The Black Greek-Peedee Formational Contact 

(Upper Cretaceous) in the 

Cape Fear River Region of 

North Carolina

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 1285

The Black Creek-Peedee Formational Contact 

(Upper Cretaceous) in the 

Cape Fear River Region of 

North Carolina

By NORMAN F. SOHL and RAYMOND A. CHRISTOPHER

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 1285

Stratigraphic and paleontologic data suggest a 

disconformable relationship between the Black 

Creek and Peedee Formations along the Cape 

Fear River of North Carolina

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON: 1983
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

JAMES G. WATT, Secretary

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

Dallas L. Peck, Director

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Sohl, Norman F. (Norman Frederick), 1924-

The Black Creek-Peedee formational contact (Upper Cretaceous) in the Cape Fear River region of North Carolina.

(Geological Survey professional paper; 1285)

Bibliography: p.

Supt. of Docs, no.: 119.16:1285

1. Geology, Stratigraphic Cretaceous. 2. Geology North Carolina Cape Fear River Watershed.

I. Christopher, Raymond A. II. Title. III. Series. 

QE688.S63 1983 551.7T09756 83-600075

For sale by the Distribution Branch, U.S. Geological Survey, 

604 South Pickett Street, Alexandria, VA 22304
Abstract.................................................................................

Introduction...........................................................................

Geographic setting .....................................................

Previous work...............................................................

Section descriptions ..........................................................

Walkers Bluff..............................................................

Stratigraphic column, upstream section .....

Stratigraphic column, medial section ...........

Stratigraphic column, downstream section.

Paleontology .........................................................

Discussion ............................................................

Jessups Landing...........................................................

Stratigraphic column.........................................

Paleontology .........................................................

Discussion .............................................................

Deepwater Point .........................................................

Lithologic descriptions of the samples...........

Paleontology .........................................................

Donoho Creek Landing...............................................

Stratigraphic column.........................................

Paleontology .........................................................

Discussion .............................................................

CONTENTS

Page

	Section descriptions Continued 

1 Robinsons Landing ....................................

1 Stratigraphic column........................

2 Paleontology .......................................

2 Browns Landing....-..................... ...........

6 Stratigraphic column........................

6 Paleontology ........................................

12 Discussion ............................................

12 Remarks...............................................

12 Interpretations...................................................

12 Age and biostratigraphic correlations.

12 Paleoenvironmental interpretations.....

17 Physical stratigraphy................................

17 Conclusions .........................................................

17 Measured sections.............................................

17 Walkers Bluff, upstream section...........

17 Walkers Bluff, medial section ...............

17 Walkers Bluff, downstream section .....

17 Jessups Landing.........................................

17 Donoho Creek Landing..............................

17 Robinsons Landing ...................................

17 Browns Landing.............................. .........

19 References...........................................................

FIGURE 1. 

2-4.

5.

6-9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

ILLUSTRATIONS

Map of the Cape Fear River, N.C., between Walkers Bluff and Browns Landing, showing localities discussed ...........

Stratigraphic columns of:

2. Upstream section at Walkers Bluff ........................................................................................................................................

3. Medial section at Walkers Bluff.................................................................................................. ................ ........ . .........

4. Downstream section at Walkers Bluff.....................................................................................................................................

Diagram showing physical correlation of the lithologic units exposed at the downstream, medial, and upstream 

sections at Walkers Bluff ..............................................................................................................................................................

Stratigraphic columns of:

6. Jessups Landing..............................................................................................................................................................................

7. Donoho Creek Landing .........................................................................................................................................................

8. Robinsons Landing........................................................................................ ........ ............ ...... ..........................................

9. Browns Landing ...........................................................................................................................................................................^

Chart showing Stratigraphic ranges of 11 biostratigraphically important invertebrate fossils that are found in exposures along the Cape Fear River between Walkers Bluff and Browns Landing ..............................................................

Chart showing Stratigraphic ranges of 31 biostratigraphically important pollen species that are found in exposures 

along the Cape Fear River between Walkers Bluff and Browns Landing .................................................................................

Biostratigraphic correlation chart of the outcropping Cretaceous sections between Walkers Bluff and Browns 

Landing, Cape Fear River, N.C., and the sections of New Jersey and the Chattahoochee River, Ala. and Ga.....

Diagram showing the relative frequency of occurrence (in percent) of dinoflagellates and acritarchs in palynologic 

samples from Walkers Bluff, Jessups Landing, Deepwater Point, Donoho Creek Landing, Robinsons Landing, 

and Browns Landing, Cape Fear River, N.C..........................................................................................................................

Schematic cross section along part of the Cape Fear River showing physical, paleoenvironmental, and biostratigraphic interpretations of the relationship between the Black Creek and Peedee Formations ................................

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Page 

3

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TABLES

TABLE 1. Location of the Cape Fear River sections discussed in this report ................................................................................................

2. Distribution of megainvertebrate fossils and vertebrate remains in the outcropping Cretaceous sections along the 

Cape Fear River, N.C., between Walkers Bluff and Browns Landing ..........................................................................

3. Distribution of biostratigraphically important pollen species in the outcropping Cretaceous sections along the 

Cape Fear River, N.C., between Walkers Bluff and Browns Landing .......................................................................................

Page

2

7

11

ill

THE BLACK CREEK-PEEDEE FORMATIONAL CONTACT

(UPPER CRETACEOUS) 

IN THE CAPE FEAR RIVER REGION OF NORTH CAROLINA

By NORMAN F. SOHL and RAYMOND A. CHRISTOPHER1

ABSTRACT

Stratigraphic and paleontologic data from six sections exposed 

along the Cape Fear River, N.C., suggest that the contact between the 

Upper Cretaceous Black Creek and overlying Peedee Formations is 

unconformable. The unconformity is exposed in three closely spaced 

sections between mileposts 49.5 and 50.25 and is indicated by the 

presence of a thin (2-inch-thick) zone at the base of the Peedee Formation that contains worn and abraded bone and shell, bored phosphate 

pebbles, teeth, and clasts reworked from the underlying Black 

Creek Formation in a matrix of poorly sorted coarse-grained sand. 

The disconformity represents a relatively short hiatus that occurred 

sometime between the latest Campanian and earliest Maestrichtian 

(that is, during the time of concurrence of Exogyra ponderosa erraticostata and E. costatd). The short duration of the hiatus makes it 

difficult to detect by means of existing megafossil and (or) palynologic 

zonations. However, lithologic and paleontologic evidence suggests 

that a major paleoenvironmental change takes place at the disconformity. Below the disconformity, the upper part of the Black Creek 

Formation consists of a series of interfingering and discontinuous 

lithologic units that reflect rapidly changing nearshore environments. Above the disconformity, the basal part of the Peedee Formation consists of massive, glauconitic, bioturbated, muddy sands of 

open marine shelfal origin.

Previous interpretations of the ages of the Black Creek and Peedee 

Formations and the nature of their contact were based, in large part, 

on an interpretation of the fauna contained in and the stratigraphic 

position of a zone of sandstone blocks of Cretaceous age that had not 

been recognized previously as having been reworked into the basal 

part of the Waccamaw Formation of early Pleistocene age. These 

blocks occur in an outcrop referred to as Walkers Bluff, located 10 

river miles upstream from the exposed Black Creek-Peedee contact.

INTRODUCTION

According to Stephenson (1923), the Cretaceous System of the Carolina Coastal Plain is best exposed along 

the Cape Fear River of North Carolina. Here, the 

Upper Cretaceous Series consists of three formations; 

in ascending stratigraphic order, they are the Cape 

Fear, Black Creek, and Peedee Formations. The excellence and accessibility of the exposures along the river 

have prompted many workers to use the Cape Fear 

River section as the basis for interpreting the stratigraphic relationships among these formations in other 

areas (for example, Stephenson, 1912, 1923; Brett and 

Wheeler, 1961; Heron and Wheeler, 1964; Swift, 1964; 

Swift and Heron, 1967,1969; Swift and others, 1969; 

Christopher and others, 1979). Stratigraphic relationships among the Upper Cretaceous units and with the 

underlying and overlying rocks are well established for

most of the section; unconformities are recognized (1) at 

the base of the Cape Fear Formation, where the Cape 

Fear rests nonconformably on crystalline rocks of the 

Piedmont province, (2) between the Cape Fear and 

Black Creek Formations, and (3) at the top of the Peedee Formation, where post-Cretaceous rocks disconformably overlie the Peedee. However, the nature of the 

contact between the Black Creek and Peedee Formations is still unresolved; it has been regarded as gradational by some workers (for example, Stephenson, 1923; 

Heron and Wheeler, 1964), as unconformable by others 

(for example, Brett and Wheeler, 1961), and as a ravinement by still others (for example, Swift, 1964; 

Swift and Heron, 1967,1969; Swift and others, 1969).

To better understand, and perhaps to help resolve, 

the nature of the Black Creek-Peedee contact, we 

visited several exposures of the upper part of the Black 

Creek and basal part of the Peedee Formations along 

the Cape Fear River. During these visits we made 

detailed observations of the lithostratigraphic relationships within and among the exposures and collected 

invertebrate and palynomorph samples for use in biostratigraphic and paleoenvironmental interpretations. 

The results of our study suggest that the Black Creek 

and Peedee Formations are disconformable and that 

the two units were dominated by distinctly different 

environments of deposition; the disconformity is 

exposed along the Cape Fear River at three closely 

spaced outcrops between 49.5 and 50.25 river mi 

upstream from Wilmington, N. C.

It is our purpose to present the data upon which we 

base our conclusions and to suggest correlations for the 

upper part of the Black Creek and basal part of the 

Peedee Formations with Cretaceous units elsewhere in 

the Coastal Plain province other than the Carolinas. We 

make no effort in this report to relate our findings to 

areas outside the Cape Fear River region, nor do we 

imply that the ages, paleoenvironmental interpretations, and stratigraphic relationships between the 

Black Creek and Peedee Formations along the Cape 

Fear River can be extended to other areas of the Carolina Coastal Plain. We intend to treat these topics in 

future reports that will be prepared when we complete 

our ongoing investigations of the Upper Cretaceous 

Series as exposed along the Roanoke, Tar, Neuse, North

1 ARCO Oil and Gas Company, Piano, TX 75221.
BLACK CREEK-PEEDEE FORMATIONAL CONTACT, CAPE FEAR RIVER REGION, N.C.

East Cape Fear, Black, and Peedee Rivers of the 

Carolinas.

In this report, we follow the convention of using 

"right" and "left" bank as one faces downstream.

Geographic Setting

Most studies of the contact between the Black Creek 

and Peedee Formations in the Carolinas are based on 

paleoenvironmental interpretations of and physical and 

biostratigraphic correlations between exposures along 

the Cape Fear River at Walkers Bluff and a series of 

three closely spaced outcrops referred to as Donoho 

Creek, Robinsons, and Browns Landings (fig. 1).

At Walkers Bluff, located 60 river mi upstream from 

Wilmington, N.C., the Cape Fear River impinges 

against its right valley wall for a horizontal distance of 

approximately 0.75 mi, thereby exposing 45-55 ft of 

Cretaceous sediments and 10-20 ft of shell marls of Pliocene and (or) Pleistocene age. Ten river mi downstream from Walkers Bluff, the Cape Fear River again 

impinges against its right valley wall, exposing both 

Cretaceous and post-Cretaceous sediments. This bluff, 

located between mileposts 50.25 and 49.5, is divided 

into three sections by two small tributaries to the Cape 

Fear River; in a downstream direction, these sections 

are referred to as Donoho Creek Landing, Robinsons 

Landing, and Browns Landing, respectively.

Between Walkers Bluff and the exposures at Donoho 

Creek, Robinsons, and Browns Landings, a horizontal 

distance of 7.3 mi, Stephenson (1912, 1923) noted the 

presence of Cretaceous sediments at three localities. 

Downstream (that is, upsection) from Walkers Bluff, 

these localities are Jessups Landing (milepost 56), an 

unnamed locality at milepost 53.5, and Deepwater 

Point (milepost 51.5). At Jessups Landing, 3-4 river mi 

downstream from Walkers Bluff, Cretaceous sands and 

clays overlain by gravelly alluvial (?) sand crop out for 

approximately 300 yd along the left bank of the Cape 

Fear River. Lock and Dam No. 2, downstream from 

Donoho Creek Landing, was constructed after Stephenson's traverse of the river in 1907, and the presence of 

the dam has caused water level to rise sufficiently to 

drown the localities at milepost 53.5 and Deepwater

Point; at present, Jessups Landing is the only outcrop of 

Cretaceous sediments between Walkers Bluff and the 

exposures at Donoho Creek, Robinsons, and Browns 

Landings.

Data for our report come from stratigraphic interpretations and paleontologic analyses of samples from 

Walkers Bluff, Jessups Landing, Donoho Creek Landing, Robinsons Landing, and Browns Landing. In addition, we collected several samples of the fossiliferous 

marl and sandstone mentioned by Stephenson (1912, 

1923) as occurring at Deepwater Point; these samples 

were collected with the use of snorkeling gear.

The positions of the localities along the Cape Fear 

River reported on herein are illustrated in figure 1, and 

detailed locality information is presented in table 1.

Previous Work

The exposures between Walkers Bluff and Donoho 

Creek Landing are some of the most intensively studied 

Cretaceous sections in the Atlantic Coastal Plain. Several workers (for example, Stephenson, 1912, 1923; 

Brett and Wheeler, 1961; Heron and Wheeler, 1964) 

have provided measured sections and sedimentologic 

and (or) stratigraphic data for these exposures. Others 

(for example, Swift, 1964; Swift and Heron, 1967,1969; 

Swift and others, 1969) have provided less detailed 

information regarding these sections but have referred 

to them in interpretations of the Late Cretaceous history of the Carolinas.

According to Stephenson (1912, 1923), the Black 

Creek Formation consists of thinly laminated, crossbedded ferruginous sand and carbonaceous clay. Lignite, amber, marcasite, and fossil leaves are common 

throughout the unit; glauconite is found in the unit but 

is not common or abundant. Horizontal and vertical 

changes between sand-dominated and clay-dominated 

facies are common and may be abrupt.

Marine invertebrate fossils have not been found in 

the lower part of the Black Creek Formation, but Stephenson (1912,1923) observed the laminated sands and 

clays toward the top of the unit to be interstratified 

with lenses or beds of indurated calcareous sands and 

marls, some of which contain an abundant marine

TABLE 1. Location of the Cape Fear River sections discussed in this report Sections are presented in ascending stratigraphic order

North latitude West longitude

Section name

Walkers Bluff ................................

Jessups Landing ..........................

Deepwater Point ..........................

Donoho Creek Landing..............

Robinsons Landing......................

Browns Landing ..........................

Milepost

60.0

56.0

51.5

50.25

...... 49.75

49.5

Bank

Right ...

Left

(1) ......

Right....

do ......

do ......

..Bladen ...

......do .......

......do........

......do

......do........

..... do ........

Degree

.... 34

.... 34

.... 34

.. 34

... 34

... 34

Minute

33

32

29

28

28

28

Second

14

52

31

26

04

00

Degree

78

78

78

78

78

78

Minute

29

26

24

24

24

23

Second

20

10

35

40

10

54

15-minute

quadrangle

White Lake

Do.

