Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T19:21:29.053Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Conodonts and biostratigraphy of Upper Ordovician strata along a shelf to basin transect in central Nevada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

Walter C. Sweet
Walter C. Sweet*
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Conodonts representing 38 species of 26 genera have been identified in samples from Upper Ordovician rocks at three central Nevada localities. Ranges of these species and associated graptolites are used graphically to determine correlation of the strata considered with an evolving composite standard that includes information from Ordovician strata at more than 100 localities in North America. Results indicate that the Hanson Creek Formation at Lone Mountain is latest Edenian through mid-Richmondian in age; that the Ordovician part of the Hanson Creek in the Monitor Range section spans an interval from Maysvillian through Richmondian; and that the upper 29 m of the Vinini Formation at the Vinini Creek locality is of mid-Maysvillian to late Richmondian age. Physical discontinuities in the Ordovician-Silurian boundary interval complicate correlations, but it is now clear that conodonts that range upward into, and have long been considered distinctive of the Lower Silurian, make their debut in central Nevada in an upper segment of the Upper Ordovician Normalograptus persculptus graptolite zone that may be latest Richmondian in age.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 74 , Issue 6 , November 2000 , pp. 1148 - 1160
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

Armstrong, H. A. 1995. High-resolution biostratigraphy (conodonts and graptolites) of the Upper Ordovician and Lower Silurian—Evaluation of the Late Ordovician mass extinction. Modern Geology, 20:41–68.Google Scholar
Bergström, S. M., Riva, J., and Kay, G. M. 1974. Significance of conodonts, graptolites, and shelly faunas from the Ordovician of western and north-central Newfoundland. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 11:1625–1660.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berry, W. B. N. 1986. Stratigraphic significance of Glyptograptus persculptus group graptolites in central Nevada, U.S.A. In Hughes, C. P. and Rickards, R. B. (eds.), Palaeoecology and Biostratigraphy of Graptolites. Geological Society Special Publication, 20:135–143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bolton, T. E., and Nowlan, G. S. 1979. A Late Ordovician fossil assemblage from an outlier north of Aberdeen Lake, District of Keewatin. Geological Survey of Canada Bulletin, 321:1–26.Google Scholar
Branson, E. B., and Mehl, M. G. 1933. Conodonts from the Maquoketa-Thebes (Upper Ordovician) of Missouri. University of Missouri Studies, 8:121–132.Google Scholar
Dumoulin, J. A., Bradley, D. C., Harris, A. G., and Repetski, J. E. 1999. Lower Paleozoic deep-water facies of the Medfra area, central Alaska. In Kelley, K. D. (ed.), Geologic Studies in Alaska by the U.S. Geological Survey, 1997. United States Geological Survey Professional Paper, 1614:73–103.Google Scholar
Dunham, J. B. 1977. Depositional environments and paleogeography of the Upper Ordovician, Lower Silurian carbonate platform of central Nevada. In Stewart, J. H., Stevens, C. H., and Fritsche, A. E. (eds.), Paleozoic paleogeography of the western United States. Pacific Coast Paleogeography Symposium 1. Pacific Section, Society for Sedimentary Geology (SEPM), 157–164.Google Scholar
Ferretti, A., and Barnes, C. R. 1997. Upper Ordovician conodonts from the Kalkbank Limestone of Thuringia, Germany. Palaeontology, 40:15–42.Google Scholar
Finney, S. C., Berry, W. B. N., Cooper, J. D., Ripperdan, R. L., Sweet, W. C., Jacobson, S. R., Soufiane, A., Achab, A., and Noble, P. J. 1999. Late Ordovician mass extinction: a new perspective from stratigraphic sections in central Nevada. Geology, 27:215–218.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodfellow, W. D., Nowlan, G. S., McCracken, A. D., Lenz, A. C., and Grégoire, D. C. 1992. Geochemical anomalies near the Ordovician-Silurian boundary, northern Yukon Territory, Canada. Historical Biology, 6:1–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, D. J., Barnes, C. R., and Uyeno, T. T. 1979. A Middle Ordovician conodont faunule from the Tetagouche Group, Camel Back Mountain, New Brunswick. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 16:540–551.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leatham, W. B. 1987. Conodont-based chronostratigraphy and conodont distributions across the Upper Ordovician western North American carbonate platform in the eastern Great Basin and a model for Ordovician-Silurian genesis of the platform margin based on interpretation of the Silurian Diana Limestone, central Nevada. Ph.D. Dissertation, Columbus, Ohio State University, 258 p.Google Scholar
Lenz, A. C., and McCracken, A. D., 1982. The Ordovician-Silurian boundary, northern Canadian Cordillera: graptolite and conodont correlation. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 19:1308–1322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCracken, A. D. 1987. Description and correlation of Late Ordovician conodonts from the D. ornatus and P. pacificus zones, Road River Group, northern Yukon Territory. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 24:1450–1464.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCracken, A. D. 1991a. Middle Ordovician conodonts from the Cordilleran Road River Group, northern Yukon Territory. In Orchard, M. J. and McCracken, A. D. (eds.), Ordovician to Triassic conodont paleontology of the Canadian Cordillera. Geological Survey of Canada Bulletin, 417:41–64.Google Scholar
