Rice's Pit: Zanclean, Virginia

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Globigerinidae
Globigerina apertura Cushman 1918
Gibson 1983
recombined as Globoturborotalita apertura
Sphaeroidinellopsis subdehiscens
Gibson 1983
subspecies subdehiscens
Hedbergellidae
"Turborotalia" acostaensis
Gibson 1983
original and current combination Globorotalia (Turborotalia)
subspecies humerosa
Mammalia - Carnivora - Phocidae
Pliophoca etrusca Tavani 1941
Koretsky and Ray 2008
    = Monachinae indet. Trouessart 1897
Berta et al. 2015
Mammalia - Cetacea - Monodontidae
Bohaskia monodontoides n. gen., n. sp. Velez-Juarbe and Pyenson 2012
Velez-Juarbe and Pyenson 2012 1 specimen
Mammalia - Cetacea - Balaenidae
Balaena ricei n. sp. Westgate and Whitmore 2002
1 specimen
Reptilia - Testudines - Emydidae
Graptemys sp. Agassiz 1857
Weems 2023 1 specimen
Proximal portion of third left costal (CMM-V-8755), found by Donald J. Morgan III
Lingulata - Lingulida - Lingulidae
Glottidia inexpectans Olsson 1914
Cooper 1988
(10 measurements)
see common names

Geography
Country:United States State/province:Virginia County:Hampton
Coordinates: 37.0° North, 76.4° West (view map)
Paleocoordinates:37.1° North, 75.5° West
Basis of coordinate:estimated from map
Time
Period:Neogene Epoch:Pliocene
Stage:Zanclean 10 m.y. bin:Cenozoic 6
Key time interval:Zanclean
Age range of interval:5.33300 - 3.60000 m.y. ago
Age estimate:4.9 to 4.4 Ma (unknown)
Stratigraphy
Geological group:Chesapeake Formation:Yorktown Member:Morgarts Beach
Stratigraphic resolution:member
Stratigraphy comments: Turritella alticostata Zone (Zone 2) of Mansfield (1944), Orionina vaughani zone of Hazel (1971) molluscan M-5 Zone of Blackwelder (1981) and planktonic Zone N19 of Blow (1969).

The layer of the Yorktown Formation that yielded the specimen reportedly falls into planktonic foraminiferal zone N19 [51] and the Orionina vaughani ostracod assemblage zone [52, 53]. Whereas zone N19 correlates with the latest Messinian–early Zanclean [54], the Orionina vaughani zone is seemingly restricted to the Zanclean (starting at 5.3 Ma), and correlates with the uppermost part of nannofossil zone NN12 and zones NN13–15 on the one hand, and foraminiferal zones N19–20 [53: fig. 4] on the other. K-Ar dating of a sample typical of the Orionina vaughani zone indicates an age of 4.4 ± 0.2 Ma [53], roughly coincident with the top of zone N19 [54]. Strontium dating suggests an age of 4.9 Ma for the base of the Yorktown 4.9 Ma [55]. Taken together, these observations indicate an age bracket of 4.9–4.4 Ma for B. ricei. Note that, while the exact position of the horizon that
12
yielded B. ricei within the Yorktown Formation is unknown, Westgate and Whitmore speculated that the specimen was recovered from the Morgarts Beach Member [50]. The latter has been strontium dated to 3.0–2.8 Ma [55], thus seemingly precluding its correlation with zone N19 – although the top of N19 still falls within the range of uncertainty of the Sr dates. The type specimen might therefore have been derived from the somewhat older Rushmere Member of the Yorktown Formation, which has been strontium dated to 4.9–4.6 Ma [55] and is also exposed in Rice‟s pit. (Marx and Fordyce, 2015)
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology:fine argillaceous,sandy siltstone
Includes fossils?Y
Lithology description: sparsely fossiliferous, quartzose, clayey, fine sandy silt with less than 20% carbonate
Environment:shallow subtidal indet.
Geology comments: brackish, shallow, warm to temperate, nearshore
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:body,original phosphate
Size of fossils:macrofossils
Collection methods and comments
Collection methods:surface (in situ),field collection
Reason for describing collection:taxonomic analysis
Museum repositories:USNM
Metadata
Database number:58986
Authorizer:M. Uhen, E. Vlachos, M. Clapham Enterer:M. Uhen, E. Vlachos, M. Manojlovic
Modifier:G. Varnham Research group:vertebrate
Created:2006-03-03 10:28:17 Last modified:2022-05-12 04:49:10
Access level:database members Released:2006-06-03 10:28:17
Creative Commons license:CC BY
Reference information

Primary reference:
16735. J. W. Westgate and F. C. Whitmore. 2002. Balaena ricei, a new species of bowhead whale from the Yorktown Formation (Pliocene) of Hampton, Virginia. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology 93:295-312 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen]

Secondary references:

54184 A. Berta, S. Kienle, G. Bianucci and S. Sorbi. 2015. A reevaluation of Pliophoca etrusca (Pinnipedia, Phocidae) from the Pliocene of Italy: phylogenetic and biogeographic implications. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology e889144 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen/M. Uhen]
49378 G. A. Cooper. 1988. Some Tertiary Brachiopods of the East Coast of the United States. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology (64)1-27 [M. Clapham/M. Manojlovic]
17886 T. G. Gibson. 1983. Key foraminifera from upper Oligocene to lower Pleistocene strata of the central Atlantic coastal plain. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology 53:355-453 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen]
26241 I. A. Koretsky and C. E. Ray. 2008. Phocidae of the Pliocene of eastern USA. Virginia Museum of Natural History Special Publication 14:81-140 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen]
55050 F. G. Marx and R. E. Fordyce. 2015. Baleen boom and bust: a synthesis of mysticete phylogeny, diversity and disparity. Royal Society Open Science 2:140434 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen]
40943 J. Velez-Juarbe and N. D. Pyenson. 2012. Bohaskia monodontoides, a new monodontid (Cetacea, Odontoceti, Delphinoidea) from the Pliocene of the western North Atlantic Ocean. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 32(2):476-484 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen]
85705 R. E. Weems. 2023. Miocene and Pliocene Chelonians from the Calvert Cliffs and Nearby Regions. In S. J. Godfrey (ed.), The Geology and Vertebrate Paleontology of Calvert Cliffs, Maryland, USA – Volume 2 Turtles and Toothed Whales 3-48 [E. Vlachos/E. Vlachos]