Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T23:08:50.542Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Early Devonian conodonts from a limestone horizon in the Caballos Novaculite, Marathon Uplift, west Texas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

James E. Barrick
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock 79413, and
Paula J. Noble
Affiliation:
Geology Department, California State University–Sacramento, Sacramento 95819

Abstract

Early Devonian (Lochkovian; eurekaensis Zone) conodonts occur in discontinuous limestone beds in the Caballos Novaculite at five localities in the northwestern half of the Marathon uplift, west Texas. Similar conodont faunas at all five localities indicate that the limestone beds lie at one biostratigraphic horizon within the Caballos. The upper novaculite member directly overlies the limestone horizon at one locality, giving the upper novaculite a maximum age of Lochkovian. The limestone beds are dominantly skeletal calcarenites that represent shallow-water carbonate material transported into a deeper water setting by gravity processes. Restriction of the limestones to the northwestern margin of the uplift and provenance of reworked clasts and redeposited Ordovician and Silurian conodonts suggest a North American shelf source and are evidence of the close proximity of some strata exposed in the Marathon uplift to North America in the Early Devonian. Icriodus gravesi n. sp. is described from the limestone fauna.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arbenz, J. K. 1989. The Ouachita System, p. 371396. In Bally, A. W. and Palmer, A. R. (eds.), The Geology of North America, Volume A, An Overview. Geological Society of America.Google Scholar
Amsden, T. W. 1960. Stratigraphy and paleontology of the Hunton Group in the Arbuckle Mountain region. Part VI: Hunton stratigraphy. Oklahoma Geological Survey Bulletin, 84, 311 p.Google Scholar
Barrick, J. E. 1986. Conodont biostratigraphy of the Caballos Novaculite (Early Devonian-Early Mississippian), northwestern Marathon uplift, west Texas, p. 120135. In Austin, R. L. (ed.), Conodonts: Investigative Techniques and Applications. British Micropaleontology Series, Ellis Horward Limited, Chichester.Google Scholar
Barrick, J. E., and Klapper, G. 1992. Late Silurian-Early Devonian conodonts from the Hunton Group (Upper Henryhouse, Haragan, and Bois d'Arc Formations), south-central Oklahoma. Oklahoma Geological Survey Bulletin, 145:1965.Google Scholar
Barrick, J. E., Finney, S. C., and Haywa-Branch, J. N. 1993. Revision of ages of the Fusselman, Wristen, and Thirtyone Formations (Late Ordovician–Early Devonian) in the subsurface of West Texas based on conodonts and graptolites. Texas Journal of Science, 45:231247.Google Scholar
Bergström, S. M. 1990. Relations between conodont provincialism and the changing paleogeography during the Early Paleozoic, p. 105121. In McKerrow, W. S. and Scotese, C. R. (eds.), Palaeozoic Palaeogeography and Biogeography. Geological Society of London Memoir Number 12.Google Scholar
Branson, E. B. 1938. Stratigraphy and paleontology of the Lower Mississippian of Missouri, Part I. University of Missouri Studies, 13:1208.Google Scholar
Branson, E. G., and Mehl, M. G. 1938. The conodont genus Icriodus and its stratigraphic distribution. Journal of Paleontology, 12:156166.Google Scholar
Denkler, K. E., and Harris, A. G. 1988a. Conodont-based determination of the Silurian-Devonian boundary in the Valley and Ridge Province, northern and central Appalachians. U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin, 1837:B1B13.Google Scholar
Denkler, K. E., and Harris, A. G. 1988b. Homeognathodus peniculus (Conodonta), a new earliest Pridolian index species and the Ludlovian–Pridolian boundary in the central Appalachian basin. U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin, 1837:C1C8.Google Scholar
Drygant, D. M. 1984. Korreliatsiia i konodonty Siluriiskikh-Nizhnedevonskikh otlozhenii Volyno-Podolii. Akademiia Nauk Ukrainskoi SSR, Institut Geologii i Geokhimii Goriuchikh Iskopaemykh, Kiev, 192 p.Google Scholar
Dzik, J. 1976. Remarks on the evolution of Ordovician conodonts. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 21:395455.Google Scholar
