Friday, April 30, 2010

Upper Cretaceous Foraminifera

Pictures are of foraminifera fossils from Starksville, Mississippi. Recovered from the Prairie Bluff Formation that contain fossils from the Upper Cretaceous Period. This first fossil might be an Anomalina sp. Images were photographed at 100x with a microscope thus need to be stacked but I am not quite ready to climb that incline.  My images do not show the divots and bumps that appear on the surface of some of these fossils.

I used A Preliminary Report of the Foraminifera of Tennessee by Joseph A. Cushman (1931) as an identification guide (plates 11 and 12).  It contains a number of specimens from the Upper Cretaceous.  Thanks to Herb for the material.  It is fossil rich!


This next fossil I cannot even guess at an identification.


This fossil might be a Globigerina sp.


Last fossil could be a Globigerinella sp.


Index Fossils of North America lists a number of Upper Cretaceous foraminifera that can be found in Mississippi: Palmula (6-14), Frondicularia (6-17), Kyphopyxa (6-18), Guttulina (7-1), Pseudopolymorphina (7-3), Gumbelitria (8-2), Gumbelina (8-1), Rentilabrella (8-4, 8-5), Bolivinoides (8-6), Pseudouvigerina (8-11), Siphogenerinoides (8-12), Buliminella (8-13), Neobulimina (8-16), Loxostoma (8-18), Lamarckina (9-2), Globigerina (11-1), and Globotruncana (11-9).