During May and June, 1964, the Shuler Museum of Paleontology of Southern Methodist University made a preliminary geological and paleontological survey of the Middle Sulphur River within the basin of the proposed Cooper Reservoir. The work was done under the sponsorship of the National Park Service (Southwest Region). The Quaternary deposits of the basin were mapped and tentatively correlated with similar ones previously studied in the valley of the North Fork of the Sulphur River. A molluscan fauna of Late Pleistocene age and bones from sub-Recent deposits were recovered and identified. Recommendations are made for two weeks of preliminary work on the Cretaceous and Paleocene bedrock of the basin during the summer of 1965; one month of professional collecting and study of these rocks during the summer of 1966; and two months of student observation of the dam excavation for possible Quaternary bone beds, also during the summer of 1966

Slaughter, Bob H.

English

Southern Methodist University

Geological Survey And Appraisal of the Paleontological Resources of the Cooper Reservoir Basin Delta and Hopkins Counties Texas BOB H. SLAUGHTER Fondren Science Series: 6 SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY PRESS 1964 1Slaughter: Geological Survey and Appraisal of the Paleontological ResourcesPublished by SMU Scholar,FONDREN SCIENCE SERIES No. I. A New Elasmosaur from the Eagle Ford Shale of Texas Part I: Systematic Description, by S. P. Welles Part II: The Elasmosaur and Its Environment, by Ellis W. Shuler . . . No. 2. Hindeastraea discoidea White from the Eagle Ford Shale, Dallas County, Texas, by Bob F. Perkins . . . . No. 3. An Annotated Bibliography of North American Upper Cretaceous Corals, 1785-1950, by Bob F. Perkins . No. 4. The Woodbine and Adjacent Strata of the Waco Area of Central Texas: A Symposium, edited by Frank E. Lozo . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 5. The Washita Group in the Valley of the Trinity River, Texas: A Field Guide, by Bob F. Perkins and $1.50 ... $1.50 $1.00 . $2.50 Paper, $6.25 Cloth, $7.50 Claude C. Albritton, Jr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $3.00 No. 6. Geological Survey and Appraisal of the Paleontological Resources of the Cooper Reservoir Basin, Delta and Hopkins Counties, Texas, by Bob H. Slaughter . No. 7. Geological and Paleontological Survey of the Forney Reservoir Basin, Kaufman and Rockwall Counties, Texas, . $1.00 by Bob H. Slaughter and John ·T. Thurmond . . . . . . $1.00 No. 8. Geological and. Paleontological Survey of the Bardwell Reservoir Basin, Ellis County, Texas, by Bob H. Slaughter and John T. Thurmond . . No. 9. Paleontological Importance of the Cooper Reservoir Basin, Texas: Cretaceous and Tertiary, by J. D. Powell . . No. 10. Preliminary Report on the Paleontology of the Livingston Reservoir Basin, Texas, by Bob H. Slaughter . . SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY PRESS DALLAS . . $1.00 . . . $1.00 . . $1.00 2Fondren Science Series, Vol. 1, No. 6 [], Art. 1https://scholar.smu.edu/fondrenscienceseries/vol1/iss6/1GEOLOGICAL SUR VEY AND APPRAISAL OF THE PALEONTOLOGICAL RESOURCES OF THE COOPER RESERVOIR BASIN, DELTA AND HOPKINS COUNTIES, TEXAS BOB H. SLAUGHTER* INTRODUCTION DURING May and June, 1964, the Shuler Museum of Paleontology of Southern Methodist University made a preliminary geological and paleontological survey of the Middle Sulphur River within the basin of the proposed Cooper Reservoir. The work was done under the sponsorship of the National Park Service ( Southwest Region). The Quaternary deposits of the basin were mapped and tenta-tively correlated with simila"r ones previously studied in the valley of the North Fork of the Sulphur River. A 1nolluscan fauna of Late Pleistocene age and bones from sub-Recent deposits were re-covered and identified. Recommendations are 1nade for two weeks of preliminary work on the Cretaceous and Paleocene bedrock of the basin during the summer of 1965; one month of professional collecting and study of these rocks during the summer of 1966; and two months of student observation of the dam excavation for possible Quaternary bone beds, also during the summer of 1966. NIETHODS Bedrock slopes and probable terrace flats were mapped with the use of topographic maps prepared by the Corps of Engineers ( New Orleans Office). The lithologic sequences of each terrace and the floodplain were recorded from observations at exposures and from core samples taken with a hand soil auger. Feeder creeks crossing these terraces and the floodplain were examined, and a few erosional exposures located with the aid of air photographs were visited. 