BRI Bulletin

51
Pliocene Surface Stratigraphy in the Fort Polk Region:
Implications for Louisiana Surface Geology
Paul V. Heinrich
1
and Richard P. McCulloh
1
Abstract
Recent completion of a project of nearly three-
year's duration to investigate and map the surface
geology of ten 7.5-minute quadrangles encompass-
ing the Fort Polk military reservation leads to the
conclusion that, in contrast to the prevalent conven-
tion of the last several decades, strata assignable with
fair confidence to the Pliocene are mappable in Loui-
siana. The investigation found that the subdivision
of the Fleming section into six alternating sand- and
clay-rich members of formation rank, following pre-
vious authors, continues to be the most effective clas-
sification of surface and shallow-subsurface Miocene
strata. In accordance with recent work done at the
Louisiana Geological Survey, however, the highest
elevation and stratigraphically lowest Citronelle-
equivalent units classify as members of the Willis
Formation of Texas, and are assigned to the Pliocene.
The next younger units incising the Willis classify as
members of the Lissie Formation of Texas and are
assigned to the middle Pleistocene. The results of the
investigation support the premise that previous fail-
ure to recognize Pliocene surface units in Louisiana,
in distinct contrast to surface geologic mapping in
adjacent states, was an artifact of the classification
of Quaternary surface units prevailing here. Recog-
nition of Pliocene strata at the surface could have
manifold implications, such as for amplifying the
interpretation of paleoclimates via correlation of
Neogene surface-stratigraphic units with published
coastal-onlap curves.
1
Louisiana Geological Survey, Louisiana State University,
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803
Introduction
The research presented in this paper is a sum-
mary of portions of a more comprehensive investi-
gation of the surface geology of the Fort Polk region
in northern Vernon Parish and southern Natchitoches
and Sabine parishes by McCulloh and Heinrich
(1999), in particular, the chapter Pliocene Series
(Heinrich and McCulloh, 1999), and funded by the
Joint Readiness Training Command at Fort Polk.
This research is built on earlier work by Welch
(1942), Rogers and Calandro (1965), Andersen
(1960, 1993), and most recently by Hinds (1998a,
b, c, and 1999). The study area, consisting of ten
7.5-minute quadrangles, is shown in Figure 1.
This research had a threefold objective. First, it
was to provide the U.S. Army with basic geologic
data essential to the successful conduct of its envi-
ronmental programs. Second, it was to enlarge upon
previous research by Hinds (1997, 1998a, b, c, and
1999) concerning the surficial geology of the Fort
Polk region. Finally, this work was to refine and con-
tinue previous geologic mapping by the Louisiana
Geological Survey within this area (Louisiana Geo-
logical Survey, 1993; Snead et al., 1998).
The study area was covered using a standard
four-wheel drive vehicle to inspect areas accessible
along roads. Selected intervening areas where expo-
sures appeared likely were accessed on foot. How-
ever, a widespread cover of surficial deposits and
thick vegetation conceals the stratigraphic units be-
ing mapped and makes exposures scarce. Outcrops
occurred as artificial exposures along roads and trails,
and natural exposures along the beds, cutbanks, and
valley walls of streams and rivers. Typically, expo-
sures were small and inconspicuous and found in
the ditches along roads. The better and sometimes
sizable exposures consisted of roadcuts and natural
bluffs. During fieldwork, notes were recorded on
copies of the topographic base maps and in field
books for each of the ten 7.5-minute quadrangles in
the study area.
52
BRI Bulletin
The field observations were used to delineate
stratigraphic boundaries on the basis of gross lithol-
ogy and internal features. Boundaries were modi-
fied on the basis of topography from 7.5-minute
quadrangles and distribution of soils as mapped in
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
parish soil surveys for Natchitoches, Sabine, and
Vernon parishes (Guillory, 1997; Martinet al., 1990;
and Muse and Cooley, in press). Finally, 1:2,000
black and white Edgar Tobin Aerial Surveys and
1:20,000 black and white Agricultural Stabilization
and Conservation Service aerial photographs were
consulted for preparation of the mapping.
Only a small number of researchers have stud-
ied the Pliocene and Pleistocene strata within the
study area. Welch (1942) conducted the first and
most extensive study of the project area at a time
after it had been clearcut of forest but lacked topo-
graphic maps. Using the terminology of Fisk (1938),
Welch (1942) classified the deposits of the Upland
Allogroup as the Williana Formation and the de-
posits of the Intermediate Allogroup (Lissie
Alloformation) as the Bentley Formation. Welch
(1942) considered both units to be of Pleistocene
age based upon these correlations. On the basis of
substantial field work, Andersen (1960) and Bianchi
Vernon
Figure ]-Location map and index to 7.5-minute quadrangles covered by the study area (from Fig. I, McCulloh and Heinrich,
1999:2; reprinted by permission).
BRI Bulletin
53
(1982) further refined Welch's (1942) original Pleis-
tocene framework of the area. Bianchi (1982) made
a significant contribution in the recognition of
stepped topography associated with Welch's
(1942:62) "Pleistocene" deposits.
Later, Rogers (1982 and 1993, personal commu-
nication) proposed for many years that surface
Pliocene strata potentially occurred in these depos-
its based on their lithological characteristics and el-
evation of the older and higher Pleistocene remnants.
Investigating Roger's (1982 and 1993, personal com-
munication) ideas, Hinds (1998a, b, c, and 1999)
mapped these deposits in detail, now considered to
be the Upland Allogroup within the areas of Slagle
and Fort Polk, Louisiana. Besides providing detailed
descriptions of these deposits, he identified outcrops
possibly of Pliocene age within the Upland Allogroup.
Snead et al. (1998) used the mapping of Hinds
(1998b, c) and preliminary results from this investi-
gation in their preparation of the Quaternary Geo-
logic Map of Louisiana (Snead et al., 1998), as part
of a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Geological
Survey under its State Geologic Mapping Program
(STATEMAP).
Regional Setting
The Fort Polk area lies in the West Gulf Coastal
section of the Coastal Plain Province of Thornbury
(1965). Its gulfward part consists of coast-parallel
Quaternary terraces. The study area lies in the area
of transition between fluvial terraces to the north
and coast-parallel terraces to the south.
The northern part of the Coastal Plain Province
consists of deeply dissected Tertiary uplands charac-
terized by a series of coast-parallel cuestas and low-
lands inland of the terraces. The cuestas are com-
monly called "wolds." Less commonly, the lowlands
are called "vales." The cuestas are characterized by
steep inland-facing escarpments and gentle gulfward
slopes. The southernmost cuesta, the Kisatchie Wold,
dominates the Fort Polk region almost completely.
Within the Fort Polk region, the Kisatchie Wold con-
sists of two distinct cuestas.
The Kisatchie Wold encompasses all of the Main
Post and most of the Birds Creek, Fort Polk, Fuller-
ton Lake, Lacamp, Slagle, and Simpson South quad-
rangles. A well-defined escarpment 30 to 50ft (9 to
15 m) high forms the southern edge of this cuesta.
This escarpment separates the highly dissected cuesta
from the flatter, less-dissected coast-parallel terrace
surface to the south. The southern cuesta rises in
elevation from about 270 to 290 ft (82 to 88 m)
along its southern edge to an elevation of 400 to
440ft (122 to 134m) along its crest. Northward of
this crest, the Kisatchie Wold drops rapidly into the
lowland formed by the valleys of Bayou Castor, Cy-
press Creek, and Calcasieu River. Topographic pro-
files along the crests of ridges between the major
drainages show that the southern cuesta rises as a
series of topographic steps instead of as a gradual
slope. A series of northwest-southeast trending drain-
ages have cut valleys that deeply dissect these steps.
The study area lies downdip of the Sabine uplift,
the north Louisiana salt basin, and Angelina-
Caldwell flexure to the north; the Toledo Bend flex-
ure and Gulf Coast salt and growth-fault basin lie to
the south (Figs. 2 and 3 ). The Angelina-Caldwell flex-
ure is marked at the surface by a zone of faults
mapped in Louisiana by Andersen (1960, 1993). The
stream net over much of the study area shows rect-
angular drainage that is suggestive of potential struc-
tural control.
Figure 2-Regional geologic and tectonic framework of study
area (from Fig. 8, McCulloh and Heinrich, 1999:19;
reprinted by permission).
In the study areas, Tertiary strata range in age
from Eocene to some high and discontinuous rem-
nants of oxidized, sandy strata herein assigned a
Pliocene age. The Tertiary section consists of vary-
ing proportions of sand, silt, and mud, with sand
PROJECTION OF STUDY AREA
H
ARKANSAS I LOUISIANA LOUISIANA I TEXAS
0 50 MILES
0 50 KILOMETERS
VERTICAL EXAGGERATION = 20.8
GULF OF
MEXICO
Figure 3-Dip section through the northern Gulf Coast along 94 west longitude. The study area of this report lies 60 km ( 37 miles) east of this line of section, and
spans units ranging at the surface from the uppennost or farthest downdip portion of the outcrop belt of the Claiborne Group to the lower or updip portion of the
outcrop belt of strata of Plio-Pleistocene age. (Geopressure on this diagram refers to "hard" geopressure, equivalent to 13 ppg drilling mud weight or the
approximate base of the transition zone). (Redrawn and adapted from the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, 1990; reprinted by permission.)
(JJ
+:-
CCJ
;;o
CCJ
c
([)
~
:::::J
BRI Bulletin
55
constituting the greater volume, and reflects deposi-
tion ranging from fluvial to shallow marine, with
overall increasingly terrestrial character upsection.
Quaternary units comprise strata underlying Pleis-
tocene terraces and Holocene alluvium; various
surficial deposits of Quaternary age form thin ve-
neers on other map units, and with a single excep-
tion, were not mapped for this investigation. Pliocene
and Pleistocene units associated with terrace surfaces
are divisible into three main groups, here classified
