Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Facies and fauna of the Pennsylvanian Buckhorn Asphalt Quarry deposit: a review and new data on an important Palaeozoic fossil Lagerstätte with aragonite preservation

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Facies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The Pennsylvanian Buckhorn Asphalt Quarry contains the best-preserved Palaeozoic mollusc fauna in the world. Early impregnation of mixed siliciclastic–carbonate rocks (mudstones, pack to grainstones, shell beds, and conglomerates) with hydrocarbons prevented aragonite destruction (“Impregnation Fossil Lagerstätte”). The exceptional preservation comprises shell microstructures, microornaments and early ontogenetic shells. Most gastropods had planktotrophic larval development indicating a high primary production although the remains of phytoplankton are very rare in this and other Late Palaeozoic deposits. Deposition occurred close to a shallow-water coastal area. Mass flow processes (density currents) triggered by storms were involved in the transport mechanisms of some units. Shells of benthic molluscs yield the most diverse known Palaeozoic microboring assemblage, indicating at least partly euphotic conditions. The invertebrate fauna comprises about 160 species and is dominated by molluscs, which is unusual for a Palaeozoic deposit, suggesting that aragonite dissolution produces a major bias in the fossil record. However, most mollusc genera in the Buckhorn deposit are also known from other Pennsylvanian occurrences as recrystallised shells. This shows that preservation bias via preferential aragonite dissolution may be overestimated.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15
Fig. 16
Fig. 17
Fig. 18
Fig. 19
Fig. 20

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Arbenz JK (1989) The Ouachita system. In: Bally AW, Palmer AR (eds) The Geology of North America—an overview, vol A. Geol Soc Am, Boulder, CO, pp 371–396

  • Bandel K (2002) Reevaluation and classification of Carboniferous and Permian gastropoda belonging to the Caenogastropoda and their relation. Mitt Geol-Palaont Inst Univ Hamburg 86:81–188

    Google Scholar 

  • Bandel K, Nützel A, Yancey TE (2002) Larval shells and shell microstructures of exceptionally well-preserved Late Carboniferous gastropods from the Buckhorn Asphalt deposit (Oklahoma, USA). Senckenb Lethaea 82:639–689

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Batten RL (1972) The ultrastructure of five common Pennsylvanian pleurotomarian gastropod species of eastern United States. Am Mus Novit 2501:1–34

    Google Scholar 

  • Bechtel FW (1962) Ammonoid fauna of the Pennsylvanian Wewoka Formation of Oklahoma. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Iowa, Iowa City

  • Bennison AP (1979) Mobile basin and shelf border area in Northeast Oklahoma during Desmoinesian cyclic sedimentation. In: Hyne NJ (ed) Pennsylvanian Sandstones of the Mid-Continent. Tulsa Geol Soc, Spec Publ 1, USA, pp 283–294

  • Blake DF, Peacor DR, Wilkinson BH (1982) The sequence and mechanism of low-temperature dolomite formation: calcian dolomites in a Pennsylvanian echinoderm. J Sediment Petrol 52:59–70

    Google Scholar 

  • Blind W (1991) Über Anlage und Funktion von Kammerablagerungen in Orthoceren-Gehäusen. Palaeontogr Abt A 218:35–47

    Google Scholar 

  • Boardman DR, Work DM, Mapes RH, Barreck JE (1994) Biostratigraphy of Middle and Late Pennsylvanian (Desmoinesian–Virgilian) ammonoids. Kansas Geol Surv Bull 232:121p

    Google Scholar 

  • Brand U (1982) The oxygen and carbon isotope composition of Carboniferous fossil components: sea-water effects. Sedimentology 29:139–147. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3091.1982.tb01715.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brand U (1987) Biogeochemistry of nautiloids and palaeoenvironmental aspects of Buckhorn Seawater (Pennsylvanian), southern Oklahoma. Palaeogeogr 61:255–264

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brand U (1989a) Aragonite-calcite transformation based on Pennsylvanian molluscs. Geol Soc Am Bull 101:377–390. doi:10.1130/0016-7606(1989)101<0377:ACTBOP>2.3.CO;2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brand U (1989b) Biogeochemistry of Late Palaeozoic North American brachiopods and secular variation of seawater composition. Biogeochemistry 7:159–193. doi:10.1007/BF00004216

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown AA, Corrigan J (1991) Petroleum systems, Ardmore Basin and Arbuckle Mountains, Oklahoma. AAPG Annu Conv, Guidebook for Field Trip 2 88:64–68