Ebanks, W. J. Jr. 1988. Geologic description of Middle Devonian chert reservoir, Block 31 Field, Crane County, Texas. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 72:181.Google Scholar
Ethington, R. L. 1959. Conodonts of the Ordovician Galena Formation. Journal of Paleontology, 25:257292.Google Scholar
Folk, R. L., and McBride, E. F. 1976. The Caballos Novaculite revisited. Part I: Origin of novaculite members. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 46:659669.Google Scholar
Graves, R. W. Jr. 1952. Devonian conodonts from the Caballos Novaculite. Journal of Paleontology, 26:610612.Google Scholar
Graves, R. W. Jr. 1954. Geology of Hood Spring quadrangle, Brewster County, Texas. University of Texas Bureau of Economic Geology, Report of Investigations No. 21, 51 p.Google Scholar
Hein, J. R., Scholl, D. W., Barron, J. A., Jones, M. G., and Miller, J. 1978. Diagenesis of Late Cenozoic diatomaceous deposits and formation of the bottom simulating reflector in the southern Bering Sea. Sedimentology, 25:155177.Google Scholar
Hills, J. M., and Hoenig, M. A. 1979. Proposed type sections for Upper Silurian and Lower Devonian subsurface units in Permian Basin, west Texas. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 63:15101521.Google Scholar
Isaacs, C. M. 1981. Porosity reduction during diagenesis of the Monterey Formation, Santa Barbara coastal area, California, p. 257271. In Garrison, R. E., et al. (eds.), The Monterey Formation and related siliceous rocks of California. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists Special Publication.Google Scholar
Isaacs, C. M., Pisciotto, K. A., and Garrison, R. E. 1983. Facies and diagenesis of the Miocene Monterey Formation, California: a summary, p. 247282. In Ijima, A., Hein, J. R., and Siever, R. (eds.), Siliceous deposits in the Pacific region. Developments in Sedimentology, 36.Google Scholar
James, N. P., and Kendall, A. C. 1992. Introduction to carbonate and evaporite facies models, p. 265275. In Walker, R. G. and James, N. P. (eds.), Facies Models—Response to sea-level change. Geological Association of Canada.Google Scholar
Johnson, J. G., and Klapper, G. 1992. North American midcontinent Devonian T–R cycles. Oklahoma Geological Survey Bulletin, 145:127135.Google Scholar
King, P. B. 1937. Geology of the Marathon region, Texas. U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 187, 148 p.Google Scholar
Khodalevich, A. N., and Chernikh, V. V. 1973. Konodonty iz zhivetskikh otlozhenii vostochnogo sklona iuzhnogo Urala. Trudi Sverdlovskogo ordena trudovogo krasnogo znameni gornogo instituta, 93:2741.Google Scholar
Klapper, G. 1977. Lower and Middle Devonian conodont sequence in central Nevada; with contributions by D. B. Johnson. University of California Riverside, Campus Contributions, 4:3354.Google Scholar
Klapper, G., and Johnson, J. G. 1980. Endemism and dispersal of Devonian conodonts. Journal of Paleontology, 54:400455.Google Scholar
Klapper, G., and Murphy, M. A. 1974. Silurian–Lower Devonian conodont sequence in the Roberts Mountains Formation of central Nevada. University of California Publications in Geological Sciences, 111, 62 p.Google Scholar
Kozur, H. 1984. Preliminary report about Silurian to Middle Devonian sequences near Nekézseny (southernmost Uppony Mts., northern Hungary). Geologisch-Paläontologische Mitteilungen Innsbruck, 13:149176.Google Scholar
Lane, H. R., and Ormiston, A. R. 1979. Siluro–Devonian biostratigraphy of the Salmontrout River area, east-central Alaska. Geologica et Palaeontologica, 13:3996.Google Scholar
McBride, E. F. 1978. Olistostrome in the Tesus Formation (Mississippian–Pennsylvanian), Payne Hills, Marathon Region, Texas. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 89:15501558.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McBride, E. F. 1989. Stratigraphy and sedimentary history of pre-Permian Paleozoic rocks of the Marathon uplift, p. 603620. In Hatcher, R. D. Jr., Thomas, W. A., and Viele, G. W. (eds.), The Geology of North America, Volume F-2, The Appalachian–Ouachita Orogen in the United States. Geological Society of America.Google Scholar
McBride, E. F., and Folk, R. L. 1977. The Caballos Novaculite revisited. Part II: Chert and shale members and synthesis. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 47:12611286.Google Scholar
McBride, E. F., and Thomson, A. F. 1970. The Caballos Novaculite, Marathon region, Texas. Geological Society of America Special Paper, 122, 129 p.Google Scholar
