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N. O. Frederiksen

Publications and source records attributed to N. O. Frederiksen.

18 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2000

Studies in neotropical paleobotany. XIV. A palynoflora from the middle Eocene Saramaguacán formation of Cuba

An assemblage of 46 fossil pollen and spore types is described from a core drilled through the middle Eocene Saramaguacán Formation, Camagüey Province, eastern Cuba. Many of the specimens represent unidentified or extinct taxa but several can be identified to family (Palmae, Bombacaceae, Gramineae, Moraceae, Myrtaceae) and some to genus ( Pteris, Crudia, Lymingtonia ?). The paleoclimate was warm-temperate to subtropical which is consistent with other floras in the region of comparable age and with the global paleotemperature curve. Older plate tectonic models show a variety of locations for proto-Cuba during Late Cretaceous and later times, including along the norther coast of South America. More recent models depict western and central Cuba as two separate parts until the Eocene, and eastern Cuba (joined to northern Hispaniola) docking to central Cuba also in the Eocene. All fragments are part of the North American Plate and none were directly connected with northern South America in late Mesozoic or Cenozoic time. The Saramaguacán flora supports this model because the assemblage is distinctly North American in affinities, with only one type ( Retimonocolpites type 1) found elsewhere only in South America.

Camagüey Province↗
USGS1999

Physical stratigraphy, paleontology, and magnetostratigraphy of the USGS-Santee Coastal Reserve core (CHN-803), Charleston County, South Carolina

The Santee Coastal Reserve core, a 545-ft-deep corehole in northeastern Charleston County, South Carolina, recovered sediments of Late Cretaceous, Paleocene, Eocene, and Quaternary age. The deepest sediments, the Donoho Creek Formation (545-475.7 ft), consist of 69.3 ft of muddy calcareous sand of marine origin. This formation is placed within the upper Campanian calcareous nannofossil Subzone CC 22c. The overlying Peedee Formation (475.7-367.1 ft) in the core consists of 108.6 ft of silty clay of marine origin. It is placed in upper Maastrichtian calcareous nannofossil Subzones CC 25b, CC 26a, and CC 26b. Combined fossil and paleomagnetic information indicates nearly continuous deposition. Foraminifers indicate an outer neritic paleobathymetric setting. The Rhems Formation sensu stricto (367.1-267.3 ft) consists of 99.8 ft of silty clay, muddy sand, and minor calcite-cemented, shelly sand of marine origin. It is apparently the product of rapid sediment accumulation during a short period of time in the early Paleocene (calcareous nannofossil Zone NP 1). The upper part of the Rhems Formation sensu Bybell and others (1998) (267.3-237.4 ft) consists of 29.9 ft of calcite-cemented muddy sand and burrowed fine sand of marine origin. It is placed in calcareous nannofossil Zone NP 4 and, because it shows normal polarity, likely represents the upper part of the lower Paleocene. This unit may be correlative with the lower part of the Lower Bridge Member of the Williamsburg Formation in its type area. The Lower Bridge Member of the Williamsburg Formation (237.4-125.0 ft) has an unconformable contact at 205.0 ft that divides the member into lower muddy sand beds and upper calcareous clay beds. Both are placed in the upper Paleocene calcareous nannofossil Zone NP 5. The Chicora Member of the Williamsburg Formation (125-51.5 ft) consists of 73.5 ft of muddy, shelly sand of marine origin. It is poorly dated but includes late Paleocene nannofossils (Zones NP 5 and NP 6). A mollusk-bryozoan limestone (51.5-42.0 ft) above the Chicora Member of the Williamsburg yields early Eocene calcareous nannofossils representing both Zone NP 9/10 and Zone NP 12, together with pollen and dinocysts that are younger. Sediments of middle and late Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, and Pliocene ages were not recovered in the Santee Coastal Reserve core. The upper 42.0 ft of sediments represent Quaternary deposits and are included in the Wando Formation (42.0-28.0 ft) and the informal Silver Bluff beds (28.0-0 ft).

