2007

167LOWER CRETACEOUS RUDIST ZONES

BARREMIAN–ALBIAN RUDIST ZONES, U.S. GULF COAST

ROBERT W. SCOTTPrecision Stratigraphy Associates and The University of Tulsa, RR3 Box 103-3, Cleveland, Oklahoma 74020, U.S.A.

e-mail: [email protected]

HARRY F. FILKORNDepartment of Invertebrate Paleontology, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Boulevard, Los

Angeles, California 90007, U.S.A.e-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT: Five new Barremian to Upper Albian rudist zones are defined in depositional cycles of the Trinity, Fredericksburg, and Washitagroups of the U.S. Gulf Coast. The stratigraphically lowermost Barremian–Lower Aptian Huetamia buitronae Assemblage Zone isrecognized in Texas, Mexico, and Trinidad. This assemblage in the Sligo Formation consists of Huetamia buitronae Alencáster and Pantoja-Alor, 1998, Pantojaloria sphaerica Alencáster and Pantoja-Alor, 1995, Caprina douvillei Paquier (Skelton, 1982), and Douvillelia skeltoniAlencáster and Pantoja-Alor, 1998. In coeval formations in southern Mexico this assemblage zone also includes Amphitriscoelus waringiHarris and Hodson, 1922, Amphitriscoelus pluriloculata Alencáster and Pantoja-Alor, 1996, and Caprina massei Alencáster and Pantoja-Alor(1995, 1998), three species endemic to the Western Hemisphere. The Sligo is correlated with the Barremian to Lower Aptian stage/substageby benthic foraminifers and nannofossils and by its stratigraphic position below Lower Aptian deposits of the OAE1a chemostratigraphicevent. Rudists are quite abundant in the interior-shelf and shelf-margin facies of the Sligo. The Upper Aptian James Limestone in theFairway field of East Texas (Achauer, 1985) also has rudists, as in south Texas, where requienids overlie coral–stromatolite boundstone(Loucks and Bebout, 1984). But, these species have not yet been identified.

The uppermost Aptian to Lower Albian Coalcomana ramosa Interval Zone spans the total range of this species. This zone contains fourrudist species in the Glen Rose Formation of Texas and the Mural Limestone of Arizona: Coalcomana ramosa Boehm, 1898, Planocaprinatrapezoides Palmer, 1928, Caprinuloidea perfecta Palmer, 1928, and Caprinuloidea multitubifera Palmer, 1928 (Scott, 2002). The first two of thesefour species appear to be restricted to the Glen Rose and equivalent strata, but the latter two species range up into the Middle to lowermostUpper Albian Fredericksburg Group.

The uppermost Lower to lowermost Upper Albian Caprinuloidea Interval Zone is the interval from the last appearance of Coalcomanaramosa to the last appearance of Caprinuloidea. Four rudist species occur in this assemblage: Caprinuloidea perfecta, Caprinuloidea multitubifera,Texicaprina orbiculata (Palmer, 1928), and Texicaprina vivari (Palmer, 1928). This interval generally spans much of the Middle to basal UpperAlbian Fredericksburg Group (Scott, 2002).

The Upper Albian Kimbleia Interval Zone is defined as the interval from the first appearance of Kimbleia to the first appearance ofMexicaprina, and it includes the rudist species Kimbleia albrittoni Perkins, 1961, and Kimbleia capacis Coogan, 1973. This zone spans the lowerpart of the Upper Devils River Limestone, which correlates with the Adkinsites bravoensis Zone, the Eopachydiscus marcianus Zone (Scott,2002), and the Drakeoceras wintoni Zone (Scott, 2002). The Upper Albian Mexicaprina Interval Zone is the total range of Mexicaprina includingM. cornuta Coogan, 1973 (1977), M. quadrata Alencáster and Oviedo-García, 1998, and M. alata Filkorn (2002). This interval correlates withthe uppermost Albian Plesioturrilites brazoensis Zone and directly underlies the Lower Cenomanian Del Rio Shale.

Cretaceous Rudists and Carbonate Platforms: Environmental FeedbackSEPM Special Publication No. 87, Copyright © 2007SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology), ISBN 978-1-56576-127-8, p. 167–180.