0 Shuler Museum of Paleontology, Southern Methodist University. 3 3Slaughter: Geological Survey and Appraisal of the Paleontological ResourcesPublished by SMU Scholar,4 FONDREN SCIENCE SERIES BEDROCK DEPOSITS The area of the Cooper Reservoir is underlain by rock units listed below. Group Midway Navarro Formation vVills Point Kincaid Kemp Corsicana ( ? ) Nacatoch Neylandville Age Tertiary Cretaceous The formations crop out in ENE belts from which they dip to the SSE at 50 to 100 feet per mile. The outcrop belts cross the area somewhat diagonally so that the upper Neylandville, the lower Wills Point, and all of the intervening formations occur within the reservoir boundaries. The outcrop pattern is complicated by faults of the Mexia-Talco System, which passes through the reservoir basin. The Corsicana is shown with question because it may not be developed and recognizable in the area. The units are poorly known by modern standards, particularly in the Cooper area. Only one, the N acatoch sandstone, has a type section. Any extensive, clean exposure-such as that of the dam ex-cavation-should reveal a definitive section for these units. The Navarro Group contains a richly concentrated inverte-brate fauna, which was monographed by Stephenson ( 1941). Five of his localities will be covered by the lake water or endangered through associated activities of lake construction. Both the Navarro and Midway are known to contain glauco-nitic and phosphatic lentils from which vertebrate remains may be expected. STRATIGRAPHY AND PALEONTOLOGY OF THE TERRACES SECOND TERRACE ABOVE THE PRESENT FLOODPLAIN ( T-2) The T-2 terrace stands some 40 feet above the present flood-plain and is well developed at all points except the southeastern slope of the basin. The alluvium averages about 20 feet in thick-4Fondren Science Series, Vol. 1, No. 6 [], Art. 1https://scholar.smu.edu/fondrenscienceseries/vol1/iss6/1SURVEY OF THE COOPER RESERVOIR BASIN 5 ness. The sediments range from pebble gravel (Wentworth Scale) at the base through whitish sandy clay to dark waxy clay and loam at the surface. Although several fair exposures were ob-served, no fossils were found. Topographic maps seem to indicate that this terrace may be equivalent to the Prairie Terrace of the Red River ,which was considered by Doering ( 1963) as represent-ing the last major interglacial or interstadial, circa 45,000-25,000 B.P. Terraces presumably of similar age on the Trinity and Sabine rivers have proven to be very fossiliferous. Much of the material to be used in the dam construction will be taken from this terrace where it is preserved just north of Doctor's Creek. The alluvium of the T-2 terrace is easily recognized where bedrock is the Ney-landville Formation of Upper Cretaceous age, but along the north-ern rim of the basin it is difficult to distinguish from the underly-ing N acatoch. FIRST TERRACE ABOVE THE PRESENT. FLOODPLAIN ( T-1 ) The T-1 terrace stands some 20 feet above the present flood-plain and is well developed between John's Creek and Doctor's Creek. These sediments are sandier than those typical of the T-2 terrace and are capped by red clay and gray loam; otherwise the two terraces are quite similar in appearance. The greatest difficulty in distinguishing the T-1 from the T-2 is in areas where the T-2 has been eroded to gentle slopes. The red clay and gray loam also cap these eroded slopes of the T-2. Even so, the T-2 deposits are usually better indurated and thus can be identified upon close examination without consideration of differential elevation. No identifiable bones were recovered. The T-1, like the T-2, will be excavated to some extent in the vicinity of Doctor's Creek during construction. Archaic points were recovered from the upper portion of the T-1 at several places, indicating an age of approximately 2,000 to 6,000 B.P. for the sediments. Points were found on the west side of the road just north of the river on Harper's Crossing and in typical T-1 deposits that apparently lap upon the eroded slope of T-2 deposits exposed in road cuts of Highway 1531, .9 miles north of Highway 71. All Archaic sites noted seemed to occur at the top of the red sandy clay. 5Slaughter: Geological Survey and Appraisal of the Paleontological ResourcesPublished by SMU Scholar,/ ,., (>, ;~"./ / ,,,.