South Carolina↗
USGS1999

Physical stratigraphy, paleontology, and magnetostratigraphy of the USGS-Santee Coastal Reserve core (CHN-803), Charleston County, South Carolina

The Santee Coastal Reserve core, a 545-ft-deep corehole in northeastern Charleston County, South Carolina, recovered sediments of Late Cretaceous, Paleocene, Eocene, and Quaternary age. The deepest sediments, the Donoho Creek Formation (545-475.7 ft), consist of 69.3 ft of muddy calcareous sand of marine origin. This formation is placed within the upper Campanian calcareous nannofossil Subzone CC 22c. The overlying Peedee Formation (475.7-367.1 ft) in the core consists of 108.6 ft of silty clay of marine origin. It is placed in upper Maastrichtian calcareous nannofossil Subzones CC 25b, CC 26a, and CC 26b. Combined fossil and paleomagnetic information indicates nearly continuous deposition. Foraminifers indicate an outer neritic paleobathymetric setting. The Rhems Formation sensu stricto (367.1-267.3 ft) consists of 99.8 ft of silty clay, muddy sand, and minor calcite-cemented, shelly sand of marine origin. It is apparently the product of rapid sediment accumulation during a short period of time in the early Paleocene (calcareous nannofossil Zone NP 1). The upper part of the Rhems Formation sensu Bybell and others (1998) (267.3-237.4 ft) consists of 29.9 ft of calcite-cemented muddy sand and burrowed fine sand of marine origin. It is placed in calcareous nannofossil Zone NP 4 and, because it shows normal polarity, likely represents the upper part of the lower Paleocene. This unit may be correlative with the lower part of the Lower Bridge Member of the Williamsburg Formation in its type area. The Lower Bridge Member of the Williamsburg Formation (237.4-125.0 ft) has an unconformable contact at 205.0 ft that divides the member into lower muddy sand beds and upper calcareous clay beds. Both are placed in the upper Paleocene calcareous nannofossil Zone NP 5. The Chicora Member of the Williamsburg Formation (125-51.5 ft) consists of 73.5 ft of muddy, shelly sand of marine origin. It is poorly dated but includes late Paleocene nannofossils (Zones NP 5 and NP 6). A mollusk-bryozoan limestone (51.5-42.0 ft) above the Chicora Member of the Williamsburg yields early Eocene calcareous nannofossils representing both Zone NP 9/10 and Zone NP 12, together with pollen and dinocysts that are younger. Sediments of middle and late Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, and Pliocene ages were not recovered in the Santee Coastal Reserve core. The upper 42.0 ft of sediments represent Quaternary deposits and are included in the Wando Formation (42.0-28.0 ft) and the informal Silver Bluff beds (28.0-0 ft).

Open-File Report↗
USGS1998

Upper Paleocene and lowermost Eocene angiosperm pollen biostratigraphy of the eastern Gulf Coast and Virginia

Strata comprising most of the upper Paleocene in eastern North America are divided into two new pollen zones, the Carya and Platycarya platycaryoides Interval Zones. Pollen data have proven to be important for correlations between Alabama-western Georgia and eastern Mississippi and between the eastern Gulf Coast and Virginia. Migration of tropical plant taxa from the Caribbean to the Gulf Coast began at least 4 m.y. before the end of the Paleocene. The Terminal Paleocene Extinction Event, accompanied by a distinct pulse of plant immigration from Europe, began several hundred thousand years before the end of the Paleocene.