INTRODUCTION

Rudist bivalves have great biostratigraphic utility becausethey are common and widespread in Cretaceous shallow-watercarbonates and because they experienced rapid diversificationand several extinction crises (Masse and Philip, 1986; Ross andSkelton, 1993; Philip, 1998). However, the biostratigraphic poten-tial of rudist bivalves is not yet realized fully because (1) theyrarely occur with other better known biostratigraphic groups, (2)their bed-for-bed stratigraphic distribution is required, and (3)their species-level taxonomy is still being developed. Nonethe-less, their biostratigraphic importance has been demonstrated inthe Tethyan Maastrichtian (Philip, 1998) and the Campanian–Maastrichtian section in the Pyrenees of Spain (Vicens et al.,2004), among other locales.

In the U.S. Gulf Coast, Mexico, and Central America rudistbivalves are widely distributed and locally common in LowerCretaceous strata (Fig. 1). Pioneering studies related commonEarly Cretaceous rudists to ammonite zones and benthic fora-

miniferal ranges (Coogan, 1973, 1977). Ranges of rudist generawere also related to reef guilds in Gulf Coast Lower Cretaceousstrata (Scott, 1990). Subsequent studies in Mexico constrainedrudist ranges by ammonites and benthic foraminifers (Young,1984; Alencáster, 1987; Alencáster, 1998; Alencáster and Oviedo-García, 1998; Filkorn, 2002). In northwestern Mexico ranges ofselected caprinid species were integrated with benthic foramini-fers (Scott and Gonzalez-León, 1991). In the Devils River Forma-tion of southwestern Texas, ranges of six rudist species werecalibrated to ammonite and foraminifer ranges, and two rudistzones were defined (Scott and Kerans, 2004).

Biostratigraphy of the Texas Lower Cretaceous outcrop suc-cession is based upon ammonite zones (Young, 1986; Scott et al.,2003), some of which can be correlated directly with Europeanammonite zones (Kennedy et al., 1999). Planktic foraminiferalzones have been proposed for the Gulf Coast section by Longoria(1984) and McNulty (1985), but in the Texas outcrop section theirranges are truncated by local facies (Scott et al., 2003). Likewise,nannofossil and dinoflagellate distributions are also facies-de-

ROBERT W. SCOTT AND HARRY F. FILKORN168

pendent and ranges tend to be incomplete, although somebioevents are consistent with correlations by ammonites (Scott etal., 2003). Rudist ranges can be calibrated with the global bio-stratigraphic zones by regional mapping and lithostratigraphicand sequence stratigraphic correlation.

PREVIOUS STUDIES

Previous research on the biostratigraphy of Lower Cretaceousrudists of the Comanchean shelf has demonstrated that generaare related to lithostratigraphic units. The ranges of sixteen rudisttaxa were compared with ammonite zones and foraminiferalranges in the Trinity, Fredericksburg, and Washita groups(Coogan, 1973, 1977; Scott, 1990, 2002). These rudists and fora-minifers identified Barremian–Aptian, Early Albian, Middle Al-bian, Late Albian, and Cenomanian assemblages, although noformal zones were defined. Young (1984) compared the ranges often rudist genera to stages in Texas and northern Mexico.

Rudists of the Barremian–Lower Aptian Sligo Formationhave been noted but not studied thoroughly. Planocaprina sp. wasreported from the Texas subsurface (Coogan, 1977) as well asCaprina douviellei Paquier (Skelton, 1982). A more complete as-semblage is reported from two Sligo cores (Scott and Hinote, thisvolume).

Species of Mexicaprina are common in the Mal Paso Forma-tion in southwestern Mexico, which is mainly Upper Albian(Filkorn, 2002). The El Abra Limestone at the classic El Madroñolocality in Querétaro, central Mexico, is Upper Albian andyields a diverse rudist assemblage (Alencáster, 1987; Alencásterand Oviedo-García, 1998) including two endemic caprinid gen-era, Guzzyella and Muellerriedia (Alencáster, 1998), and Radiolitescostata Scott, 1990. Four caprinid species in the Middle to UpperDevils River Formation in West Texas were used to define threezones (Scott, 2002).

