Cenozoic Radiolarians from Ocean Drilling Program Leg 101, Bahamas (Sites 627 and 628) and Surrounding Region

Abstract

Radiolarians from two sites north of Little Bahama Bank (Sites 627 and 628) are correlated with assemblages from sites on the southeastern U.S. coastal plain and continental shelf and from DSDP Sites 391 and 534 in the Blake-Bahama Basin. Results show that deposition of biogenic silica-rich sediments occurred in this region from the late Oligocene through middle Miocene, although the record is interrupted by unconformities. Radiolarians help constrain the age of a mass-transported deposit at Site 627 that appears to be coeval with the Great Abaco Member of the Blake Ridge Formation. INTRODUCTION Radiolarians occur at only two sites on the Little Bahama Bank transect occupied during Leg 101, yet provide valuable information about regional Oligocene-Miocene depositional history when considered with results from nearby sites. In addition to examining material from Sites 627 and 628 (see Table 1), samples were examined from South Carolina coastal plain localities

Cenozoic vertebrate biostratigraphy of South Carolina, U.S.A., and additions to the fauna

“…In turn, the Choptank Formation was correlated with nannofossil zone NN6 (see text-figure 3 of Abbott and Andrews, 1979), and de Verteuil and Norris (1996) correlated the lower Choptank with dinoflagellate zone DN6. Palmer (1988) studied radiolarians from the Dawson's Landing section and determined that it fell within the lower part of the Dorcadospyris alata zone (approx. 13.5-15 Ma).…”