MOLLUSCAN FAUNAS OF THE ASHLEY FORMATION AND COOPER FORMATION (OLIGOCENE), CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

The molluscan faunas of the marine Ashley Formation and Cooper Formation around Charleston, South Carolina have received little study. In the early literature, these beds were assigned ages from the Eocene to the Miocene. Toumey (1848) and Dall (1894) listed a few genera and species from these aragonite-leached beds, and Johnson (1931) reported six species of calcitic Epitonium. More recent papers have assigned these beds to NP 24 in the middle Oligocene, and described the vertebrate faunas. Curation of Charleston Museum collections is providing new specimens from these beds. These specimens will more completely establish the molluscan faunas, and allow better comparisons with other Oligocene faunas.