DEFINITION OF RUDIST ZONES

The uppermost Barremian–lowermost Aptian Huetamiabuitronae Assemblage Zone spans the upper part of theComburindio Formation from about 330 m to 430 m in the LosHornos section in southwestern Mexico (Fig. 2). Associated spe-cies are Caprina massei, Pantojaloria sphaerica, Douvillelia skeltoni,and Amphitriscoelus spp. The upper part of the Comburindiocorrelates with the Lower Aptian El Cajón Formation about 20 kmeast. Key Barremian–Early Aptian foraminifers, Palorbitolinalenticularis, Choffatella sp. aff. C. decipiens, Everticyclamina hedbergi,and Praechrysalidina infracretacea range throughout the El Cajón(Omaña-Pulido and Pantola-Alor, 1998).

The H. buitronae Zone is also present in the subsurface of Texasin the Sligo Formation. This zone spans the interval from the firstoccurrence of H. buitronae to the last occurrence of Caprina masseiin the Gulf No. 1 Friedrichs well, Duval County, Texas. The depthof the zone in this well is from 15,582 to 15,737 ft, a span of 155 ft(47.3 m). Core slabs and acetate peels are in the Texas MemorialMuseum (UT 48159, 48235, 48245, 48249). Associated in this coreis Douviellela skeltoni Alencáster and Pantoja Alor (1998). Thiszone in the Sligo underlies the Lower Aptian ammonite Dufrenoyiafurcata and OAE1a in the overlying Pearsall Formation. In theHuetamo area the H. buitronae Zone overlies a Barremian assem-blage with Pantojaloria estancia Pantoja-Alor, Skelton, and Masse(2004). Notably, P. estancia is also found in the lower biostrome ofthe Comburindio Formation of the Loma San Juan section(Alencáster and Pantoja-Alor, 1995, fig. 4). Elsewhere in theregion this older Barremian assemblage consists of Amphitriscoelusprimaevus Pantoja-Alor, Skelton, and Masse (2004), Offneria sp. cf.O. simplex Chartrousse and Masse (1998), and Toucasia? sp.(Pantoja-Alor, Skelton, and Masse, 2004). This assemblage maycomprise an older zone. Correlation of the Barremian–Aptianboundary in Mexico and Texas as defined either by magnetochron

1

2

34

5

6

FIG. 1.—Distribution of Aptian–Cenomanian sedimentary rocks around the Gulf of Mexico (from Scott, 1984). 1, Los Hornos,Michoacán, Mexico; 2, Guadalupe River composite, Texas; 3, Mural Limestone, Cochise County, Arizona; 4, Shell Chapman,Waller County, Texas and cross section of Fig. 6; 5, Painted Canyon section, Pecos County, Texas and cross section of Fig. 8; 6,Chevron 4898 No. 2 well, Chandeleur Sound Block 61, offshore Louisiana.


CM0R or by the ammonite Deshayesites oglanlensis is speculativebecause neither has been identified there yet.

The uppermost Aptian to Lower Albian Coalcomana ramosaInterval Zone spans the total range of this species. The Glen RoseFormation reference section in the Texas outcrop is of two parts;the lower part is on Red Bluff Creek south of the town of PipeCreek, Bandera County, Texas (Perkins, 1974), and the upperpart is in the emergency spillway cut of Canyon Lake, ComalCounty, Texas (Fig. 3) (Ward and Ward, 2005; this volume). TheGlen Rose is divided into lower and upper members by the“Corbula” marker bed, which varies in thickness from 0.5 to 2 m.A complete thickness of the Glen Rose has been compiled fromseveral measured sections in the Blanco–Guadalupe river area.The Lower Member of the Glen Rose is about 78 m thick to thetop of the “Corbula” bed, and the Upper Member is about 122 mthick. Coalcomana ramosa ranges from 37 m below the “Corbula”marker bed to 26 m above the “Corbula” bed, a total stratigraphicrange of 61 m. This interval overlies the basal Lower AlbianHypacanthoplites cragini Scott Zone (Young, 1974) and spans thenext younger Lower Albian ammonite zones of Douveillicerasmammillatum (Schlotheim) and Hypacanthoplites comalensis (Scott).Young (1974) correlated the Aptian–Albian boundary between

the top of the range of Kazanskyella spathi (Stoyanow) at 37 m inthe composited section and the base of the range ofHypacanthoplites cragini Scott at 46 m. The late Aptian–Albianbenthic foraminifer Orbitolina (Mesorbitolina) texana (Roemer)commonly occurs with C. ramosa.

