ABSTRACT

Fifty-two species of Foraminifera belonging to 35 genera are recorded, of which one species and one genus are new. Two distinctive foraminiferal assemblages are recognized; one consists mostly of benthic species (upper and lowermost middle Blufftown); the other contains associated benthic and common planktic Foraminifera (middle and upper part of middle Blufftown). Some benthic individuals represent the arenaceous families Lituolidae and Ataxophragmoidae, but most belong to the calcareous families Anomalinidae, Cibicididae, and Nodosariidae.

Absence of foraminiferal assemblages in the lower Blufftown sands indicate a marginal marine environment of deposition. The fossiliferous clayey middle Blufftown represents deposition in a middle neritic environment of a transgressive sea. The silty upper Blufftown member represents a regressive marine deposit. Because of the fluctuating marine conditions, only the more tolerant species could survive so that the foraminiferal distribution is not uniform throughout the section. The presence of few species but individuals in great abundance support this interpretation.

On the basis of the planktic Foraminifera and diagnostic megafossils, the Blufftown Formation is Santonian to Early Campanian in age.