No description available.

No description available.

Well-cuttings data and wireline logs in conjunction with limited core and outcrop data are used to generate a regional, three dimensional high resolution sequence framework for Upper Mississippian (Chesterian), Big Lime carbonates, West Virginia, U.S.A.. The analysis was done using the washed coarse fraction (1-2 mm) of cuttings for each sample interval, which were separated into Dunham rock types, counted to determine relative abundance and the data presented as percent lithology plotted against depth for each well. Digitized wireline logs and the cuttings-percent logs were slipped to take into account drilling lag and lithologic columns produced from the combined data. Sequence stratigraphic cross sections through the basin and into the outcrop belt, with a resolution of 10 feet were then produced. Sequence stratigraphic time slices were generated as isopachs maps of the sequences, and of lowstand-transgressive, and highstand tracts with major facies shown. This data was then used to document the stratigraphic response of the foreland basin to tectonics and, with isotope data from the slope section, evaluates evidence for glacio-eustasy during the transition into ice-house times. The major mappable sequences are fourth-order sequences, a few meters to over 90 meters (300 feet) thick. They consist of updip red beds and eolianites, lagoonal muddy carbonates, ooid grainstone and skeletal grainstone-packstone shoal complexes, deeper ramp and slope wackestone-mudstone, and laminated argillaceous lime mudstone. Maximum flooding surfaces on the ramp slope occur at the base of deeper water facies that overlie lowstand- to transgressive siliciclastic or carbonate complexes, whereas on the ramp, maximum flooding surfaces cap near-shore shale or lime mudstone beneath widespread grainstones. The highstand systems tracts contain significant grainstone units, interlayered with extensive lagoonal lime mudstones. In spite of differential subsidence rates across the foreland, fourth-order eustatic sea level changes documented by isotopic signals in basinal facies, controlled regional sequence development. Thrust-load induced differential subsidence of fault-blocks of the foreland basement controlled the rapid basinward thickening of the depositional wedge while subtle structures such as arches at high angles as well as parallel to the margin, affected thicknesses and facies development. / Ph. D.

The Mississippian Newman Limestone (0-30 m thick) in eastern Kentucky contains pink-staining, aquifer-related cements (up to 750 ppm Mn+2); up to 1000 ppm Fe+2; δ¹⁸ -7.5 to -6.8 per mil; δ¹³C 1.7 to -6.8) that is non-luminescent (low Fe and Mn) in the recharge area, but becomes uniformly dully luminescent downdip. This aquifer developed toward the end of Newman limestone deposition during two major regressions (Late Mississippian and Mississippian-Pennsylvanian time). Shallow burial cementation was less common to the south-east into the Appalachian Basin, where the Mississippian limestone is up to 1000 m thick. Here, phreatic meteoric diagenesis in more distal parts of the aquifer caused high-Mg calcite and aragonite grains to be leached, while isotopically light, fine dolomite (δ¹⁸O -1.7 to -6.7 per mil; δ¹³C 2.7 to -5.3 per mil) replaced muddy carbonates in a paleomixing zone. As the aquifer evolved, low-iron, dully luminescent calcite was precipitated from reducing pore waters. With increasing burial, compaction caused spalling of ooid cortices; iron rich saddle dolomite (δ¹⁸O -5.5 to -11.2 per mil; δ¹³C 0.9 to 1.4 per mil), and moderately ferroan (purple-staining) calcite cement (0-1200 ppm Mn2+; 1000-3000 ppm Fe2+; δ¹⁸O -4.6 to -10.6 per mil; δ¹³C 2.7 to -6 per mil) precipitated in pores and fractures from waters that were increasingly dominated by warm, basinal, oil-bearing fluids expelled from dewatering Paleozoic shales. These coarse dolomites overgrew early fine dolomite of reservoirs, while the purple staining calcite filled intercrystal porosity outside of the reservoirs. At or near deepest burial, Fe-rich (blue-staining) calcite (up to 1200 ppm Mn2+; 3000-7000 ppm Fe2+; δ¹⁸O -3. 8 to -7. 8 per mil; δ¹³C 1. 8 to -1. 5 per mil) precipitated in much of the remaining void space in the limestones. During uplift of the sequence late calcite cements with decreasing Fe contents were precipitated from increasingly oxidizing fluids that penetrated the section through fractures and remaining pore spaces. / M.S.

Thesis (M.A.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas State University Libraries

The Pile Mound survey includes magnetometry paired with targeted ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and electromagnetic induction (EMI) surveys of the mound and testing of associated features over the ca. 6.5 ha site. The GPR survey discovered six rock features (five large rock features within the mound and one marking the outside of the mound). Knowledge of mounds in the Upper Cumberland Plateau (UCP) is lacking—the closest other studied sites are at the Corbin Site, Croley-Evans, Bell Site, and Beasley Mounds, approximately 75 – 100 km away. However, the most similar mound construction is found at Corbin and Cherokee sites, some 175 – 275 km away. In addition, the associated ceramic assemblage appears to reflect more similarity to the East Tennessee Valley rather than the Middle Cumberland region. These data provide a unique opportunity to better understand the Mississippian occupation in the UCP of Tennessee.

