Correlation between Sequoia Type Pollen and Lower Oligocene Transgressive Deposits in the Eastern Gulf Coast

Abstract

Two taxodiaceous conifer pollen species form the dominant components among sporomorphs of the Lower Oligocene Vicksburg Group in the eastern Gulf Coast. The two species, Sequoiapollenites lapillipites and Sequoiapollenites sp. 1, are very prominent (20-70%) in the Mint Spring Marl and Marianna Limestone at two localities in SE Mississippi and SW Alabama. These two lithostratigraphic units constitute the transgressive systems tract of the Tejas A Gulf Coast (TAGC)-4.4 sequence defined by Tew and Mancini (1992). Thus, the concentration of these two Sequoia type pollen species may be used as a marker for these transgressive deposits in the eastern Gulf Coast. This paper provides sporomorph information for all but one of the lithostratigraphic units of the Vicksburg Group, and infers paleoclimatic conditions from the sporomorph assemblage.