation Elevation 56.16 feet
6 Cream colored to white foraminiferal limestone . . . . . 5.0
5 Hard, well cemented, granular limestone with casts of Mollusca 1.0
4 Cream colored, coarsely granular, chalky limestone with
abundant larger Foraminifera and Mollusca, Lepidocyclina
sp., Pecten sp. ............................... 2.0
3 Modiolus bed. Cream colored, granular limestone, with few
larger Foraminifera and Mollusca, molds of mollusks and
Lepidocyclina sp. . . .4 . . .. .* .. ..... 16.0
wilrliston Formation
2 Cream colored foraminiferal limestone, studded with larger
Foraminifera, holothurian-like concretions, Pecten sp., and Spondylus sp.; has a characteristic nodular weathering;
echinoids common ......................... 8.0
1 Cream colored granular limestone, few larger Forarninifera . 6.0 Total thickness . . . . . . . . . . . .. 38.0
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 89
Stop 19: Budo pit of the Williston Shell Rock Company, NEANE sec. 32, T. 8 S., R. 17 E., Alachua County, Florida. (Section after Puri, 1957, p. 60.)
Composite section Elevation 63.23 feet
Bed Description Thickness (feet)
Eocene Series
Ocala Group
Crystal River Formation
7 Soft, chalky, friable limestone, studded with Foraminifera
and Mollusca sp. p D p M p * a b a a.. d 'a$a#
6 Soft, chalky limestone, questionably glauconitic, with abun.
dant Spondylus sp.; upper portion contains striated Pecten sp. 9
5 Cream colored, moderately hard, granular limestone, with
some holothurian-like concretions; partially dolomitized 3
4 Soft, granular limestone, with very little chalk, thin streaks
of foraminiferal shell coquina; striated Pecten sp. . ... 5
3 Larger foraminiferal shell coquina in a granular matrix;
abundant Mollusca; some holothurian-like concretions . . . 5
2 Cream colored, soft, granular, somewhat chalky limestone;
with abundant holothurian-like concretions and Spondylus sp.;
somewhat chalky . ... ......... a a ......... 2.5
1 Cream colored, granular, pasty limestone; nodular weathering;
abundant holothurian-like concretions and Spondylus sp.,poorly bedded; dolomitized ledges up to one-half foot thick with
casts of mollusks ................... .... (lowest exposure) 4
Cream colored, granular limestone . a a.. a a a ... (Dredged) 15-20
Total thickness . .. . .... * . . . 58'2' 63'2#f
Several vertebrae of Basilosaurus cetoides (Owen) were collected from this pit.
90 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Stop 20: Sam Smith's quarry SE E% sec. 32, T. 5 N., R. 11 W., Jackson County, Florida. (Section after Puri, 1957, p. 65, 68.)
Bed Description Thickness (feet)
Oligocene Series
Vicksburg Group
Marianno Limestone
Soft granular pure limestone ................. .a. . plus 60
Eocene Series
Ocola Group
Crystal River Formation
5 Lepidocyclina chaperi zone. Hard, white, granular limestone
wIth L. chaperi and some Pecten sp.; some lepidocyclinas as large as half a dollar. Glauconitic in places; oysters and
echinoids common . . ... ... ...F,....o. . 4.5
4 White, granular limestone with microforaminiferal coquinas
and Lepidocyclina sp. Abundant Xenophora sp. and Conus sp. 4.75
3 White, granular limestone with abundant Lepidocyclina chaperi 9' -1'
2 White, granular limestone, with microforaminiferal coquina in
places, and Lepidocyclina sp ....................... 4
1 Cream to brown, soft limestone q . . . 9 & (base) 8"
Total thickness (Ocala) 4 F...... * 4 ...... . F 9 9 ....... 14'8"
The Marianna Limerock Company mined the Marianna Limestone as a building stone up to the second level before mining the Crystal River Formation. The present operations are in the Crystal River Formation. In this general area the Crystal River Formation is penetrated below 60 feet of Marianna Limestone. The top portion of Crystal River (chaperi zone) is exposed in numerous quarries and road cuts, and also is penetrated in wells. MacNeil (1944, p. 1324, 1325) placed this section in the Oligocene as an equivalent of Red Bluff on the western Gulf States. The Marianna Limestone generally is fine grained, pure, and was quarried in former years as building stone.
SPECIAL PUBLICATION NO. 5 91
Stop 21: Dell Mine (Mayo) of the Williston Shell Rock Company, NEVNWVA sec. 32, T. 4 S., R. 11 E., Lafayette County, Florida. (Section after Puri, 1957, p. 68-70.)
Bed Description Thickness (feet)
Eocene Series
Ocala Group
Crystal River Formation Elevation 56.17 feet
9 White, chalky limestone ......... .. .......... . 1.25
8 Pecten bed, white, chalky limestone . . .... .........
7 White, chalky limestone . .... ...... ......... 1.00
6 Pecten bed with Nummulites sp. in a chalky matrix . . . . 9" 5 Nummulitid coquina in a chalky matrix . . . .*. .... * 2
4 White, granular, chalky limestone with abundant Lepidocyclina
sp.and some molluscan casts .a ................. 11
3 White to pink, hard limestone; abundant Amusiurn sp., numerous
Mollusca and foraminifers ......................... 12
2 Cream to pink, soft, numrnmulitidc coquina with coquina, with
with some Pecten sp. and holothurian-like concretions ...... 6" -2
1 Cream to pink, granular limestone with holothurion-like concretion impressions and nummulitids . . . . . . . . . 5
Total thickness .... * a. s................. 4 s .* 33.25 to34.0
Stop 22: Abandoned quarry SEASE4 sec. 18 and NE NE4 sec. 19, T. 6 S., R. 15 F., Suwannee County, Florida. Section measured on the north wall that parallels U.S. Highway 29. (Section after Puri, 1957, p. 72.)
Bed Des cr ipt ion Thickness (fee t)
Eocene Series
Ocala Group
Crystal River Formation Elevation 52.72 feet 4 Amusiurn bed. White, soft, chalky limestone,wlth two species of
