Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T16:26:41.845Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Mabou Mines Section: biostratigraphy and correlation (Pennsylvanian Pictou Group, Nova Scotia, Canada)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 May 2016

Erwin L. Zodrow  and
Gary M. Vasey
Erwin L. Zodrow
Affiliation:
University College of Cape Breton, Department of Geology, Sydney, Nova Scotia B1P 6L2, Canada
Gary M. Vasey
Affiliation:
The University of Strathclyde, Department of Applied Geology, Glasgow G1 1XJ, Scotland
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The floras and the faunas encountered in the Mabou Mines Section of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, are not greatly diversified. The floras are composed mainly of medullosean (seed) ferns referable to neuropterids and reticulopterids. Infrequently encountered are lycopod, pecopterid, mariopterid, alethopterid, fortopterid, sphenopterid, sphenophylls and cordaitean fossils. The fauna is characterized by Anthraconauta phillipsii, Carbonita spp., Leaia spp. and rare Gutschickia bretonensis representing a fresh-water, lacustrine paleoenvironment in a fluviatite regime. Shells possibly referable to Anthraconauta tenuis s.l. are rare.

In European chronostratigraphy (i.e., Heerlen), the age of the Mabou Mines Section encompasses middle to late Westphalian C to early Westphalian D. Correlation of the fauna with British chronozones is not without difficulty and a phillipsii Chronozone assignment is proposed which is somewhat lower (Westphalian C) than the floral correlation, an expected result.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 60 , Issue 2 , March 1986 , pp. 208 - 232
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