Bolton

Do.

Do.

Do.

'Rocks now inundated.
INTRODUCTION

EXPLANATION

Right valley wall of 

the Cape Fear River

River milepost

NORTH CAROLINA

"" Walkers' -

Bluff 

(1,2,3,4,5)

Jessups 

Landing 

(1, 2, 5)

Deepwater

Point

(1,2,5)

Donoho Creek

Landing 

(1,2.3,4,5)

50

' Browns 

Robinsons *** Landing

Landing (3,5) 

(1,2,3,4,5)

FIGURE 1. Map of the Cape Fear River, N.C., between Walkers Bluff (milepost 60) and Browns Landing (milepost 49.5), showing 

the localities discussed in this report. The numbers in parentheses refer to publications in which stratigraphic and (or) 

paleontologic information was provided for that section: 1, Stephenson (1912); 2, Stephenson (1923); 3, Brett and Wheeler 

(1961); 4, Heron and Wheeler (1964); 5, this report.
BLACK CREEK-PEEDEE FORMATIONAL CONTACT, CAPE FEAR RIVER REGION, N.C.

fauna. Stephenson (1923) assigned these fossiliferous 

beds to his "Snow Hill Calcareous Member," which is 

restricted to the upper part of the Black Creek Formation, and he considered them to have been deposited in a 

somewhat deeper water marine environment than was 

the lower, unfossiliferous part of the formation.

Stephenson (1912, 1923) reported the presence of 

these fossiliferous sandstones and marls of the "Snow 

Hill Calcareous Member" from several localities along 

the Cape Fear River. At Walkers Bluff (milepost 60), he 

observed a 1-ft-thick bed at the top of the section 

where, according to Stephenson's (1923) description, 

it is underlain by typical laminated, unfossiliferous 

sands and clays of the Black Creek Formation and is 

unconformably overlain by the Waccamaw Formation, 

which is early Pleistocene age according to Blackwelder 

(1979). Stephenson (1923) observed this sandstone to be 

discontinuous along the bluff and concluded that it 

changes laterally to an unfossiliferous loose sand. At the 

base of the exposure at Jessups Landing (milepost 56), 

Stephenson (1912) noted the presence of several feet of 

shell marl, overlain by 12 ft of laminated, unfossiliferous 

sands and clays that he attributed to the Black Creek 

Formation. At the time of publication of his description 

of the Jessups Landing section (1912), the term "Snow 

Hill Calcareous Member" had not been introduced. 

However, the shell marl at the base of the section falls 

within his later (1923) circumscription of this unit. Stephenson (1912, 1923) also reported the occurrence of 

fossiliferous sandstones and shell marls at Deepwater 

Point (milepost 51.5), where, at the time of his visit, 

"there is exposed at extreme low water a layer of 

greenish-gray, calcareous and fossiliferous rock 

about 1 foot in thickness, of marine origin. It is 

underlain by a dark, unconsolidated shell marl containing many sharks' teeth and fragile Cretaceous 

fossils, about 1 foot being exposed above the 

water.***" (Stephenson, 1912, p. 123). 

At the base of the section at Donoho Creek Landing 

(milepost 50.25), Stephenson (1912, 1923) noted the 

occurrence of 10 ft of dark blue, laminated, poorly fossiliferous Black Creek clays. These clays, he noted, were 

overlain by 26 ft of the Peedee Formation, which he 

characterized throughout the Carolinas as a compact, 

dark-green or dark-gray, finely micaceous, glauconitic 

and argillaceous, fossiliferous, massive sand. Impure 

limestone beds and concretions and dark clays are also 

present in the Peedee Formation. From the massive 

bedding, contained fossils, and disseminated glauconite, Stephenson (1923) concluded that the Peedee 

Formation was deposited in open marine waters below 

wave base but above a depth of 50 fathoms.

From his observations of the sections between 

Walkers Bluff and Donoho Creek Landing, Stephenson

(1923) considered the contact between the Black Creek 

and Peedee Formations to be transitional, as he found 

no physical evidence of an unconformity or paleontologic evidence of a significant time-break between the 

two units. He concluded, therefore, that the Black 

Creek-Peedee contact represents a gradual transition 

from nearshore shallow marine bay and estuarine 

environments, represented by the lower part of the 

Black Creek Formation, to open marine conditions, 

represented by the Peedee Formation. The "Snow Hill 

Calcareous Member" is the transition between these 

two environments.

In an attempt to assess the stratigraphic relationships of the "Snow Hill Calcareous Member" to the 

Black Creek and Peedee Formations, Brett and 

Wheeler (1961) examined the stratigraphy, sedimentology, and paleontology of the Walkers Bluff, Donoho 

Creek Landing, and Browns Landing sections, in addition to sections from other areas of North Carolina. At 

Donoho Creek and Browns Landings, they observed 

a 6-in- to 6-ft-thick, poorly indurated, fossiliferous 

sandstone unconformably overlying the laminated 

Black Creek clays that occur at the base of both sections. They considered this sandstone to be the basal 

bed of the Peedee Formation, and, on the basis of their 

paleontologic and lithologic data, they considered it to 

be part of the same lithostratigraphic unit and deposited at the same time as the 1-ft-thick sandstone that 

caps the Cretaceous section at Walkers Bluff [which 

Stephenson (1923) placed in the "Snow Hill Calcareous 

Member" of the Black Creek Formation]. As a result of 

their investigation, Brett and Wheeler (1961) concluded 

that, between Walkers Bluff and Donoho Creek Landing, the contact between the Black Creek and Peedee 

Formations is unconformable and that an indurated 

calcareous sandstone marks the base of the Peedee 

Formation.

Despite their conclusion that an unconformity separates the Black Creek and Peedee Formations in the 

Cape Fear River region, Brett and Wheeler (1961) considered the upper part of the Black Creek and the basal 

part of the Peedee Formations to have been deposited 

during the same time interval (late Tayloran) and to 

represent a transition from a delta or near-delta distributary environment (the unfossiliferous, laminated 

carbonaceous clays of the Black Creek Formation) to a 

"beach," "inlet," or "upper-sound" environment (the 

basal sandstone of the Peedee Formation) to an "open 

lagoonal inlet" environment (the remainder of the Peedee Formation as exposed at Donoho Creek Landing). 

The sequence of transitional environments and the 

apparently synchronous nature of the upper part of the 

Black Creek and the lower part of the Peedee Formations led Brett and Wheeler (1961) to postulate that the
INTRODUCTION

Black Creek and Peedee Formations represent part of a 

single marine transgression that occupied the entire 

Late Cretaceous in North Carolina.

Heron and Wheeler (1964) agreed with Brett and 

Wheeler (1961) that, lithologically, the "Snow Hill Calcareous Member" as described by Stephenson (1923) 

should be placed in the Peedee Formation. However, in 

addition to the fossiliferous sandstone at the top of the 

Cretaceous part of the Walkers Bluff section previously 

noted by both Stephenson (1912, 1923) and Brett and 

Wheeler (1961), Heron and Wheeler (1964) also 

observed scattered shells in a 2- to 3-ft-thick bed of 

medium- to coarse-grained sand approximately 20 ft 

below the sandstone at the top of the section. By definition, this lower sand would be included in the "Snow 

Hill Calcareous Member" of Stephenson (1923), but, 

because Brett and Wheeler (1961) had placed the "Snow 

Hill" in the basal part of the Peedee Formation, Heron 

and Wheeler (1964) placed the Black Creek-Peedee 

contact at the base of this sand. As this lower sand 

appears to be conformable with a laminated clay below, 

Heron and Wheeler (1964) concluded that, at Walkers 

Bluff, the Black Creek-Peedee contact is conformable 

and that "[i]t is difficult to place a finger on an unequivocal lithologic boundary" between these units (Heron 

and Wheeler, 1964, p. 46).

At Donoho Creek Landing, however, Heron and 

Wheeler (1964) recognized the unconformity that Brett 

and Wheeler (1961) considered to mark the Black 

Creek-Peedee contact. This unconformity occurs 

between the undisputed Black Creek clays at the base 

of the section and the 1-ft-thick sandstone that Brett 

and Wheeler (1961) considered as marking the base of 

the Peedee Formation. According to Heron and 

Wheeler (1964 p. 46), the unconformity is characterized 

by phosphate nodules, large specimens of Ostrea pratti, 

and "unusual small soft discs of sand***." They further 

observed that neither the unconformity nor the basal 

sandstone of the Peedee Formation is as conspicuous 

everywhere as each is at Donoho Creek Landing. At 

Robinsons Landing, just 0.5 mi downstream from 

Donoho Creek Landing, Heron and Wheeler (1964) 

found no physical evidence of the unconformity, but 

they noted that the contact between the Black Creek 

and Peedee Formations is marked by the presence of 

bedding in the Black Creek Formation and a 3-ft-thick 

fossiliferous zone at the base of the Peedee Formation 

that apparently occupies the same stratigraphic position as does the basal sandstone at Donoho Creek Landing. For a distance of 0.5 mi upstream from Donoho 

Creek Landing, however, Heron and Wheeler (1964) 

noted blocks of the basal part of the Peedee sandstone 

scattered along the water's edge.

As had Brett and Wheeler (1961), Heron and

Wheeler (1964) concluded that the Black Creek and 

Peedee Formations are transitional, and, as such, they 

are evidence that the entire Upper Cretaceous Series of 

the Carolinas represents a single marine transgression. 

Their reasoning included not only the apparently transitional nature of the contact but the time of deposition 

of the units. According to their reasoning:

1. Stephenson (1923) placed the Black Creek Formation, including its upper "Snow Hill Calcareous 

Member," in the Exogyra ponderosa Zone of Tayloran Age and the Peedee Formation in the E. costata 

Zone of Navarroan Age.

2. Brett and Wheeler (1961) removed the "Snow Hill 

Calcareous Member" from the Black Creek Formation and placed it in the Peedee Formation. As a 

result, the Peedee Formation, as defined by Brett 

and Wheeler (1961), includes rocks of both Tayloran 

Age (the "Snow Hill") and Navarroan Age (the 

remainder of the Peedee Formation).

3. Therefore, because the Black Creek Formation is of 

Tayloran Age and the Peedee Formation, including 

the "Snow Hill," is of both Tayloran and Navarroan 

Age, these two units must be time transgressive. 

Swift (1964), Swift and Heron (1969), and Swift and 

others (1969) accepted and expanded upon the hypotheses advanced by Brett and Wheeler (1961) and 

Heron and Wheeler (1964). Specifically, they agreed 

with the previously drawn conclusions that the Black 

Creek and Peedee Formations represent part of a single 

Late Cretaceous marine transgression and that the 

"Snow Hill Calcareous Member" lithologically and 

paleoenvironmentally belongs to the basal part of the 

Peedee Formation rather than to the upper part of the 

Black Creek Formation.

In a series of sedimentologic studies aimed at interpreting the environments of deposition of the Cretaceous formations of the Carolinas, these workers recognized three environments (or lithosomes) within the 

Black Creek Formation (an estuarine, a lagoonal, and a 

littoral lithesome; Swift and Heron, 1967) and three 

within the Peedee Formation (a proximal-shelf, a 

distal-shelf, and a shelf-mud lithesome; Swift and others, 

1969). With regard to these lithosomes, Swift and 

Heron (1967) and Swift and others (1969) interpreted 

the sections between Walkers Bluff and Donoho Creek 

Landing as follows:

1. The laminated sands and clays at the base of the 

sections at Walkers Bluff, Donoho Creek Landing, 

and Robinsons Landing represent an estuarine 

depositional environment. This lithesome is interpreted as being fluviomarine in origin; it is characteristic of tidally influenced upper-delta and estuarine environments that reflect both wave- and 

river-generated currents.
BLACK CREEK-PEEDEE FORMATIONAL CONTACT, CAPE FEAR RIVER REGION, N.C.

2. The "Snow Hill Calcareous Member" at the top of 

the Cretaceous part of the Walkers Bluff section 

(considered as the basal beds of the Peedee Formation) represents a proximal-shelf environment, 

characterized by poorly sorted, medium-grained, 

bioturbated sands that contain horizons of coarser 

grained material. The coarser, gravelly horizons 

consist of megaclasts of tightly packed mollusk 

shells, shark teeth, very fine grained quartz pebbles, lignite, reptile bone fragments, and pebblesized clay clasts.

3. The Peedee Formation that forms the top of the 

section at Donoho Creek Landing [that is, above the 

unconformity recognized by Brett and Wheeler 

(1961) and Heron and Wheeler (1964)] represents a 

distal-shelf environment. This environment is 

characterized by very fine to fine-grained, bioturbated sands that may contain as much as 50 percent 

clayey silt matrix.

The presence of the unconformity documented by 

Brett and Wheeler (1961) and Heron and Wheeler 

(1964) at Donoho Creek Landing suggested to Swift 

(1964) and Swift and Heron (1969) that the relationship 

among these three lithosomes, and hence the contact 

between the Black Creek and Peedee Formations, is a 

ravinement. According to this interpretation, the lowenergy marsh and lagoonal sediments and the highenergy barrier-island sands, all of which were deposited at the margins of the Late Cretaceous sea, were 

destroyed as the sea transgressed over them. As a 

result, the proximal- and distal-shelf deposits of the 

Peedee Formation disconformably overlie the nearshore deposits of the Black Creek Formation. In support of this interpretation, Swift and Heron (1969) cited 

the faunal composition of the "Snow Hill Calcareous 

Member" as described by Stephenson (1923) from 

Walkers Bluff and interpreted by Brett and Wheeler 

(1961) as representing an open-lagoonal environment. 

Faunally, the "Snow Hill" contains a diverse invertebrate assemblage that reflects both lagoonal components reworked from the open lagoonal environment 

destroyed by the trangressing sea and components 

indigenous to the proximal-shelf environment of the 

"Snow Hill." Hence, Swift (1964), Swift and Heron 

(1969), and Swift and others (1969) regarded the Black 

Creek and Peedee Formations as representing part of a 

single Late Cretaceous transgression in which the nearshore deposits of the uppermost part of the Black Creek 

Formation were cannibalized by the transgressing 

Peedee sea, resulting in a disconformity, or ravinement, 

between the two units. In accordance with the interpretation of the Black Creek-Peedee contact as a ravinement, the hiatus between the two units is of an insignificant duration, at least in the Cape Fear River region.

SECTION DESCRIPTIONS

Seven sections were measured along the Cape Fear 

River; three at Walkers Bluff and one each at Jessups, 

Donoho Creek, Robinsons, and Browns Landings. Complete descriptions of the lithologic units recognized at 

these exposures are presented under the heading "Measured sections" at the end of this report; diagrammatic 

interpretations of the sections are presented as figures 

2-4 and 6-9. Because the outcrop noted by Stephenson 

(1923) at Deep water Point is now under water, we could 

not interpret the stratigraphic relationships of the 

sandstones and marls present at this locality. We did, 

however, recover samples of both marl and sandstone 

from Deepwater Point; their lithologies are described 

in this section.