The Coalcomana ramosa Zone with Caprinuloidea gracilis Palmeralso occurs in southern Arizona in the Upper Mural LimestoneMember of the Mural Formation (Fig. 4) (Scott, 1981). In thesections at Paul Spur and at Grassy Hill (Scott, 1979) this speciesranges through the lower 55 m of section with Orbitolina texana(Scott, 1981). Douveilliceras sp. is also reported from the basalUpper Mural (Stoyanow, 1949).

The uppermost Lower to lowermost Upper AlbianCaprinuloidea Interval Zone is the interval from the last appear-ance of Coalcomana ramosa to the last appearance of Caprinuloidea.Four rudist species occur in this interval: Caprinuloidea perfecta(Palmer), Caprinuloidea multitubifera (Palmer), Texicaprinaorbiculata (Palmer), and Texicaprina vivari (Palmer). This intervalgenerally spans much of the Middle to basal Upper AlbianFredericksburg Group (Scott, 2002). The reference section is thecored interval of the Shell No. 1 Chapman well in WallerCounty, Texas (Fig. 5). Texicaprina vivari ranges from 17,793 ft to

FIG. 2.—Reference locality of the Huetamia buitronae Assemblage Zone at Los Hornos, SW of Huetamo, Michioacán, Mexico(Alencáster and Pantoja-Alor, 1995, 1998). The approximate position of the zone is in meters above base of ComburindioFormation. The position of Pantojaloria estancia in lower biostrome is from Pantoja-Alor et al. (2004).

Caprinamassei

Pantojaloriasphaerica

Huetamiabuitronae

Douvilleliaskeltoni

Amphitricoelus

spp.

430 m

Huetamia buitronae

Assemblage Zone

330 m

Pantojaloria estancia


Douvi

lleic

era

s? m

ura

lense

Coalc

om

ana r

am

osa

Orb

itolin

a t

exa

na

FIG. 3.—Composited stratigraphic section of the Trinity Group in central Texas along the Guadalupe River. Vertical bars on the leftshow the sources of the several measured sections. Ammonite occurrences at specific localities are from Young (1974).

FIG. 4.—Stratigraphic cross section of the Mural Limestone, southern Arizona, showing the ranges of key fossils. Range data fromStoyanow (1949) and Scott (1979, 1987). Cross section is modified from Scott (1979, used with permission of American Associationof Petroleum Geologists).

Orb

itolina

texana

Coalc

om

ana

ram

osa

Co

alc

om

an

aIn

terv

al

Zo

ne


17,200 ft (5424.7–5243.9 m) together with other bivalves andbenthic foraminifers diagnostic of the Fredericksburg Group inTexas (Fig. 5) (Scott, 1990). This zone is in the upper part of theStuart City Formation, which is the shelf-margin facies of theFredericksburg that is capped by the regional sequence bound-ary and drowning contact Al SB WA1 at the base of the WashitaGroup (Fig. 6) (Scott et al., 2003). This sequence boundarycorrelates up dip with the top of the Goodland Formation,which consists of four ammonite zones. The uppermost zone,the Manuaniceras powelli Zone, includes the basal Upper Albianammonite, Dipoloceras cristatum (Kennedy et al., 1999; Scott etal., 2003). Therefore, the Caprinuloidea Zone spans the Middle–Upper Albian boundary. The base of the zone is defined by thetop of the Coalcomana ramosa Zone, thus the Caprinuloidea Zonealso spans the Lower–Upper Albian boundary as correlatedwith the Trinity–Fredericksburg group contact.