  • Bush AM, Bambach RK (2004) Did alpha diversity increase during the Phanerozoic? Lifting the veils of taphonomic, latitudinal, and environmental biases. J Geol 112:625–642. doi:10.1086/424576

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carter JG (ed) (1990) Skeletal biomineralization, patterns, processes and evolutionary trends. Kluwer, Dordrecht

  • Carter JG (ed) (1991) Skeletal biomineralization, patterns, processes and evolutionary trends; Atlas and index. Kluwer, Dordrecht

  • Chaplin JR (1989) Stop 4 Buckhorn Asphalt Quarry. In: Guidebook for selected Stops in the Arbuckle Mountains. Prepared for the Am Assoc of St Geologists by OGS, Ann Meet 1989, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, pp 42–50

  • Chatelain EE (1984) Ammonoids of the Marmaton Group Middle Pennsylvanian (Desmoinesian), Arkoma Basin, Oklahoma. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Iowa, Iowa City, 293 pp

  • Cherns L, Wright P (2002) Missing molluscs as evidence of large-scale, early skeletal aragonite dissolution in a Silurian sea. Geology 28:791–794. doi:10.1130/0091-7613(2000)28<791:MMAEOL>2.0.CO;2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Choquette PW, Trusell FC (1978) A procedure for making the titan-yellow stain for Mg-calcite permanent. J Sediment Petrol 48:639–641

    Google Scholar 

  • Conolly WM, Lambert LL, Stanton RJ (1989) Paleoecology of Lower and Middle Pennsylvanian (Middle Carboniferous) Chaetetes in North America. Facies 20:139–168. doi:10.1007/BF02536860

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cree SB (1984) A biostratigraphic study of the Asphalt-bearing limestones of Pennsylvanian age in the Arbuckle Mountains, Oklahoma. Unpublished Master Thesis, Graduate School. University of Texas, Arlington, 82 pp

  • Crick RE (1982) The mode and tempo of cameral deposit formation: evidence of orthoconic nautiloid physiology and ecology. Proc N Am Paleontol Conv 3:113–118

    Google Scholar 

  • Doguzhaeva LA, Mapes RH, Mutvei H (1999) A Late Carboniferous spirulid coleoid from the southern Mid-continent (USA). In: Olóriz F, Rodríguez-Tovar FJ (eds) Advancing research on living and fossil cephalopods. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Press, New York, pp 47–57

    Google Scholar 

  • Eldridge GH (1900–1901) The asphalt and bituminous rock deposits of the United States. U.S. Geol Surv 22nd Ann Rep 1:183–195

  • Embry AF, Klovan JE (1971) A Late Devonian reef tract on Northeastern Banks Island, NWT. Can Petrol Geol Bull 19:730–781

    Google Scholar 

  • Fischer AG, Teichert C (1969) Cameral deposits in cephalopod shells. Univ Kansas Paleontol Cont 37:1–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Flügel E (2004) Microfacies of carbonate rocks. Springer, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Frýda J, Manda S (1997) A gastropod faunule from the Monograptus uniformis graptolite biozone (Early Lochkovian, Early Devonian) in Bohemia. Mitt Geol-Palaontol Inst Univ Hamburg 80:59–121

    Google Scholar 

  • Frýda J, Nützel A, Wagner P (2008) Palaeozoic gastropoda. In: Ponder W, Lindberg DL (eds) Phylogeny and evolution of the Mollusca. University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles, pp 239–270

    Google Scholar 

  • Furnish WM, Knapp WD (1966) Lower Pennsylvanian fauna from Eastern Kentucky: part 1, ammonoids. J Paleontol 40:296–299

    Google Scholar 

  • Gregoire C (1988) Organic remnants in shells of Cambrian nautiloids and in cameral deposits of Pennsylvanian nautiloids. Senckenb Lethaea 69:73–86

    Google Scholar 

  • Ham WE (1969) Regional geology of the Arbuckle Mountains Oklahoma Part 1. Regional Geology. In: Geology of the Arbuckle Mountains. Oklahoma Geol Surv Guide Book XVII, pp 5–50

  • Ham WE, Wilson JL (1967) Palaeozoic epeirogeny and orogeny in the central United States. Am J Sci 265:332–407

    Google Scholar 

  • Heaney MJ (1997) Pennsylvanian aged bivalves (Mollusca) from the Buckhorn Asphalt Quarry of south-central Oklahoma: taxonomy and systematics. Unpublished dissertation, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 108 pp