A total of 23 invertebrate and 16 palynomorph samples were collected and analyzed from the seven measured sections and from Deepwater Point. The stratigraphic positions of the samples relative to the 

measured sections are shown in figures 2-4 and 6-9. 

The stratigraphic distribution of the invertebrate fossils recovered from the samples is presented in table 2, 

and the palynomorph data is presented in table 3.

Table 2 is a complete listing of the invertebrate fauna 

recovered from the Walkers Bluff to Browns Landing 

sections. The palynomorphs listed in table 3, however, 

represent only those taxa we consider conspecific with 

those illustrated by Wolfe (1976) from the northern 

Atlantic Coastal Plain. Wolfe (1976) did not apply 

generic and specific names to his "species"; instead, he 

assigned each an alphanumeric code. However, his is 

the only pollen zonation presently available for the 

Campanian and Maestrichtian Stages of the Atlantic 

Coastal Plain. Therefore, for purposes of palynologic 

correlation, we find it necessary to compare the 

assemblages from the Cape Fear River sections with 

those described by Wolfe (1976) from the Raritan and 

Salisbury embayments of the northern Atlantic Coastal 

Plain.

Walkers Bluff

Although much of Walkers Bluff was covered with 

vegetation at the time of our visits (October 1979, April 

and August 1980, March 1981), the areas seen indicated 

a great deal of lateral variation in lithology and bedding character within the Cretaceous part of the section. For this reason, we made detailed measurements 

and observations at three localities along the face of the 

bluff. At the upstream end, we measured a section 100 

yd from where the bluff diverges from the river. About 

0.5 mi downstream from this locality was another 

nearly complete exposure of Cretaceous sediments,
SECTION DESCRIPTIONS 7

TABLE 2. Distribution of megainvertebrate fossils and vertebrate remains in the outcropping Cretaceous sections along the Cape Fear River, N.C., between

Walkers Bluff and Browns Landing

[+, presented but abundance not recorded; R, rare occurrence (1-3 specimens); F, few specimens recorded (4-10 specimens); 

C, common occurrence (11-25 specimens); A, abundant occurrence (>26 specimens)]

Walkers Bluff

Deepwater 

Point

Donoho Creek 

Landing

Robinsons 

Landing

Browns 

Landing

Porifera: 

Clione sp. ................................

Brachiopoda: 

Lingula sp. ................................ ..... . ........... . ..... .

Bryozoa:

encrusting types .... .. . . ....

branching types ............ .

Coelenterata: 

Micrabacia sp.

Mollusca (Cephalopoda): 

Plac enticeras? sp. ......... ...... . . Mollusca (Bivalvia): 

Agerostrea falcata (Morton)

Anomia argentaria Morton

lintea Conrad ... .. .....

lintea donohuensis Stephenson

olmstedi Stephenson

tellinoides Morton

sp. ................. .............. ... ..... .... .... .... .. ...

n. sp. .............. ....... . . ....

Anomia? ^sp. . . .... . . ...

Aphrodina sp. .. . .... ..

n. sp. ............. . ..

Area bladensis (Stephenson)

carolinensis Conrad .......

sp. .................... ............. ... ......... ... .... ..... .......

Arca?sp. ............ .... .

Astarte?sp. ....... . ....... . ..

Barbatia?sp. ..........

Botula sp. ............ ...

Caesticorbula crassiplica (Gabb)

cf. C. willardi (Wade) . ...... .... ...... .. .. ...

sp. .............................................. . . . .. .... .. ..... ...

Cardium sp. ...... ....... .

sp. indet. ... ...... ...

Corbula bisulcata? Conrad? . . ..... ..... . .

sp. ............................................. ..... .......... ...... .. ..... ..... .....

Crassatella neusewis (Stephenson) ......... .... . . .

sp. ............................ ............... ... .... ....... ................ ........ ............

sp. ..................................................... ...... ......... ................. . ..........

sp. ............................................................................ ..................

+

+

+

+

+

+

R

R

r

R

r

R

R

R

F

r

R

F

F

R

F

R

R

+

+

+

+

F

r

£

R

R

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

A

\

F

F

R

F

R

r

R

F

F

F,

R

r

r

A

R

R

R

R

R

r

A

A

R

+

F

R

R

r

+

R

F

R

R

R

F

r

F

+

+

+

F

R

r

F

F

R

r

+

+

R

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

R

R

r

A

r

R

F

R

+

r

R

F

F

r

r

R

r

R

r
3 BLACK CREEK-PEEDEE FORMATIONAL CONTACT, CAPE FEAR RIVER REGION, N.C.

TABLE 2. Distribution of megainvertebrate fossils and vertebrate remains in the outcropping Cretaceous sections along the Cape Fear River, N.C., between

Walkers Bluff and Browns Landing Continued

Walkers Bluff

Deepwater 

Point

Donoho Creek 

Landing

Robinsons 

Landing

Browns 

Landing

Dreissena? sp. .................................... ................

Etea? sp. ................................................. ............

Exogyra cancellata Stephenson ..................

costata Say ........................... .......................

costata spinosa Stephenson . .............. ...

ponderosa erraticostata (Stephenson) .. ..

sp. ................................... ..................................

Exogyra sp. ............................................. .... ...

Flemingostrea blackensis (Stephenson) .

pratti (Stephenson) ............ ..... ..... .........

subspatulata (Forbes) (early form) ........

sp. .............. .... ......................................... ..

sp? ................................ ........ .................

Glycymeris sp. . ..... ... ...... .................... ..

Granocardium sp. .... ... ....

Idonearca sp. ............................ ... .... ......

Inoceramus sp. .................. ....... . ...... .... .

Legumen carolinensis (Conrad)? ......... .......

concentricum Stephenson . ................

Legumen sp. ........................ .... .... . ..... .

Leptosolen biplica Conrad ........ ... ....

Lima kerri Stephenson ... ........... ....... ......

oxypleura (Conrad) ......... ... ......

reticulata Forbes? ....... ..... ... .

sp. ........... ...... ....... .... ...

Limposis meeki Wade? . .. 

Linearia carolinensis Conrad? .. . ..

metastriata Conrad? ... .... ... ...

sp.

n. sp. A (cf. L. magnoliensis Stephenson)

n. sp. B 

Lineria? n. sp. ..... .

Lithophaga carolinensis Conrad

sp. (borings) ..... 

Lucina repleyana Wade . . .

sp. ... .......

Martesia? sp. ....

Nemodon brevifrons (Conrad)? .

cf. N. brevifrons Conrad

sp.

Nemodon? sy. . 

Nucula stantoni Stephenson

sp. 

Nuculana kerrensis (Stephenson)

cf. N. multk-oncentrica (Wade)

sp. 

Nymphalucina?parva (Stephenson) ..

cf. N. parva (Stephenson) 

Ostrea plumosa Morton

sloani Stephenson .

sp.

Pachycardium sp. . . 

Panopea decisa Conrad 

Paranomia scabra (Morton) 

Parmicorbula cf. P. suffalciata (Wade) . 

Phacoides glebula (Conrad) 

Pholadidea? sp. . ....

Pholadomya sp. 

Pinna sp. .... ... ....

Postligata greenensis (Stephenson)

sp. 

Protodonax n. sp. ......

Pteria?sp. ......

Radiopecten mississippiensis Conrad

quinquinarius (Conrad) 

Scabrotrigonia bartrami (Stephenson)?

cf. 5. bartrami (Stephenson) ..

eufaulensis (Gabb) ... ..... . ..

sp. ......
SECTION DESCRIPTIONS J

TABLE 2. Distribution of megainvertebrate fossils and vertebrate remains in the outcropping Cretaceous sections along the Cape Fear River, N.C., between

Walkers Bluff and Broums Landing Continued

Walkers Bluff

Deepwater 

Point

Donoho Creek 

Landing

Robinsons 

Landing

Browns 

Landing

Scabrotrigonia? sp. .. .... .. .. .... 

Solyma levis Stephenson . . ........... 

sp. ....................... ..... .... .. .. .... .... ..

Striarca sp. .... ........ . ... ... ... ... ....

Syncyclonema simplicius (Conrad) . . ... 

Tellinimeria elliptica (Conrad) .... 

stephensoni (Salisbury) ... ...... ... ... ....... 

cf.T. stephensoni (Salisbury) .. ............... ..........

sp. ................... ..................... ... .... . .. ...... ..... .

n. sp. (cf. T. gahhi (Gardner)) . .... 

Tellinimeria ? s p . .....

sp. .......................... ................................ ....... ....... ............. ......

sp. ................ .......................... ...... ..... ..... .....

Trigonia?sp. ........... ... ..... . ..... ......... .. .. ... ....

sp. ............................... ....................... ........................ ..................

Mollusca (Gastropoda): 

Acirsa (ffemiacirsa) sp.

Amuletum?s^. ..

Ampullospira? n. sp. . .... ..... ..... . . .. .... .. . .

Anchura sp. ..... ............ .

Anteglossa? sp. .. ... .

Ataphrus kerri Gabb ......................... ..

sp. ................. .... ........... ...... ..... ......

sp. ................................... .......... .... .... ......... . ..

Buccinopsis ? s p . ....

Cerithiella cf. C. imlayi (Stephenson) .......... ... 

cf. C. nodoliratum (Wade) 

cf. C. semirugatum (Wade) .... .. ..

Cerithiid indet. ......... ..........

Euspira rectilabrum (Conrad) . .... . ... ... .

E. sp. ...... . ... .... ....

E?sp. .................. .... ....... ...

Graciliala johnsoni (Stephenson)? ...

Gyrotropis kerri Gabb (plus operculum) . 

G. squamosus Gabb 

G. sp. . .... . . .......... . ..... .. .... ... 

G?sp. . ...... ...... .. .. .... .... ..

Laxispira monilifera Sohl ... .... 

Uopeplum larensis (Stephenson)

L?&p. ................ ........ ... .... . ... .. .

Lowenstamia liratus (Wade)? . . ... 

Melanatria?sp. .... . ..... 

Mesotoma sp. ...... .... . . Morea cancellaria (Conrad) . . .. ... . 

Nacicid boreholes . . .. .... .... .... .... ... 

Napulus sp. . ... .. . . .... .. 

Nerita sp. . . . ... .. ....

+

+

+

+

+

+ 

+

R

R

C

R

R

R

R

R

\

F

F

+

F

R

R

F

R

F

R

F

A

R

+

R

H

R

A

F

F

R

F

+ 

R

F

F

R

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+ 

+

R

r

R

R

r

R

R

R

R

R

R

R

\

R

R

+

F

*

F 

F

A

F

r

R

R

R

R

R

C

R

R 

R

R +

+

+

+

F

R

R

A

R

R

R

A

R

R

F

F

R

R

F

R

F

r

R

R

R

R

R

F

R
10 BLACK CREEK-PEEDEE FORMATIONAL CONTACT, CAPE FEAR RIVER REGION, N.C.

TABLE 2. Distribution of megainvertebr ate fossils and vertebrate remains in the outcropping Cretaceous sections along the Cape Fear River, N.C., between

Walkers Bluff and Browns Landing Continued

Walkers Bluff

Deepwater 

Point

Donoho Creek 

Landing

Robinsons 

Landing

Browns 

Landing

N. n. sp. .... . .

Ornopsis sp. .. ... .. .. ... . ...... ... 

Paladmete cf. P. gardnerae Wade

Pterocerella sp. ...... ...........

Pugnellus sp. .............

Pyrgulifera? sp. .................................. ..

Pyropsissp. ................ ...........

Seila cf. S. meeki (Wade)

Trachytriton? sp. ..........

Tubasp. ........................

Turritella kerrensis (Stephenson) ..

(Sohlitella) quadrilira (Johnson) ......... .............. ................

(Sohlitella) trilira (Conrad)

sp. ........................................ .............. .... ................... ..............

sp. (internal mold) ..........

Vivipariidae n. gen. et sp.

Indet. neogastropods

Vermes: 

Hamulus onyx Morton ...... .

walkerensis Stephenson ....................... .........

sp. ....................................................................................................

Serpula cretacea (Conrad) .. .

sp. .......................................................................... ..... ...................

Serpulid (large sized) .............. ......... .. .

Large annulate worm tube ......

Arthropoda (Malacostraca): 

Crab fingers ....................... ..

Echinodermata (Cirrepedea): 

Barnacle plates ..........

Echinodermata (Echinoidea): 

Echinoid parts . .

Vertebrata: 

Bone fragments .. . ... .

Fish teeth

Shark teeth

Vertebrae

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

R

F R

+

R

+

+

+

+

+

R

R

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

F

F

+

F +

+

+ F

A

+

+

+

r

R

R

R

R

R

R

+

R

F

R

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

>

+

>

R

*

c

r

+

R

R

>

>

+
SECTION DESCRIPTIONS 11

TABLE 3. Distribution of biostratigraphically important pollen species in the outcropping Cretaceous sections along the Cape Fear River, N.C., between

Walkers Bluff and Browns Landing

[The alphanumeric code assigned to each species by Wolfe (1976) is in parentheses after the binomen]

fl Walkers Jessups g. -5 Donoho Creek Robinsons Browns

Bluff Landing Q °" Landing Landing Landing

o » » 

SSSS (S(SMM

OtOtOtit

Betulaceoipollenites sp. A. (NO-3) . 

Brevicolporites sp. B (CP3F-2) 

Casuarinidites sp. A (NO-2) 

sp. B(NO-5)

Choanopollenites 

cf. C. conspicuus Tschudy (NA-8) 

sp. A (NA-3)

sp. E(NA-7) .... ......... ....

Extremipollis viva Tschudy (NJ-2) 

Holkopollenites 

cf. H. chemardensis Fairchild (CP3D-3)

? Holkopollenites sp. C (CP3E-1)

Labrapollis sp. A(NV-l) ..................

Osculapollis aequala Tschudy (NO- 1) . 

Plicapollis usitata Tschudy (NE-3)

aff. Plicapollis sp. A (NN-1) .............

? Plicapollis sp. C (ND-3)

Proteacidites sp. A (PR-1) ......................

sp. D(PR-4) ..........................................

sp. G(PR-7) ..................... ..............

Pseudoplicapollis endocuspa Tschudy (NC-2) 

serena Tschudy (NC-3) ....... ............ ... . ... .... ...

sp. A (NC-1) ..........................................................................

Pseudovacuopollis involute, Tschudy (NT- 1) ...

"Retitricolpites"sp. H (C3B-3) ..... ......

"Retitricolpites"sp. L (C3C-3) ................................

Triatriopollenites sp. A (NP-1) ..... . ...

sp. B (NP-2) .............................................. ............. .................

Tricolporites sp. K (CP3B-8) ............... ..... .......... .

Triporate type A (NU-1) ................................

?Trudopollis sp. A (NF-2) and 

Endoinfundibulapollis distincta 

Tschudy (NM-1) ........... ........... .

