THE FORAMINIFERAL ASSEMBLAGE OF THE COON CREEK MEMBER, RIPLEY FORMATION, BLUE SPRINGS, MISSISSIPPI, USA

Thirty samples were collected from the Coon Creek member of the Ripley formation at Blue Springs Mississippi. This section located southwest of Blue Springs, Union County Mississippi exposes approximately 6 meters of fossiliferous gray, glauconitic clayey sand with abundant fossils of the lower Coon Creek member. The macrofossil fauna of this section is fairly well known including Decapods, Bivalves, etc. (Bishop, 1991). However, to date, there is no published description of the foraminiferal assemblage in this section. This report describes the foraminiferal assemblage of the Coon Creek member at the Blue Springs Locality and compares it to the assemblage of the Coon Creek type section. All samples produced identifiable foraminifera. Preservation ranges from excellent to moderate. The benthic fauna is numerically dominated by calcareous species of the genera Gavelinella, Anomalina, and Bolivina. The predominance of epibenthic forms and the moderately diverse assemblage of benthic taxa indicate normal shelf conditions. The planktonic fauna is comprised of Pseudogumbelina globulosa and Archaeoglobigerina creatacea. The planktonic foraminifera species are both long ranging and thus do not constrain the age of the Coon Creek strata in Blue Springs. More work is needed to correlate this section with the type section based on the foraminiferal assemblage.

Compared to the assemblage of the type section, the Blue Springs section has a somewhat lower diversity. Most of the assemblage appears to be the same between the two sections. Future work will include a detailed comparison of the assemblage in the Blue Springs and Coon Creek type sections as well as other parts of the Ripley Formation.

Reference

Bishop, G. A. (1991). The Coon Creek Decapod Assemblages of Northern Mississippi. Mississippi Geology, 12(1, 2), pp. 8-17.