Masters Theses
Abstract
"Although Mississippian algae research is fairly extensive, little has been published on algae from the Mississippian type locality, the Upper Mississippi River Valley. For this study, portions of sixteen St. Louis Limestone stratigraphic sections containing units with oncolites, domal stromatolites, laminations, or mottled (possibly algal) textures, were measured, described, and sampled to determine: (1) to what extent algae are preserved in the St. Louis Limestone, (2) if enough of the delicate structure was fossilized to determine morphology, (3) depositional environment of the algae, and (4) if the algae are related to a lithologic pattern. Thin sections of the sampled units were described and studied for calcareous algae types and environments of deposition of both units and algae.
The author found fragments of calcareous algae belonging to four genera, Koninckopora, Ortonella, Girvanella, and Pseudohedstroemia, as well as several unidentifiable types. Green algae fragments were more abundant in beds of intertidal and subtidal origin than in beds of supra- tidal origin. Beds with blue-green algae fragments were of high energy, intertidal to upper subtidal origin, while cryptalgal beds in which the presence of blue-green algae is inferred, were of supratidal to subtidal origin. The algal and oncolitic beds were not deposited in a particular lithologic sequence, but they are related to environmental conditions at the time of deposition. Several algal and oncolitic beds were associated with dolomite, which suggests the beds provided a porous pathway for dolomitizing waters"--Abstract, pages iii-iv.
Advisor(s)
Spreng, Alfred C., 1923-2012
Committee Member(s)
Proctor, Paul Dean, 1918-1999
Koederitz, Leonard
Department(s)
Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering
Degree Name
M.S. in Geology
Publisher
University of Missouri--Rolla
Publication Date
Fall 1980
Pagination
xiii, 135 pages
Note about bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 102-108).
Geographic Coverage
St. Louis, Missouri
Time Period
Mississippian
Rights
© 1980 Sherris Ragsdale Myers, All rights reserved.
Document Type
Thesis - Open Access
File Type
text
Language
English
Thesis Number
T 4683
Print OCLC #
7190036
Recommended Citation
Myers, Sherris Ragsdale, "Fossil algae in the St. Louis limestone, near St. Louis, Missouri" (1980). Masters Theses. 3795.
https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/masters_theses/3795