Micropaleontology↗
USGS1997

An 800,000-year pollen record from Owens Lake, California: Preliminary analyses

A long sequence of fossil palynomorph assemblages from a 323-m-long core taken at Owens Lake has enabled us to evaluate the gross vegetational trends for the Owens Valley region of California over the past ~800,000 years. Shifts in vegetation composition and abundance in the study area during the Pleistocene were indicated in core sediments by marked fluctuations in the pollen frequencies of pines, junipers, and, to a lesser extent, of big sagebrush, composites, and chenopods/amaranths. The modern vegetation distribution and modern pollen rain on the eastern flank of the Sierra Nevada indicate that maximal abundances of these taxa generally characterize higher elevation subalpine and montane coniferous forests, lower elevation coniferous woodland, steppe, and desert scrub environments. Pollen frequencies in the upper part of core OL-92 corroborate vegetational trends documented previously from late Wisconsin and Holocene Neotoma middens in the Great Basin. These trends and evidence from this study suggest that woodland taxa expanded their range down the slope of the eastern flank of the Sierra Nevada and were established in (and immediately adjacent to) Owens Valley during moderated climates of the late Wisconsin, apparently in response to decreases in temperature and increases in precipitation, but retreated upslope toward their present position starting as long ago as ca. 20 ka. More importantly, pollen evidence from core OL-92 documents that the southern Sierra Nevada has experienced nine major cool-to-warm vegetation shifts (in addition to the late Wisconsin-early Holocene warming) during the time interval spanning the middle Pleistocene to early Holocene (Brunhes Normal Polarity Chron). We believe that at least six consecutive cool-to-warm shifts (the most recent ones) represent transitions from full-glacial to full-interglacial conditions on the basis of the magnitude of vegetation change in this portion of the pollen record. These marked changes in the frequency curves of dominant palynomorph taxa enabled us to identify boundaries that define 19 (?20) pollen zones in OL-92. The excursions of the pollen frequency curves within and across zone boundaries approximate the nature, duration, and timing of the middle and late Pleistocene climatic trends documented by geochemical (δ 18 O) evidence from OL-92 and from Devils Hole (DH-11) in the Amargosa Desert of Nevada.

California↗
USGS1997

Paleontology and physical stratigraphy of the USGS-Pregnall No. 1 core (DOR-208), Dorchester County, South Carolina

Pregnall No. 1, a 346-ft-deep corehole in northern Dorchester County, South Carolina, recovered sediments of late Paleocene, middle and late Eocene, and late Oligocene age. The core bottomed in the Chicora Member of the Williamsburg Formation (Black Mingo Group) of late Paleocene age (calcareous nannofossil Zones NP 7/8 (?) and NP 9). The Chicora (346 to 258 ft depth) consists of two contrasting lithologic units, a lower siliciclastic section of terrigenous sand, silt, and clay, and an upper carbonate section of moldic pelecypod limestone. The Chicora is overlain unconformably by the middle Eocene Moultrie Member of the Santee Limestone (Orangeburg Group). The Moultrie (258.0 to 189.4 ft) consists primarily of bryozoan-pelecypod-peloid packstones and grainstones, which are assigned to calcareous nannofossil Zone NP 16. Unconformably above the Moultrie are the locally shelly, microfossiliferous limestones of the Cross Member of the Santee Limestone (Orangeburg Group), which are assigned to middle Eocene Zone NP 17 and upper Eocene Zone NP 18. The Cross Member (189.4 to 90.9 ft) is unconformably overlain by a very thin, basal section of the upper Eocene Harleyville Formation (Cooper Group). The thin Harleyville section consists of fossiliferous limestone, primarily pelecypod-foraminifer-peloid packstones (90.9 to 85.8 ft), and is assigned to Zone NP 18, although samples from thicker Harleyville sections in the region typically are assigned to upper Eocene Zone NP 19/20. The Harleyville is overlain unconformably by the upper Oligocene Ashley Formation (Cooper Group). The Ashley Formation (85.8 to 30.0 ft) consists of a relatively homogeneous section of calcareous, microfossiliferous, silty and sandy clays assigned to Zones NP 24 and NP 25 (?). Neogene and (or) Quaternary deposits present in the upper 30 ft of the Pregnall section are assigned provisionally to an unnamed unit (30 to 22 ft) and to the Waccamaw Formation(?)(22 to 0 ft).