The lower Upper Albian Kimbleia Interval Zone is defined asthe interval from the first appearance of Kimbleia to the firstappearance of Mexicaprina. Associated rudist species are Kimbleia

albrittoni (Perkins) and Kimbleia capacis Coogan. The referencesection is the Painted Canyon section on the Pecos River, ValVerde County, Texas (Fig. 7) (Kerans et al., 1999; Scott and Kerans,2004). Here, K. capacis ranges from 3 m above base of the sectionin high-frequency depositional cycle HFS 19 to about 38 m abovebase of the section in HFS 21 (Fig. 7). A few kilometers north in theLewis Canyon section (Kerans et al., 1999), K. albrittoni is about 7m below the top of HFS 18. This new report extends the base of therange of K. albrittoni to 90 ft (27.4 m) in the Pecos compositedsection (Scott and Kerans, 2004, their Table 1). Texicaprina vivarirarely occurs in HFS 19, and very large twisted specimens at thetoe of clinoforms in HFS 20 at about 23 m above the base of thePainted Canyon section also appear to be T. vivari, although theshell structure is partially replaced by micrite. Thus, the KimbleiaZone spans the lower part of the Upper Devils River Limestone.

Preliminary regional correlations of the Pecos River high-frequency cycles suggest that HFS 18, 19, and 20 are age-equiva-lent with shoaling-up cycles in the Fort Stockton Basin (Fig. 8).Regionally the Early Cretaceous environments changed from

FIG. 5.—Wire-line logs of the Shell No. 1 Chapman well, Chapman, County, Texas, with lithostratigraphy, depositional environments(Scott, 1990), and ranges of key fossils that constrain the age of the Caprinuloidea Zone. The solid bar on the left side of theenvironmental columns shows core recovery.


GRIMES CO.BALLARD NO. 1

15 mi / 25 km

WALLER CO.CHAPMAN NO. 1

45 mi / 75 km

GRIMES CO.WALTRIP NO. 1

115 mi / 192 km

TRAVIS CO.AUSTIN

COMPOSITE

50 mi / 84 km

BELL CO.BELTON

COMPOSITE

44 mi / 73 km

MC LENNAN CO.VALLEY MILLS

COMPOSITE

70 mi / 110 km

TARRANT CO.FT. WORTH

COMPOSITE

140 mi / 234 km

BRYAN CO. OK.COMPOSITE

NORTH

SOUTH

Al S

B W

a1

Al S

B W

a1

F IG

. 6.—

Reg

iona

l lit

host

rati

grap

hic

cros

s se

ctio

n of

the

Fred

eric

ksbu

rg G

roup

in c

entr

al T

exas

. Not

e th

at th

e C

apri

nulo

idea

Zon

e sp

ans

muc

h of

the

Stua

rt C

ity

Form

atio

nun

der

lyin

g th

e re

gion

al se

quen

ce b

ound

ary

Al S

B W

A1

(Sco

tt e

t al.,

200

3). A

ges i

n m

illio

ns o

f yea

rs (M

a) a

re in

terp

olat

ed w

ith

the

tim

e sc

ale

of H

ard

enbo

l et a

l. (1

998)

by g

raph

ic c

orre

lati

on. W

ell-

log

type

s: G

R =

gam

ma

ray,

ID =

ind

ucti

on lo

g.


ramp margin on the south (mapped as the Devils River Forma-tion) to carbonate shelf interior (mapped as the Fort LancasterFormation) to mixed carbonate–terrigenous shelf on the north-west (mapped as the Boracho Formation) (Smith et al., 2000).Ammonite zones of north-central Texas have been identified inthe Fort Stockton section (Scott and Kidson, 1977). If the PecosRiver cycles correlate with cycles in the Fort Lancaster andBoracho, then the Kimbleia Zone correlates with the Adkinsitesbravoensis Zone, the Eopachydiscus marcianus Zone, and theDrakeoceras wintoni Zone in the lower Washita Group of north-central Texas (Scott et al., 2003).