  • Heaney MJ (1998) Conocardioid Molluscs from the Buckhorn Asphalt Quarry of south-central Oklahoma: Rostroconchs or Rostroconch homeomorphic bivalves. GSA Abstr Prog 30:7

    Google Scholar 

  • Heaney MJ, Yancey TE (1991) Exceptional preservation of bivalved molluscs in the Buckhorn Asphalt deposit (Pennsylvanian) of Oklahoma. GSA Abstr Prog 23:166–167

    Google Scholar 

  • Heckel PH (1995) Glacial-eustatic base-level climatic model for Late Middle to Late Pennsylvanian coal-bed formation in the Appalachian Basin. J Sediment Res B65:348–356

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoare RD, Sturgeon MT (1978) The Pennsylvanian gastropod genera Cyclozyga and Helminthozyga and the classification of the Pseudozygopleuridae. J Paleontol 52:850–858

    Google Scholar 

  • Jablonski D, Lutz RA (1983) Larval ecology of marine benthic invertebrates: paleobiological implications. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 58:21–89. doi:10.1111/j.1469-185X.1983.tb00380.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knight JB (1933) The gastropods of the St. Louis, Missouri, Pennsylvanian outlier: VI. The Neritidae. J Paleontol 7:359–392

    Google Scholar 

  • Kulicki C, Landmann NH, Heaney MJ, Mapes RH, Tanabe K (2002) Morphology of the early whorls of goniatites from the Carboniferous Buckhorn Asphalt (Oklahoma) with aragonitic preservation. Abh Geol BA 57:205–224

    Google Scholar 

  • Lima GM, Lutz RA (1990) The relationship of larval shell morphology to mode of development in marine prosobranch gastropods. J Mar Biol Assoc U K 70:611–638

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mapes RH, Mapes G, Yancey TE, Liu Z (2000) Fossil plants from the Buckhorn Lagerstätte (Late Carboniferous-Desmoinesian) in southern Oklahoma. GSA Abstr Prog 32(7):A–15

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller KB, West RR (1997) Growth-interruption surfaces within chaetetid skeletons: records of physical disturbance and depositional dynamics. Lethaia 29:289–299. doi:10.1111/j.1502-3931.1996.tb01662.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moldowan JM, Dahl J, Jacobson SR, Huizinga BJ, Fago FJ, Shetty R, Watt DS, Peters KE (1996) Chemostratigraphic reconstruction of biofacies: molecular evidence linking cyst-forming dinoflagellates with pre-Triassic ancestors. Geology 24:159–162. doi:10.1130/0091-7613(1996)024<0159:CROBME>2.3.CO;2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nassichuck WW (1975) Carboniferous ammonoids and stratigraphy in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Geol Surv Can Bull 237:250–257

    Google Scholar 

  • Nützel A (1998) Über die Stammesgeschichte der Ptenoglossa (Gastropoda). Berliner Geowiss Abh E 26:1–229

    Google Scholar 

  • Nützel A, Mapes RH (2001) Larval and juvenile gastropods from a Mississippian black shale: paleoecology, and implications for the evolution of the Gastropoda. Lethaia 34:143–162. doi:10.1080/00241160152418447

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nützel A, Pan H-Z (2005) Late Palaeozoic evolution of the Caenogastropoda: larval shell morphology and implications for the Permian/Triassic mass extinction event. J Paleontol 79:1175–1188. doi:10.1666/0022-3360(2005)079[1175:LPEOTC]2.0.CO;2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nützel A, Frýda J, Yancey TE, Anderson JR (2007) Larval shells of Late Palaeozoic naticopsid gastropods (Neritopsoidea: Neritimorpha) with a discussion of the early neritimorph evolution. Paläont Zeitschr 81:213–228

    Google Scholar 

  • Olszewski TD, Patzkowsky ME (2003) From cyclothems to sequences: the record of eustasy and climate on an icehouse epeiric platform (Pennsylvanian-Permian, North American Midcontinent). J Sediment Res 73:15–30. doi:10.1306/061002730015

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pan H-Z, Erwin DH (2002) Gastropods from the Permian of Guanxi and Yunnan Provinces, South China. Paleontol Soc Mem 56. J Paleontol 76:1–49

    Google Scholar 

  • Ristedt H (1971) Zum Bau der orthoceriden Cephalopoden. Palaeontogr 137:155–195