- .,,./~.,..,......,.,-/ foO , j ~-- , /. ' ' ~c YOWELL 904 ---4-IS32-------,------------64 NAVARRO 1528 _) ' ) \ ../ NAV RRO M RLBROOK / N AV RR 71 6Fondren Science Series, Vol. 1, No. 6 [], Art. 1https://scholar.smu.edu/fondrenscienceseries/vol1/iss6/1PEERLESS ~--n-----__,JL---------LEGENO-FLOOD PLAIN 500C SCALE OF FEET \ 154 QUATERNARY DEPOSITS OF THE COOPER RESERVOIR BASIN DELTA a HOPKINS COUNTIES, TEXAS PREPARE O BY_ SHULER MUSEUM OF PALEONTOLOGY SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY ' 7Slaughter: Geological Survey and Appraisal of the Paleontological ResourcesPublished by SMU Scholar,8 FONDREN SCIENCE SERIES PRESENT FLOODPLAIN AND PLEISTOCENE SEDIMENTS BURIED BENEATH IT The sediments of the present floodplain are, for the most part, dark waxy gumbo and sandy loam. Archeological materials re-ported by the University of Texas Archeological Survey, as well as those reported by Gilmore and Hoffrichter ( 1964), are all pot-tery and appear to date the deposit at less than 2,000 years in age. The bones recovered at the Ray Site by Gilmore and Hoffrichter all represent species still living in the area, with the one exception of Bison bison. More bone is available here but does not seem worthy of salvaging. A Pleistocene valley fill is buried six feet below the top of the Recent floodplain. The current gradient is believed to be less than the Pleistocene floodplain, as this deposit is still buried downstream and is exposed only at the west end of the basin. Even here, only the upper ten feet of the at least twenty-foot-thick fill is exposed. This formation is easily distinguished from the overlying Recent sediments, as they are yellow and gray mottled clay. A thin lens of concentrated tests of small mollusks was found in the Pleisto-cene deposit fifty yards upstream from the Highway 1531 bridge over the Middle Fork. A total of two hundred pounds of the matrix was collected and washed for the recovery of the mollusks and possible microvertebrate material. Only three vertebrate specimens were recovered-two isolated teeth of Microtus sp. and a fragment of an incisor of Geomys sp. The mollusks, on the other hand, are very interesting and contain several species currently limited to areas some distance to the north. In the list below, these are indicated by an asterisk ( ~ ) . The specimens were identified by Dr. E. P. Cheatum. :MOLLUSCAN FAUNAL LIST Pisidium nitidum J enyns Sphaerium striatinum (Lamarck) (t Amnicola integra (Say) (t Somatogyrus depressus (Tryon) (t Pomatiopsis lapidaria (Say) H elisoma anceps (Menke) H elisoma trivolvis (Say) (t Lymnaea exilis (Lea) 8Fondren Science Series, Vol. 1, No. 6 [], Art. 1ttps://scholar.smu.edu/fondrenscienceseries/vol1/iss6/1SURVEY OF THE COOPER RESERVOIR BASIN Lymnaea dalli Baker Physa anatina Lea ~Physa gyrina Lea Carychium exiguum (Say) Gastrocopta contracta (Say) Gastrocopta pellucida hordeacella ( Pilsbry) Pupoides albilabris ( Adams ) ~vertigo ovata Say Euconulus fulvus (Muller) H awaiia minsucula ( Binney) Retinella indentata Say Strobilops texasiana ( Pilsbry & Ferriss) 9 Cheatum and Allen ( 1963) reported all of these species from the Ben Franklin local fauna, which is situated in the Sulphur River Formation along the Sulphur River's North Fork ( Slaughter and Hoover, 1963). This, plus the identical structural situation and lithologic similarities, indicates that both the Pleistocene deposit on the Middle Sulphur River and that of the Sulphur River For-mation belong to the same period of valley filling, which took place between 12,000 and 9,000 B.P. Some archeological objects and quantities of faunal material ,vere recovered from the North Fork exposures, but exposures in the Cooper basin are not cur-rently extensive enough to warrant further work. If, however, damsite excavation offers new exposures, they should be thorough-ly checked for both paleontological and archeological materials. At several points on the Middle Sulphur River between High-way 1531 and Highway 24, fills of channels cut into the Pleis-tocene formation are transected. These contain well-preserved wood and fragmentary bones and teeth of the living species of deer and bison. It is believed that these channels began to fill about 2,000 B.P.