The Upper Albian Mexicaprina Interval Zone is the interval ofthe total range of Mexicaprina. The Painted Canyon section on thePecos River, Val Verde County, Texas, is the reference section(Fig. 7) (Kerans et al., 1999; Scott and Kerans, 2004). HereMexicaprina cornuta ranges from 38 m to about 46 m above the

base of the section in high-frequency depositional cycle HFS 21(Fig. 7). The rudist species included in this interval are M. cornutaCoogan, 1973 (1977), M. quadrata Alencáster and Oviedo-García,1998, and M. alata Filkorn (2002). This interval correlates with theuppermost Albian Plesioturrilites brazoensis Zone and directlyunderlies the Lower Cenomanian Del Rio Shale (Fig. 8). Rudistsoccur in other sections along the Pecos River together withforaminifers (Scott and Kerans, 2004). These ranges in the PecosRiver sections have been integrated by graphic correlation andcorrelated with the Fort Stockton section, where Upper Albianammonite zones are well documented (Scott and Kidson, 1977).Because these ammonite zones also occur in the Trinity Rivercomposite section near Fort Worth (Scott et al., 2003), the deposi-tional cycles of the Washita Group can be identified and corre-lated into West Texas (Fig. 8). Thus, the ranges of rudists andammonites can be integrated (Fig. 9).

Te

xic

ap

rina

viv

ari

Kim

ble

iaca

pa

cis

Eo

radio

lite

sda

vid

so

ni

Ch

ond

ord

on

tam

un

so

ni

Kim

ble

iaalb

ritto

ni

Me

xic

ap

rina

co

rnu

ta

Kim

ble

iaIn

terv

al

Zo

ne

Me

xic

ap

rin

aIn

terv

alZ

on

e

UP

PE

RA

LB

IAN

SU

BS

TA

GE

Alb

/Ce

n

High-Frequency

Cycles97.71 Ma

98.73 Ma

99.70 Ma

100.25 Ma

102.25 Ma

Section measured by Kerans et al. (1999)

Albian 18

FIG. 7.—Reference locality of the Kimbleia Interval Zone in the Painted Canyon section on the Pecos River, Val Verde County, Texas(measured by Kerans et al., 1999). Rudist ranges are based on Scott and Kerans (2004) and modified by observations in 2005. Baseof section is contact between HFS 18 and 19. Ages of cycle boundaries are from graphic correlation calibrated to the time scale ofHardenbol et al. (1998).


FIG

. 8.—

Reg

iona

l nor

thw

est–

sout

heas

t lit

host

rati

grap

hic

cros

s se

ctio

n of

Mid

dle

–Upp

er A

lbia

n to

Low

er C

enom

ania

n un

its

show

ing

prel

imin

ary

corr

elat

ion

of H

FScy

cles

in th

e Pe

cos

Riv

er s

ecti

ons

(Ker

ans

et a

l., 1

999)

wit

h am

mon

ite

zone

s in

the

Fort

Sto

ckto

n se

ctio

n (S

cott

and

Kid

son,

198

7) a

nd d

epos

itio

nal c

ycle

s A

l WA

1-5

and

Ce

WA

6 co

rrel

ated

from

nor

th-c

entr

al T

exas

(Sco

tt e

t al.,

200

3). R

udis

t ran

ges

are

in P

aint

ed C

anyo

n se

ctio

n (S

cott

and

Ker

ans,

200

4).


Manuanic

era

scarb

onari

uim

Manuanic

era

spow

elli

Manuanic

era

ssupani

Venezolicera

sacuto

carinatu

m

Adkin

sites

bra

voensis

Adkin

sites

imla

yi

Cra

gin

ites

serr

ate

scens

Idio

ham

ites

frem

onti

Eopachydis

cus

marc

ianus

Moto

nic

era

sequid

ista

ns

Dra

keocera

sla

ssw

itzi

Dra

keocera

sw

into

ni

Eora

dio

lite

sdavid

soni

Texic

apri

na

viv

ari

Kim

ble

iacapacis

Kim

ble

iaalb

rittoni

Lopha

quadriplicata

Mexic

aprina

corn

uta

Mexic

aprina

min

uta

Budaic

era

shyatti

Buda

Del Rio

Alb/Cen 2

WA 6

Alb/Cen 1

WA 5

AL 21

WA 3

AL 20

WA 2

AL 19

WA 1

upper

AL 18

WA 1

lower

UMM

Fred. Seq.

