Fabian, Robert S.2021-02-192021-02-1919841984https://hdl.handle.net/11244/328594Thesis (M.S.)--University of Oklahoma, 1984.This thesis provides a detailed community analysis of the Pitkin Limestone (Chesterian) in northeastern Oklahoma. Three communities were identified and distinguished from each other based on faunal rank abundances and composition. Paleoenvironmental interpretations were made from the community and lithofacies information. The Ovatia-Sphenotus Community is composed primarily of brachiopods and pelecypods. This community is associated with the mudstones and wackestones of the Pitkin. The community was located in the quiet waters and muddy substrate of the open marine shelf below normal wave base. Distribution of the community is widespread across the study area. The Ovatia-Sphenotus Community represents the initial stabilization and colonization stage in the total community's succession. The Pentremites-Composita Community is composed of bryozoans, echinoderms and brachiopods. This community is associated with the bryozoan crinoidal packstones and grainstones of the Pitkin. The abundance of the stalked echinoderms and the bryozoan Archimedes indicates the community was located in shallow, open marine waters near normal wave base. The community is widely distributed across the study area and the thick accumulations indicate a long period of community stability. The Pentremites-Composita Community represents the diversification stage in the total community succession. The third community is the Ovatia-Diaphragmus Community and is composed primarily of brachiopods, crinoids, and pelecypods. The community is associated with the mixed skeletal bioclastic lithofacies and the oolitic packstones. The disappearance of the corals, blastoids, and the reduced numbers of bryozoans indicate this was a more stressful environment than those of the previous community. This community lived in a moderately turbulent environment near normal wave base and in close proximity to the abundant ooid shoals. The community is also widely distributed across the study area and developed thick accumulations. The Ovatia-Diaphragmus Community represents a regressive stage in the total community's succession due to the greater effects of the physical environment on the fauna. It is proposed that topographic highs in western Adair County (Clupper, 1978) and southern Cherokee County (Nageotte, (1981) affected the development and distribution of the communities during the Pitkin. The higher energy communities, the Pentremites- Composita and Ovatia-Diaphragmus Communities, developed earlier in the Pitkin in the areas associated with these highs. The initial development of these two communities on the basinward, southern and western, sides of the highs suggests that the major ocean current patterns were from the south and west.xi, 126 leavesxi, 126 leaves : ill., maps (1 folded) ; 29 cm.engLimestone--OklahomaGeology, Structural--OklahomaFacies (Geology)--OklahomaGeology, Structural--MississippianPaleontology--MississippianText