    Google Scholar 

  • Sadd JL (1986) Petrology and geochemistry of the Buckhorn Asphalt Quarry (Desmoinesian), Arbuckle Mountains, Oklahoma. PhD Thesis, Department of Geology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, 157 pp

  • Sadd JL (1991) Tectonic influences on carbonate deposition and diagenesis, Buckhorn Asphalt, Deese Group (Desmoinesian), Arbuckle Mountains, Oklahoma. J Sediment Petrol 61:28–42

    Google Scholar 

  • Sadd JL, Peterson N, Kendall C (1986) Origin of Buckhorn Asphalt, Deese Group (Pennsylvanian), Central Arbuckle Mountains, Oklahoma. AAPG Bull 70:643

    Google Scholar 

  • Scholle PA, Ulmer-Scholle DA (2006) A color guide to the petrography of carbonate rocks: grains, textures, porosity, diagenesis. AAPG Mem 77, 747 p

  • Sepkoski JJ (1981) A factor analytic description of the Phanerozoic marine fossil record. Paleobiology 7:36–53

    Google Scholar 

  • Sepkoski JJ (1984) A kinetic model of Phanerozoic taxonomic diversity. III. Post-Palaeozoic families and mass extinctions. Paleobiology 10:246–267

    Google Scholar 

  • Shuto T (1974) Larval ecology of prosobranch gastropods and its bearing on biogeography and paleontology. Lethaia 7:239–256. doi:10.1111/j.1502-3931.1974.tb00899.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith HJ (1938) The cephalopod fauna of the Buckhorn Asphalt. Chicago University Library, Chicago, p 40

    Google Scholar 

  • Sorauf JE, Webb GE (2003) The origin and significance of zigzag microstructure in Late Palaeozoic Lophophyllidium (Anthozoa, Rugosa). J Paleontol 77:16–30. doi:10.1666/0022-3360(2003)077<0016:TOASOZ>2.0.CO;2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Squires RL (1973) Burial environment, diagenesis, mineralogy, and Mg and Sr contents of skeletal carbonates in the Buckhorn Asphalt of Middle Pennsylvanian age, Arbuckle Mountains, Oklahoma. Unpublished PhD Thesis, Calif I Technol, Pasadena, 184 p

  • Squires RL (1976) A colour pattern of Naticopsis (Naticopsis) worthenia, Buckhorn Asphalt Deposit, Oklahoma. J Paleontol 50:349–350

    Google Scholar 

  • Stehli FG (1956) Shell mineralogy in Palaeozoic invertebrates. Science 123:1031–1032. doi:10.1126/science.123.3206.1031

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suchy DR, West RR (2001) Chaetetid buildups in a Westphalian (Desmoinesian) cyclothem in southeastern Kansas. Palaios 16:425–443

    Google Scholar 

  • Sutherland PK, Harlow FH (1973) Pennsylvanian brachiopods and biostratigraphy in southern Sangre de Cristo Mountains, New Mexico. New Mex Bur Mines Mineral Resour 27:173

    Google Scholar 

  • Unklesbay AG (1962) Pennsylvanian cephalopods of Oklahoma. Oklahoma Geol Surv Bull 96:150

    Google Scholar 

  • Vogel K, Gektidis M, Golubic S, Kiene WE, Radtke G (2000) Experimental studies on microbial bioerosion at Lee Stocking Island, Bahamas and One Tree Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia: implications for palaeoegological reconstructions. Lethaia 33:190–204. doi:10.1080/00241160025100053

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Webb G, Sorauf JE (2002) Zigzag microstructure in rugose corals: a possible indicator of relative seawater Mg/Ca ratios. Geology 30:415–418. doi:10.1130/0091-7613(2002)030<0415:ZMIRCA>2.0.CO;2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wendt J (1977) Aragonite in Permian reefs. Nature 267:335–337. doi:10.1038/267335b0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • West RR (1992) Chaetetes (Demospongia): its occurrence and biostratigraphic utility. Okla Geol Surv Circulation 94:163–169

    Google Scholar 

  • Wisshak M, Gektidis M, Freiwald A, Lundälv T (2005) Bioerosion along a bathymetrical gradient in a cold-temperate setting (Kosterfjord/SW Sweden): an experimental study. Facies 51:93–117. doi:10.1007/s10347-005-0009-1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wisshak M, Seuß B, Nützel A (2008) Evolutionary implications on an exceptionally preserved Carboniferous microboring assemblage in the Buckhorn Asphalt Lagerstätte (Oklahoma, USA). In: Wisshak M, Tapanila L (eds) Current development in bioerosion. Springer, Berlin, pp 21–54