Al SB WA 1

Up

pe

rA

lbia

nL

ow

er

Ce

no

m.

Abra

vC

ser

Em

ar

MequiM

lass

Mw

in

RUDIST ZONES

Mexicaprina IZ

Kimbleia IZ

AMMONITE ZONES

B. hyatti

15 m

CONCLUSIONS

Caprinid rudists are common and diverse in Barremian toAlbian facies that are associated with the shelf margin in the U.S.Gulf Coast, Mexico, and elsewhere in the Caribbean Province.Five zones are defined for the middle Cretaceous section in theGulf Coast region (Fig. 10). The Barremian–Early Aptian assem-blage in Texas and Mexico is the Huetamia buitronae AssemblageZone, consisting of Huetamia buitronae, Caprina massei, Douvilleliaskeltoni, Pantojaloria sphaerica, and Amphitriscoelus spp. in theSligo, Cupido, and Comburindio formations. It is a subset of anendemic Western Hemisphere assemblage in southern Mexicoand the Gulf Coast (Fig. 11).

The uppermost Aptian to Lower Albian Coalcomana IntervalZone consists of four species in the Glen Rose and Mural forma-tions: Coalcomana ramosa, Planocaprina trapezoides, Caprinuloideaperfecta, and Caprinuloidea multitubifera in the Glen Rose and Mural

formations (Fig. 11). The first two of these four species appear to be restricted to the Glen Rose and Mural, but the latter two speciesrange up into the Middle Albian Fredericksburg Group.

The uppermost Lower to lowermost Upper AlbianCaprinuloidea Interval Zone is the interval from the last appear-ance of Coalcomana ramosa to the last appearance of Caprinuloidea.Four rudist species occur in this interval: Caprinuloidea perfecta,Caprinuloidea multitubifera (Fig. 11), Texicaprina orbiculata, andTexicaprina vivari. This interval generally spans much of theMiddle to basal Upper Albian Fredericksburg Group and part ofthe El Abra Limestone in Mexico.

The upper Upper Albian Kimbleia Interval Zone is the intervalfrom the first appearance of Kimbleia to the first appearance ofMexicaprina, and it includes Kimbleia albrittoni and K. capacis (Fig.12). This zone spans the middle part of the Upper Devils RiverLimestone high-frequency cycles Al 19 to basal Al 21 (Kerans etal., 1999) (Fig. 7), which correlates in part with the Mortoniceras

FIG. 9.—Integrated ranges of ammonites in the Fort Stockton section with rudists in the Painted Canyon section based oncorrelation of depositional cycles (see cross section in Fig. 8). Depositional cycles WA1-6 are defined in the Fort Worthcomposite section (Scott et al., 2003) and AL18-21 and Alb/Cen 1 and 2 are defined in the Pecos River sections (Kerans et al.,1999). UMM = University Mesa Marl.

300

200

100

0

ft-50


equidistans Zone and the Drakeoceras wintoni Zone (Fig. 8). Theuppermost Upper Albian Mexicaprina Interval Zone is the inter-val of the total range of Mexicaprina in the uppermost Devils Riverand El Abra limestones and in the subsurface of offshore Louisi-ana. Species include M. cornuta, M. minuta, M. quadrata, and M.alata (Fig. 12). This interval correlates with the uppermost AlbianPlesioturrilites brazoensis Zone and directly underlies the LowerCenomanian Del Rio Shale.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We are grateful to Dra. Gloria Alencáster, who carefullyreviewed the manuscript. Dr. Ann Molineux, Collections Man-ager, Non-Vertebrate Paleontology, Texas Memorial Museum,

kindly gave access to museum specimens. The Shell Chapmancore is curated by the Bureau of Economic Geology of the Univer-sity of Texas.