South Carolina↗
USGS1995

Differing Eocene floral histories in southeastern North America and Western Europe: Influence of paleogeography

Pollen data show that in southeastern North America, the Eocene angiosperm flora attained its maximum relative diversity some 8 m.y. after the late early Eocene to earliest middle Eocene climatic maximum. Increasing diversity resulted in part from the flora's position on a large continent which allowed easy migration. In western Europe, the floral diversity began decreasing even before the climatic maximum. Paleogeography played large roles in this diversity decrease. In western Europe, terrestrial floras were on islands and peninsulas in the sea, so that the floras underwent increasing isolation and partial local extermination. Temperate plants generally did not migrate to western Europe, because of a lack of nearby uplands, lack of northern terrestrial source areas for these plants, and presence of the Turgai Straights barrier. The Eocene climate of western Europe cooled at least partly because of decreasing contact with the warm Tethys Seaway.

Historical Biology↗
USGS1994

Paleocene floral diversities and turnover events in eastern North America and their relation to diversity models

This paper uses angiosperm pollen taxon turnover (first and last appearance) and diversity events as metrics to describe the Paleocene floral history of the eastern Gulf Coast; data are from 64 samples and 67 angiosperm pollen taxa. Angiosperm pollen diversity was very low at the beginning of the Paleocene, rose slowly and then somewhat more rapidly to a maximum for the epoch in the middle of the late Paleoceneas a result of the maximum in rate of first appearances during the late early Paleocene and earliest late Paleocene. Diversity then dropped very rapidly at or near the end of the epoch as the rate of last appearances reached its maximum, resulting in the Terminal Paleocene Extinction Event. The latest Paleocene diversity decline coincided with an increase in mean annual temperature and probably in rainfall, representing the beginning of the climatic maximum for the Tertiary which characterized the early Eocene. The increase in diversity of early Paleocene floras in the eastern Gulf Coast resulted from exploitation of unfilled ecospace originating from (1) low regional diversity following the Terminal Cretaceous Extinction Event, and (2) creation of many new niches during the Paleocene, resulting, according to megafloral evidence, from a change to a new vegetation type (multistratal tropical rainforest) brought about by an increase in rainfall. The slow rate of recovery of earliest Paleocene angiosperm diversity in the eastern Gulf Coast may be explained in part by the diversity-dependence model of Carr and Kitchell (1980). However, additional factors may have contributed to the slow recovery: (1) the adverse terminal Cretaceous climates may have extended into the early Paleocene, (2) the initial Paleocene environment of the eastern Gulf Coast may have contained relatively few niches, (3) some earliest Paleocene angiosperms, particularly trees, may have had inherently poor capabilities for rapid evolution, and (4) there was a lack of significant immigration of new taxa to the region. In contrast, the earliest Eocene angiosperm flora recovered very rapidly from the Terminal Paleocene Extinction Event, and this high recovery rate resulted to a significant degree from immigration of new taxa from Europe; thus, the shape of the earliest Eocene diversity curve supports the immigration-dependence recovery model of Barry et al. (1991). ?? 1994.

Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology↗
USGS1989

Changes in floral diversities, floral turnover rates, and climates in Campanian and Maastrichtian time, North Slope of Alaska

One-hundred-and-ten angiosperm pollen taxa have been found in upper Campanian to Masstrichtian rocks of the Colville River region, North Slope of Alaska. These are the highest paleolatitude Campanian and Maastrichtian floras known from North America. Total angiosperm pollen diversity rose during the Campanian and declined toward the end of the Maastrichtian. However, anemophilous porate pollen of the Betulaceae-Myricaceae-Ulmaceae complex increased gradually in diversity during the late Campanian and Maastrichtian and into the Paleocene. Turnover of angiosperm taxa was active throughout most of late Campanian and Maastrichtian time; rapid turnover affected mainly the taxa of zoophilous herbs, representing an bundant but ecologically subordinate element of the vegetation. Last appearances of pollen taxa during the late Campanian and Maastrichtian probably represented mainly extinctions rather than emigrations; end- Cretaceous angiosperm extinctions in the North American Arctic began well before the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary event. The last appearances in the late Maastrichtian took place in bursts; they appear to represent stepwise rather than gradual events, which may indicate the existence of pulses of climatic change particularly in late Maastrichtian time. ?? 1989.