Relative frequency of abundance (in percent)

of dinoflagellates and acritarchs

+

+

+

.VL7

 f

 f

+

+

+

+

+

+ 

+

+

+

+

+

+

10.0

+

 f

+

 f

+

+

28.0

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

2.10

 f

 f

 f 

 f

 f

 f

+

20.5

 f

 f

 f

+

+ 

+

 f

 f

+

20.0

 f

 f

+

+

+

15.5

 f

 f

 f

 f

 f

 f

+

 f

+

+

+

 f

 f

13.0

 f

 f

+

 f 

 f

 f

+

35.5

 f

 f

 f 

 f

 f

73.0

+

 f 

 f

+

+

 f

 f

 f

58.4

 f

 f

 f

+

 f

 f

36.5

 f

 f

+

+

+

72.5

 f

 f 

+

 f

 f

+ 

 f

 f

72.5

+

+

37.5

 f

 f

+

+

 f

+

 f

69.0
12 BLACK CREEK-PEEDEE FORMATIONAL CONTACT, CAPE FEAR RIVER REGION, N.C.

which we refer to as the medial section. The downstream section is located 200 yd downriver from the 

medial section.

STRATIGRAPHIC COLUMN, UPSTREAM SECTION

At this exposure, we differentiated five lithologic 

units within the Cretaceous (units 1-5 of fig. 2) overlain 

by Neogene shell marls of the Waccamaw Formation of 

early Pleistocene age (unit 6 of fig. 2).

STRATIGRAPHIC COLUMN, MEDIAL SECTION

At this exposure, which is the highest outcrop along 

the bluff, we recognized three Cretaceous units, overlain by the Waccamaw Formation (units 1-4 of fig. 3).

STRATIGRAPHIC COLUMN, DOWNSTREAM SECTION

The Waccamaw marls and shell beds that overlie the 

Cretaceous deposits at the upstream and medial sections (unit 6 of fig. 2 and unit 4 of fig. 3, respectively) 

are absent in the main bluff face at the downstream 

section (fig. 4). Hence, the contact between the Cretaceous and the overlying unit, if present in the main 

bluff face, cannot be accurately located. At the extreme 

upriver end of the exposure, however, we observed one 

large float block of sandstone that is lithically and faunally like those incorporated in the basal part of the 

Waccamaw of the medial bluff section. At the downstream exposure, stratigraphic relationships are 

somewhat obscure, but there is a suggestion that the 

Waccamaw has been removed by channelling and that 

younger clastic sediment has filled the channel. This 

interpretation is supported by the reappearance of the 

Waccamaw Formation high on the heavily wooded 

slopes downriver from the main downstream bluff, 

where the basal marl again contains transported sandstone blocks and disconformably overlies the Cretaceous sands.

PALEONTOLOGY

Eight of the fossiliferous horizons from the Cretaceous part of the Walkers Bluff section were sampled and 

analyzed for their invertebrate fauna, and four samples 

of the carbonaceous clay were collected for palynological analysis (see figs. 2-4 for, the stratigraphic location 

of the paleontologic samples and tables 2 and 3 for a 

listing of their contained fauna and palynomorphs). In 

addition, analyses were made of the fossils contained in 

the sandstone blocks incorporated in the basal part of 

the Waccamaw Formation at the medial section, as preliminary field examination revealed that the blocks 

contain a fauna of Late Cretaceous age.

Sample 31794 (U.S. Geological Survey Mesozoic

Invertebrate Collection Number) was taken from a lenticular sandstone 8 to 10 ft above water level. This 

sandstone occurred as float on the face of the bluff, and 

we are uncertain as to whether it was derived from the 

series of discontinuous lenses of sandstone at the top of 

unit 1 of the downstream section or from an undetected 

sandstone within the laminated sands and clays of 

unit 1.

Fossils in samples 31844, 31849, and 31850 (all from 

the downstream section) occur only as impressions, 

whereas shell material was recovered from all other 

samples.

More than 75 species of spores and pollen were 

recorded from the Walkers Bluff samples. Of these, we 

consider only 23 to be conspecific with forms illustrated 

by Wolfe (1976) from the Raritan and Salisbury 

embayments. Dinoflagellates and acritarchs were also 

observed in the palynologic samples, and their abundance relative to terrestrially derived spores and pollen 

is presented in table 3.

DISCUSSION

The lithologic and paleontologic data from the 

Walkers Bluff sections suggest that vertical and lateral facies changes within the bluff are rapid and, in 

some places, abrupt, especially in the upper part of the 

section. The stratigraphic relationships among the 

three measured sections (fig. 5) were determined by 

walking along the face of the bluff and observing the 

physical relationships among the units.

The only laterally persistent lithologic unit at 

Walkers Bluff is the laminated sand and carbonaceous 

clay sequence at the base of all three sections. Although 

the basal few feet of the bluff are covered by vegetation, 

scattered exposures suggest that the laminated 

sequence extends to, and probably below, water level.

Vertical facies changes are well illustrated at the 

downstream section. In addition to the lithologic evidence for an abrupt change from the lower energy conditions of unit 1 to the higher energy conditions of unit 2 

(and possibly unit 3), the paleontologic data provide 

information concerning the paleoenvironments of these 

units. The fauna recovered from the upper part of unit 

1 (samples 31844 and 31849) is diverse; there is a dominantly infaunal assemblage of both deposit feeders 

(Nuculana, Tellina, Linearid) and suspension feeders 

(Lutina, Veniella, Cyprimeria). The presence of these 

elements indicates a stable substrate rich in organic 

material. The discontinuous sandstone lenses at the top 

of unit 1 contain an assemblage (sample 31843) of proportionately more epifaunal elements (Flemingostrea, 

Exogyra, Inoceramus) and shallow, burrowing bivalves 

(Scabrotrigonia, Trachycardium) than are found below,
SECTION DESCRIPTIONS 13

31847- 

31848 

6. Shell and sandy shell marl containing reworked blocks of 

sandstone at the base.

Covered

5. Laminated sand and carbonaceous clay.

4. Sand, medium-grained, subangular, well-sorted, unfossiliferous, massive.

3. Sandstone, medium- to coarse-grained, angular to subrounded, poorly sorted, fossiliferous, crossbedded to 

massive.

2. Sand, coarse-grained, subangular, poorly sorted, fossiliferous, crossbedded.

1. Sand containing laminated carbonaceous clay.

METERS 

0-

3 

FEET 

-0

EXPLANATION

Vw*

 _ _ _ .

 .

 .

Shell

Clay

Sand

 'o °.

0 ' . 

0 '" ' O '.

 'V .«' 

° ' A . °

o' -,; ' O'"'

Medium-grained 

sand

Medium- to coarsegrained sandstone

Coarse-grained 

sand

Wood fragments 

Burrows

FIGURE 2. Stratigraphic column of the upstream section exposed at Walkers Bluff. U.S. Geological Survey Mesozoic Invertebrate Collection Numbers are to the far left of the column. Lithologic unit numbers are to the right of the column.
14 BLACK CREEK-PEEDEE FORMATIONAL CONTACT, CAPE FEAR RIVER REGION, N.C.

31793

R2238D

31845

R2238CR2238B

R2238A

'' '! '.' ' ' ; ' '.-'>.' ' '.' ]** $£&''

:.-'::.::.:.:x.'£&e:':'-:'' :- :. -':'- :

4. Shell and sandy shell marl containing reworked blocks of 

sandstone at the base.

3. Laminated clay and sand.

2. Sand, fine-grained, angular to subangular, well-sorted, fossiliferous, massive.

1. Sand containing laminated carbonaceous clay.

METERS FEET O-r-0

3-

EXPLANATION

Shell

Sand

Clay

Burrows

FIGURE 3. Stratigraphic column of the medial section exposed at Walkers Bluff. U.S. Geological Survey Mesozoic Invertebrate 

Collection Numbers are to the far left and U.S. Geological Survey Paleobotanical Collection Numbers are to the near left of 

the column. Lithologic unit numbers are to the right of the column.
SECTION DESCRIPTIONS 15

31850

31843

31844.

31849

31794

 " "'Lf:' ' '' " .?;!?.".* «l':'-'.:.»'.<>' " '': 

i°:~;:&- '-;,.0 . «, .- '. V V-' : "' : ?:.° o Jf.'o -"o <<"/.°. .' - o".o o o f o' o .'/.. -!§' ;0*".

 ^ : : ^^V: V»': i? :':Cc'^'°/'> °^°'°

3. Sand, fine- to medium-grained, subangular, poorly to wellsorted, unfossiliferous, massive; a 2-foot-thick clay bed is 

present 10 feet from the top of the unit.

2. Sand, medium-grained, subangular, poorly sorted, fossil if erous, crossbedded; fossils are present as impressions in clay drapes along bedding planes.

1. Sand containing laminated carbonaceous clay; discontinuous fossiliferous sandstone lenses are present at the top 

of the unit.

METERS FEET 

0 r 0

 10

EXPLANATION

. __ _ _ _

*iV-:£V;';

Clay

Sand

' 0 ' . 0

> . " . o ' 

n .

V>;.v.V«

; o : o Vo .

Fine- to mediumgrained sand

Medium-grained 

sand

o-:K-^.;= Crossbedding

FIGURE 4. Stratigraphic column of the downstream section exposed at Walkers Bluff. U.S. Geological Survey Mesozoic Invertebrate 

Collection Numbers are to the far left of the column. Lithologic unit numbers are to the right of the column.
Downstream 

Section

FIGURE 5. Physical correlation of the lithologic units exposed at the downstream, medial, and upstream sections at Walker
SECTION DESCRIPTIONS 17

suggesting a less stable substrate and perhaps shallower water depths than those of the laminated 

sequence. The overlying crossbedded sands contain a 

less diverse, transported assemblage that, when 

coupled with the bedding features, confirms a vertical 

facies change from the low-energy, organic-rich, stable 

substrate environment of unit 1 to the high-energy, 

unstable substrate environment of unit 2.

Lateral facies changes are illustrated by the fauna 

contained in the sands and sandstones that overlie the 

basal laminated sequence (samples 31848 and 31847 of 

the upstream section and sample 31845 of the medial 

section). In an upstream direction, there is an increase 

in the relative abundance of arcoids and cardiids, which 

is suggestive of increased substrate instability. The 

presence of Nerita (a common intertidal form) in the 

sandstone of the upstream section is further evidence of 

higher energy conditions at this locality.

Jessups Landing

STRATIGRAPHIC COLUMN

Only two lithologic units are differentiated at Jessups 

Landing (units 1 and 2 of fig. 6).

PALEONTOLOGY

No megafossils were observed at Jessups Landing, 

but two samples were taken from the carbonaceous 

clays within the Cretaceous part of the section (that is, 

unit 1). The stratigraphic positions of the samples are 

indicated in figure 6, and the biostratigraphically 

important species recovered from the samples are listed 

in table 3. The relative abundance of dinoflagellates 

and acritarchs is presented in table 3.

DISCUSSION

We did not observe the fossiliferous marl mentioned 

by Stephenson (1912) as cropping out at the base of the 

section at Jessups Landing before construction of the 

lock and dam system. For this reason, we are unable to 

relate these marls lithologically, paleontologically, or 

paleoenvironmentally to any of the fossiliferous units 

at Walkers Bluff.

As they are at Walkers Bluff, lateral and vertical 

facies changes from crossbedded sands to laminated 

clay lenses or beds are both rapid and abrupt at Jessups 

Landing. We did not observe any of the crossbed sets or 

clay beds to be continuous across the entire outcrop.

Deepwater Point

The fossiliferous marls and sandstones pictured by 

Stephenson (1912; 1923, pi. 5, fig. 13) from Deepwater

Point no longer crop out; they have been covered by 

water that has backed up owing to the construction of 

Lock and Dam No. 2 on the Cape Fear River. However, 

we located these units on the river bottom, and, by diving, two samples of marl and one of sandstone were collected for analysis of their megafossil content. One 

sample of marl was also used for palynologic analysis.

LITHOLOGIC DESCRIPTIONS OF THE SAMPLES

Although we cannot provide a measured section for 

the rocks exposed along the river bottom at Deepwater 

Point, the lithology of the samples collected can be described as follows:

Sample 31860: Silty, fine-grained, gray, fossiliferous 

sandstone containing pockets (burrows?) of glauconitic, carbonaceous, coarse-grained sand. Clasts of 

carbonaceous clay and worn phosphate nodules are 

present.

Sample 31861: Unconsolidated, gray, sparingly glauconitic, fossiliferous, medium- to coarse-grained, 

angular quartz sand; some granule-sized quartz 

grains are present.

Sample 31862: Light-gray, glauconitic, silty, fossiliferous, medium-grained sand. Small phosphate pebbles and abraded pieces of wood and bone are 

present.

PALEONTOLOGY

Samples 31860 and 31861 were analyzed only for 

their megafossil content; sample 31862 was analyzed 

for both megafossils and palynomorphs (this sample 

has also been assigned U.S. Geological Survey Paleobotanical Collection Number R2411). The megafossils 

present in these samples are listed in table 2, and the 

biostratigraphically important palynomorphs recovered from sample 31862 (R2411) are listed in table 3, 

where the relative abundance of dinoflagellates and 

acritarchs in the sample is also given.

Donoho Creek Landing 

STRATIGRAPHIC COLUMN

Approximately 30 ft of Cretaceous sediments are 

exposed at Donoho Creek Landing (that is, Donohue 

Creek Landing of Stephenson, 1912, 1923), within 

which we recognized seven lithologic units (units 1-7 of 

fig. 7). The Cretaceous units are overlain by 10 ft of 

alluvial(?) deposits (unit 8 of fig. 7).

PALEONTOLOGY

Five megafossil collections were taken from four of 

the fossiliferous sands that occur at Donoho Creek
18 BLACK CREEK-PEEDEE FORMATIONAL CONTACT, CAPE FEAR RIVER REGION, N.C.

R2239B

R2239A

2. Sand, coarse-grained, angular to subangular, poorly sorted, 

massive to crossbedded; pebbles and cobbles are present 

at base.

> 1. Sand and clay; beds and lenses of sand and carbonaceous 

clay interfinger and alternate throughout.

METERS FEET 

O-r-0

EXPLANATION

Coarse-grained 

sand

Crossbedding

3-

FIGURE 6. Stratigraphic column of the section exposed at Jessups Landing. U.S. Geological Survey Paleobotanical Collection Numbers 

are to the left of the column. Lithologic unit numbers are to the right of the column.
SECTION DESCRIPTIONS 19

Landing, and four carbonaceous clay samples were 

taken for palynologic analysis. The Stratigraphic positions of the samples are indicated in figure 7. The 

occurrences of megafossils from these collections are 

presented in table 2, and the biostratigraphically 

important pollen species recovered from the carbonaceous clays are listed in table 3, along with the relative frequency of dinoflagellates and acritarchs.

DISCUSSION

The megafossil assemblage from samples 31796 and 

31868 of unit 2 appears to have been transported, 

mixed, and significantly biased by preservational 

(diagenetic) factors. As preserved, the molluscan elements are almost entirely epifaunal suspension feeders. 

The most unusual aspect of these collections, however, 

is the abundance of bryozoa and barnacle plates. The 

bryozoans occur as encrusters on shells and as broken 

portions of branching types. Gooseneck barnacles are of 

occasional to common occurrence in the Gulf Coast and 

Western Interior chalks but have not been reported in 

as high an abundance from quartzose clastic sediments 

as we have observed them in these samples.