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Wright P, Cherns L, Hodges P (2003) Missing molluscs: field testing taphonomic loss in the Mesozoic through early large-scale aragonite dissolution. Geology 31:211–214. doi:10.1130/0091-7613(2003)031<0211:MMFTTL>2.0.CO;2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yancey TE, Heaney MJ (2000) Carboniferous praecardioid bivalves from the exceptional Buckhorn Asphalt biota of south-central Oklahoma, USA. In: Harper EM, Taylor JD, Crame JA (eds) The evolutionary biology of the bivalvia. Geol Soc Spec Publ 177, pp 291–301

  • Yochelson EL, White JS, Gordon M (1967) Aragonite and calcite in mollusks from the Pennsylvanian Kendrick Shale (of Lillson) in Kentucky. US Geol Surv Prof Pap 575-D:76–78

    Google Scholar 

  • Yoo EK (1988) Early Carboniferous Gastropoda from the Tamworth Belt, New South Wales. Diss Doc Phil. Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, pp 7–39, 209–218

  • Yoo EK (1994) Early Carboniferous Gastropoda from the Tamworth Belt, New South Wales, Australia. Rec Aust Mus 46:63–110

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank Douglas Erwin for securing the funding from the Smithsonian Institution to reopen the Buckhorn Quarry. Additionally, we are grateful that Mrs. Mary Lou Heltzel in Sulphur (Oklahoma) allowed us access to the quarry. Our thanks are extended to Richard L. Squires (Northridge, California) for allowing us to reproduce maps and illustrations from his unpublished dissertation. We thank Andrej Ernst (Christian-Albrechts-Universität, Kiel) for the identification of some of the bryozoans. Our thanks also go to Michael Brettreich and Torsten Schunk at the Institute for Organic Chemistry (University Erlangen-Nuremberg) for advice and facility to work in laboratories of the institute, as well as to Mrs. Birgit Leipner-Mata for advice and preparing thin sections. We thank Elias Samankassou (Fribourg) and Steffen Kiel (Kiel) for their careful reviews. Finally, our thanks go to Jürgen Titschak (GZN—Paläoumwelt, University Erlangen-Nuremberg) for fruitful discussions on the thin sections and to Christian Schubert for technical advice and support (GZN—Paläoumwelt, University Erlangen-Nuremberg). The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft is acknowledged for financial support Project NU 96/10-1.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. GeoZentrum Nordbayern (GZN), Paläoumwelt, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Loewenichstraße 28, Erlangen, 91054, Germany

    Barbara Seuß

  2. Bayerische Staatssammlung für Geologie und Paläontologie, Munich, Germany

    Alexander Nützel

  3. Department of Geological Sciences, Ohio University, Athens, OH, 45701, USA

    Royal H. Mapes

  4. Department of Geology and Geophysics, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843-3115, USA

    Thomas E. Yancey

Authors
  1. Barbara Seuß
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Alexander Nützel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Royal H. Mapes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Thomas E. Yancey
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Barbara Seuß.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

ESM 1. Short characterisation of the sample spots (DOC 86 kb)

10347_2009_181_MOESM2_ESM.tif

ESM 2a. Overview of the thin sections according to their lithology. Abbreviations: detrit. asphalt: detrital asphalt (additional: organic remains, black pebbles), biv: bivalves; brach: brachiopods; bryo: bryozoans; echino: echinoderms ; foram: foraminifers ; gastro: gastropods; nauti: nautiloids; ostra: ostracods; plantrem: plant remains; redal: red algae shellfrag: shell fragments; asphalt amount: (++) high amount; (+) moderately amount; (-) few asphalt; (--) very few asphalt; (0) no asphalt (TIFF 1559 kb)

ESM 2b. Overview of the thin sections according to their lithology (TIFF 1624 kb)

ESM 2c. Overview of the thin sections according to their lithology (TIFF 1645 kb)

ESM 2d. Overview of the thin sections according to their lithology (TIFF 989 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Seuß, B., Nützel, A., Mapes, R.H. et al. Facies and fauna of the Pennsylvanian Buckhorn Asphalt Quarry deposit: a review and new data on an important Palaeozoic fossil Lagerstätte with aragonite preservation. Facies 55, 609–645 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10347-009-0181-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10347-009-0181-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation