THE GRAY FOSSIL SITE, NORTHEASTERN TENNESSEE: MULTIPLE DEPOCENTERS, MULTIPLE ASSEMBLAGE AGES

The Gray Fossil Site, NE Tennessee, was discovered in 2000 when road project unearthed vertebrate remains in lacustrine sinkhole fill. Further excavation has produced a significant vertebrate assemblage, invertebrates and abundant floral remains. The presence of Plionarctos and Teleoceras constrain the age of surficial deposits to 4.5 -7.0 Ma. TDOT auger holes indicate that site basement consists of several low points ranging up to 39 m deep. Gravity studies indicate that the site fill is the result of coalescence of several individual depocenters. A core drilled to basement (GFS-1 39.0 m TD) suggests that individual depocenters were active at different times. Pollen analysis of lower sections of the GFS-1 core indicates an Eocene-Oligocene age. Recent excavations near the GFS-1 core have exhumed dramatic lateral overlap sequences which support this hypothesis. The Gray Site sink hole has been active since the Paleogene and preserves multiple overlapping fossil sequences.