as allogroups (units characterized by bounding
unconformities): Upland, Intermediate, and Prairie
(Table 1).
Directly underlying the Plio-Pleistocene strata is
the Fleming Formation. As defined by Fisk (1940)
for Rapides Parish and mapped by Welch (1942) for
Vernon Parish, the members of the Fleming consist
of alternating coarser-grained, fluvial-dominated
lithofacies and finer-grained, more marine-influenced
lithofacies. Fisk ( 1940) interpreted the coarser-
grained 1nembers as fluvial and the finer-grained
members as estuarine. Hinds made the refinement
of interpreting Fleming members as representing
upper and lower deltaic plain deposition, and the
latter, corresponding to the finer-grained members,
as potentially the updip expression of subsurface
marine shale tongues and associated flooding sur-
faces corresponding to periods of maximum trans-
gression during the Miocene.
The vertebrate fossils discovered recently at Fort
Polk occur in one of these overall finer-grained sub-
units, the Castor Creek, but within a notably coarser-
grained subinterval consisting of conglomerate and
sandstone. Although the Fleming is traditionally clas-
sified as a formation, in Louisiana and in the study
area in particular, the unit is more appropriately de-
scribed as of group rank and consisting of forma-
tion-rank subunits.
Upland Allogroup
One of the more widespread and recognizable
stratigraphic units within the Coastal Plain Province
is the Upland Allogroup. It is part of a regionally
extensive, coast-parallel belt of coarse-grained sedi-
ments that have been mapped along the Coastal Plain
Province from Virginia to Texas. Typically, the sedi-
ments of the Upland Allogroup occur as erosional
remnants capping isolated hilltops and comprising
the ridge crests of interfluves (Autin et al., 1991).
The deposits that comprise the Upland Allogroup
have gone through a variety of name changes. Ini-
tially they were described by Hilgard (1860) as the
Orange Sand Formation and later as the Lafayette
Formation of McGee (1891). Later, the Lafayette
Formation was abandoned and subdivided into the
Citronelle Formation of Matson (1916), the Willis
Formation of Doering (1935), the Bentley and
Williana Formations of (Fisk 1938, 1940) and oth-
ers. Since the definition of these formations, there
have been seemingly innumerable proposals as to
their ages and correlations. Mapping by Snead and
McCulloh (1984) reconstituted these formations into
an informal morphostratigraphic unit called the High
Terraces. Autin et al. (1991), redefining the High
Terraces as an informal unconformity-bounded unit,
renamed it as the Upland Complex. As a prelimi-
nary step towards defining the Upland Complex as
a formal allostratigraphic unit, Snead et al. (1998)
renamed it as the Upland Allogroup.
As defined by Autin et al. (1991), the Upland
Allogroup consists of alluvial deposits of early Pleis-
tocene and Pliocene age. The Pliocene-age sediments
consist of the Citronelle and Willis formations, which
crop out, respectively, east of the Mississippi River
Valley and west of the Calcasieu River. Between the
Mississippi and Calcasieu rivers, the Upland
Allogroup consists of the early Pleistocene-age allu-
vial deposits designated by Fisk (1938, 1940) as the
Williana and Bentley formations.
The Upland Allogroup consists of sediments that
differ from the underlying Miocene and overlying
Pleistocene strata. First, the Upland Allogroup con-
sists of sediments that are typically coarser than the
sediments of the Fleming Formation underlying it
and those of the Intermediate Allogroup that onlap
onto it. The coarser nature of the Upland Allogroup
is commonly, but not always, manifest in the pres-
ence of either abundant chert gravel or quartz gran-
ules (Matson, 1916; Doering, 1935, 1956; Forney,
1950; and Autin et al., 1991).
Second, sediments within the Upland Allogroup
are characteristically very highly weathered unlike
younger and older strata. These sediments are char-
acterized by deep reddish, brownish, and purplish
colors of ferric iron oxides not seen in younger or
older strata (Doering, 1956; Aronow, 1982; and
Autin et al., 1991).
56
BRI Bulletin
Stratigraphic ColuiiJn of Fort Polk Region
Time - Stratigraphic Units Rock - Stratigraphic Units
E
.,
Cl)
Cl)
Stage Formation Member
......
.i:
Group .,
Cl)
>,
~
~
Holocene alluvium + Biq Brushy undifferentiated
c..
Q) :;J
c
a;
~ e
(undifferentiated alluvium)
"' 01
('\S
c .2
c::
a; <(
s..
u
~ ~ ~
Q) 0
+.J
+.J
Calabrian V)
('\S
w
Q)
Upper ::::J i;lc..
Ci
0::
- :;J
] e
Lissie
E 01
~ 0
Q)=
_E<(
Lower
a;
Piacenzian
~ ~ ~
c
Q) Gravel Hill Allomember
u
c..
TowPr Roilrl Allomember
.Q
"0 :;J
Zan clean
c 0
Willis
Duaout Road Allomember
"' ~
a..
o_g>
Kisatchie Allomember
:::J=
<(
Fort Polk Allomember
Messinian
~ ~ ~
I....
Q
g
Tortonian
Q)
Blounts Creek undifferentiated
c::
g
a;
0
c ~
Serravallian
c:n
Q)
z
a;
""0 c
Castor Creek undifferentiated
u
:0
.E
.Q
~
~
Langhian
a;
u::
Williamson Creek undifferentiated
I....
Burdigalian
Dough Hills undifferentiated
a;
~
Carnahan Bayou undifferentiated 0
~
_J
('\S
Aquitanian Lena undifferentiated
-e
~
I....
Q
Chattian Catahoula undifferentiated a; g
c
a;
u
0
.2"1
c:n
0
I....
I....
a; ::::J
~
..0
Rupelian
V)
undifferentiated
Q)
0 ~
_J
u
c::
>
~
0
Q)
~ c::
0..
I....
0
9
V)
Priabonian
~
undifferentiated
g
u
('\S
a;
c
a;
u
0
a;
u.J
c
a;
I....
""0
0
~ Bartonian
..0
Cockfield undifferentiated
~
C\S
u
Table ]-Stratigraphic classification of units mapped for this investigation (from Table 1, McCulloh and Heinrich, 1999:23;
reprinted by permission.
BRI Bulletin
57
Third, the Upland Allogroup characteristically
lacks its original constructional surface. Its surface
consists of rolling ridges and ravines produced by
deep erosion. This erosion has removed the original
depositional surface of the units that it comprises.
The only indication that a unit's depositional sur-
face is left might be concordant summits along the
crest of major drainage divides. The Upland
Allogroup erodes into resistant hills, which creates
well-defined cuestas and sharp ridges. In contrast to
the Upland Allogroup, the Intermediate Allogroup
exhibits remnants of its original depositional surfaces
in the form of flat-crested ridges.
Finally, the soils associated with the Upland Com-
plex consist primarily of ultisols with some alfisols.
The soils developed within the Upland Allogroup are
typically far more mature than those developed in
either the Fleming Group or the Intermediate
Allogroup (Forney, 1950; Autin et al., 1991; and
Dubar et al., 1991). Autin et al. (1991) and Autin
(1993) attribute the degree of weathering to a re-
gionally pervasive geosol developed within it as the
result of intense long-duration weathering of sandy
to loamy sediments. According to Autin ( 1993 ), this
geosol has been recognized from east Texas to west
Florida and northward within the Mississippi Allu-
vial Valley.
Willis Formation
Traditionally, the deposits of Upland Allogroup
within south-central Louisiana have been correlated
with the Williana Formation of Fisk (1938, 1940).
For example, both Welch (1942) and Hinds (1998a,
1999) correlated these sediments with graveliferous
fluvial deposits capping hills across the Calcasieu
River that Fisk designated as the Williana and Bentley
formations. Similarly, Bernard (1950) classified strata
equivalent to the Upland Allogroup in southeast
Texas as belonging to the Williana Formation of Fisk
(1938, 1940).
In contrast, Doering (1956) observed that along
strike, Fisk's (1938, 1940) Williana Formation in
Ra pides Parish lies below the level of the deposits of
the Upland Allogroup in the Fort Polk region. In Fig-
ures 3 and 4, Doering (1956) showed that the sur-
face of the Upland Allogroup in south-central Loui-
siana lies as much as 300 ft (90 meters) above the
surface of the Williana Formation on the opposite
side of the Calcasieu River. These figures also show
that the that gulfward slope on the "surface" of the
Upland Allogroup in south-central Louisiana is dras-
tically steeper than the gulfward slope on the sur-
face of the Williana Formation of Fisk (1938, 1940).
Winker (1991) also illustrated the same differences
in the stratigraphic position of the Upland Allogroup
in south-central Louisiana and the Williana Forma-
tion across the Calcasieu River. He classified the
Upland Allogroup in the Fort Polk region as his pre-
Lissie surface(s) and the Williana Formation of Fisk
(1940) as being part of his Lissie surface.
Of these two interpretations, a carefully con-
structed cross section, Figures 4 and 5, confirms those
made by Doering (1956) and Winker (1991) con-
cerning the stratigraphic separation between the type
Williana and Bentley formations east of the Calcasieu
River and the Upland Allogroup in south-central
Louisiana. The sediments of the Upland Allogroup
within south-central Louisiana lie as much 200 ft
( 60 m) above the top of the Williana Formation
across the Calcasieu River in Rapides Parish. The
base of the youngest and lowest sediments of the
Upland Allogroup in the study area lies barely level
with the top of the Williana Formation. The base of
the Williana Formation lies about 50 ft (15 m) be-
low the base of deposits in the study area. The great
difference in stratigraphic position and lithology
between the sediments in the study area and the
Williana Formation in Rapides Parish demonstrates
that they are different units of formation rank within
the Upland Allogroup.
In terms of lithology and stratigraphic position,
the strata of the Upland Allogroup are identical to
the Willis Formation of Doering (1935) (Forney,
1950; Bernard and LeBlanc, 1965; and Aronow,
1982). For this reason, they are correlated with and
designated as the Willis Formation in this investiga-
tion. In addition, the deposits of the Williana and
Bentley formations are deeply entrenched into both
the underlying Miocene below the level of the Up-
land Allogroup strata west of the Calcasieu River.
This demonstrates that the Williana and Bentley for-
mations are different stratigraphic units from the
Willis Formation and younger than it.
Lithology
Within the study region, two different facies, a
sandy facies and gravelly facies were discerned.
Bianchi (1982:74) also noted these facies which he
labeled, respectively, "fine sandy facies" of his "high
coastwise group," and the "graveliferous facies" of
Lacamp Section
West
500

tf
.!:
c: 300
0

[ij 200
,._ (/) "'

g
&l .
(/)
Intersection with
Birds Creek Section
j
Puwf
Mfcc
.c:
::J
0
(/)"'
c::;:o


Ui
c.