REFERENCES

ACHAUER, C.W., 1985, Reef, lagoon, and off-reef facies, James atoll reef,(Lower Cretaceous), Fairway field, Texas, in Bebout, D., and Ratcliff,D. eds., Lower Cretaceous Depositional Environments from Shore-line to Slope—A Core Workshop: Gulf Coast section, SEPM Founda-tion, p. 1–12.

ALENCÁSTER, G., 1987, Fauna arrecifal del Albiano tardio de la región deJalpan, Querétaro, central México: Universidad Autónoma de NuevoLeón, Facultad de Ciencias de la Tierra, Actas, v. 2, p. 111–119.

Ma

97

100

110

120

130

AlSB WA 6

Al SB WA 1 103.87

Al SB FR 108.4

Ap SB PR 2

OAE 1a

Ap SB PR 1 123 Ma

Ba

rre

m-E

.A

pti

an

L.

Ap

tia

nE

arl

yA

lbia

nM

idd

leA

lbia

nL

ate

Alb

ian

Co

alc

om

an

aIZ

Ca

pri

nu

loid

ea

IZK

imb

leia

IZM

ex

ica

pIZ

He

uta

mia

AZ

C.

douvill

ei

C.m

assei

H.

buitro

nae

D.

skeltoni

P.

sphaerica

A.

wari

ngi

C.

ram

osa

C.

gra

cilis

P.tr

apezoid

es

C.m

ultitubifera

C.

perf

ecta

T.orb

icula

ta

T.viv

ari

T.kugle

ri

K.alb

rittoni

K.capacis

M.

corn

uta

M.m

inuta

M.

quadra

ta

M.

ala

ta

J.

quere

tana

G.bis

ulc

ata

G.acum

inata

M.

boesei

Not Studied

Base Hensel Sandstone

FIG. 10.—Barremian–Albian rudist zones of the North American Caribbean Province. AZ = assemblage zone; Z = zone. Depositionalcycles are defined by Scott et al. (2003). Ap SB PR 1 is transgressive disconformity between Sligo and Pearsall formations; Ap SBPR 2 is unconformity between Cow Creek Limestone and Hensell Formation; Al SB FR is base of Fredericksburg Group; Al SBWA 1 is disconformity between Fredericksburg and Washita groups; Al SB WA 6 is transgressive contact between Main StreetLimestone and Grayson Shale.


Caprinuloidea perfecta 1 cm Caprinuloidea multitubifera

Espinazo del Diablo Fm., Mexico El Abra Fm., Mexico

Coalcomana ramosa 1 cm Caprinuloidea gracilis

Mural Fm., Arizona Mural Fm., Arizona

Huetamia buitronae Douvillelia skeltoni

Comburindio Fm., Mexico Comburindio Fm., MexicoBarr

em

ian

-Earl

yA

pti

an

Earl

yA

lbia

nM

idd

le-E

arl

yL

ate

Alb

ian

Cap

rin

aA

ZC

oalc

om

an

aA

ZC

ap

rin

ulo

idea

AZ

FIG. 11.—Cross-sectional views of key rudists characteristic of Barremian to early Late Albian rudist zones.


FIG. 12.—Cross-sectional views of key rudists characteristic of Late Albian rudist zones.

Mexicaprina alata Mexicaprina minuta

Mal Paso Fm., Mexico Washita Group,

Louisiana

Kimbleia albrittoni Kimbleia capacis

Boracho Fm., West Texas Devils River Fm., West Texas

Texicaprina vivari

Nogal Fm., Mexico

1 cm

1 cm

1 cm

1 cm

1 cm

Late

Alb

ian

Kim

ble

iaA

ZM

exic

ap

rin

aZ

on

e

ALENCÁSTER, G., 1998, New caprinid rudist genera Guzzyella andMuellerriedia (Bivalvia—Hippuritacea) from the Albian (Cretaceous)of central Mexico: Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Geológicas, v. 15, p.91–105.

ALENCÁSTER, G., AND OVIEDO-GARCÍA, A., 1998, Re-examination of thegenera Texicaprina Coogan, Mexicaprina Coogan and Kimbleia Coogan(Caprinid Rudists) from the Albian of central Mexico: SociedadMexicana de Paleontología, Revista, v. 8, p. 163–179.


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