This project reexamines field notes and artifacts from a Works Progress Administration excavation of the Picnic Mound (8Hi3), a Safety Harbor-period burial mound located in Hillsborough County, Florida. The goals are to reconstruct burial practices digitally using a Geographic Information Systems approach to test Ripley Bullen's model of Woodland and Safety Harbor burial practices, and demonstrate ways that modern technologies can be used to provide new information from past investigations. This thesis also presents new information from a pXRF study about prehistoric ceramic manufacturing in the Tampa Bay area, and discusses additional archaeological resources associated with the Picnic Mound. This thesis also illustrates new ways that archaeological materials can be analyzed and exhibited using three-dimensional laser scanning. Results from the GIS modeling show that burial practices were varied, and cannot be used to assign temporal placement to burial mounds within the Safety Harbor period, as proposed by Bullen. This research illustrates the value of returning to extant archaeological collections and field notes to test models of past human lifeways in a manner that is non-destructive. Information derived from the technologies used for my research can be shared digitally among researchers and can be used to develop materials for public education and furthers additional research efforts.

Well-preserved echinoderm faunas are rare in the fossil record, and when uncovered, understanding their occurrence can be useful in interpreting other faunas. In this study, two such faunas of the same age from separate localities in the shallow-marine Ramey Creek Member of the Slade Formation in the Upper Mississippian (Chesterian) rocks of eastern Kentucky are examined. Of the more than 5,000 fossil specimens from both localities, only 9–34 percent were echinoderms from 3–5 classes. Nine non-echinoderm (8 invertebrate and one vertebrate) classes occurred at both localities, but of these, bryozoans, brachiopods and sponges dominated. To understand the attributes of both localities (Valley Stone and 213 quarries), the geologic and structural settings, lithofacies and depositional environments, as well as faunal makeup and abundances (diversity, evenness, density), were compared and contrasted. Faunas from the Valley Stone Quarry were located on an uplifted fault block in more shallow, open-marine waters with higher energies. As indicated by four distinct lithofacies, the depositional setting was more extensive and varied with interspersed shoals and basins that could accommodate a greater richness (65 species), even though organism densities and abundance were less. In contrast, fauna from the 213 Quarry were located on a downdropped fault block in a more localized, deeper, storm-shelf setting, characterized by a single lithofacies. Although organism density and abundance were nearly twice as high as that at the Valley Stone Quarry, species richness was lower (45 species), and only one species, a bryozoan, predominated. Overall, echinoderm classes, species and individuals were more abundant at the Valley Stone Quarry, and I suggest that this is related to the shallower and more varied depositional environments that developed in response to presence on the shallow, uplifted fault block. This suggests the importance of regional features like faults in controlling environments and organism distribution through time. Although the faunas were originally collected for their echinoderm-dominated “crinoid gardens,” in fact, echinoderms were in the minority, and bryozoans and brachiopods predominated in the communities. Hence, the communities might better be described as bryozoan “thickets” and brachiopod “pavements.”

TVA/WPA excavations in East Tennessee in the 1930s uncovered archaeological sites critical for shaping theories about the prehistory of the region. Based on the archaeology of three of these sites, Hixon (AD 1155-1285), Dallas (AD 1350-1450), and Rymer (AD 1400-1600) in the Chickamauga Basin, early researchers concluded that each settlement resulted from migrations of biologically unrelated people into the area (Lewis and Lewis, 1941, 1946). Testing of this supposition using biological distance analysis (Weston, 2005) suggested that the sites instead represented biological continuity in the Chickamauga Basin. In this study, cranial and postcranial non-metric traits are used to examine biological distance between the three Chickamauga Basin sites and an extra-regional site from the Watts Bar Basin, using Mahalanobis D2 with a tetrachoric correlation matrix. Results of this four-group study differed dramatically from the expected structure of biological relationships between the sites, suggesting that the Hixon population was completely unrelated biologically to the populations in both the Chickamauga and Watts Bar Basins. In fact, these results combined with ceramic decorative styles present at the Hixon site suggest the population may have immigrated from Etowah in Bartow County, Georgia, with a continued shared cultural identity with Etowah providing sufficient barrier to mate exchange with the other East Tennessee sites examined here. Results of both cranial and postcranial non-metric biological distance analyses indicate the strongest genetic affiliations for all four sites to be between Dallas in the Chickamauga Basin and DeArmond in Watts Bar, despite great geographical separation of the settlements. In addition, an introduction to the skeletal biology of Watts Bar is presented via osteological examination of pathology and trauma of the DeArmond site. Smith (2003) recorded low levels of interpersonal and high levels of intrapersonal violence during the Dallas phase in the Chickamauga Basin. Results from DeArmond demonstrate similar rates and patterns, most likely reflecting a temporal trend in the region. The DeArmond skeletal remains exhibit low levels of metabolic stress but remarkably high levels of infectious disease. It appears that while all of the DeArmond individuals had access to high protein food resources regardless of status, status had little effect on preventing the spread of infection at the site.