1 00 93 07' 30" 93 00' 00"
Mfcc
Legend for Figures 4, 8, 9, and 10
Stratigraphic Units
Quaternary System
Holocene Series
lEI
lim
Hua Unnamed Alluvium
Hbb Big Brushy Formation
Pleistocene Series
i!


Tertiary System
Pp
Pilu
Pill
Prairie Allogroup undifferentiated
Intermediate Allogroup
Pliocene Series
[GJ Puw
[jill Puwg
['] Puwt
D Puwd
D Puwk
D Puwf
DMfb
D Mfcc Castor Creek Member
Figure 4-Cross section along crest of Kisatchie Wold and across Calcasieu River Valley.
1200 1500 1800 2100 2400 Feel
Mfcc
92 52' 30"
Horizontal scale= 1:125.000. Vertical exaggeration= 52X (from Fig. 18, Heinrich and McCulloh, 1999:49; reprinted by permission).
East
Williana Formation
of Fisk (1940)
I \
500
400
300
200
100
t.n
co
O:l
;:;o
O:l
c
(D

::::J
BRI Bulletin
59
93'15'00"
3r15
Slagle
N
+
31
Melder
Elmer
I
Melder
'00'00"
93'15'00" 93'00'00" 92' 45'00" 92'37'30"
LEGEND
Main Post area of Fort Polk
Cross-section line
Small-size town
Medium-size town
Figure 5-/ndex map showing locations of cross sections relative to the main post at Fort Polk, Louisiana (from Fig. 19,
Heinrich and McCulloh, 1999:52; reprinted by permission).
his "low coastwise group." The gravelly facies is re-
stricted to the youngest and lowermost units of the
Willis Formation within the study area.
Sandy Facies
The sandy facies consists of mostly very fine to
medium sand and muddy sand. Purplish, pebble to
cobble-size clasts of clay and silty clay, quartz gran-
ules and minor beds and lenses of silt and clay occur
throughout this facies. In many outcrops, the sandy
facies is largely massive, having been homogenized
by plant roots and weathering. Where preserved,
these sediments exhibit sedimentary structures that
include planar cross-bedding, trough cross-bedding,
ripple lamination, climbing ripple lamination, and
scour-and-fill structures. Of these sedimentary struc-
tures, medium-scale trough cross-bedding is the most
common. The fine-grained sediments occur as dis-
continuous beds and lenses. No upward fining or
coarsening trends were observed in the sandy facies.
The sandy facies exhibits bright and variable colors.
Although predominantly various shades of red, the
sandy facies can vary from reddish brown and weak
red, to strong brown and yellow and pale red-purple
(Hinds 1998a, 1999).
Purplish, fine-grained, rounded rip-up clasts oc-
cur in almost every outcrop of the sandy facies in
varying abundance. Frequently, these purplish clasts
of clay or silty clay are abundant enough to form
thin beds of rip-up clast conglomerate. They occur
concentrated along cross-beds and at the base of
scours. The purplish rip-up clasts range in diameter
from 2 to 5 em (0.8 to 2 inches). Rip-up clasts as
large as 8 em ( 3 inches) in diameter were observed,
whereas Hinds (1997) reported rip-up clasts as large
as 25 em (10 inches). Whitish clay or mud clasts of
sand size commonly occur on and delineate cross-
beds.
In places, the sandy facies is gravelly. Typically
the gravel consists of subrounded to subangular
quartz clasts 1 to 2 em ( 0. 4 to 0. 8 inches) in diam-
eter. The granule gravel occurs either scattered
throughout the sand or discrete gravel stringers on
cross-beds.
The only fossils observed in the sandy facies are
rare pieces of petrified wood observed at two loca-
tions in the Fort Polk area. In both cases, the petri-
60
BRI Bulletin
fied wood occurs at the base of the Willis Formation
near its contact with the Fleming Group. In contrast,
Bernard (1950) observed that petrified wood was
common in the sandier parts of the Willis Forma-
tion. The petrified wood consisted of large logs and
stumps, which Bernard judged to be native to the
Willis Formation.
Gravelly Facies
The gravelly facies consists of a heterogeneous
mixture of muddy, medium-to-coarse sands, grav-
elly sands, sandy gravel, and gravel. Like the sandy
facies, exposures of the gravelly facies frequently are
massive, having been homogenized by plant roots
or weathering. Where preserved, well-developed
medium to thick sets of trough cross-bedding char-
acterize the sandy gravels and gravels.
Sand beds within this facies exhibit tabular and
trough cross-bedding of varying scales, and ripple
lamination. Purplish clay to silty clay rip-up clasts
identical to those found in the sandy facies are abun-
dant within the gravelly facies. No evidence for any
overall upward fining or coarsening trends within
the gravelly facies was observed during fieldwork.
The gravel consists of granule- to pebble-size
chert gravel. As noted by Lenzer (1982), the gravel
consists mainly of "dense" brown and brownish gray
chert with minor amounts of other types of cherts,
sedimentary quartzite, and metamorphic quartzite.
Quartz, which is abundant as granules in the sandy
facies, is noticeably absent among the rock types
(Lenzer, 1982; Hinds, 1998a, 1999). The largest
pebbles observed ranged from 4 to 5 em (1.5 to 2
inches) in diameter.
The chert gravel contains the only fossils so far
found in the gravelly facies of the Willis Formation.
These fossils consist of the molds of rare brachio-
pods, crinoid stems, and corals, and other Paleozoic
marine invertebrates. These fossils are not native to
the Willis Formation, but rather were derived from
Paleozoic carbonate rocks from which the chert was
eroded and redeposited. The study of these fossils
might provide some evidence concerning the source
of the chert gravels found in the gravelly facies.
The colors exhibited by the gravelly facies typi-
cally consist of various shades of red to yellowish
brown. In a single outcrop, colors can include dark
reddish brown, yellowish red, and brownish yellow
surrounding numerous purplish rip-up clasts. In some
outcrops of both the gravelly and sandy facies, they
consist of bleached-looking, grayish sediments not
unlike those of the Catahoula and Fleming in col-
oration, with red mottling in places. These bleached
sediments are typically homogenous mixtures of
sand, mud, and in places, gravel. Abundant root
molds and haloes are commonly associated with these
sediments.
Contacts
Within the Fort Polk area, the Willis Formation
unconformably overlies the Fleming Group. In out-
crops, the contact between the Willis Formation and
Fleming Group is extremely irregular and in many
places channeled (Fig. 6). Within small areas, the
basal contact has been mapped as having 10's of feet
of relief upon it. Regionally, the contact is a low-
angle angular unconformity that northward progres-
sively truncates the underlying Fleming Group. At
the northern edge of the main Willis outcrop belt,
the Blounts Creek Formation is completely missing
and the Willis Formation rests directly on the Cas-
tor Creek Formation.
The Fleming Group directly underlying the Willis
Formation often shows evidence of weathering. Typi-
cally, the Fleming Group lying within a meter of the
contact exhibits the development of purplish alter-
ation and rectangular blocky peds. Commonly, the
overlying sediments of the Willis Formation contain
purplish rip-up clasts derived from the underlying
weathered sediments of the Fleming Group. Sedi-
ments of the Willis Formation incorporating purplish
rip-up clasts overlying weathered, fine-grained
Fleming Group sediments, from which the clasts were
derived, were observed at numerous localities. Welch
( 1942, Fig. 11) depicts these relations at this contact
exposed in a railroad cut near Pickering (Fig. 7). Not
all of the observed contacts between the Willis For-
mation and Fleming Group exhibit this alteration
below the contact. In a few exposures, bleached sedi-
ments of the Willis Formation overlie relatively un-
weathered fine sands or other sediments of the Willis
Formation.
Within the study area, the upper contact of the
Willis Formation consists of the modern land sur-
face and another major unconformity between it and
the overlying Intermediate Allogroup. The concor-
dant summits of knolls along the crests of interfluves
define a series of deeply eroded steps that character-
ize the upper boundary of the Willis Formation
BRI Bulletin
.f
-
~
EXPLANATION
Yellow loam
Brownish yellow 1 OYR 6/6
Sand, overall very fine to fine, some
sparse medium to very coarse grains.
Yellowish red 5YR 5/6-8, with
abundant white 1 OYR 8/1 to very pale
brown 1 OYR 8/2 burrow mottles. Red
7 .5R 4/6mud rip-up clasts near base.
Clayey very fine to fine sand
Light-gray 2.5Y 7/2 with red 1 OR 4/8
mottles. In places beneath contact with
overlying sand at north end of cut, mud
shows alteration to red 7.5R 4/6 in interior
cores of peds, with light gray 2.5Y 7/2
remaining along ped surfaces.
Apparent dip 4.
Cross-bedded sand
Overall very fine to medium, with some
grains ranging from coarse sand to