Abbott, M. L. 1958. The American species of Asterophyllites, Annularia, and Sphenophyllum . Bulletins of American Paleontology, 38:290–371.Google Scholar
Amerom, H. W. J. van. 1975. Die eusphenopteridischen Pteridophyllen. Mededelingen Rijks Geologische Dienst, Serie C-III-No. 7, 208 p.Google Scholar
Anderson, F. W. 1970. Carboniferous Ostracoda—the genus Carbonita Strand. Geological Survey of Great Britain, Bulletin, 32:69–121.Google Scholar
Barss, M. S. and Hacquebard, P. A. 1967. Age and the stratigraphy of the Pictou Group in the Maritime Provinces as revealed by fossil spores, p. 267–282. In Neale, E. R. W. and Williams, H. (eds.), Collected papers on Geology of the Atlantic Region, The Geological Association of Canada, Special Paper, 4.Google Scholar
Barthel, M. 1962. Epidermisuntersuchungen an einigen inkohlten Pteridospermenblättern des Oberkarbons und Perms. Beiheft Geologie, 33:1–140.Google Scholar
Bell, W. A. 1938. Fossil flora of Sydney Coalfield, Nova Scotia. Geological Survey of Canada Memoir, 215, 334 p.Google Scholar
Bell, W. A. 1944. Carboniferous rocks and fossil floras of northern Nova Scotia. Geological Survey of Canada Memoir, 238, 119 p.Google Scholar
Bell, W. A. 1952. Report on collections of plants from boreholes 4 and 5, Mabou Mines area, Inverness County, N.S. Internal Report, Geological Survey of Canada.Google Scholar
Bell, W. A. 1962. Flora of Pennsylvanian Pictou Group of New Brunswick. Geological Survey of Canada Bulletin, 87, 71 p.Google Scholar
Belt, E. S. 1965. Stratigraphy and paleogeography of Mabou Group and related Middle Carboniferous facies, Nova Scotia, Canada. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 76:777–802.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boersma, M. 1969. A fertile leaf of “Mariopteris latifolia .” Mededelingen Rijks Geologische Dienst, Nieuwe Serie, 20:65–77.Google Scholar
Boersma, M. 1972. The heterogeneity of the form genus Mariopteris Zeiller. Drukkerij Elinkwijk, Utrecht, 172 p.Google Scholar
Brousmiche, C. L. 1983. Les fougères sphénoptéridiennes du Bassin Houiller Sarro-Lorrain. Société Géologique du Nord, Publication No. 10, 472 p.Google Scholar
Buisine, M. 1961. Les Aléthoptéridées du Nord de la France. Douriez-Bataille, Lille, 317 p.Google Scholar
Bunbury, C. J. F. 1847. On fossil plants from the coal formation of Cape Breton. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, London, 3:423–438.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cleal, C. J. 1984. The recognition of the base of the Westphalian D stage in Britain. Geological Magazine, 121(2):125–129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Copeland, M. J. 1957. The arthropod fauna of the Upper Carboniferous Rocks of the Maritime Provinces. Geological Survey of Canada Memoir, 286, 110 p.Google Scholar
Corsin, P. 1951. Pécoptéridées. Petits-Fils de L. Danel, Loos Nord, p. 177–370.Google Scholar
Darrah, W. C. 1969. A critical review of the Upper Pennsylvanian floras of Eastern United States with Notes on the Mazon Creek Flora of Illinois. W. C. Darrah, Gettysburg, Pa., 220 p.Google Scholar
Dawson, J. W. 1894. Notes on the bivalve shells of the coal-formation of Nova Scotia. Canadian Record of Science, 5(3):117–134, 167.Google Scholar
Eagar, R. M. C. 1973. Variation in shape of shell in relation to paleoecological station of some non-marine Bivalvia of the coal measures of South-East Kentucky and Britain. Compte Rendu, VII International Carboniferous Congress, Krefeld, 1971, 2:387–416.Google Scholar
Gastaldo, R. A. and Matten, L. C. 1978. Studies on North American pecopterids I. Pecopteris vera n. sp. from the Middle Pennsylvanian of Southern Illinois. Palaeontographica, Abt. B., 165:43–52.Google Scholar
Gastaldo, R. A. and Zodrow, E. L. 1982. Studies on North American pecopterids IV. Diversity and stratigraphic occurrence in the Sydney Coalfield, Nova Scotia, p. 193–198. In Mamet, B. and Copeland, M. J. (eds.), Proceedings, 3rd North American Paleontological Convention, Montreal, 1982.Google Scholar
Hacquebard, P. A. 1961. The Mabou coal area. Pt. I: Palynological studies on some Upper and Lower Carboniferous strata in Nova Scotia. Proceedings, 3rd Coal Conference, Crystal Cliffs, Nova Scotia, June 1956, p. 227–253.Google Scholar
Hirmer, M. 1927. Handbuch der Palaeobotanik. R. Oldenbourg, Berlin, 708 p.Google Scholar
Jones, R. T. and Kirkby, J. W. 1889. On some Ostracoda from the Mabou Coalfield, Inverness County, Cape Breton (Nova Scotia). Geological Magazine, 6:269–271.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Josten, K. H. 1962. Neuropteris semireticulata, eine neue Art als Bindeglied zwischen den Gattungen Neuropteris and Reticulopteris . Palaöntologische Zeitschrift, 36:33–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keating, B. J. 1950. Mabou coal area, Inverness county, Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia Research Foundation, internal report, June 4, 1950, 44 p.Google Scholar
Laveine, J. P. 1967. Les Neuroptéridées du Nord de la France. Centrale du Nord, Lille, 344 p.Google Scholar
Laveine, J. P. 1977. Report on the Westphalian D, p. 71–87. In Holub, V. M. and Wagner, R. H. (eds.), Symposium on Carboniferous Stratigraphy, Prague.Google Scholar
Levin, D. A. 1979. The nature of plant species. Science, 204:381–384.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Levinton, J. S. 1970. The paleoecological significance of opportunistic species. Lethaia, 3:69–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Remy, W. 1975. The floral changes at the Carboniferous-Permian boundary in Europe and in North America, p. 305–352. In Barlow, J. A. (ed.), Proceedings of the First I. C. White Memorial Symposium “The Age of the Dunkard,” Morgantown, West Virginia, September 1972.Google Scholar
Rogers, M. J. 1965. A revision of the species of nonmarine Bivalvia from the Upper Carboniferous of Eastern North America. Journal of Paleontology, 39:663–686.Google Scholar
Scheihing, M. H. and Pfefferkorn, H. W. 1980. Morphologic variation in Alethopteris (Pteridosperms, Carboniferous) from St. Clair, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. Palaeontographica, Abt. B., 172:1–9.Google Scholar
Trueman, A. E. 1942. Supposed commensalism of Carboniferous spirorbids and certain non-marine Lamellibranchia. Geological Magazine, 79:312–320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vasey, G. M. 1983. The nonmarine fauna of the Sydney Coalfield, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada (Abstr.). Tenth International Carboniferous Congress, Madrid, Sept. 1983, p. 140.Google Scholar
Vasey, G. M. and Zodrow, E. L. 1983. Environmental and correlative significance of a non-marine algal limestone (Westphalian D), Sydney Coalfield, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Maritime Sediments and Atlantic Geology, 19:1–10.Google Scholar
Weir, J. 1960–1968. A monograph of British Carboniferous non-marine Lamellibranchia. Paleontographical Society, Parts X-XIII, p. 273–449.Google Scholar
Zeiller, R. and Renault, B. 1888–1889. étude sur le houiller de Commentry. Flore fossile. Atlas, troisième série, 3, 75 Pl.Google Scholar
Zodrow, E. L. 1982. Recent paleobotanical studies, Sydney Coalfield, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, p. 593–598. In Mamet, B. and Copeland, M. J. (eds.), Vol. 2, Proceedings, 3rd North American Paleontological Convention, Montreal, August 1982.Google Scholar
Zodrow, E. L. and Batenburg, L. H. 1984. Stephanian sphenophylls from Point Aconi, Sydney Coalfield, Nova Scotia. In Abstract of Contributed Papers and Poster Session. Second International Organization of Paleobotany Conference, Edmonton, August 1984.Google Scholar
Zodrow, E. L. and Cleal, C. J. 1985. Phyto- and chronostratigraphical correlations between the Late Pennsylvanian Morien Group (Sydney, Nova Scotia) and the Silesian Pennant Measures (South Wales). Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 22(10):1465–1473.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zodrow, E. L. and Gastaldo, R. A. 1982. The Stephanian stage, Sydney Coalfield, Nova Scotia. Maritime Sediments and Atlantic Geology, 18:55.Google Scholar
Zodrow, E. L. and McCandlish, K. 1978. Distribution of Linopteris obliqua in the Sydney Coalfield of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Palaeontographica Abt. B, 168:1–16.Google Scholar
Zodrow, E. L. and McCandlish, K. 1980a. Upper Carboniferous fossil flora of Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia Museum, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 275 p.Google Scholar
Zodrow, E. L. and McCandlish, K. 1980b. On a Trigonocarpus sp. attached to Neuropteris (Mixoneura) flexuosa from Sydney Coalfield, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. Review of Paleobotany and Palynology, 30:57–66.Google Scholar