Biostratigraphic investigations of Late Paleozoic (Upper Devonian to Mississippian) Radiolaria within the Arbuckle Mountains and Ardmore Basin of south-central Oklahoma

In recent years, detailed Mesozoic and Cenozoic radiolarian zonations have demonstrated their usefulness in interpreting the stratigraphy, structure, and tectonic history of complex orogenic belts and tectonostratigraphic terranes. In order to develop a detailed radiolarian zonation for the early Late Paleozoic, Upper Devonian and Lower Carboniferous Radiolaria-bearing samples were collected from the Arbuckle Mountains and Criner Hills of Oklahoma. Using the event line method, biostratigraphically useful taxa were selected and described. Sampling from these areas included the Woodford, Sycamore and 'Caney' Formations as well as the basal portion of the Goddard Formation. Two new subfamilies, four new genera, and fifty three new species are described. Also, radiolarian biostratigraphic data from a third area, the Ouachita Mountains of Oklahoma (provided by Cheng, 1986), was re-examined and integrated with this study.; A preliminary system of radiolarian zonation (including ten zones) is proposed for the Upper Devonian (Famennian) and Lower Carboniferous (Mississippian) of the southern United States. This system of zonation has been correlated with biostratigraphic data supplied by conodonts and goniatites. The biostratigraphic data serves as a bridge, linking the proposed zonation to North American and European standard zones as well as the geochronometric time scale.; In addition, this study reports the following: (1) New radiolarian and conodont faunas recovered from the upper part of the Woodford Formation indicate a considerably higher chronostratigraphic position for the top of this unit than previously thought; (2) A single limestone bed displaying an incomplete Bouma (B,C, D, E?) sequence discovered within the Upper Limestone unit (sensu Fay, 1969) of the Sycamore Formation indicates that this formation is partially (if not entirely) turbiditic in origin; (3) Reworked conodont assemblages (containing Cavusgnathus charactus Rexroad, Taphrognathus-Cavusgnathus transitional forms, and Gnathodus texanus Roundy) reported from 4'0"-4'3" above the base of the Sycamore Limestone (USGS colln. 30815-PC; North flank Interstate 35 section, Arbuckle Anticline) indicate that at least 98% of this unit is "no older than middle Meramecian" (A. Harris, personal comm., 1989); (4) Radiolarian biostratigraphic data from the Ouachita John's Valley Shale indicate that this deep water sequence underwent partial (rather than complete) mixing of its sediments by hydrologic processes; and (5) Radiolarian assemblages obtained from the John's Valley shale represent displaced faunas (i.e., not in situ). The distribution of these assemblages do not reflect their chronostratigraphic position in the fossil record.