granules. Reddish yellow 5YR 6/6, with
very pale brown 1 OYR 8/4 burrows and
root molds. Red 7.5 4/6 mud burrow casts
up to 0.5 m below upper contact.
61
4
3
..,
1..
2
Q)
+J
Q)
~
Figure 6-Combined outcrop sketch and measured section (no horizontal scale) along roadcut, SEINW Sec. 30, T. 5 N., R. 9
W, Peas on quadrangle. Mottled sediment of the Upland Allogroup is mantled by yellow loam and cuts out two units of the
Carnahan Bayou Fonnation of the Fleming Group (from Fig. 13, Heinrich and McCulloh, 1999:34; reprinted by pennission).
62
BRI Bulletin
(Bianchi, 1982). Where the Lissie Formation of the
Intermediate Allogroup onlaps onto the Willis For-
mation, it completely truncates the Willis Forma-
tion. Geological mapping indicates that the removal
of the Willis Formation is complete and the Lissie
Alloformation rests directly on the sediments of the
Fleming Group. Bernard (1950) also observed a
similarly deeply eroded unconformity between the
Lissie Alloformation and Willis Formation in Jas-
per and Newton counties, Texas.
Overlying Strata
Either overlying the Willis Formation or occu-
pying stream valleys incised through it, within the
Fort Polk area, are younger fluvial sediments of the
Intermediate and Prairie Allogroups. In this area,
the Intermediate Allogroup consists entirely of the
Lissie Alloformation and the Prairie Allogroup con-
sists of undifferentiated fluvial deposits that form
terraces of relatively small extent. Unnamed allu-
NORTH
FEET
300
SELLERS
STORE
SOUTH
WILLIS FORM
_-UN ATION
CONFORMITY-
250 ---
BLOUNTSCRE
EK MEMBER OF FLEMING FORMATION
200
ONE MILE
EXPLANATION
1. Light-gray silty clay.
2. Sandstone lentil and ironstone at base of weathered material.
3. Weathered, silty clay and residual terrace sand, 2 feet.
4. Sandy siltstone lintil, thickness 0-6 feet, well exposed in railroad cut.
5. Small remnant of Willis Formation; 0-10 feet red, massive sand exposed
above highway, cross-bedded. Contact with underlying Blounts Creek member
irregular; chert gravel and clay balls at contact.
6. Sandy siltstone, 0-6 feet thick, underlain by unconsolidated silty clay and
overlain by about 6-10 feet of orange, red and purple mottled, weathered,
argillaceous silt; distinct contact with Willis Formation and suggestion of
pre-Willis soil horizon.
7. Massive sand, thicker down hill, is result of soil creep and occurs extensively
on outcrops of both terrace formations and on sandy Miocene strata.
8. Massive red sand, gravel at base.
9. Gray, weathered silty clay.
Figure 7-Unconformable relationship of Willis Formation and underlying Blounts Creek Formation of the Fleming Group
along U.S. Highway 171 in Kansas City Southern Railway cut at 2.4 km (1.5 miles) south of Pickering (Sec. 3, T. IS., R. 9 W,
New Llano quadrangle). (Redrawn and adapted from Fig. 11, Welch., 1942:29).
BRI Bulletin
63
vium of Late Pleistocene to Holocene in age under-
lies the flood plains. However, it is not considered in
this discussion, as the details of these deposits are
discussed in McCulloh and Heinrich (1999).
Intermediate Allogroup
The Intermediate Allogroup of western Louisi-
ana consists of the fluvial deposits of the Calcasieu
and Sabine rivers, their tributaries, and various
coastal plain streams. This allogroup consists of
strata that Bernard (1950) classified as the Bentley
and Williana Terraces in southeast Texas; mapped
as the Lissie and Oberlin formations by Doering
(1956), and as the Oakdale and DeRidder surfaces
by Snead et al. (1995). The Intermediate Allogroup
of southwest Louisiana consists of the Elizabeth,
Oakdale, and Lissie Alloformations.
The Intermediate Allogroup lies stratigraphically
and topographically between the Prairie and Upland
allogroups. The surface of the Intermediate
Allogroup lies topographically higher than the ter-
race surfaces of the Prairie Allogroup and topo-
graphically lower than the dissected uplands under-
lain by strata of both the Upland Allogroup and
Fleming Group. Although heavily dissected, terrace
surfaces of the Intermediate Allogroup are recogniz-
able as flat-topped ridge crests. However, erosion has
long since removed any constructional fluvial or
coastal landforms. Slightly south of the Fort Polk
region in west-central Louisiana, the Intermediate
Allogroup consists of 100 to 300ft (30 to 90 m) of
red, brown, and buff interbedded sand, silt, and clay.
In general, the sediments of the Intermediate
Allogroup are much sandier and have more mature
soils, mostly alfisols, than sediments that character-
ize the Prairie Allogroup (Autin et al., 1991; Dubar
et al., 1991; and Snead et al., 1998).
Lissie Alloformation
Within the study area, the only unit of the Inter-
mediate Allogroup present is the Lissie
Alloformation. It consists of the deposits of the
Calcasieu and Sabine rivers, their tributaries, and
various coastal streams. In this region, the Lissie
Alloformation is associated with two coast-parallel
terraces. A higher and older terrace forms a narrow
belt along the edge of the Tertiary Uplands. The
younger terrace is the northern edge of the exten-
sive, gulfward-dipping ramp-like surface that extends
southward from the study region into Calcasieu Par-
ish. This terrace surface dips to the south at 4 ft/mi
(0.8 rnlkm) except where it is offset by fault-line
scarps. The Lissie Alloformation extends eastward
along the entire Texas coastal plain, where it was
named into Mexico as illustrated by Bernard and
LeBlanc (1965) and Winker (1991).
Only within the Cooter's Bogs area in the south-
east corner of the study area were small outcrops of
the Lissie Formation observed. Welch (1942) mapped
both of these terraces as the Bentley Terrace as he
did most of the Lissie Formation within the Fort Polk
region. In this area, small exposures of the Lissie
Formation consist of grayish clayey silt and very fine
sand with yellowish brown mottles. In a hand speci-
men, these sediments superficially resemble sediment
of the Fleming. They contrast sharply with the sedi-
ments of the Willis Formation, which are pervasively
stained, even cemented, with reddish, brownish, and
purplish ferric iron oxides. In places, yellow loam
mantles these sediments.
Prairie Allogroup (Undifferentiated)
The Prairie Allogroup consists of fluvial, deltaic,
estuarine, and beach deposits that lie topographi-
cally below the Intermediate Allogroup and topo-
graphically above the Deweyville Allogroup. Cur-
rently, this allogroup is considered to be late-to-
middle Pleistocene in age. The terrace surfaces asso-
ciated with it exhibit little dissection and commonly
show relict constructional topography (Autin et al.,
1991; Dubar et al., 1991).
Within the Fort Polk region, the Prairie Allogroup
consists of fluvial sediments that form discontinu-
ous terraces found within the valleys of local drain-
ages. Hinds (1998a, 1999) noted that the deposits
of the Prairie Allogroup are recognized as relatively
flat areas lying slightly above the level of the Ho-
locene flood plain. It can be inferred from the types
of soils, as described by Guillory (1997) and Martin
et al. (1990) associated with the terraces of the Prai-
rie Allogroup that it consists largely of silts, silty
sands, and sands within the Fort Polk region.
Discussion
There are two major interpretations for the
stratigraphy of the Willis Formation within the Fort
Polk region. First, Welch (1942) and Doering (1956)
infer that the Willis Formation consists of a single
gulfward-tilted stratigraphic unit with a highly dis-
sected terrace that both dip below the deposits of
FORT POLK SECTION
Northeast
Puwd
Southwest
500 300
Pilu
Puwf
200 I
w 400
If
.!:
300

[iJ 200
North Fort Polk


300
200
I
"' Mfcc "' I I"' I
100 100
Milos
Figure 8-Cross section along crest ofintelfluve on which Fort Polk and North Fort Polk lie. Horizontal scale= 1:125,000. Vertical exaggeration= 52X. (Refer to
legend on P. 58.) (From Fig. 23, Heinrich and McCulloh, 1999:61; reprinted by permission).
500
Q)
>
400
co
Q)
(J)
Q)
300
Intersection with
i
200

Lacamp Section
Mfb

,.- ,.-
j t-- mot--
100
BIRDS CREEK SECTION
Puwf / Puwk Puwk profile
/off-section

Mfb
Pilu
Mfb
5 Miles

0 300 600 900 1200 1500 1800 2100 2400 Feet
Kilometers
South
I
Figure 9-Cross section along crest of interfluve separating Birds Creek and Little Sixmile Creek-Sixmile Creek drainages. Horizontal scale = 1:250,000. Vertical
Exaggeration= 52X (Refer to legend on p. 58.) (From Heinrich and McCulloh, 1999:63; reprinted by permission.)
500
400
300
200
100
0"'1

CJ:1
;;a
CJ:1
c
([)

:J
500

400
Cll
Q)
en
g 300
0
..0
Cll
North
Fullerton Section
Puwg?


North
cu 400
>

Cll
Puwd I Fullerton Branch Section
I
Q) 300
en
g
0
-g 200
Mfb
05 Mfb
Q)
LL
100
c: c:
0 ..c: ""1.8 ""

