| Torreya Formation | |
|---|---|
| Stratigraphic range: Miocene | |
| Type | Geological formation |
| Unit of | Hawthorn Group |
| Sub-units | Dogtown, Sopchoppy |
| Underlies | St. Marks Formation, Suwanee Limestone |
| Location | |
| Region | North Florida |
| Country |  United States |
| Type section | |
| Named for | Torreya tree |
The Torreya Formation is a Miocene geologic formation with an outcrop in North Florida. It is within the Hawthorn Group.
Period : Neogene
Epoch : Early Miocene
Faunal stage : Aquitanian through early Messinian ~19–15.3 mya, calculates to a period of 3.7 million years
The Torreya Formation is exposed or near the surface from Gadsden County, Florida on the west. Its eastern extent is westernmost Hamilton County, Florida. It includes the counties of Liberty, Leon, Jefferson, Madison, and Wakulla. It is informally subdivided into a lower carbonate unit and an upper siliciclastic unit. The majority of Torreya Formation outcrops expose the siliciclastic part of the unit. [1]
The siliciclastics are quartz and vary in color from white to light olive gray. They are unconsolidated to poorly indurated (hard), slightly clayey sands with minor phosphate to light gray to bluish gray, poorly consolidated, variably silty clay (Dogtown Member). The siliciclastics are sporadically fossiliferous and often contain oyster shells as found in the Seaboard Air Line Railroad site.
The carbonate sediments contain phosphate and are white to light olive gray. They are generally not hard but variably sandy with clay. This unit is also fossiliferous with both molds and casts and includes limestone (mudstone and wackestone). The limestones often grade into calcareous-cemented sands.
The Dogtown Member is time transgressive with older aged material at ~15.9–15.3 Ma. and found in the south while the younger material is in the north. [2]
The Torreya Formation overlies the Floridan aquifer and forms part of the intermediate confining unit/aquifer system. (USGS)
Barstovian land-mammal fauna found in northern Gadsden County dated 14.7–16.6 Ma. Paleofauna based on the fossils from: Gadsden County paleontological sites, Leon County paleontological sites, Jefferson County paleontological sites, and Hamilton County paleontological sites.
Bivalve
Fish
Reptiles
Birds
Mammals
The Thomas Farm site is an Early Miocene, Hemingfordian assemblage of vertebrate fossils located in Gilchrist County, northern Florida.
The Haile Quarry or Haile sites are an Early Miocene and Pleistocene assemblage of vertebrate fossils located in the Haile quarries, Alachua County, northern Florida. The assemblage was discovered during phosphate mining, which began in the late 1940s. Haile sites are found in the Alachua Formation. Two sites within the Ocala Limestone yielded Upper Eocene Valvatida and mollusks.
The Suwannee Limestone is an Early Oligocene geologic formation of exposed limestones in North Florida, United States.
The Leon County paleontological sites are assemblages of Early Miocene invertebrates and vertebrates of Leon County, Florida, United States.
The Gadsden County paleontological sites are assemblages of Early Miocene invertebrates and vertebrates occurring in Gadsden County, Florida, United States.
The Coosawhatchie Formation is a Miocene geologic formation with an outcrop in North Florida. It is within the Hawthorn Group.
The Hawthorn Group is a stratigraphic unit of Miocene age in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, in the United States. It is known for its phosphate rock resources, and for its rich assemblages of Neogene vertebrate fossils.
The Arcadia Formation is an Early Miocene geologic formation in Florida, United States. It is part of the Hawthorn Group.
The Chipola Formation is a Late Oligocene to Early Miocene geologic formation in the Florida Panhandle and member of the Alum Bluff Group.
The Peace River Formation is a Late Oligocene to Early Miocene geologic formation in the west-central Florida peninsula.
The Tamiami Formation is a Late Miocene to Pliocene geologic formation in the southwest Florida peninsula.
The Polk County paleontological sites are assemblages of Early Miocene to Late Pleistocene vertebrates occurring in Polk County, Florida, United States.
Paleontology in Florida refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the U.S. state of Florida. Florida has a very rich fossil record spanning from the Eocene to recent times. Florida fossils are often very well preserved.
The Alum Bluff Group is a geologic group in the states of Georgia, Florida, and Alabama. It preserves fossils dating back to the Neogene period.
The Parachucla Formation is a geologic formation in the southeastern United States. It preserves fossils from the Aquitanian stage of the early Miocene period. The formation is included in the Hawthorn Group. An exposure at the northern end of the formation has produced fossils estimated to be 19.4 to 20.5 Million years ago (Ma). Another exposure at the southern end of the formation has produced fossils estimated to be 23.9 to 24.7 Ma.
The Alachua Formation is a Miocene geologic formation in Florida. The claystones, sandstones and phosphorites of the formation preserve many fossils of mammals, birds, reptiles and fish, among others megalodon.
The Bone Valley Formation is a geologic formation in Florida. It is sometimes classified as the upper member of the Peace River Formation of the Hawthorn Group. It contains economically important phosphorite deposits that are mined in west-central Florida, as well as rich assemblages of vertebrate fossils.
The Valentine Formation is a geologic unit formation or member within the Ogallala unit in northcentral Nebraska near the South Dakota border. It preserves fossils dating to the Miocene epoch of the Neogene period and is particularly noted for Canid fossils. This unit consists of loosely-consolidated sandstone that crumbles easily. These sands carry the water of the Ogallala Aquifer and is the source of much of the water in the Niobrara River. A particular feature of the Valentine is lenticular beds of green-gray opaline sandstone that can be identified in other states, including South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Colorado. Although three mammalian fauna stages can be mapped throughout the range of the Ogallala, no beddings of the Ogallala are mappable and all attempts of formally applying the Valentine name to any mappable lithology beyond the type location have been abandoned. Even so, opaline sandstone has been used to refer to this green-gray opalized conglomerate sandstone that is widely found in the lower Ogallala Formation.
The Goliad Formation (Tg) is a geologic formation in Texas. It preserves fossils dating back to the Serravallian to earliest Pliocene stages of the Neogene period, including the gomphothere Blancotherium among many other fossil mammals, reptiles, birds and fish.
Dogtown is an unincorporated community in Gadsden County, Florida, United States. It is located 1.3 mi (2.1 km) south of the Florida-Georgia state line, along County Road 159.