Alaska↗
USGS1982

Biostratigraphy and paleoecology of lower Paleozoic, upper Cretaceous, and lower Tertiary rocks in U.S. Geological Survey New Madrid test wells, Southeastern Missouri

The paleontology and biostratigraphy of Tertiary, Cretaceous, and Paleozoic rocks in the upper Mississippi embayment are incompletely known because marine fossils are only locally present in these rocks. This study concerns material from two U.S. Geological Survey test wells drilled in New Madrid County, southeastern Missouri, as part of earthquake hazard studies in the northern Mississippi Embayment. Test well1 sampled lower Tertiary strata to a depth of 146ft; these strata were found to be late Eocene in age on the basis of sporomorphs. Test well1-X, 29ft northwest of well1, provided cuttings and cores from lower Tertiary, Upper Cretaceous, and lower Paleozoic rocks to a total depth of 2,316 ft below the Kelly bushing (at an altitude of 288 ft). Lithologic evidence suggests that the base of the Jackson Formation may be at 270 ft, but sporomorphs indicate that the base of the Jacksonian Stage (upper Eocene) is possibly at a depth of about 350ft in test well1-X. Lithologic units of the Claibornian Stage (middle Eocene) here consist of the Cockfield(?) and Cook Mountain(?) Formations and Memphis Sand, in descending order. The Claibornian could not be subdivided using sporomorphs from cuttings, but sporomorphs show that the top of the Sabinian Stage (top of the lower Eocene) is at about 1,055 ft; lithologically, the top of the Wilcox Group (top of the Flour Island Formation) is at 1,048 ft. Sporomorphs suggest that the top of the lower Sabinian (top of the Paleocene) is within the Flour Island Formation at about 1,105 ft. The next major lithologic break, the top of the Fort Pillow Sand at 1,186 ft, does not coincide with any detectable biostratigraphic boundary. Lithologically, the interval from 1,339 to 1,377 ft may belong to the Old Breastworks Formation; dinoflagellates from cuttings indicate that this interval is likely to be late Midwayan in age and, therefore, correlative with the Naheola Formation of the eastern Gulf Coast. The Porters Creek Clay extends from a probable top at 1,377 ft to 1,691 ft, and the base of the underlying Clayton Formation (Tertiary-Cretaceous contact) is at 1, 703 ft. Calcareous nannofossils, dinoflagellates, foraminifers, mollusks, ostracodes, and sporomorphs from continuous cores of the Porters Creek Clay and Clayton Formation indicate that the upper half of the Porters Creek correlates with the upper part of the same formation or perhaps partly with slightly younger rocks in the eastern Gulf Coast, the lowermost Porters Creek appears to correlate with the upper part of the Clayton Formation of the eastern Gulf Coast and with the Kincaid Formation of Texas, and the thin Clayton of the test well probably correlates with only the lower part of the thicker Clayton of the eastern Gulf Coast. Sporomorphs from McNairy Sand (Upper Cretaceous) cores indicate Maestrichtian and perhaps latest Campanian Age. Lower Paleozoic dolostone from 2,023 ft to total depth at 2,316 ft is barren of identifiable fossils except for a probable fragment of the fish Anatolepis; the dolostone is probably Late Cambrian in age. The McNairy Sand of New Madrid well 1-X seems to have been deposited in nonmarine to nearshore marine environments; the Clayton Formation and lower part of the Porters Creek Clay were deposited under marine conditions during an early Paleocene marine transgression. A major regression followed that continued through the end of Porters Creek time and perhaps into Naheola (late Midwayan) time; the Sabinian, Claibornian, and Jacksonian strata in southeastern Missouri were deposited primarily or entirely in nonmarine environments.

Missouri↗