100 . ---
Figure 1 0-Cross section along crest of that forms drainage divide benveen the
watersheds of Big Brushy Creek and Ten Mile Creek, and cross section along crest o.fside
inte1jluve. Horizontal scale= 1:250,000. Vertical exaggeration= 52X. (Refer to legend on
p. 58.) (From Fig. 25, Heinrich and McCulloh, 1999:65; reprinted by permission.)
0 2 3 4
400
300
200
100
South
500
400
300
200
100
. -
OJ
;:;:o
II
OJ
II-
0'1
VI
66
BRI Bulletin
the Lissie Alloformation. They both showed the Lissie
Alloformation conformably onlapping the deposits
of the Willis Formation. In contrast, Bianchi (1982)
illustrates the Willis Formation as forming a single
pediment cut into the Fleming Group with a rela-
tively flat terrace surface. Instead of dipping beneath
the deposits of the Lissie Formation, the Willis For-
illation and its associated terrace surface are trun-
cated by the Lissie Alloformation. In southeast Texas,
Bernard ( 1950) combines aspects of both models in
that he interpreted the Willis Formation as a single
gulfward-dipping stratigraphic unit truncated by the
Lissie Alloformation.
The 7.5-minute geologic quadrangles and cross
sections prepared for this study show a modified in-
terpretation of the ideas of Bianchi (1982). The to-
pographic profiles of the cross sections confirm the
existence of the stepped topography discussed by
Bianchi (1982). At least five stepped surfaces are
shown by the topographic profiles. Integration of
the data from the geologic mapping into the cross
sections revealed that the base of the Willis Forma-
tion generally parallels the concordant summits of
each of the steps (Figs. 5 and 8 through 10). In addi-
tion, the cross-sections show that abrupt changes in
the elevation of the basal contact of the Willis For-
Illation coincide with the scarps separating each step.
Based upon these observations, the steps are in-
terpreted to represent a series of five relatively flat
coast-parallel terraces underlain by fluvial deposits
of the Willis formation. Each terrace is lower than
the next terrace to the north. Correspondingly, its
associated fluvial deposits are more deeply downcut
into the Flen1ing Group relative to the terrace to the
north. These terraces and associated fluvial deposits
are inferred to be separated by erosional contacts
(Figs. 8 through 10); as such, they are interpreted as
allostratigraphic units.
On this basis, five informal allostratigraphic units
are recognized and mapped: the Fort Polk
allomember, Kisatchie allomember, Dugout Road
allomember, Tower Road allomember, and Gravel
Hill allomember (Figs. 8 through 10). The Fort Polk
and Kisatchie allomembers consist of the sandy fa-
cies. The Dugout Road, Tower Road, and Gravel
Hill allomembers consist of the gravelly facies. The
deep dissection of these deposits by local drainages
has reduced the surface of each allomember to a se-
ries of concordant summits. In case of the highest
and oldest allomember, the Fort Polk allomember,
all evidence of its surface has been obliterated. Its
fluvial deposits have been reduced to erosional rem-
nants capping the east-west crest of the southern
cuesta and isolated summits along the interfluves
extending southward from it (Figs. 8 through 10).
North of the main post of Folk Polk, the Willis For-
mation occurs as widely scattered, discontinuous
outliers of limited extent. These outliers form only
the highest summits, commonly with maximum el-
evations exceeding 400ft (122m).
Origin
The deposits of the Willis Formation are gener-
ally agreed to be fluvial in origin (Welch, 1942;
Doering, 1935, 1965; Bernard, 1950; and Autin et
al., 1991 ). However, insufficient data exist to dis-
cern the specific type of fluvial system that created
these deposits. Regardless of whatever type of flu-
vial system deposited the Willis Formation, the con-
trast between the coarse-grained Willis Formation
and the underlying and overlying units shows that it
represents a radically different and unusual sedimen-
tological regime. The widespread distribution of cor-
relative coarse-grained and deeply weathered strata,
the Citronelle Formation, indicates that environmen-
tal factors influencing the deposition the Willis For-
mation affected all of the northern coastal plain of
the Gulf of Mexico. What the specific factors, e.g.,
eustatic sea level change, epeirogenic uplift, or
paleoclimatic changes, that are involved remain un-
resolved.
The reddish, brownish, or purplish ferric iron
oxides that pervasively stain, even cement, the sedi-
ments of both the sandy and gravelly facies show
that the entire Willis Formation has been highly
weathered to very deep depths. The deeply weath-
ered nature of the Willis Formation reflects a num-
ber of influences. These include: ( 1) the high initial
permeability of the coarse parent materials; (2) the
thickness of the drained soil column above the wa-
ter table; ( 3) the comparatively great age of the strata
within the Willis Formation; and ( 4) contemporane-
ous weathering of these strata during their accumu-
lation as a result of warm Pliocene paleoclimates
(Aronow, 1982).
The general lack of fossils within both the sandy
and gravelly facies of the Willis Formation implies
that conditions during the deposition of the Willis
were generally not conducive to the preservation of
BRI Bulletin
67
fossils. Because of the coarse-grained nature of the
Willis Formation, oxidation removed organic mat-
ter and leaching destroyed bones and shells during
and after deposition. Also, the accumulation of the
Willis Formation during a period of relatively hot
and humid climate would have greatly accentuated
these processes and largely precluded the formation
of fossils. Rare petrified wood is preserved because
silicification occurs relatively soon after burial.
Age
Because age-diagnostic fossils have not been
found in the Willis Formation, it cannot be directly
dated at this time. Instead, what is known about the
age of the stratigraphic units that unconformably
onlap it and which it unconformably overlies must
be used to infer its approximate age. Also, it is pre-
sumed that the major unconformities that separate
the Willis Formation from the underlying Fleming
Group and overlying Intermediate Allogroup repre-
sent major eustatic and/or tectonic events significant
enough to have been recognized and dated.
The Lissie Alloformation of the Intermediate
Allogroup, which unconformably onlaps the Willis
Formation, is likely of Middle to Early Pleistocene
in age. In Texas, the Lissie Formation contains Pleis-
tocene vertebrate remains that include Bison latifrons
(Harlan), Mammuthus columbi (Falconer),
Mammuthus imperator (Leidy), Equus excelsus
Leidy, Equus francisi Hay, Equus complicatus Leidy,
and Equus semiplicatus Cope (Forney 1950). Kukla
and Opdyke (1972:569) reported sediments with
reverse magnetic polarity from the "Lissie,"
"Bentley," and "2nd terrace," which Dubar et al.
(1991) suggested are equivalent to the Lissie Forma-
tion.
Finally, Winker (1979, 1991) correlates the sur-
face of the Lissie Formation to the top of the R6
Reflector, a regional seismic reflector in the offshore.
This regional reflector lies immediately below the
Trimosina A (denticulata) bethic foraminifera datum
that dates from 0.6 to 0.65 million years ago (Dubar
et al., 1991; Winker, 1979, 1991). This is consistent
with this reflector and the top of the Lissie
Alloformation (Formation) and Intermediate
Allogroup being associated with a major regression
within the Gulf of Mexico that occurred about 0.80
million years ago. The break between the Prairie and
Intermediate Allogroups would not only be associ-
a ted with a major regression that started at this time,
but also a significant change in the frequency of sea-
level fluctuations (Fig. 11 ).
As discussed previously, the Williana and Bentley
formations of Fisk (1938, 1940), which are found
east of the Calcasieu River and west of the Missis-
sippi River, lie downcut below the level of the Willis
Formation and the correlative Citronelle Formation.
They are erosional remnants of fluvial deposits that
apparently filled earlier alluvial valleys of the Mis-
sissippi and Red rivers entrenched deeply through
earlier deposits of the Willis and Citronelle forma-
tions. Woodward and Gueno (1941) interpreted the
presence of very large boulders of chert, quartzite,
sandstone, and petrified wood within the Williana
as being the result of downstream transport by ice-
rafting. Pebbles of igneous rock and Baraboo Quartz-
ite in gravels of the Williana Formation indicate the
presence of glacial outwash within it (Fisk, 1939).
Although, as hypothesized by Autin and others
(1991), these gravels might belong to pockets of gla-
cial outwash included in the Williana Formation
along the sides of the Mississippi River Valley, the
above pebbles imply that the gravels are in part of
glacial-outwash origin. Being older than the Lissie
Formation, the Williana Formation would have
formed during Early Pleistocene or Late Pliocene gla-
ciations. This would imply that the Willis Forma-
tion is no younger than Late Pliocene.
Vertebrate faunas described from both the Goliad
Formation in Texas and the Fleming Group in Loui-
siana constrain the lower limit of the age of the Willis
Formation. Schiebout (1994, 1997) estimates the age
of the vertebrate fauna from the Castor Creek For-
mation of the Fleming Group to be between 12.5
and 14.5 million years old. Given the thickness of
the Blounts Creek Formation lying between it and
the vertebrate-bearing beds in the underlying Castor
Creek Formation, the Willis Formation is signifi-
cantly younger than this fauna. In Texas the Willis
Formation overlies the Goliad Formation, which
contains the Lapara Creek Fauna, which Prothero
and Manning (1987) estimated to be 10 to 11 mil-
lion years old. Interpreting these faunas together
suggests that the Willis Formation is significantly
younger than 10 million years old.
A maximum age for the Citronelle and
Miccosukee Formations, east of the Mississippi Al-
luvial Valley, is provided by other vertebrate faunas.
68
Geologic
Time
(Million
years)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
Epoch
(])
c
(])
(.)
0
(L
(])
c
(])
(.)
0