McCracken, A. D. 1991b. Taxonomy and biostratigraphy of Llandovery (Silurian) conodonts in the Canadian Cordillera, northern Yukon Territory. In Orchard, M. J. and McCracken, A. D. (eds.), Ordovician to Triassic Conodont Paleontology of the Canadian Cordillera. Geological Survey of Canada Bulletin, 417:65–95.Google Scholar
McCracken, A. D., and Barnes, C. R. 1981. Conodont biostratigraphy and paleoecology of the Ellis Bay Formation, Anticosti Island, Quebec, with special reference to Late Ordovician and Early Silurian chronostratigraphy and the systemic boundary. Geological Survey of Canada Bulletin, 329(Part 2):51–134Google Scholar
McCracken, A. D., and Lenz, A. C. 1987. Middle and Late Ordovician conodont faunas and biostratigraphy of graptolitic strata of the Road River Group, northern Yukon Territory. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 24:643–653.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCracken, A. D., Nowlan, G. S., and Barnes, C. R. 1980. Gamachignathus, a new multielement conodont genus from the latest Ordovician, Anticosti Island, Quebec. In Current Research, Part C, Geological Survey of Canada Paper, 80–1C:103–112.Google Scholar
Melchin, M. J., McCracken, A. D., and Oliff, F. J. 1991. The Ordovician-Silurian boundary on Cornwallis and Truro islands, Arctic Canada: preliminary data. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 28:1854–1862.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mullens, T. E., and Poole, F. G. 1972. Quartz sand-bearing zone and Early Silurian age of upper part of the Hanson Creek Formation in Eureka County, Nevada. U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 800–B:B21–B24.Google Scholar
Murphy, M. A., Dunham, J. B., Berry, W. B. N., and Matti, J. C. 1979. Late Llandovery unconformity in central Nevada. Brigham Young University Geology Studies, 26:21–36.Google Scholar
Nowlan, G. S. 1981. Late Ordovician-Early Silurian conodont biostratigraphy of the Gaspé Peninsula—a preliminary report. In Lesperance, P. J. (ed.), Subcommission on Silurian Stratigraphy, Ordovician-Silurian Boundary Working Group, Field Meeting, Anticosti-Gaspé, Quebec, Vol. II, Stratigraphy and Paleontology,257–291.Google Scholar
Nowlan, G. S. 1983. Biostratigraphic, paleogeographic, and tectonic implications of Late Ordovician conodonts from the Grog Brook Group, northwestern New Brunswick. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 20:651–671.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nowlan, G. S., and Barnes, C. R. 1981. Late Ordovician conodonts from the Vauréal Formation, Anticosti Island, Quebec. Geological Survey of Canada Bulletin, 329(Part 1):1–49Google Scholar
Nowlan, G. S. McCracken, A. D., and Chatterton, B. D. E. 1988. Conodonts from Ordovician-Silurian boundary strata, Whittaker Formation, Mackenzie Mountains, Northwest Territories. Geological Survey of Canada Bulletin, 373, 99 p.Google Scholar
Nowlan, G. S., Mccracken, A. D., and McLeod, M. J. 1997. Tectonic and paleogeographic significance of Late Ordovician conodonts in the Canadian Appalachians. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 34:1521–1537.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orchard, M. J. 1980. Upper Ordovician conodonts from England and Wales. Geologica et Palaeontologica, 14:9–44.Google Scholar
Pohler, S. M. L., and Orchard, M. J. 1990. Ordovician conodont biostratigraphy, western Canadian Cordillera. Geological Survey of Canada Paper, 90–15, 37 p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ross, R. J. Jr., Nolan, T. B., and Harris, A. G. 1980. The Upper Ordovician and Silurian Hanson Creek Formation of central Nevada. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 1126-C:C1–C22.Google Scholar
Sansom, I. J. 1996. Pseudooneotodus: a histological study of an Ordovician to Devonian vertebrate lineage. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 118:47–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Serpagli, E. 1967. I conodonti dell'Ordoviciano superiore (Ashgilliano) delle Alpi Carniche. Bolletino della Societa Paleontologica Italiana, 6:30–111.Google Scholar
Stone, G. L., and Furnish, W. M. 1959. Bighorn conodonts from Wyoming. Journal of Paleontology, 33:211–228.Google Scholar
Sweet, W. C. 1979. Late Ordovician conodonts and biostratigraphy of the western Midcontinent Province. Brigham Young University Geology Studies, 26:45–86.Google Scholar
Sweet, W. C. 1995a. A conodont-based composite standard for the North American Ordovician: progress report. In Cooper, J. D., Droser, M. L., and Finney, S. C. (eds.), Ordovician Odyssey: Short Papers for the Seventh Internationl Symposium on the Ordovician System. Pacific Section, Society for Sedimentary Geology (SEPM), 15–20.Google Scholar
Sweet, W. C., 1995b. Graphic assembly of a conodont-based composite standard for the Ordovician System of North America. In Mann, K. O., Lane, H. R., and Scholle, P. A. (eds.), Graphic Correlation. Society for Sedimentary Geology (SEPM), Special Publication, 53:139–150.Google Scholar
Sweet, W. C., and Bergström, S. M. 1984. Conodont provinces and biofacies of the Late Ordovician. Geological Society of America Special Paper, 196,69–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhen, Y-Y, Webby, B. D., and Barnes, C. R. 1999. Upper Ordovician conodonts from the Bowan Park Group, New South Wales, Australia. Geobios, 32:73–104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar