Comparative Planktonic Foraminiferal Aminostratigraphy of the Colombia Basin and the Northeast Gulf of Mexico

FLETCHER, RUTH R., J. F. WEHMILLER, R. E. MARTIN, and B. J. JOHNSON, University of Delaware, Newark, DE

The increase in the proportion of D-amino acids in fossil shells with increasing age can be used as a relative dating method as far back as the mid-Miocene. Planktonic foraminiferal biostratigraphy and mixed foraminiferal aminostratigaphy were determined for DSDP Site 502B (late Pliocene-Pleistocene) and 502A (late Miocene-Pliocene) in the Colombia basin. The aminostratigraphic analysis was conducted every 2.5-5.0 m in the Pleistocene and every 5-10 m in the Pliocene. Previously established planktonic foraminiferal datums and subzonal boundaries were used to establish the geochronology of DSDP Site 502B and 502A. Sediment accumulation rates were then calculated and used to estimate the absolute age at a particular depth in each core. Aminostratigraphic analysis indicates a logarithmic increase in D-alloisoleucine/L-isoleucine (A/I) ratios with increasing age, where equilibrium is not reached until ca. 5 Ma. Using the logarithmic curve that best fits the A/I data, one can estimate the numerical age of a bulk sample given the A/I ratio. The mixed species assemblage A/I ratios from ODP Site 625B (Gulf of Mexico) and 502B are comparable from the late Pliocene-Pleistocene, which suggests that aminostratigraphic analysis of a mixed foraminiferal assemblage offers a very useful and unique opportunity to estimate ages in other Pliocene-Pleistocene sections in regions where independent geochronologic control may be lacking.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91004 © 1991 AAPG Annual Convention Dallas, Texas, April 7-10, 1991 (2009)