(])
c
(])
(.)
0
+-'
en
(])
a..
Q)
+-'
ctS
_J
Q)
-c
-c

BRI Bulletin
Eustatic
Curves
200 100 0 m
Om
Relative Change of
Coastal Onlap
shoreward seaward
Regional Stratigraphy
Southwest Louisiana
Figure ]]-Suggested correlation of stratigraphic units in southwest Louisiana with sea-level and coastal onlap cycles of
Paleo-Data, Inc. ( 1993). Data from Paleo-Data, Inc. ( 1993). (From Fig. 26, Heinrich and McCulloh, 1999:69 reprinted by
permission.)
BRI Bulletin
69
Huddlestun (1988) argued that the Ashville local
fauna of north Florida, which consists of late
Barstovian vertebrate fossils, came from strata un-
derlying the Miccosukee Formation. Thus, the
Miccosukee Formation postdates a middle Miocene
(late Barstovian) age of about 11 to 16 million years
(Woodburne and Swisher, 1995). In southwest Ala-
bama, the Mauvilla local fauna occurs in paralic-
alluvial deposits of the "Miocene coarse clastics" of
Raymond (1985:64), which underlie the Citronelle
Formation. The Mauvilla local fauna consists of late
Miocene (early Hemphillian) vertebrates that date
these sediments to about seven to nine million years
ago (Hulbert and Whitmore, 1997; Woodburne and
Swisher, 1995). These vertebrate faunas indicate that
the Citronelle and Miccosukee Formations are
younger than middle-to-late Miocene age.
Within southeast Texas, Morton et al. (1988)
correlate the base of the Willis Formation with the
Bigenerina "A" (Bigenerina floridana) benthic fora-
minifer datum. Allowing for the arbitrary drop in
datum, Morton et al. (1988) correlated the Willis
Formation with the middle and upper portions of
the Bigenerina shale. The correlation of the Willis
Formation with the transgressive Bigenerina shale
and equivalent benthic foraminifer datums implies
that it correlates with major sea-level highstands that
occurred during the Early Pliocene (Paleo-Data, Inc.,
1993) (Fig. 11).
Kukla and Opdyke (1972) reported the presence
of normally magnetized sediments within the Willis
Formation. They interpreted the normal magnetism
of its sediments to represent the Gauss polarity ep-
och, Chron C2An, 2.6 to 3.5 million years ago.
However, normal magnetism is also consistent with
Chron C3n, 4.1 to 5.2 million years ago, which in-
cludes many of the Early Pliocene sea-level
highstands. It is not determinable which of these
periods of normal magnetism these normally mag-
netized sediments belong to and whether sediments
with reverse magnetism are also present within the
Willis Formation.
Finally, scanty palynological data indicate a
Pliocene age for the Citronelle Formation. Otvos
(1997) recovered trace amounts of Sciadopytis (Japa-
nese umbrella pine) pollen from peats exposed in pits
dug into the Citronelle Formation at Vancleave, Ala-
bama, and Mossy Head, Florida. The presence of
Sciadopytis pollen precludes a Pleistocene age for the
Citronelle Formation because the Japanese umbrella
pine became extinct in North America prior to the
end of the Pliocene (Otvos, 1997 and 1998). For
example, Sciadopytis pollen occurs in the Pliocene-
age Yorktown Formation of North Carolina and
Virginia and the lower Beavertown Formation of
Delaware and New Jersey and is absent in the over-
lying Late Pliocene and Pleistocene strata (Groot,
1991; Cronin et al., 1993 ).
The period of geologic time covering the Pliocene
and late Miocene epochs, three to six million years
ago, is judged to be the most likely time during which
the bulk of the Willis Formation in the Fort Polk
region accumulated. The unconformity at the base
of the Willis Formation correlates with a major drop
in sea level about 10.5 million years ago (Fig. 11 ).
The drastic drop in sea level shifted deposition tracts
southward (Wornardt and Vail, 1991; Paleo-Data,
Inc., 1993 ). This regression would have ended the
accumulation of the Blounts Creek Formation of the
Fleming Group within the Fort Polk Area. Between
5.8 and 10.5 million years ago, sea level was either
significantly below or close to present sea level. As a
result, even during highstands, the edge of coastal
plain deposition would have remained south of the
Fort Polk region (Fig. 11). During this time, erosion
of the Fleming Group would have occurred in re-
sponse to sea-level drop and ongoing uplift. Between
5.8 and 3.0 million years ago, during a series of
highstands, sea level rose as much as 87 to 120 ft
(25 to 35m) above present sea level. The inner edge
of coastal plain deposition would have transgressed
during the highstands back into the Fort Polk re-
gion and resulted in the deposition of fluvial sedi-
ments (Wornardt and Vail, 1991; Paleo-Data, Inc.,
1993). If so, the Willis Formation could represent
this period of high sea levels, while individual
allomembers represent individual highstands.
As discussed by Otvos (1997, 1998), the
Citronelle formation contains evidence of sea-level
highstands higher than modern. This evidence con-
sists of 0.5 to 7.0-m-thick units composed of muddy
sands and muddy, pebbly, fine-to-coarse sands de-
posited in inshore and nearshore environments. The
marine origin of these sediments is shown by the
presence of either Ophiomorpha burrows produced
by ghost shrimp; the tubes of polychaete worms; the
internal molds of veneroid n d ~ other shallow ma-
rine bivalves; or some combination of them. Otvos
70
BRI Bulletin
(1997) observed these marine beds as occurring near
both the base and top of the Citronelle Formation.
Huddlestun (1988) and Otvos (1998) have cor-
related the Citronelle and Miccosukee Formations
with Upper Pliocene, not Lower Pliocene, sea-level
highstands. They argue that the Miccosukee Forma-
tion and the correlative Citronelle Formation in ad-
jacent Florida is of late Pliocene (Piacenzian) age.
These arguments are based upon the Citronelle For-
tnation overlying the fossiliferous Upper Pliocene
Jackson Bluff Formation in the Florida panhandle
and on Huddlestun's (1988) correlation of the
Miccosukee Formation with the microfossil-dated
Cypresshead Formation of eastern Georgia (Otvos,
1988).
Because of uncertainties in correlations and fa-
cies changes between Florida and south-central Loui-
siana, a Late Pleistocene age for the Citronelle For-
mation in Georgia and Florida fails to preclude an
Early Pliocene age for the Willis Formation in south-
central Louisiana. However, it does imply that the
younger allomembers of the Willis Formation likely
are of Late Pliocene age. If Late Pliocene age depos-
its exist within the Willis formation, the younger,
gra veliferous Tower Road and Gravel Hill
allomembers, which closely resemble the Citronelle
Formation in lithology, would be the most likely can-
didates for such deposits. In this case, the major
unconformity between the Willis Formation and the
onlapping Lissie Formation would represent a ma-
jor lowstand of sea level that occurred about 1.8
million years ago (Fig. 11.)
Summary
A detailed study of the Upland Allogroup shows
that the strata cropping out west of the Calcasieu
River consist of fluvial deposits that are correlated
to and designated as the Willis Formation in Texas.
The Willis Formation is a separate and older strati-
graphic unit from the Williana and Bentley Forma-
tions as defined by Fisk (1938, 1940) in central Loui-
siana. The Willis Formation is considered a strati-
graphic equivalent of the Citronelle Formation in
Mississippi and of Upland Allogroup strata in the
Florida Parishes of Louisiana.
Within the Fort Polk region, the Willis Forma-
tion consists of two well-defined sedimentary facies
and five allostratigraphic units. On the basis of li-
thology, the Willis Formation can be divided into
sandy and gravelly facies. Mapping of these strata
and stepped surface topography along its interfluves
indicates that the Willis Formation consists of five
members separated by major, scarp-forming
unconformities. These allomembers form five coast-
parallel terraces. The contact between the Willis For-
mation and the Fleming Group is an angular
unconformity and it is unconformably onlapped by
the Intermediate Complex. The Willis Formation is
considered to be Early and possibly Late Pliocene in
age. It is hypothesized that it represents fluvial depo-
sition that occurred during sea-level highstands 3.0
to 5.8 million years ago and possibly as late as 1.9
million years ago.
Acknowledgments
The research discussed in this paper was funded
by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Joint
Readiness Training Command and Fort Polk divi-
sions, on a contract administered and managed by
Stephen Austin, Fort Worth District, under Contract
No. DACA63-95-D-0051, Delivery Order No. 0008.
The results of this research were submitted to Prewitt
and Associates Consulting Archaeologists, Inc., Aus-
tin, Texas, as McCulloh and Heinrich (1999). The
USACE gave us permission to publish figures con-
tained that report. We also acknowledge the Ameri-
can Association of Petroleum Geologists who granted
permission to publish Figure 4 of this report.
Many people gave to us assistance that was inte-
gral in the conduct of this research, and without
which it could not have been completed. The most
frequent and essential help with operational matters
was given by Jim Grafton, Bob Hays, and Gina Lay
of the Environmental Learning Center at Fort Polk,
and by Barry Oswald and the other Range Control
staff who provided general scheduling of our access
to land on the military reservation. Dr. Charles H.
Stagg, chief of Environmental and Natural Resources
Management Division of the Directorate of Public
Works at Fort Polk, was uniformly supportive of our
efforts. Mr. McCann provided crucial help in our