The megafossil assemblage of sample 31795 (unit 3) 

has also been transported; it contains elements of bar, 

lower shoreface, and possibly grass-flat facies. The 

absence of deposit feeders reflects firm, sandy bottom 

conditions lacking in organic content. No marginal 

marine elements are present in this sample, and the

R2240D

31866

R2240C

8. Sand, medium- to coarse-grained, subangular, well-sorted, unfossiliferous, crossbedded; very coarse grained sand and gravel is 

present at the base.

31797

31795

31868,

31796

7. Sand, medium-grained in a silty matrix, subangular, poorly sorted, 

fossiliferous, massive.

6. Sandstone, medium- to coarse-grained, subangular, poorly sorted, 

/ fossiliferous, massive.

S*~~~ '.'"** ' I J f>l»i L "'. " J, " - t i o*- < /

^i) ' _ ' ' *.' **'T;'v*'***'» f* '*' '*'' t ±^ ^' ^anc'' medium to very coarse grained, subrounded, poorly sorted,

" -» .QCgrr fossiliferous; concentrations of quartz pebbles, bored phosphate

T- 7-^ ; . ^/c-v .IIT^ }v pebbles, amber, abraded shell, and vertebrate teeth and bone '" -. '. - '- -' v,L,- - - - _:- < \ common.

Clay, carbonaceous; very fine grained sand partings are present

throughout.

 3. Sandstone, medium- to coarse-grained, subrounded to subangular, 

poorly sorted, fossiliferous, planar to crossbedded; the unit is 

lenticular and is contained within the upper half of unit 2. 

^2. Sand, medium- to coarse-grained, subrounded to subangular, poorly 

sorted, fossiliferous, bedding inclined in part.

. R2240B EyU- = ** ' -'r '-'.^-'

R2240Ab:.v .V~;;'. : \^^^^~^

METERS FEET 

0 i 0

1. Laminated sand and carbonaceous clay.

3 

EXPLANATION

Sand

Medium-grained 

sand

Medium- to coarsegrained sand

Medium- to very 

coarse grained 

sand

Medium- to coarsegrained sandstone

Gravel

FIGURE 7. Stratigraphic column of the section exposed at Donoho Creek Landing. U.S. Geological Survey Mpsozoic Invertebrate 

Collection Numbers are to the far left and U.S. Geological Survey Paleobotanical Collection Numbers are to the near left of the column. 

Lithologic unit numbers are to the right of the column.
20 BLACK CREEK-PEEDEE FORMATIONAL CONTACT, CAPE FEAR RIVER REGION, N.C.

assemblage in general suggests nearshore, open marine 

conditions of normal salinity. The presence of only one 

barnacle plate in this sample, compared -to this abundance of plates in the surrounding sands of unit 2, suggests a short-term increase in energy regime during 

deposition of unit 3; this conclusion is supported by the 

larger shell size in unit 3 than is found in unit 2.

Robinsons Landing

STRATIGRAPHIC COLUMN

Here, as at Donoho Creek Landing, approximately 30 

ft of Cretaceous sediments are exposed. Three lithologic 

units are recognized within the Cretaceous deposits 

(units 1-3 of fig. 8), overlain by 10 ft of alluvial(?) sediments (unit 5 of fig 8). Between the Cretaceous and 

alluvial(?) sediments are discontinuous lenses of shell, 

marl, and bored nodules (unit 5 of fig. 8) that probably 

belong to the Waccamaw Formation.

PALEONTOLOGY

At Robinsons Landing, four megafossil collections 

were made, and palynologic samples were taken at 

three horizons; the stratigraphic positions of these samples are shown in figure 8, and the megafossil and biostratigraphically important palynomorphs recovered 

from them are listed in tables 2 and 3, respectively. 

Dinoflagellate and acritarch abundance is also presented in table 3.

Browns Landing

STRATIGRAPHIC COLUMN

At several places over a reach of about 150 yd along 

the river in the vicinity of Browns Landing, sandstone 

blocks litter the banks but the bluffs are overgrown 

with vegetation. At one point (milepost 49.2), we were 

able to recover a partial section by digging into a 

covered but near-vertical face. Three lithologic units 

within the Cretaceous were recognized (units 1-3 of fig. 

9), but both the base and the top of the section were 

obscured by vegetation.

PALEONTOLOGY

Two collections of megafossils were made at Browns 

Landing. The stratigraphic positions of these samples 

are shown in figure 9, and the megafossils are listed in 

table 2. Similarly, two palynomorph samples were 

taken at Browns Landing; assemblages of the biostratigraphically important species are listed in table 3, 

along with the relative abundance of dinoflagellates 

and acritarchs. The stratigraphic positions of the palynomorph samples are shown in figure 9.

DISCUSSION

The restricted nature of the outcrop precludes lateral 

tracing of the units. The intermittent distribution of the 

sandstone float blocks of unit 1 along the river most 

probably indicates a lensing unit.

REMARKS

Similar lithostratigraphic units are exposed at 

Donoho Creek, Robinsons, and Browns Landings. The 

lan lated sand and clay sequence at the base of the 

sr m at Robinsons Landing (unit 1 of fig. 8) appears 

to be the same stratigraphic unit as the basal unit of 

Donoho Creek Landing (unit 1 of fig. 7). This unit, if 

present at Browns Landing, is covered. The sands of 

units 2 and 3 at Donoho Creek Landing are absent at 

Robinsons Landing but present (units 1 and 2) at 

Browns Landing, which suggests rapid lateral facies 

changes at this stratigraphic horizon.

The Cretaceous units that overlie these variable 

lithologies show a greater lateral consistency throughout these sections. Present at all three sections is a thin 

(2-in-thick) zone of poorly sorted, relatively coarsegrained sand that contains phosphate pebbles and 

grains, shark teeth, vertebrate remains, rip-up clasts, 

and other evidence that an unconformity occurs at the 

base of the unit (that is, at the bases of unit 5 at Donoho 

Creek Landing, unit 2 at Robinsons Landing, and unit 2 

at Browns Landing). The stratigraphically highest Cretaceous unit at all three sections (units 7, 3, and 3 of 

Donoho Creek, Robinsons, and Browns Landings, 

respectively) is also laterally persistent, as shown by its 

uniform lithologic character and contained fauna. 

Hence, the unconformity recognized at these localities 

separates lithologic units indicative of rapidly changing 

facies and energy conditions below from units indicative of more uniform conditions above.

INTERPRETATIONS

Age and Biostratigraphic Correlations

Previous interpretations regarding the nature of the 

Black Creek-Peedee contact were based, in large part, 

on the ages assigned to the sections from Walkers Bluff 

to Browns Landing. The megafossil data provided by 

Stephenson (1923) and the megafossil and microfossil 

data provided by Brett and Wheeler (1961) were used 

by them and subsequent investigators as evidence that 

the Walkers Bluff to Browns Landing sections are synchronous or, at most, were deposited during an immeasurably short time span.

The previously suggested synchroneity is based 

primarily on similarities in the fauna reported from 

Walkers Bluff and Donoho Creek Landing. However,
INTERPRETATIONS 21

R2241C

31865

31864

31799

31859

9. ::

5. Sand, medium- to coarse-grained, subangular, well-sorted, 

unfossiliferous, crossbedded; very coarse grained sand 

and gravel are present at the base.

4. Shell, sandy shell marl and bored nodules; the unit is found 

as discontinuous lenses.

3. Sand, medium-grained in a silty matrix, subangular, poorly 

sorted, fossiliferous, massive.

2. Sand, medium- to coarse-grained, subangular to subrounded, fossiliferous; phosphate grains common.

'^-~~. 1. Laminated sand and carbonaceous clay.

METERS FEET 

O-i O

3-

.' '. v."

: > ' '«' '»'".

EX

Sand

Medium-grained 

sand'

Medium- to coarsegrained sand

PLANATION

SiVi?

K -'^

Jrl-I-I-I:

Gravel 

Shell 

Clay

K' Burrows

FIGURE 8. Stratigraphic column of the section exposed at Robinsons Landing. U.S. Geological Survey Mesozoic Invertebrate Collection 

Numbers are to the far left and U.S. Geological Survey Paleobotanical Collection Numbers are to the near left of the column. Lithologic 

unit numbers are to the right of the column.
22 BLACK CREEK-PEEDEE FORMATIONAL CONTACT, CAPE FEAR RIVER REGION, N.C.

31802

3. Sandstone, fine-grained to granule-sized, subangular, 

/ poorly sorted, fossiliferous, bedding characteristics not

31801

2. Sand, fine- to medium-grained, subrounded to subangular, 

poorly sorted, fossiliferous; phosphate grains and pebbles, vertebrate remains, and abraded shell material are 

present.

1. Sandstone, medium- to coarse-grained, subrounded to subangular, fossiliferous; bedding is planar to inclined.

METERS 

0-

Covered

EXPLANATION

Fine- to mediumgrained sand

Fine grained to 

granule-sized 

sandstone

Medium- to coarsegrained sandstone

nnrfr Clay

3-

FEET 

-0

" 10

FIGURE 9. Stratigraphic column of the section exposed at Browns Landing. U.S. Geological Survey Mesozoic Invertebrate Collection 

Numbers are to the far left and U.S. Geological Survey Paleobotanical Collection Numbers are to the near left of the column. Lithologic 

unit numbers are to the right of the column.

two problems that exist in the reporting of the paleontologic data from these localities suggest the similarities 

may be more apparent than real. First, the faunal lists 

presented by Stephenson (1912, 1923) from Donoho 

Creek Landing are composites; he did not distinguish 

the levels from which the fossils were collected. Therefore, any changes in fauna that may occur within the 

sections are masked. Second, the fauna reported by 

Stephenson (1923) and Brett and Wheeler (1961) from 

Walkers Bluff was derived from a sandstone that these 

and other workers (for example, Heron and Wheeler, 

1964) considered as capping the Cretaceous section at 

this locality. No counterpart of the blocks is exposed in 

any of the sections at Walkers Bluff.

With regard to the sandstone from which the 

Walkers Bluff fauna was collected by Stephenson 

(1912, 1923) and Brett and Wheeler (1961), a comparison of our measured sections with those provided by 

Stephenson (1912,1923), Brett and Wheeler (1961), and 

Heron and Wheeler (1964) indicates that the sandstone 

considered by these workers as capping the Cretaceous 

part of the section equates with the zone of sandstone 

blocks of Cretaceous age that we consider to have been 

reworked into the base of the Waccamaw Formation 

(see figs. 2 and 3). Evidence that these blocks of sandstone are not stratigraphically in place but are, in fact, 

reworked is as follows: 

1. Many of the blocks are underlain by a few inches of
INTERPRETATIONS 23

shell marl of the Waccamaw Formation. As mentioned in our description of the upstream and 

medial sections at Walkers Bluff, the shell marl 

that immediately underlies the blocks of sandstone 

contains phosphate pebbles, clay balls, and wood 

fragments, all of which indicate the presence of an 

unconformity below the sandstone blocks.

2. Both the upper and lower surfaces of the blocks 

show round-based, cylindrical (pholad?) borings 

that commonly are more than 1 in. long; the apertures of the borings are worn.

3. Several of the blocks we examined were encrusted 

on all sides by Tertiary pyncnodonts, barnacles, and 

colonial corals (shell material preserved) and Spondylus (shell material permineralized). The contrast 

between mineralized and original shell material 

suggests more than one episode of epizoan encrustation. In addition, barnacles, bryozoa, and other 

debris are cemented in patches on both the upper 

and lower surfaces.

4. The fauna contained within the blocks, although of 

Cretaceous age, is distinct from the fauna of any of 

the other collections made at Walkers Bluff (see 

table 2).

These features indicate that the sandstone blocks 

have had a long and complex history that may predate 

their incorporation in the Waccamaw Formation. The 

presence of broken and worn shell, plant, and bone 

debris and nonarticulated bivalves together with clay 

casts within the sandstone suggests that the contained 

fauna was transported. Yet many of the bivalves are 

well preserved, indicating that they were derived 

from nearby localities. Subsequent to lithification, the 

blocks were exposed and bored. The blocks were then 

transported, during which time the apertures of the 

borings were eroded. At some later time, the sandstone blocks acted as a hardground attachment surface for epizoans, some of which overgrew the worn 

margins of the borings. Because the encrusters are 

present on both the upper and lower surfaces, it 

appears that the blocks again had been transported 

and (or) rolled at least once prior to their incorporation in the Waccamaw Formation.

Regardless of their postdepositional history, the 

reworked nature of the sandstone blocks in the upper 

part of the Walkers Bluff section suggests that neither 

their stratigraphic position nor the contained fauna 

should be considered in any interpretation of the age of 

the section or in any physical correlation of the Cretaceous lithologic units exposed at Walkers Bluff with those 

at other localities. Therefore, the age of the in-place 

Cretaceous deposits at Walkers Bluff should be based 

only on an assessment of the in-place invertebrate fauna 

from samples 31844,31849,31843,31850,31845,31847,

and 31848, and the palynomorph samples R2238A, B, 

C, and D.

The age of the sediments from the Cape Fear River 

sections as suggested by the invertebrate fauna can best 

be established by relating the fauna to the zonation 

established by Stephenson (1914, 1923) for the Upper 

Cretaceous Series of the Coastal Plain province. 

According to this zonation, two range zones are recognized in the Campanian and Maestrichtian Stages: the 

Exogyra ponderosa Zone below and the E. costata Zone 

above. A third zone, the E. cancellata Zone, is defined 

by the range of the nominate species and includes the 

lower part of the E. costata Zone. The zones and the 

ages assigned to them are shown in the top half of figure 10. In the bottom half of figure 10 are the ranges of 

several species of mollusks that Stephenson (1914, 

1923), Sohl and Mello (1970), and Sohl and Smith (1980) 

have shown to be biostratigraphically useful and that 

are present in our collections from the Cape Fear River 

sections.

A comparison of the distribution of invertebrate fossils in the Walkers Bluff to Browns Landing sections 

(table 2) with the ranges indicated in figure 10 suggests 

the following:

1. The in-place Cretaceous sediments at Walkers 

Bluff can be placed high in the Exogyra ponderosa 

Zone but not at the top of the zone. This is suggested 

by the concurrence of Haustator quadrilira, Phacoides? glebula, and Flemingostrea subspatulata 

(early form).

2. At Deepwater Point, the concurrence of Phacoides? 

glebula and Flemingostrea subspatulata (early 

form) suggests that the sediments there, too, can be 

placed near, but not at, the top of the Exogyra ponderosa Zone. The first occurrence of Crenella mitchelli and the apparent absence of Haustator quadrilira further suggests that the sediments at 

Deepwater Point may be younger than those 

exposed at Walkers Bluff.

3. The basal units that occur below the unconformity 

at Donoho Creek Landing (units 1-4 of fig. 7) and 

Browns Landing (units 1 and 2 of fig. 9) include 

Exogyra ponderosa erraticostata, Flemingostrea 

pratti, and Exogyra costata spinosa. As shown in 

figure 10, their concurrence suggests a biostratigraphic equivalency with the uppermost part of the 

Exogyra ponderosa Zone.