McGlasson, E. H. 1967. Siluro–Devonian of west Texas and southeastern New Mexico. Tulsa Geological Society Digest, 35:148164.Google Scholar
Muelhberger, W. R., and Tauvers, P. R. 1989. Marathon fold-thrust belt, west Texas, p. 673680. In Hatcher, R. D. Jr., Thomas, W. A., and Viele, G. W. (eds.), The Geology of North America, Volume F-2, The Appalachian–Ouachita Orogen in the United States. Geological Society of America.Google Scholar
Müller, K. J., and Müller, E. M. 1957. Early Upper Devonian (Independence) conodonts from Iowa. Journal of Paleonology, 31:10691108.Google Scholar
Murphy, M. A., and Matti, J. C. 1983. Lower Devonian conodonts (hesperius–kindlei Zones), central Nevada. University of California Publications in Geological Sciences, 123, 83 p.Google Scholar
Nicholas, R. L. 1983. Devils River uplift: West Texas Geological Society Publication, 83-77:125137.Google Scholar
Nicholas, R. L., and Waddell, D. E. 1989. The Ouachita System in the subsurface of Texas, Arkansas, and Lousiana, p. 661672. In Hatcher, R. D. Jr., Thomas, W. A., and Viele, G. W. (eds.), The Geology of North America, Volume F-2, The Appalachian–Ouachita Orogen in the United States. Geological Society of America.Google Scholar
Noble, P. J. 1990. Radiolarian biostratigraphy: Evidence for an Early Mississippian basin-wide hiatus at the Caballos–Tesnus boundary, Marathon Basin, Texas, p. 8398. In Laroche, T. M., and Higgens, L. (eds.), Marathon thrust belt: Structure, stratigraphy and petroleum potential: West Texas Geological Society and Permian Basin Section–SEPM Field Seminar.Google Scholar
Noble, P. J. 1992. Biostratigraphy of the Caballos Novaculite–Tesnus Formation boundary, Marathon Basin, Texas. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 96:141153.Google Scholar
Noble, P. J. 1993. Paleoceanographic and tectonic implications of a regionally extensive Early Mississippian hiatus in the Ouachita system, southern mid-continental United States. Geology, 21:315318.Google Scholar
Noble, P. J., and Barrick, J. E. 1991. A Silurian radiolarian biozonation for the lower chert and shale member of the Caballos Novaculite, Marathon Basin, west Texas, U.S.A. Second International Conference on Radiolaria, Florence, Italy, p. 67.Google Scholar
Proctor, D. D. 1992. Morrowan–Atokan (Early Pennsylvanian) conodonts of the Dimple Limestone, Marathon Basin, Texas. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Program, 24:59.Google Scholar
Ruppel, S. C. 1993. Depositional and diagenetic character of Huntonequivalent rocks in the Permian Basin of west Texas. Oklahoma Geological Survey Special Publication, 93-4:91106.Google Scholar
Seddon, G. 1970. Pre-Chappel conodonts of the Llano region, Texas. University of Texas Bureau of Economic Geology Report of Investigations No. 68, 130 p.Google Scholar
Sweet, W. C. 1988. The Conodonta: morphology, taxonomy, paleoecology, and evolutionary history of a long-extinct animal phylum. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 212 p.Google Scholar
Thomson, A. F., and McBride, E. F. 1964. Summary of the geologic history of the Marathon Geosyncline. Permian Basin Section–SEPM Field Trip Symposium and Guidebook Publication, 64-9:5260.Google Scholar
Thomson, A. F., and Thomasson, M. R. 1971. Shallow to deep water facies development in the Dimple Limestone (Lower Pennsylvanian), Marathon region, Texas. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists Special Publication, 14:5778.Google Scholar
Viele, G. W., and Thomas, W. A. 1989. Tectonic synthesis of the Ouachita orogenic belt, p. 695728. In Hatcher, R. D. Jr., Thomas, W. A., and Viele, G. W. (eds.), The Geology of North America, Volume F-2, The Appalachian–Ouachita Orogen in the United States. Geological Society of America.Google Scholar
Wilde, G. J. 1990. Surface to subsurface structure and stratigraphy of the Marathon fold belt, Brewster, Pecos, and Terrell counties, Texas, p. 6582. In Laroche, T. M., and Higgens, L. (eds.), Marathon thrust belt: Structure, stratigraphy and petroleum potential: West Texas Geological Society and Permian Basin Section–SEPM Field Seminar.Google Scholar
Wilson, J. L., and Majewske, O. P. 1960. Conjectured middle Paleozoic history of central and west Texas: University of Texas Bureau of Economic Geology Publication, 6017:6586.Google Scholar