scheduling of access to military land during training
rotations.
The project technical managers contributed to
this paper with their patient understanding and tech-
nical oversight of this research. Dr. A. Frank Servello,
formerly of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
(USACE), Fort Worth office, served as project tech-
BRI Bulletin
71
nical manager for the greater part of the period dur-
ing which field work was conducted. In addition to
his normal duties, he contributed an avid interest in
this research. Stephen Austin of the USACE, Fort
Worth office, following Servello's departure and our
completion of most of the field work, served as
project technical manager for the remainder of the
period of performance.
Faculty, staff, and students at Louisiana State
University (LSU) also assisted us in our research.
David Hinds, a graduated master's student from the
Department of Geology and Geophysics, provided
fruitful consultation on the results of his own geo-
logical investigations. Dr. Judith Schiebout, associ-
ate curator, Museum of Natural Science, contributed
helpful discussion and support on many occasions.
John Anderson, who directs the Cartographic Infor-
mation Center administered by the LSU Department
of Geography and Anthropology, provided invalu-
able access to and assistance with assorted maps and
images in that archive.
Several U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) person-
nel provided information and assistance in the form
of consultation, file data, and copies of USGS re-
ports. Mark Gremillion of the Fort Polk office, and
John Lovelace, Larry Prakken, Rob Fendick, Roland
Tollett, Darlene Smothers, and Wendy Lovelace of
the Water Resources Division, Baton Rouge district
office, assisted us with access to subsurface data in
the USGS files.
M. Earl Stewart, wildlife biologist with the U.S.
Department of Agriculture, provided access to aerial
photos and maps in the files of the National Forest
Service, Vernon Ranger District, Kisatchie National
Forest.
The following employees of timber companies
were active in the study area and helped provide criti-
cal access to large tracts of nonmilitary land: Robert
H. Crosby of Crosby Land and Resources,
Mandeville, Louisiana; Darwin Foster of Temple
Inland Inc., Diboll, Texas; Mike Hudson of the
Temple Inland Inc. office in De Ridder, Louisiana,
who gave a positive account of our work to Darwin
Foster and helped us obtain permission for access;
Rick Leeper, forester with the Temple Inland Inc.,
De Ridder office, who provided access to gated prop-
erties; and Bob Nolan of the Boise Cascade office in
Provencal, Louisiana, who gave us permission and
keys to access gated properties.
For producing the illustrations in-house at the
Louisiana Geological Survey (LGS), we are indebted
to the staff of the LGS Cartographic Section under
the direction of John Snead, cartographic manager.
Lisa Pond, research associate, produced most of the
illustrations for this paper. Production and assistance
with the production of a number of the illustrations
was provided by Robert Paulsell, research associate;
Edward Koch, research associate; Edwin B. "Bud"
Millet, cartographic supervisor; and David W. Grif-
fin, research associate. Margo Olinde, LGS editor,
provided helpful consultation regarding the editing
and formatting of this paper.
Finally, acknowledgment is made to two geolo-
gists who have had a positive shaping influence on
this research through their previous investigations
and their helpful conversations about them over a
period of 15 years: H. V. Andersen (Professor Emeri-
tus, LSU Department of Geology and Geophysics),
who mapped the geology of Sabine and Natchitoches
parishes; and James E. Rogers (USGS, retired, now
a consulting ground-water hydrologist), who has
investigated the surface and shallow subsurface ge-
ology in Vernon Parish and many other parts of the
state.
Bibliography
American Association of Petroleum Geologists,
1990, Gulf coast regional cross section. Tulsa,
Oklahoma: American Association of Petroleum
Geologists. Three oversized sheets.
Andersen, H.V., 1960, Geology of Sabine Parish:
Louisiana Department of Conservation, Geo-
logical Bulletin No. 34, 164 p.
Andersen, H.V., 1993, Geology of Natchitoches
Parish: Louisiana Department of Conservation,
Geological Bulletin No. 44, 22 7 p.
Aronow, S. 1982, Surface geology, in C. L.Neitsch,
ed., Soil Survey of Jasper and Newton Counties,
Texas: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil
Conservation Service, Washington, D.C. p. 102-
107.
Autin, WJ., 1993, Quaternary geology of the
lower Red River Valley, in W.J. Autin and C.E.
Pearson, eds., Quaternary Geology and
Geoarchaeology of the Lower Red River Valley:
A Field Trip: South Central Cell Friends of the
Pleistocene, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. p. 5 24.
72
BRI Bulletin
Autin, W.J., Burns, S.F., Miller, B.J., Saucier, R.T.,
and Snead, J.I., 1991, Quaternary geology of the
Lower Mississippi Valley, Chapter 18, in R.B.
Morrison, ed., Quaternary Nonglacial Geology:
Conterminous U.S.: The Geology of North
An1erica, v. K 2, Geological Society of America,
Boulder, Colorado. p. 547-582.
Bernard, H.A. 1950. Quaternary Geology of
Southeast Texas: unpublished Ph.D. disserta-
tion, Department of Geology, Louisiana State
University, Baton Rouge. 165 p.
Bernard, H.A., and LeBlanc, R.J., 1965, Resume
of the Quaternary geology of the northwestern
Gulf of Mexico province, in H.E. Wright, Jr.,
and D.G. Frey, eds., The Quaternary of the
United States: Princeton University Press,
Princeton, New Jersey. p. 137-224.
Bianchi, T.H., 1982, Geomorphic setting in the
Fort Polk region: an abstract. Section 3 in A.F.
Servello, ed., U.S.L. Fort Polk Archaeological
Survey and Cultural Resources Management
Program: unpublished report prepared for U.S.
Anny Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth district,
Texas, under contract no. DACA63-76-C-0253,
p. 71-76.
Cronin, T.M., Willard, D.A., Dowsett, H.J.,
Ishrnan, S.E., Holtz, T.R., Jr., and Liddicoat,
J.C., 1993, The Yorktown Formation of Vir-
ginia: implications for late Pliocene climate and
sea level history: Geological Society of America,
Abstracts with Programs, v. 25, no. 6, p. 334.
Dubar, J. R., Ewing, T.E., Lundelius, E.L., Jr.,
Otvos, E.G., and Winker, C.D., 1991, Quater-
nary geology of the Gulf of Mexico Coastal
Plain. Chapter 19 in R.B. Morrison, ed., Quater-
nary Nonglacial Geology: Conterminous U.S.:
The Geology of North America, v. K 2. Geologi-
cal Society of America, Boulder, Colorado. p.
583-610.
Doering, J., 1935, Post-Fleming surface fonnations
of southeast Texas and south Louisiana: Bulle-
tin of the American Association of Petroleum
Geologists, v. 19, no. 5, p. 651-688.
Doering, J., 1956, Review of Quaternary surface
formations of Gulf Coast region: Bulletin of the
American Association of Petroleum Geologists,
v. 40, no. 8, p. 1816 1862.
Fisk, H.N., 1938, Geology of Grant and La Salle
parishes: Louisiana Department of Conserva-
tion, Geological Bulletin No. 10, 246 p.
Fisk, H.N., 1939, Igneous and metamorphic rock
from Pleistocene gravels of central Louisiana:
Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, v. 9, no. 1, p.
20-27.
Fisk, H.N., 1940, Geology of Avoyelles and
Rapides Parishes: Louisiana Department of
Conservation, Geological Bulletin No. 18, 240
p.
Forney, L.B., 1950, The Willis Formation of the
Texas Gulf Coast: Unpublished master's thesis,
School of Arts and Sciences, University of
Houston, Houston, Texas. 39 p.
Groot, J.J., 1991, Palynological evidence for Late
Miocene, Pliocene, Early Pleistocene climate
changes in the middle U.S. Atlantic coastal
plain: Quaternary Science Reviews. v. 10, no. 2
3, p. 147-162.
Guillory, C.M., 1997, Soil Survey of Sabine Parish:
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Re-
sources Conservation Service, Washington, D. C.
194 p.
Heinrich, P.V. and R.P. McCulloh, 1999, Pliocene
Series, p. 43-69 in R.P McCulloh and P.V.
Heinrich, Geology of the Fort Polk region,
Sabine, Natchitoches, and Vernon Parishes,
Louisiana. Final report prepared for the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers, Forth Worth district,
under contract no. DACA63-95-D-0051, deliv-
ery order no. 0008.
Hinds, D.J., 1997, A report to accompany the
geologic map, Fort Polk area, western Louisi-
ana, scale 1:24,000: Unpublished report,
Department of Geology and Geophysics, Louisi-
ana State University, Baton Rouge. 49 p. plus
plates (includes one 1 :24,000-scale geologic
map).
Hinds, D.J., 1998a, Neogene Stratigraphy and
Depositional Environments of the Fort Polk and
Slagle Area, Western Louisiana: Unpublished
master's thesis, Department of Geology and
Geophysics, Louisiana State University, Baton
Rouge, Louisiana. 100 p. plus plates (includes
two geologic maps at an approximate scale of
1:53,333).
BRI Bulletin
73
Hinds, D.]., 1998b, Geologic map of the Fort Polk
area, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. Geologic quad-
rangle map no. GQ-1: Produced in cooperation
with U.S. Geological Survey, EDMAP program,
under assistance award No. 1434-HQ-96-AG-
01535. Scale 1:24,000. Louisiana Geological
Survey, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Hinds, D.]., 1998c, Geologic map of the Slagle
area, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. Geologic quad-
rangle map no. GQ-2: Produced in cooperation
with U.S. Geological Survey, EDMAP program,
under assistance award No. 1434-HQ-97-AG-
01753. Scale 1:24,000. Louisiana Geological
Survey, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Hinds, D.]., 1999, Neogene stratigraphy and