4. The uppermost Cretaceous units at Donoho Creek 

Landing (unit 7 of fig. 7), Robinsons Landing (unit 3 

of fig. 8), and Browns Landing (unit 3 of fig 9) contain Exogyra ponderosa erraticostata, E. cancellata, 

E. costata spinosa, and Anomia tellinoides, which 

suggest that these units can be assigned to the basal 

part of the Exogyra cancellata Zone.
24 BLACK CREEK-PEEDEE FORMATIONAL CONTACT, CAPE FEAR RIVER REGION, N.C.

5. The sandstone blocks incorporated in the base of the 

Waccamaw Formation at Walkers Bluff are faunally similar to the units at Deepwater Point and 

below the unconformity at Donoho Creek and 

Browns Landings. This similarity indicates that the 

blocks at Walkers Bluff were derived from a unit 

situated stratigraphically above any of the in-place 

Cretaceous units exposed in the bluff. In support of 

this conclusion is the presence of Flemingostrea 

pratti in both the reworked sandstone blocks at 

Walkers Bluff and the units below the unconformity at Donoho Creek and Browns Landings. The 

restricted stratigraphic range of this species (see 

fig. 10) indicates similar ages for the units in which 

it is contained, an age that is younger than that 

suggested by the fauna of the in-place Cretaceous 

units at Walkers Bluff.

According to the ages assigned to the invertebrate 

zone by Brouwers and Hazel (1978), the Walkers Bluff 

to Browns Landing sections are latest Campanian to

earliest Maestrichtian in age and are not synchronous 

but chronologically sequential.

Our palynologic data indicate ages that are similar 

to, although less precise than, those suggested by the 

invertebrate data for the Cape Fear River sections 

between Walkers Bluff and Browns Landing. The less 

precise nature of the palynologic data is the result of 

several factors, among which are the limited geographic sampling upon which the existing zonation of 

Wolfe (1976) was based and the lack of taxonomic descriptions of the biostratigraphically important pollen 

types upon which the zonation was established.

Despite these drawbacks, however, broad similarities 

do exist between the Cape Fear River sections and the 

Raritan and Salisbury embayments of the northern 

Atlantic Coastal Plain with regard to the stratigraphic 

distribution of certain pollen types. Figure 11 shows 

the ranges of the 31 biostratigraphically important 

pollen species present in the Walkers Bluff to Browns 

Landing sections (see table 3) as they occur at the

Tayloran Navarroan

Provincial 

Stage

European 

Campanian Stage Maestrichtian

Lower (part) Upper Lower Middle

Exogyra costata Zone

Exogyra ponderosa Zone

Exogyra cancellata Zone

Exogyra ponderosa erraticostata

- Haustator quadrilira

- Pkacoides ? glebula

Flemingostrea subspatulata (early form)

Crenella mitchelli 

Flemingostrea pratti

Exogyra costata spinosa 

Ostrea sloani - 

Anomia tellinoides 

Exogyra cancellata 

Exogyra costata

FIGURE 10. Stratigraphic ranges of 11 biostratigraphically important invertebrate fossils that are found in exposures along the Cape

Fear River between Walkers Bluff and Browns Landing.
INTERPRETATIONS 25

Lower Campanian Upper 

Campanian Maestrichtian Stage

Pollen 

zone

CA-2 CA-3

CA-4

CA-5 CA-6/MA-1

Complexiapollis abdita (NB-1)

Pseudoplicapollis endocuspa (NC-2) 

Pseudoplicapollis sp. A (NC-1) 

Pseudoplicapollis serena (NC-3)

Proteaddites sp. A (PR-1)

IHolkopollenites sp. C (CP3E-1)

7Plicapollis sp. C (ND-3)

ITrudopollis sp. A and Endoinfundibulapollis distincta (NF-2 and NM-1)

Osculapollis aequala (NO-1) ____________________

Choanopollenites sp. E (NA-7)

"Retitncolpites" sp. L (C3C-3) ___

aff. Plicapollis sp. A (NN-1) ________________

Extremipollis viva (NJ-2) ________________

Proteaddites sp. G (PR-7) _______________

Triporate type A (NU-1) _________

Caswrinidites sp. A (NO-2) ___________

Holkopollenites cf. H. chemardensis (CP3D-3)

Baculostephanocolpites sp. A (MPH-1) 

Triatriopollenites sp. A (NP-1) 

Plicapollis Msitata (NE-3)

Choanopollenites sp. A (NA-3) 

Triatriopollenites sp. B (NP-2)

"Retitricolpites'sp. H (C3B-3) 

Proteaddites sp. D (PR-4) 

Tricolporites sp. K (CP3B-8) 

Pseudovacuopollis involuta (NT-1) 

Choanopollenites cf. C. canspicuus (NA-8) 

Casuarinidites sp. 8 (NO-5) 

Labrapollis sp. A (NV-1) 

Brevicolporites sp. B (CP3F-2) 

Betulaceoipollenites sp. A (NO-3)

FIGURE 11. Stratigraphic ranges of 31 biostratigraphically important pollen species that are found in exposures along the Cape Fear River between Walkers Bluff and Browns Landing (modified from Wolfe, 

1976). The alphanumeric code assigned by Wolfe to each species is in parentheses after the binomen.
26 BLACK CREEK-PEEDEE FORMATIONAL CONTACT, CAPE FEAR RIVER REGION, N.C.

stratotypes of Wolfe's (1976) zones; the figure gives the 

pollen zones established by Wolfe (1976) and the ages 

assigned to the Campanian and Maestrichtian lithostratigraphic units of the Raritan and Salisbury embayments by Brouwers and Hazel (1978).

A comparison of the data presented in table 3 and 

figure 11 provides useful information with regard to 

the application of Wolfe's (1976) zonation to the Campanian and Maestrichtian units of North Carolina. Specifically, it indicates that the ranges of some, if not all, 

of the guide palynomorphs must be modified. The need 

for extending the ranges of some species is indicated by 

the concurrence of species in the Cape Fear River samples that Wolfe (1976) indicated as being separated in 

time; most notable is the concurrence of Complexiopollis abdita, whose last occurrence upsection was 

recorded by Wolfe (1976) from zone CA-4, with Plicapollis usiiata, Pseudovacuopollis involuta, and others 

whose first appearance upsection was reported from 

subzone CA-5B.

Despite the imprecise nature of the palynologic data, 

the Walkers Bluff to Browns Landing sections appear 

to be biostratigraphically situated somewhere between 

pollen zone CA-4 of early Campanian Age and subzone 

CA-5B of late Campanian to early Maestrichtian Age, 

a range that encompasses the ages suggested by the 

invertebrate data.

Some palynologic events within the sections under 

investigation suggest possible relationships between the 

invertebrate and the palynologic zonations. One of these 

events is the last occurrence upsection of Complexiopollis abdita in the units below the unconformity at 

Donoho Creek, Robinsons, and Browns Landings. This 

species, along with several other species of Complexiopollis, is present in every Cape Fear River sample 

examined below these beds, including that part of the 

section stratigraphically below Walkers Bluff. However, no representatives of the genus are present stratigraphically above their last recorded occurrence at 

Donoho Creek, Robinsons, and Browns Landings. 

Hence, the top of the range of the genus Complexiopollis may be a palynologic datum that corresponds to the 

top of the Exogyra ponderosa Zone. Similarly, Betulaceoipollenites sp. A first appears above the unconformity at the Donoho Creek-Robinsons-Browns Landings 

sections. The species is present in almost all samples 

stratigraphically above the unconformity, and apparently it ranges to the top of the Cretaceous System of the 

Cape Fear River region. Its range, therefore, appears to 

coincide with that of Exogyra costata.

In addition to suggesting possible ages for the 

Walkers Bluff to Browns Landing sections, both the 

faunal and palynomorph data can be used to correlate 

these sections with lithologic units in other areas of the

Coastal Plain province. The biostratigraphic correlations suggested by these data for the Upper Cretaceous 

Series of New Jersey and the Chattahoochee River 

region of Alabama and Georgia are shown in figure 12. 

The correlation of the Cape Fear River section with the 

Chattahoochee River section is based on similar stratigraphic distributions of megainvertebrate fossils in 

both areas. Paleontologic studies in New Jersey and the 

Chattahoochee River region have been extensive, and 

we are more confident in correlating the Cape Fear 

River section with these areas than with others.

If we are correct both in the ages assigned to the Cape 

Fear River sections and in the correlations indicated in 

figure 12, then two conclusions can be drawn regarding 

the unconformity that occurs at Donoho Creek, Robinsons, and Browns Landings. First, the unconformity is 

of limited duration, occurring sometime between late 

Exogyra ponderosa Zone time and early E. cancellata 

Zone time (that is, during the short time span of concurrence of E. ponderosa erraticostata and E. costata). 

Second, the unconformity is of limited geographic 

extent. Although we have not documented the presence 

of this unconformity in other areas of North and South 

Carolina, it appears to be geographically restricted 

thereto; it has not been recognized in either New Jersey 

or the Chattahoochee River region where sedimentation 

has apparently been continuous during the time 

represented by the unconformity in the Cape Fear 

River area.

Paleoenvironmental Interpretations

The stratigraphic, lithologic, and paleontologic data 

presented by us and by previous workers suggest that, 

in the Cape Fear River area, an abrupt paleoenvironmental change takes place across the unconformity 

present at the Donoho Creek-Robinsons-Browns Landings sections. Below the unconformity, the lithologic 

units represent rapidly changing nearshore environments, whereas a uniform, deeper water, open marine 

shelfal environment is suggested by the units above the 

unconformity.

As pointed out by Swift (1964) and Swift and Heron 

(1967), tidal-flat deposits are represented below the 

unconformity by the laminated sands and carbonaceous 

clays at the base of Walkers Bluff (unit 1 of figs. 2-4), 

Donoho Creek Landing (unit 1 of fig. 7), and Robinsons 

Landing (unit 1 of fig. 8). This environment, which is 

the most frequently observed of the environments stratigraphically below the unconformity, is characterized 

by planar bedding and localized minor crossbedding, 

the presence of glauconite in the sand-dominated f acies, 

scattered burrow structures, and relatively fine 

grained and well sorted sediment. In addition, the
INTERPRETATIONS 27

environment is dominated by infaunal deposit and suspension feeders (sample 31844, downstream section at 

Walkers Bluff), which indicate a relatively stable and 

organically rich substrate; such assemblages are consistent with the interpretation that this is a tidal-flat 

environment.

In contrast to the laminated, horizontally bedded, 

and laterally persistent nature of the tidal-flat deposits 

described above, the abrupt lateral and vertical 

changes in the sands and clays exposed at Jessups 

Landing indicate an environment in which energy conditions fluctuated rapidly. There, the sands are coarser 

grained and entirely crossbedded; clay drapes along the 

bedding planes attest to rapidly changing energy conditions. These characteristics, coupled with the presence of Ophiomorpha burrows, suggest a nearshore to 

upper shore-face depositional environment for the 

sands at Jessups Landing. These sands alternate and 

interfinger with discontinuous, laminated, carbonaceous clay beds that contain fine-grained sand partings. 

The clays were deposited under relatively uniform lowenergy conditions, and the entire Jessups Landing section probably represents a sequence of oscillating nearshore or, as suggested by Powers (1951), fluvially 

dominated depositional environments.

The sand units at Walkers Bluff (units 2-4 of the 

upstream section, fig. 2; unit 2 of the medial section, fig. 

3; unit 2 and the lenticular sandstones at the top of unit 

1 of the downstream section, fig. 4) and below the 

unconformity at Donoho Creek Landing (units 2 and 3 

of fig. 7) and Browns Landing (unit 1 of fig. 9) are 

highly variable in their sedimentary characteristics, 

faunal assemblages, and trophic structure nuclei. As 

we have already discussed, there is a rapid lateral 

facies change within the sand units above the tidal-flat 

deposits at Walkers Bluff from lower energy, more stable substrate environments at the downstream section 

to higher energy, less stable substrate environments at 

the upstream section. Similar rapid lateral facies 

changes are suggested for the sand units below the 

unconformity at Donoho Creek, Robinsons, and Browns 

Landings. Channel fills are indicated by the lithology, 

bedding characteristics, geometry, and preservational 

features of the fauna of unit 3 of Donoho Creek Landing 

and unit 1 of Browns Landing (see figs. 7, 9). These 

units are discontinuous, lenticular, and crossbedded

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a. 01 5 section North Carolina New Jersey section

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Robinsons, and

Browns Landings

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Deepwater Point 

Jessups Landing 

Walkers Bluff 

Peedee Formation

inn linn ii i i

Black Creek

Formation

Mount Laurel 

Sand

Wenonah Formation

Marshalltown

Formation

Ripley Formation

Cusseta Sand

FIGURE 12. Biostratigraphic correlation chart of the outcropping Cretaceous sections between Walkers Bluff and Browns Landing, 

Cape Fear River, N.C., and the sections of New Jersey and the Chattahoochee River, Ala. and Ga.
28 BLACK CREEK-PEEDEE FORMATIONAL CONTACT, CAPE FEAR RIVER REGION, N.C.

and contain phosphate pebbles and wood fragments; 

zones of whole shell alternate with zones of fragmented 

shell material, but overall clast size fines upward. 

These lenticular channel fills are entirely contained 

within other sand units (unit 2 at Donoho Creek Landing, fig. 7), which are themselves discontinuous, as evidenced by their absence at Robinsons Landing. The discontinuous nature, poor sorting, fragmented shell 

material, abundant barnacle plates, and domination by 

epifaunal suspension feeders of the contained fauna all 

indicate relatively high energy, nearshore environments for these confining sand bodies.

Although we were unable to observe the geometry of 

and sedimentary structures within the sandstones that 

crop out in the channel of the Cape Fear River at 

Deepwater Point (sample 31860), their contained fauna 

suggest a depositional environment similar to that of 

the channel fill sands at Donoho Creek and Browns Landings. The assemblages are taxonomically similar, and 

both contain large shells and abundant barnacle plates.

The sandstone blocks that have been reworked into 

the basal part of the Waccamaw Formation at Walkers 

Bluff are also indicative of nearshore, high-energy conditions. Included in the poorly sorted, coarse-grained 

matrix of these blocks are clay clasts, worn bone, pieces 

of wood, broken and worn shell debris, and disarticulated but well-preserved shells that suggest a transported assemblage derived from nearby sources. In 

addition, the large number of taxodont bivalves (Postligata, Area, Trigonarca), cardiids, ostreids (Exogyra, 

Flemingostrea), and intertidal neritid gastropods suggests a mixed community structure. Of particular 

paleoenvironmental importance is the presence of a vivipariid and a possible melanatriid snail in these sandstones, as they indicate that deposition occurred in 

proximity to fresh water, possibly a river mouth.

