Palynology of the Upper Cretaceous (Turonian) Ferron Sandstone Member, Utah, USA: identification of marine flooding surfaces and Milankovitch cycles in subtropical, ever-wet, paralic to non-marine palaeoenvironments

Abstract

The Upper Cretaceous Ferron Sandstone Member of the Mancos Shale Formation in Utah includes coal and gas deposits and is an important outcrop analogue to study reservoir characterisation of fluvial–deltaic petroleum systems. Numerous sedimentological and sequence stratigraphic studies of the Notom fluvial–deltaic wedge have been conducted recently; however, palynological analyses had not previously been undertaken. Here, we present palynological data from 128 samples collected in the Notom wedge of the Ferron Sandstone Member outcropping in south-central Utah. The purpose of this study is to use palynological analysis to refine the broader depositional environments, evaluate the climatic setting, and to build a biostratigraphic palynological framework. The dominance of terrestrial palynomorphs, especially the high yield of moisture-loving cryptogam spores, indicates a primarily ever-wet depositional environment characteristic of hydromorphic floodplain palaeosols formed in subtropical to tropical climates. Although dinoflagellates are rare, four intervals with occurrences of marine cysts indicate periods of increased marine/tidal influence associated with previously identified flooding surfaces within Milankovitch-scale parasequences of the largely non-marine stratal succession. These flooding surfaces confirm correlations from regional high-resolution sequence stratigraphic studies and allow correlative marine parasequences and systems tracts to be extended within floodplain-dominated stratal successions. The presence of Nyssapollenites albertensis pollen places the interval studied within the Nyssapollenites albertensis Interval Zone (Nichols 1994), constraining the age of the Ferron Sandstone Member to the latter part of the Cenomanian and the early Coniacian. This largely agrees with the bentonite- and ammonite-derived Turonian age proposed in previous studies.

Keywords:

• palynology
• Upper Cretaceous (Turonian)
• Ferron Notom
• Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway
• sequence stratigraphy

Acknowledgements

Thanks are extended to the Turkish Petroleum Corporation for providing a scholarship to Isil Akyuz and allowing her to conduct this Master of Science research project.

Disclosure statement

The work presented here is strictly academic in nature and was done as a training of a graduate student. The authors do not have any financial interest arising from this study.

Additional information

Funding

We are grateful to HESS Corporation for funding the StrataBugs© licence to Louisiana State University (LSU). We thank the University of Houston (UH)–McMaster Quantitative Sedimentology Laboratories who helped fund this work through support from Anadarko, BP, BHP-Billiton, Chevron, Ecopetrol, ExxonMobil, Inpex, Pioneer and Shell.

Notes on contributors

Isil Akyuz

ISIL AKYUZ is from Ankara, Turkey and obtained her BSc in Geological Engineering from Ankara University in 2009. She was awarded a full scholarship by the Turkish Petroleum Corporation to pursue an MSc in Palynology at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, USA. Isil completed her MSc in December 2014 and joined the Turkish Petroleum Corporation Research Centre where she is employed as a palynologist and biostratigrapher.

Sophie Warny

SOPHIE WARNY is an Associate Professor of Palynology in the Department of Geology and Geophysics, and a curator at the Museum of Natural Science, at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA. She has a long history with AASP as she won the AASP Student Award in 1996. Sophie received her PhD from the Université Catholique de Louvain, in Belgium working with Dr. Jean-Pierre Suc; her dissertation focused on the Messinian Salinity Crisis. Since graduating, she has worked on Antarctic sediments and received a National Science Foundation Career award to support her palynological research in Antarctica. In addition to her research, she teaches Historical Geology, Palaeobotany, and Micropalaeontology. Sophie runs a research group that presently comprises three PhD students, three MSc students and one undergraduate student, all of whom are working on successions ranging in age from Cretaceous to Cenozoic. Since being hired at LSU, Sophie has graduated nine students, all are now employed in the oil and gas industry with Hess, BP, Devon, Chevron, BHP Billiton Petroleum, and EOG.

Oyebode Famubode

OYEBODE FAMUBODE is a geologist with ConocoPhillips in Houston, Texas, USA. He received his PhD from the University of Houston working with Dr Janok Bhattacharya. His dissertation focused on palaeosol cyclicity within fluvial strata of the Cretaceous Ferron-Notom Delta in south central Utah, USA. Prior to working at the University of Houston, Oyebode received his MSc from the University of Tulsa and his BSc in Geology from the University of Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria. Oyebode's research interests are in sedimentology and stratigraphy.

Janok P. Bhattacharya

JANOK P. BHATTACHARYA is the Susan Cunningham Research Chair in Geology in the School of Geography and Earth Sciences at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. His main research interests are in the areas of fluvio-deltaic sedimentology and sequence stratigraphy. He received his BSc in 1981 from Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada. He worked at ESSO Resources Calgary, before completing his PhD in 1989 from McMaster University. Following a post-doc at the Alberta Geological Survey, Janok worked for ARCO Exploration and Production Research in Plano, Texas, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Texas at Dallas and the University of Houston. He is an American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) Grover Murray Distinguished Educator, Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies (GCAGS) Outstanding Educator, AAPG Distinguished Lecturer, and AAPG SW Section Distinguished Educator. He has been awarded the 2004 AAPG Certificate of Merit, the 2004 Dallas Geological Society Professional Service Award, the 2004 Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists (CSPG) Best Oral Presentation award, the 2002 Frank Kottlowski Memorial Presentation Award, the 2002 Houston Geological Society Best Oral Paper Award and the 2001 AAPG “Al” Cox Award for best poster. Janok has served as the Society of Sedimentary Geology (SEPM) Sedimentology Councilor (2011–2013), Gulf Coast Section of SEPM (GCSSEPM) President (2008), and has served on various AAPG committees including the 2011 AAPG/SEPM Theme Chair, 2008 SEPM Convention Vice Chair, 2004 Technical program chair, and 1999 SEPM Field Trip Chair. He is an associate editor for the Journal of Sedimentary Research and AAPG Bulletin. Janok is now serving as President-Elect of SEPM, and will be president in 2015-2016. He has authored or co-authored over 125 abstracts and over 65 technical papers. He has supervised 11 doctoral and 35 MSc students to degree completion.