depositional environments of the Fort Polk and
Slagle areas of western Louisiana: Report of
Investigations No. 99-01. Louisiana Geological
Survey, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 60 p.
Hilgard, E.W., 1860, Report on the Geology and
Agriculture of the State of Mississippi: (pub-
lisher unknown) Jackson, Mississippi. 391 p.
Hulbert, R.C., Jr., and Whitmore, F. C., Jr., 1997,
Early Hemphillian mammals from the Mauvilla
local fauna, Alabama: Journal of Vertebrate
Paleontology. v. 17, no. 3, p. 54
Huddlestun, P.F., 1988, A revision of the
lithostratigraphic units of the coastal plain of
Georgia: the Miocene through Holocene:
Bulletin No. 104. Georgia Geological Survey,
Atlanta, Georgia. 162 p.
Kukla, G.]., and Opdyke, N.D., 1972, American
glacial stages in paleomagnetic time scale:
Geological Society of America Abstracts with
Programs. v. 4, p. 569-570.
Lenzer, ]., 1982, Geomorphology of the Fort Polk
Military Reservation. Appendix 4, in P.M.
Thomas, S. Shellyey, L.J. Campbell, M.T.
Swanson, C.S. Weed, and J.P. Lenzer, Cultural
Resources Investigations at the Fort Polk Mili-
tary Reservation, Vernon, Sabine, and
Natchitoches Parishes, Louisiana: New World
Research Technical Report no. 69. Unpublished
report prepared by New World Research, Fort
Walton Beach, Florida, for National Park
Service under contract no. C-54052(80). At-
lanta, Georgia: National Park Service. p. 41 to
449.
Louisiana Geological Survey, compiler, 1993,
Alexandria 1:250,000 geologic quadrangle:
Unpublished map plus explanation and notes.
Prepared in cooperation with U.S. Geological
Survey, COGEOMAP program, under coopera-
tive agreement no. 14-08-0001-A0878. Scale
1:250,000.
Martin, P.G., Butler, C.L., Scott, E., Lyles, J.E.,
Mariano, M., Ragus, ]., Mason, P., and
Schoelerman, L., 1990, Soil Survey of
Natchitoches Parish: U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service, Washing-
ton, D.C., 192 p.
Matson, G.C., 1916, Pliocene Citronelle Forma-
tion of the Gulf Coastal Plain: U.S. Geological
Survey Professional Paper 98. U.S. Government
Printing Office, Washington, D.C., p. 167-192.
McCulloh, R.P., and Heinrich, P.V., 1999, Geology
of the Fort Polk region, Sabine, Natchitoches,
and Vernon Parishes, Louisiana: Final report
prepared for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
Fort Worth District under contract no.
DACA63-95-D-0051, delivery order no. 0008.
119 p. plus plates and appendices (includes ten
1 :24, 000-scale geologic rna ps).
McGee, W.J., 1891, The Lafayette Formation:
U.S. Geological Survey Annual Report 12, Part
1, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washing-
ton, D.C. p. 347-521.
Morton, R.A., Jirik, L.A., and Galloway, W.E.,
1988, Middle-upper Miocene depositional
sequences of the Texas Coastal Plain and conti-
nental shelf: geologic framework and hydrocar-
bon plays: Report of investigations no. 17 4.
University of Texas Bureau of Economic Geol-
ogy, Austin, Texas. 40 p.
Muse, B., and Cooley, M., Soil Survey of Vernon
Parish, 1999: U.S. Department of Agriculture,
Natural Resources Conservation Service, Wash-
ington, D.C. (in press).
Otvos, E.G., 1997, Northeastern Gulf coastal
plain revisited: Neogene and Quaternary units
and events-old and new concepts. Guidebook,
Louisiana to northwest Florida field trip, Octo-
ber 18-19, 1997. New Orleans: New Orleans
Geological Society, New Orleans, Louisiana.
143 p.
74
BRI Bulletin
Otvos, E.G., 1998, Citronelle Formation, north-
east Gulf coastal plain-stratigraphic and age
issues: American Association of Petroleum
Geologists Bulletin. v. 82, no. 9, p. 1789.
Paleo-Data, Inc., 1993, Gulf of Mexico
chronostratigraphic correlation chart. New
Orleans: Schlumberger and Geco-Prakla. 1
sheet.
Raymond, D.E., 1985, Depositional sequences in
the Pensacola Clay (Miocene) of Alabama:
Bulletin no. 114, Alabama Geological Survey,
Tuscaloosa, 87 p.
Rogers, J.E., and Calandro, A.J., 1965, Water
resources of Vernon Parish, Louisiana: Water
Resources Bulletin No. 6., Louisiana Geological
Survey, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 104 p. plus
plates (includes one 1:126,720-scale geologic
map).
Schiebout, J.A., 1994, Fossil vertebrates from the
Castor Creek Member, Fleming Formation,
western Louisiana: Transactions of the Gulf
Coast Association of Geological Societies. v. 44,
pp. 675-680.
Schiebout, J.A., 1997, Paleofaunal survey, collect-
ing, processing, and documentation at two
locations on Fort Polk, Louisiana: Unpublished
report prepared for U.S. Army Corps of Engi-
neers, Fort Worth district, under contract no.
DACW63-90-D-0008, delivery order no. 13.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth,
Texas, 92 p.
Snead, J.I., and McCulloh, R.P. (compilers), 1984,
Geologic 1nap of Louisiana: Louisiana Geologi-
cal Survey, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, scale
1:500,000.
Snead, J.I., Heinrich, P.V., and McCulloh, R.P.
(compilers), 1995, De Ridder [Louisiana por-
tion] 30 X 60 minute geologic quadrangle
(preliminary): Unpublished map plus 16-p.
expanded explanation and notes. Prepared in
cooperation with U.S. Geological Survey,
STATEMAP program, under cooperative agree-
ment no. 1434-HQ-94-A-01233. Louisiana
Geological Survey, Baton Rouge, Louisiana,
scale 1:100,000.
Snead, J.I., Heinrich, P.V., McCulloh, R.P., and
Autin, W.J. (compilers), 1998, Quaternary
geologic map of Louisiana: Unpublished map
plus 12 p. expanded explanation and notes.
Prepared in cooperation with U.S. Geological
Survey, STATEMAP program, under cooperative
agreement no. 1434-HQ-97-AG-01812. Louisi-
ana Geological Survey, Baton Rouge, Louisiana,
scale 1:500,000.
Thornbury, W.D., 1965, Regional Geomorphology
of the United States: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.,
New York. 609 p.
Welch, R.N., 1942, Geology of Vernon Parish:
Louisiana Department of Conservation, Geo-
logical Bulletin No. 22, 90 p.
Winker, C.D., 1979, Late Pleistocene Fluvial-
Deltaic Deposition on the Texas Coastal Plain
and Shelf: unpublished master's thesis, Depart-
ment of Geology, University of Texas, Austin,
187 p.
Winket; C.D., (compiler) 1991, Quaternary geol-
ogy, northwestern Gulf Coast, Plate 8 in R.B.
Morrison, ed., Quaternary nonglacial geology:
Conterminous U.S. The Geology of North
America, v. K-2. The Geological Society of
America, Boulder, Colorado, scale 1:2,000,000.
Wornardt, W.W., Jr., and Vail, P.R., 1991, Revision
of the Plio-Pleistocene cycles and their applica-
tion to sequence stratigraphy and shelf and
slope sediments in the Gulf of Mexico: Transac-
tions of the Gulf Coast Association of Geologi-
cal Societies. v. 41, p. 719-744.
Woodburne, M.O., and Swisher, C.C., III, 1995,
Land mammal high-resolution geochronology,
intercontinental overland dispersals, sea level,
climate, and vicariance, in W.A. Berggren, D.V.
Kent, and M.P. Aubry, eds., Geochronology,
Time Scales and Global Stratigraphic Correla-
tion: Unified Temporal Framework for an
Historical Geology: Special Publication No. 54.
Society of Economic Paleontologists and Miner-
alogists (Society for Sedimentary Geology),
Tulsa, Oklahoma. p. 335-364.
Woodward, T.P., and Gueno, A.J., 1941, The sand
and gravel deposits of Louisiana: Louisiana
Department of Conservation, Geological Bulle-
tin No. 19, 429 p.
Basin Research Institute
Bulletin
A publication of the Louisiana Geological Survey
Special Millennium Issue 1999-2000 Volume 9 June 2000
Louisiana Geological Survey
Chacko J. John, Director and State Geologist
Board of Advisers
Frank W. Harrison, Jr., Chair
Senator Max T. Malone
Terry Ryder
Karen Gautreaux
James M. Coleman
James E. Rogers
William E. Marsalis
The BRI Bulletin Staff
Editorial
Science Director/Chacko J. John
Bulletin Editor/Margo Olinde
Production Manager/John 1. Snead
Graphic DesignslEdward Koch & Lisa Pond
Contributing Writers
Ron Zimmerman
John Echols
Rick McCulloh
Paul V. Heinrich
Technical SupportlReed Bourgeois
Distribution
Cherri Webre
Telephone: (225) 388-8328
Fax: (225) 388-3662
Web Site, http://www.lgs.lsu.edu
The BRI Bulletin is distributed to academic,
industrial, and professional persons and
groups associated with geological research
and applications. Back issues may be ordered
by contacting the BRI business office.
Contents
Predicting A North Louisiana
Jurassic Pinnacle Reef Trend From
Palinspastic Reconstructions
Ron Zimmerman ................. .... ... .... ... .. ............ 1
Coalbed Methane:
Louisiana's Unexplored Energy Resource
John B. Echols ......... ... ................... ... ............. .. 18
A Summary Of The Total Oil Generation
Potential Of Louisiana's Hydrocarbon Systems
Ron Zimmerman ......... ............. ... .. ..... .. .... ....... 28
De Quincy Fault-Line Scarp, Beauregard and
Calcasieu Parishes, Louisiana
Paul V. Heinrich .... ........................... ..... ..... ..... 38
Pliocene Surface Stratigraphy in the
Fort Polk Region: Implications for
Louisiana Surface Geology
Paul V. Heinrich and Richard P. McCulloh ...... 51
The Louisiana Geological Survey grants permission for fair, nor-for-
profir use of SRI Bullerin contenrs. The SRI Bulletin is published
yearly by LGS, whose offices are locared ar Louisiana Srare
University, Room 208, Howe-Russell Geoscience Compl ex, Saton
Rouge, LA 70803-4101.
Geological data and inrerprerations shown in this bullerin have been
carefully compiled and interprered by rhe Louisiana Geological
Survey of Louisiana Srare University. The interpretations represent
our best judgement, however, we cannor and do nor guarantee the
accuracy or correctness of any geological or other information.