In contrast to the rapidly changing nearshore environments discussed above, the Cretaceous units above 

the unconformity at Donoho Creek Landing (unit 7 of 

fig. 7), Robinsons Landing (unit 3 of fig. 8), and Browns 

Landing (unit 3 of fig. 9) suggest a deeper water, open 

marine shelfal depositional environment. These units 

are massive and highly bioturbated and contain glauconitic quartz sands in a silty clay matrix. Faunally, 

they are dissimilar to the fossiliferous sands below, in 

that venerid bivalves are common, arcoids and cardiids 

are rare, and oysters dominate assemblages from the 

upper units, as opposed to the dominance of arcoids and 

tellinids in assemblages from the sands below. Where 

the assemblage is well preserved and thus more 

diverse, as in unit 3 of Browns Landing (fig. 9), it is 

dominated by infaunal filter-feeding bivalves. The 

infauna includes bivalved specimens of deep-burrowing 

filter feeders such as Panopea; it shows no trace of significant transport. Paleoenvironmentally, the assemblages from the upper, muddy sands at Donoho Creek, 

Robinsons, and Browns Landings are typical of open 

marine shelfal deposits that were deposited below wave 

base. Brett and Wheeler (1961) suggested that these 

upper units were deposited in an inlet seaward of a 

barrier ridge and in water depths of 20 to 30 ft. 

Although it is difficult to decipher Swift's (1964) 

paleoenvironmental interpretations of the lithologic 

units exposed at Donoho Creek, Robinsons, and Browns 

Landings, it appears that he agreed with the interpretations of Brett and Wheeler (1961). However, neither 

the sedimentary structures within these units nor their 

contained fauna support such conclusions.

Situated between the shallow-water, nearshore, highenergy deposits below and the dark, massive, muddy, 

shelfal deposits above, and immediately above the 

unconformity at Donoho Creek, Robinsons, and Browns 

Landings, is a thin (2-in-thick) zone of coarse-grained 

sand (unit 5 of fig. 7; unit 2 of fig. 8; unit 2 of fig. 9) that 

represents a condensed zone of some time significance. 

Included in this zone are concentrations of phosphate, 

vertebrate remains, shark teeth, and clay clasts that 

had accumulated on the upper surfaces of the underlying units during the time of nondeposition represented 

by the unconformity. Such concentrations have been 

widely recognized throughout the Coastal Plain province as evidence of an unconformity (Stephenson, 1929, 

and many subsequent workers). The faunal assemblage 

of this zone (samples 31797, 31799, 31859; table 2) is 

similar to those of the units below and distinct from the 

assemblages in the units above, as the fossils were 

reworked into the zone from the unit below.

To support our contention that a significant paleoenvironmental change takes place at the unconformity at 

Donoho Creek, Robinsons, and Browns Landings, we 

plotted the relative abundance of dinoflagellates and 

acritarchs in the palynologic samples examined from 

the sections under consideration. These data are presented in figure 13. In samples from below the unconformity, the percentage of dinoflagellates and acritarchs ranges from 10 to 40 percent and averages 25.3 

percent. However, the percentage of these organisms 

increases dramatically in samples from above the 

unconformity, in which the relative frequency is more 

than double that in the samples below. Such a drastic 

change in abundance of dinoflagellates and acritarchs 

is further evidence that a major paleoenvironmental 

change takes place at the unconformity, from nearshore 

environments below to open shelfal environments above.

Physical Stratigraphy

If we are correct in asserting that the exposures 

between Walkers Bluff and the Donoho Creek-Robin-
INTERPRETATIONS 29

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30 BLACK CREEK-PEEDEE FORMATIONAL CONTACT, CAPE FEAR RIVER REGION, N.C.

sons-Browns Landings sections are chronologically 

sequential and that a significant paleoenvironmental 

change takes place across the unconformity present at 

the downstream localities, then the stratigraphic relationships among the lithologic units exposed at these 

localities can be interpreted.

With regard to the lithologic units stratigraphically 

below the unconformity, two lines of evidence suggest 

that any attempt to physically correlate any of these 

units from one exposure to another is futile. First, the 

paleontologic data indicate that the sediments at each 

locality were deposited at slightly different times. (In 

this regard, we consider the exposures at Donoho 

Creek, Robinsons, and Browns Landings to be one locality divided into three sections.) Secondly, because many 

of these units lack lateral consistency within a single 

exposure, it is improbable that any single unit would 

maintain its lithologic characteristics from one locality 

to the next. Even the most persistent of these units, the 

laminated sands and clays of tidal-flat origin, are intercalated with the less persistent sand units and are 

themselves chronologically repetitive. The laminated 

sands and clays at Walkers Bluff are directly overlain 

by less persistent sand units, and similar laminated 

sands and clays at Donoho Creek, Robinsons, and 

Browns Landings are apparently underlain by the 

sandstones and marls at Deepwater Point and those 

that Stephenson (1912, 1923) reported at Jessups 

Landing.

The lithologic and faunal characteristics of the shelfal sands above the unconformity, however, are consistent for the sections within which they occur and are 

distinct from those of the units below the unconformity. 

The lithologic units at Walkers Bluff, Jessups Landing, 

Deepwater Point, and the Donoho Creek Landing to 

Browns Landing sections below the unconformity do 

not show the massive bedding, high degree of bioturbation, and silty clay matrix that is characteristic of these 

shelfal sands, nor do they contain the same shelfal 

fauna. Hence, no evidence exists for correlating the 

shelfal sands of Donoho Creek, Robinsons, and Browns 

Landings with any lithologic unit upstream (downsection).

CONCLUSIONS

The ages, paleoenvironmental interpretations, and 

stratigraphic relationships discussed above lead us to 

conclude that the contact between the Black Creek and 

Peedee Formations is disconformable in the Cape Fear 

River region. The disconformity is present at Donoho 

Creek, Robinsons, and Browns Landings; it separates 

high-energy, rapidly changing, nearshore environments of the Black Creek Formation below from open 

marine, shelfal environments of the Peedee Formation 

above.

Our conclusion that the Black Creek-Peedee contact 

is disconformable is in agreement with that of Brett 

and Wheeler (1961). However, their suggestion that the 

disconformity can be recognized for several miles along 

the Cape Fear River is not substantiated by our findings, as their "basal Peedee sandstone" at Walkers Bluff 

is apparently a series of reworked blocks of Black 

Creek sandstones incorporated in the base of the Waccamaw Formation.

The conclusion reached by both Stephenson (1912, 

1923) and Heron and Wheeler (1964) that the contact 

between the Black Creek and Peedee Formations is 

conformable is based not only on a misinterpretation of 

the stratigraphic position of these reworked sandstone 

blocks at the top of the Walkers Bluff section but on the 

assumption that the fauna at Donoho Creek Landing is 

uniformly distributed throughout the section. Our data 

indicate that two distinctly different faunas occur here 

that are separated by the Black Creek-Peedee 

disconformity.

Swift (1964) and Swift and others (1969) interpreted 

the contact between the Black Creek and Peedee Formations as a ravinement. If one accepts their definition 

of a ravinement as a condition where, in a "sedimentary 

sequence, marine sediments rest disconformably on the 

coastal plain sediments or on the eroded remnants of 

the marginal record" (Swift, 1964, p. 100), then the contact in the Donoho Creek-Robinsons-Browns Landings 

area is a ravinement. The basal reworked bed of the 

Peedee, which contains phosphate, bone, teeth, abraded 

fossils, and clasts of clay and sandstone reworked from 

the underlying beds, rests directly on a surface eroded 

into subjacent units of various lithologies that represent 

several marginal marine environments. Similar 

sequences have been described for Cretaceous deposits 

in other areas of the Coastal Plain, such as New Jersey 

(Owens and Sohl, 1969). The major difference between 

the "ravinement" unit exposed at Donoho Creek, Robinsons, and Browns Landings and similar sequences 

elsewhere is the thinness of the Cape Fear River unit, 

which indicates an exceptionally rapid episode of 

transgression. Elsewhere, such basal units may be several feet thick and show graded and fining-upward 

character; at Donoho Creek Landing to Browns Landing, the overlying massive shelfal sand lies sharply on 

the cannibalistic unit. In addition, we disagree with 

previous workers in their placement of the "ravinement." At Walkers Bluff, Swift (1964, fig. 62, col. 3) 

placed the ravinement at the base of the sandstone that 

is reworked into the Waccamaw Formation; thus it has 

no relationship to the "ravinement" at the downstream 

sections.

The conclusions we have drawn concerning the ages, 

depositional environments, and stratigraphic relationships among the Walkers Bluff to Browns Landing 

sections are diagrammatically shown in figure 14. In
CONCLUSIONS

this figure, the Black Creek Formation is characterized 

as deposits representing a series of nearshore marine 

environments that interfinger throughout the upper 

part of the formation. The Peedee Formation disconformably overlies the Black Creek and is represented 

by massive, bioturbated, muddy sands of an open 

marine shelfal environment. Superimposed on these 

units in figure 14 are the approximate stratigraphic 

positions of the exposures at Walkers Bluff, Jessups 

Landing, Deepwater Point, and Donoho Creek, Robinsons, and Browns Landings.

Our conclusion that the contact between the Black 

Creek and Peedee Formations is disconformable suggests that the Upper Cretaceous Series of North Carolina as exposed along the Cape Fear River may consist 

not of a single marine transgression, as suggested by 

Brett and Wheeler (1961), Heron and Wheeler (1964), 

Swift (1964), and others, but of at least two cycles of 

transgression and regression. This hypothesis is supported by the Santonian Age assigned to the Cape Fear 

Formation by Christopher and others (1979), which, 

when coupled with the widely recognized unconformity 

between the Cape Fear and Black Creek Formations 

(see Stephenson, 1923; Heron and Wheeler, 1964), suggests that the Upper Cretaceous Series as exposed 

along the Cape Fear arch consists of at least three 

transgressive-regressive cycles. Additional studies are 

needed to demonstrate the regional nature of these 

cycles and to determine if the Black Creek-Peedee contact described in this report represents shifting deltaic 

lobes or a coeval regional event.

MEASURED SECTIONS

Complete descriptions of the lithologic units exposed 

at the three measured sections at Walkers Bluff, Jessups Landing, Donoho Creek Landing, Robinsons 

Landing, and Browns Landing are presented below; 

they are intended to augment the brief descriptions that 

accompany the stratigraphic columns of figures 2-4 

and 6-9.

Walkers Bluff, upstream section Thickness

Ft In 

Unit 1...................................................................................... 16 8

Sand and laminated clay. The sands are 

gray to greenish gray; iron-staining 

occurs along some bedding planes. The 

clays are carbonaceous, medium to dark 

gray. The sands are quartzose; mica and 

glauconite are each present in amounts 

as large as 10 percent. Comminuted 

plant debris is disseminated throughout, 

and carbonaceous matter is concentrated 

along some bedding planes. The sands 

are very fine to fine grained, well sorted, 

and subangular. Obvious burrows are

31

Thickness 

Ft In

rare, but clay laminae are disrupted 

along bedding planes (bioturbated), and 

occasional Ophiomorpha and fine Chondrites-like burrows are present. Thallassinoid burrows are present in the upper 

4 ft 0 in, and wood is scattered throughout the unit. The upper 4 ft 0 in is dominated by small-scale crossbedded sands; 

clay laminae are thin, but clay clasts 

occur along bedding planes. The next 

lower 3 ft 0 in is dominated by a "saltand-pepper" glauconitic sand, where 

clay-lined burrows are present but rare. 

The next lower 5 ft 8 in is more highly 

bioturbated but has more obvious planar 

bedding than is found in the upper part; 

sand still dominates over clay.

Unit 2......................................................................................

Sand, yellow-brown to tan. The unit is 

dominantly quartzose, but angular to 

subangular feldspar clasts are common. 

Finely disseminated carbonaceous matter is present throughout the unit, and a 

few thin (1-in-thick) carbonaceous clay 

lenses are present. The sands are 

medium to mainly coarse grained, subangular, and poorly sorted; quartz pebbles as much as 0.25 in. in diameter are 

common. Worn and fragmented wood, 

bone, and shell material is present 

throughout, but no burrows were 

observed. The unit is crossbedded; the 

crossbedding is more apparent (that is, 

more highly developed?) in the upper 

part of the unit than it is at the base. A 

single 2-in-thick carbonaceous clay was 

observed lining the base of a channel fill 

near the top of the unit. The basal contact 

is sharp and planar.

Unit 3......................................................................................

Sandstone, yellow-brown to tan. The 

sandstone consists almost entirely of 

quartz; glauconite is present in minor 

amounts. The sandstone is medium to 

coarse grained, angular to subrounded, 

and poorly sorted. Shell material occurs 

throughout, and abraded wood, bone 

fragments, and clay clasts are present at 

the base. No burrows were observed. The 

unit is crossbedded to massive. The basal 

contact is sharp but undulating; the 

undulation is caused by differential 

cementation of the sands of units 2 and 3.
t

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Massive, glauconitic, muddy, 

bioturbated sand of open-shelf, 

marine origin.

Poorly sorted, cross-grained, 

fossiliferous sand and marl 

of near-shore, high-energy, 

marine origin.

Laminated 

sand and 

tidal-flat 

FIGURE 14. Schematic cross section along part of the Cape Fear River, showing relationship between the Black Creek and Peedee Formation

gles represent the localities discussed in this report: 1, Walkers Bluff; 2, Jessups Landing; 3, Deepwater Point; 4, Donoho Creek Landing

Browns Landing.
MEASURED SECTIONS 33

Thickness 

Ft In

Unit 4...................................................................................... 5

Sand, yellow-brown to tan. The unit is 

dominantly quartzose; glauconite is 

present in trace amounts. The sand is 

subangular, well sorted, and medium 

grained; no clay was observed as matrix, 

laminae, or lenses. The unit is unfossiliferous. The unit is massively bedded, and 

the basal contact is sharp and planar.

UnitS...................................................................................... 8

Laminated sand and clay. The clays are 

carbonaceous and dark gray to black; the 

sands are light gray but are commonly 

iron-stained yellow orange. The sands 

are quartzose, and mica and glauconite 

are present in minor amounts; comminuted plant material is disseminated 

throughout the sands. The sands are very 

fine to fine grained, subangular, and 

well sorted. No megafossils were 

observed. The upper 2 ft 3 in is dominated by sand, which occurs in beds as 

much as 3 in thick, and clay beds as 

much as 1 in thick. Clay beds thicken and 

clay is more abundant toward the base of 

the unit. The basal contact is sharp and 

planar.

Unit 6...................................................................................... 20

Shell and sandy shell marl, buff to tan to 

yellow-brown. Shells are present as both 

whole and broken specimens. The marl 

consists of worn and weathered pieces of 

shell. The sand is quartzose; finely comminuted plant material occurs throughout the unit. The quartz sands are fine to 

medium grained, angular to subangular, 

and poorly sorted. Beds of whole shell, 

shell marl, and marly sand alternate 

throughout the unit; individual beds 

range in thickness from 1 in to 2 ft. The 

basal 1-2 ft of the unit contains phosphate pebbles, clay balls, and scattered, 

irregularly shaped sandstone blocks as 

much as 1 ft in diameter. The basal 2-3 

in of the unit contains carbonaceous 

material. The basal contact is sharp and 

irregular; pockets of shell debris, fill 

depressions cut into the underlying unit. 

Burrows as much as 4 in long extend 

down into the underlying unit and pipe 

down shell debris in a mushy, clayey, 

sand matrix.