-the same time as similar events took place in the valley of the North Fork. It is highly probable that these fills are the source of artifacts recovered from bars and float in the stream bed, though none have been found in situ. A large fauna of 2,000-year vintage would be interesting, but no concentrations worthy of quarrying were found. FEEDER CREEK DEPOSITS The banks of most of the smaller feeder creeks are masked with 9Slaughter: Geological Survey and Appraisal of the Paleontological ResourcesPublished by SMU Scholar,10 FONDREN SCIENCE SERIES very recent colluviun1, and nothing but bones of domestic animals were found. The one exception is the valley of Moore Creek near the south end of the proposed damsite. In this valley excessive downcutting has exposed a valley fill that may or may not be re-lated to the creek itself. The deposit is thirty feet thick, with twenty-five feet presently exposed. It is made up of yellow clay with occasional tiny pebble lenses and overlain with five feet of dark sandy soil. A large bison metatarsal was recovered from this deposit 200 yards downstream fron1 the Harper's Crossing Road. It was approximately twenty feet below the surface and partially mineralized. It is very large for the living Bison bison but may be within the size range of that species. It is also well within the size range for the smaller extinct species, B. antiquus and B. occi-dentalis. How these sediments fit into the sequence of the main valley is unknown, except that the deposit cannot be the same age as the T-2 terrace. Although no specific proposal is n1ade to work this deposit further, it should be checked periodically for the possibility of recovering something that will clarify its chronologic position. CONCLUSION Damsite excavation will offer an almost unique opportunity to collect from several Paleocene and Cretaceous formations in an area where little is known of their fauna. Because of their gen-erally extensive soil and alluvial cover, only one of the rock units of the Cooper area, the N acatoch sandstone, has a type section. The damsite excavation may be expected to expose clean and com-plete sections of two or more of these bedrock units. Careful de-scription of these will provide detailed and definitive sections that will serve as types for these units. Section description should be accompanied by sample collec-tions for future micropaleontological and sedimentological studies, which are extremely valuable in a situation such as this where samples are precisely tied to type stratigraphy. Also, damsite excavation will surely reveal rich pockets of in-vertebrate macrofossils which should be collected to provide refer-ence material for distribution to universities and museums. Ste-phenson's Navarro localities in the Cooper area should be revisited 10Fondren Science Series, Vol. 1, No. 6 [], Art. 1https://scholar.smu.edu/fondrenscienceseries/vol1/iss6/1SURVEY OF THE COOPER RESERVOIB BASIN 11 and collected for the same reason. It may prove desirable to bull-doze these localities to increase the yield. Glauconitic-phosphatic beds are often unusually rich 1n verte-brate remains. Although frequently fragmentary, such remains provide a good idea of the fauna and environment. There are sev-eral horizons in the Cooper area at which glauconitic beds should occur. Rich localities should be sought by further prospecting of the valley sides prior to excavation and by surveillance of the dam-site during excavation. LITERATURE CITED CHEATUM, E. P., and ALLEN, n.c., 1963, An ecological comparison of the Ben Franklin and Clear Creek local n1olluscan faunas: Jour. Grad. Research Center ( S.M.U. ), v. 31, no. 3, p. 174-179. DOERING, J .A., 1963, Correlation of the Sulphur River Formation: ibid., p. 149-151. SLAUGHTER, BOB H., and HOOVER, B. REED, 1963, Sulphur River For-mation and the Pleistocene mammals of the Ben Franklin local fauna: ibid., p. 132-148. STEPHENSON, L.w., 1941, The larger invertebrate fossils of the Na-varro Group of Texas: Univ. of Texas Pub. 4101. 11Slaughter: Geological Survey and Appraisal of the Paleontological ResourcesPublished by SMU Scholar,

Geological Survey and Appraisal of the Paleontological Resources of the Cooper Reservoir Basin, Delta and Hopkins Counties, Texas

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Geological Survey and Appraisal of the Paleontological Resources of the Cooper Reservoir Basin, Delta and Hopkins Counties, Texas

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