26 Undergraduate Research – Sedimentology, Stratigraphy and Paleontology (Posters)
CARBON ISOTOPE CHEMOSTRATIGRAPHY OF ORDOVICIAN CARBONATES OF THE PLATTEVILLE, DECORAH, AND DUNLEITH FORMATIONS IN THE BIG SPRING #4 CORE, CLAYTON COUNTY, IOWA
Paper number: 26-22
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 1:00 PM – 4:30 PM
Authors
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Greg A. LudvigsonIowa Dept. Nat Rscs, Iowa City, IA
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Brian J. WitzkeGeol Survey Bureau, Iowa City, IA
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Scott J. CarpenterUniv of Iowa, N/A
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Luis A. GonzalezUniv of Iowa, N/A
Abstract
The Big Spring #4 drillcore in Clayton County, northeast Iowa, was sampled for carbon isotopic values of micritic carbonates as part of a regional study of the chemostratigraphy of Ordovician units in the Upper Mississippi Valley. Starting out from baseline values in the Platteville Formation of around -2 o/oo VPDB, the d13C rises to a peak of near 0 o/oo before falling to values of -2.5 to -3 o/oo in the uppermost few meters of the unit. Moving up into the Decorah Formation, values rise to around +0.5 o/oo in the Spechts Ferry Member. Then they dip to -0.5 o/oo before rising again to about +1 o/oo in the Guttenberg Member. In the Ion Member, the d13C stabilizes out to roughly -0.5 o/oo, which continues upward through our sampled interval of the Dunleith Formation.