0

Walkers Bluff, medial section

Thickness

Ft In

Unit 1...................................................................................... 31 0

Sand and laminated clay. The sands are 

gray to greenish gray when fresh but are 

commonly colored orange to yellow 

orange by iron-staining. The clays are 

carbonaceous, medium to dark gray. The 

sands are quartzose and contain minor 

amounts of mica and glauconite. Carbonaceous plant material is both disseminated throughout the unit as finely 

comminuted particles and concentrated 

along some bedding planes. The sands 

are very fine to fine grained, angular to 

subangular, and well sorted. Bioturbation is apparent, as indicated by the 

presence of branching, thallassinoid-type 

burrows. Wood is present throughout the 

unit. Clay laminae are mostly planar 

bedded; crossbedding is present but 

rare.

Unit 2......................................................................................

Sand, tan to yellow-brown. The unit consists almost entirely of quartz; finely 

comminuted plant material is distributed throughout. No mica or glauconite 

is present. The sands are fine grained, 

angular to subangular, and well sorted. 

The unit is fossiliferous and massively 

bedded. The basal contact is sharp and 

planar.

Unit 3......................................................................................

Laminated clay and sand. The clays are 

carbonaceous, dark gray to black; the 

sands are light gray to greenish gray but 

are commonly iron-stained orange to yellow orange. The sands are dominantly 

quartzose; mica and glauconite are present in minor amounts. The sands are 

very fine to fine grained, angular to subangular, and well sorted. No megafossils 

were observed. Clay dominates the unit, 

but the sand content increases toward 

the base. The basal contact is sharp and 

planar.

Unit 4...................................................................................... 20

Shell and sandy shell marl, buff to tan to 

yellow-brown. Shells occur as both whole 

and fragmented specimens. The marl 

consists primarily of worn, weathered, 

and finely divided shell material. The 

sands are quartzose. Finely comminuted

0

8 0
34 BLACK CREEK-PEEDEE FORMATIONAL CONTACT, CAPE FEAR RIVER REGION, N.C.

Thickness 

Ft In

plant material is present throughout the 

unit. The sands are fine to medium 

grained, subangular to angular, and 

poorly sorted. The basal contact is sharp 

and irregular. The irregularities or 

depressions at the top of the underlying 

unit are shallow and are filled with as 

much as 2 in of a clay marl. Included in 

the basal clay marl are wood fragments, 

phosphate pebbles, and cobble-sized clay 

clasts. Overlying the marl is a layer of 

sandstone blocks that measure 6 in to 3 ft 

in diameter; the sandstone blocks are 

occasionally in point contact with the 

underlying unit. The long dimensions of 

the sandstone blocks are generally 

oriented horizontally, but some are 

oriented at low angles and are imbricate. 

The blocks are bored on all sides and are 

encrusted with mollusks, barnacles, and 

worm tubes. Lithologically, the sandstone is medium to coarse grained, subrounded to subangular, poorly sorted, 

fossiliferous, quartz sand in a silty 

matrix; rare granule-sized quartz grains 

are present, and glauconite occurs in 

trace amounts. Pieces of wood, bone 

fragments, and clay clasts as much as 

0.75 in. in diameter occur sporadically in 

the blocks. Silty, clay-lined, circular 

burrows as much as 1 in. in diameter 

ramify the sandstone. Small (as much as 

0.25 in. in diameter), branching, lined 

burrows are present but rare in the 

sandstone. Above the zone of sandstone 

blocks, beds dominated by large mollusks alternate with beds of small mollusks or coral beds to the top of the exposure.

Walkers Bluff, downstream section

Unit 1...................................................................................... 27

Sand and laminated clay. The sands are 

gray to greenish gray but are commonly 

iron-stained to yellow orange; the clays 

are carbonaceous, medium to dark gray. 

The sands are quartzose and contain 

minor amounts of mica and glauconite; 

they are very fine to fine grained, subangular, and well sorted. Finely comminuted plant material is disseminated 

throughout the unit. Sand is dominant

Thickness 

Ft In

over clay throughout the unit and is 

more abundant in the uppermost 3 ft 

than it is in the lower part of the unit. 

Amber, phosphatized pebbles, and fossils (occurring only as impressions) are 

present in the uppermost 3 ft. Discontinuous lenses or pockets of sandstone are 

present at the top of the unit. The sandstones are gray and consist of fossiliferous medium- to coarse-grained quartz, 

sparingly glauconitic; scattered phosphate grains are also present.

Unit 2...................................................................................... 13

Sand, tan to yellow-brown. The sand is 

dominantly quartzose but contains 

minor amounts of mica, glauconite, and 

angular to subangular feldspar clasts. 

The sand is medium grained, subangular, and poorly sorted. The entire unit is 

crossbedded, and thin gray clay laminae 

occur both as drapes along bedding 

planes and as more or less continuous 

horizontal laminae that separate sets of 

crossbeds. Fossils are present as impressions within the clays. The basal contact 

is sharp and planar; the basal 6 in contains clay clasts, wood fragments, coarsegrained sand, and rare pebbles.

Unit 3...................................................................................... 21

Sand, tan to yellow-brown. The sand is 

quartzose and has small amounts of 

glauconite and clay; both glauconite and 

clay become abundant toward the base of 

the unit. Blebs of reddish sandy clay are 

present throughout the unit. The sand is 

fine to medium grained and subangular. 

Sorting is variable; some intervals are 

well sorted, and others, poorly sorted. 

The unit is unfossiliferous and appears to 

be massively bedded, although planar 

bedding is suggested by the presence of a 

few carbonaceous streaks. A 2-ft-thick, 

laminated, light-gray clay bed is present 

10 ft from the top of the section. The 

basal contact of the unit cannot be accurately located due to the deep weathering 

of the sands of units 2 and 3; we considered the contact as occurring at the 

base of a 4-in-thick clay bed at which a 

change in slope of the outcrop face takes 

place.
Jessups Landing

MEASURED SECTIONS

Thickness 

Ft In

Unit 1...................................................................................... 12

Interfingering and alternating sands 

and clays. The sand beds are yellow 

brown and commonly are iron stained; 

the clays are carbonaceous, medium to 

dark gray. The sands are quartzose and 

contain minor amounts of glauconite and 

mica; the clays are silty, laminated, and 

often contain very fine grained micaceous sand partings. Comminuted plant 

material occurs both as concentrations 

along bedding planes and as disseminated particles throughout the unit. The 

sands are medium grained, subangular, 

and poorly sorted. No megafossils are 

present, but pieces of wood occur in both 

the sands and clays. Ophiomorpha burrows are present in the sands. The sands 

are crossbedded; large-scale crossbed 

sets as much as 2 ft thick and thin (3-inthick) clay lenses and drapes dominate 

the lower 6 ft, and clay beds as much as 

2.5 ft thick dominate the upper 6 ft.

Unit 2...................................................................................... 4

Sand, yellow-orange. The sands are 

quartzose, angular to subangular, poorly 

sorted, and coarse grained. The unit is 

massive to crossbedded. The basal contact is sharp, and the unit has concentrations of pebbles and cobbles at the base.

Donoho Creek Landing

Unit 1...................................................................................... 4

Laminated sands and clays; sands and 

clays present in approximately equal 

proportions. The sands are gray to greenish gray; the carbonaceous clays are dark 

gray. The sands are quartzose and contain minor amounts of mica. Comminuted plant material is disseminated 

throughout the unit. The sands are fine 

to medium grained, angular to subangular, and poorly sorted; clay-dominated 

facies contain very fine grained sand 

partings. A 1-ft-thick, glauconitic, massive, medium- to coarse-grained sand is 

present at water's edge; the sand contains clay clasts that are piped down in 

burrows from the overlying clay laminae. Pieces of wood are scattered 

throughout the unit, but no megafossils 

were observed.

0 Unit 2...................................................................................... 5

Sand, buff to brownish. The sand is 

quartzose and has minor amounts of 

mica; the sand is medium to coarse 

grained, subangular to subrounded, and 

poorly sorted. The unit is richly fossiliferous; the fossils occur primarily as 

small, fragmented shell material that is 

oriented convexly up. Bedding is 

inclined in part. The basal contact is 

sharp and irregular; clay clasts at the 

base have apparently been reworked 

from the underlying unit.

UnitS...................................................................................... 1

Sandstone. Weathered surfaces are buff 

to yellow brown, whereas fresh surfaces 

are blue gray. The sandstone is quartzose; glauconite is present but rare, and 

phosphate pebbles as much as 2 mm in 

diameter occur throughout the unit. The 

sand is medium to coarse grained, subrounded to subangular, and poorly 

sorted. Wood fragments are present 

throughout the sandstone but are more 

common toward the base. The unit is 

richly fossiliferous, and zones of whole 

larger shells alternate with zones of 

smaller shells and fragmented shell 

hash. The sandstone is lenticular, thinning both upstream and downstream, 

and is contained entirely within the 

upper half of unit 2; both its upper and 

its lower contacts are sharp. The unit is 

crossbedded at the base and grades 

upward to near-horizontal bedding at 

the top.

Unit 4...................................................................................... 2

Clay, carbonaceous and dark gray. Very 

fine grained micaceous sand partings 

occur throughout the clay. No megafossils are present. The clay is horizontally 

bedded and is sandy at its base. The 

basal contact is sharp and planar.

35

Thickness 

Ft In

5 6

Unit 5......................................................................................

Sand, gray. The sand is primarily quartzose and contains concentrations of quartz 

pebbles as much as 0.5 in. in diameter, 

phosphate pebbles, and rare pieces of 

amber. The phosphate pebbles are 

rounded and commonly bored by 

bivalves; one pebble is a worn coprolite.

0
36 BLACK CREEK-PEEDEE FORMATIONAL CONTACT, CAPE FEAR RIVER REGION, N.C.

Thickness 

Ft In 

Also present within the unit are tabular

sandstone clasts as much as several 

inches in length that contain molds of 

mollusks and one large clast (8 in * 10 in 

* 2 in) that is lithically and faunally like 

the sandstone of unit 3. The quartz sands 

are medium to very coarse grained, subrounded, and poorly sorted. Shells (especially ostreids and clams), vertebrate 

remains, and shark teeth are common. 

The basal contact is sharp and planar.

UnitG...................................................................................... 1 0

Sandstone, gray. The sand is quartzose 

in a silty matrix, medium to coarse 

grained, subangular, and poorly sorted. 

The sandstone is fossiliferous but contains only Anomia argentaria; it is 

highly bioturbated, massively bedded, 

and poorly cemented. The basal contact 

is sharp and planar.

Unit?...................................................................................... 18 0

Sand. Weathered surfaces are gray; 

fresh surfaces are greenish gray. The 

sands are quartzose and contain minor 

amounts of mica and glauconite. The 

unit is a medium-grained sand in a silty 

matrix; grains are subangular, and the 

unit is poorly sorted. Shells are abundant, and vertebrate remains are present 

but rare. The unit is highly bioturbated 

and massively bedded. The basal contact 

is gradational over a vertical distance of 

a few inches.

Units...................................................................................... 10 0

Sand, tan to yellow orange. The sand is 

quartzose, medium to coarse grained, 

subangular, and well sorted. The unit is 

unfossiliferous. The entire unit is crossbedded, and its basal contact is sharp 

and planar. The basal 4 ft consists of very 

coarse grained sands and gravels.

Robinsons Landing

Unit 1...................................................................................... 12 0

Laminated sands and carbonaceous 

clays; sands and clays present in approximately equal proportions. The sands are 

gray to greenish gray, and the clays are 

dark gray. The sands are quartzose and 

contain minor amounts of mica; comminuted plant material is present 

throughout the unit. The sands are fine

Thickness 

Ft In

to medium grained, subangular, and 

poorly to well sorted. Very fine grained 

micaceous sand partings occur within 

the clay laminae. No megafossils were 

observed, but wood fragments are scattered throughout the unit.

Unit 2...................................................................................... 0 2

Sand, dark gray. The sand is quartzose 

and contains minor amounts of mica, 

traces of glauconite, fine- to mediumgrained phosphate grains, and rare 

phosphate pebbles, all in a matrix of silt. 

The sand is medium to coarse grained, 

subangular to subrounded, and poorly 

sorted. The unit is fossiliferous; fossils 

occur as both well-preserved and worn 

shell material. The basal contact is sharp 

and planar.

Unit3...................................................................................... 17 0

Sand, gray to greenish-gray. The sand 

is quartzose and contains minor 

amounts of mica and glauconite. The 

quartz grains are medium grained to 

granular, subangular, and poorly 

sorted and are incorporated in a silty 

matrix. The unit is fossiliferous, 

highly bioturbated, and massively 

bedded. The basal contact is gradational over a few inches.

Unit 4...................................................................................... 1 0

Shell and shell marl, buff to tan. The 

shell and marl occur in a medium- to 

coarse-grained quartz-sand matrix. 

Phosphate pebbles and nodules are present and commonly are bored. Both whole 

and fragmented shells are present. The 

unit occurs as lenticular, discontinuous 

pockets along the face of the bluff; the 

basal contact is sharp and irregular.

Units...................................................................................... 10 0

Sand, yellow-orange. The sand is quartzose, medium to coarse grained, subangular, and well sorted. The unit is unfossiliferous and crossbedded. The basal 

contact is sharp and undulating; very 

coarse grained sand and gravel are present in the basal 3 ft of the unit.

Browns Landing

Unitl...................................................................................... 1 6

Sandstone, gray. The sand is quartzose 

and contains a minor amount of glauco-
REFERENCES 37

Thickness 

Ft In

nite and rare mica. The quartz is 

medium to coarse grained and subrounded to subangular. The sandstone is 

fossiliferous, containing both whole and 

fragmented shells of invertebrates 

throughout and concentrations of large 

pieces of wood and worn bone and teeth 

near the base. Float blocks show the 

lower part of the sandstone to have 

inclined bedding that grades to more 

planar bedding above.

Unit 2 ...................................................................................... 0 2-4

Sand, buff. The sand is quartzose, 

medium to coarse grained, and contains 

an abundance of fine shell hash. In the 

upper 1 in of the unit, vertebrate 

remains and granule- to pebble-sized 

phosphate nodules are common. The 

base of the unit appears to be irregular, 

filling depressions in the underlying 

unit.

Unit 3 ...................................................................................... 0 9+

Sandstone, gray to brownish-gray. The 

sand is quartzose in a clayey silt matrix; 

it contains rare mica and scattered 

granule-sized, well-rounded phosphate 

grains. The quartz sand is poorly sorted, 

fine grained to granule sized, and primarily subangular. The sandstone is fossiliferous; invertebrates are abundant. 

The upper contact of the unit is covered.

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of the Snow Hill member, Upper Cretaceous of North Carolina: 

Southeastern Geology, v. 3, no. 2, p. 49-132.

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the Severn Formation (Navarroan; Maestrichtian) of Maryland: 

Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Paleontological Monograph 1, 52 p.

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Annual Field Excursion, Atlantic Coastal Plain Geological 

Association, October 9-10, 1964: [Durham, N.C., Duke University] 53 p.

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Powers, M. C., 1951, Black Creek deposits along the Cape Fear River, 

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Sohl, N. F., and Mello, J. F., 1970, Biostratigraphic analysis, in 

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