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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database

GCAGS Transactions

Abstract




Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Transactions
Vol. 26 (1976), Pages 185-256

Biostratigraphy and Ecostratigraphy of the Pleistocene Basin Texas-Louisiana Continental Shelf

C. Wylie Poag, Page C. Valentine (1)

ABSTRACT

The major basin for Pleistocene marine sediments of the northern Gulf Coast lies beneath the outer edge of the present Texas-Louisiana Continental Shelf. The depocenter contains more than 4,000 m (>13,000 ft) of alternating sand and shale deposits. Wells drilled in the depocenter penetrate at least seven major cyles of transgressive-regressive strata, which are related to eustatic changes in sea level. Nineteen new biostratigraphic and ecostratigraphic foraminiferal zones provide closely spaced correlations in facies that range from coastal-plain sands to continental slope shales. These correlations show that wells along the margin of the basin contain erosional unconformities that formed during regressions. Planktic foraminifers and calcareous nannofossils define the transition between Pliocene and Pleistocene sediments and allow correlation with the Pleistocene stratotype in Italy and with paleomagnetically dated deep-sea cores. Detailed analyses and illustrations are provided for foraminifera and calcareous nannofossils observed in the Phillips Continental Offshore Stratigraphic Test (COST) No. 1 well, drilled in November, 1974, off Brownsville, Texas.


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