Selma Group

Selma Group
Stratigraphic range: Upper Cretaceous
Prairie Bluff Chalk Formation of the Selma Group exposed in Starkville, Mississippi.
TypeGeological formation
Sub-unitsMooreville Chalk Formation
Demopolis Chalk Formation
Ripley Formation
Prairie Bluff Chalk Formation
UnderliesMidway Group
OverliesEutaw Formation
Lithology
PrimaryChalk
OtherGlauconitic sandstone
Location
RegionAlabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee
CountryUnited States
Type section
Named forSelma, Alabama
Stratigraphic column for the Selma

The Selma Group is a geological formation in North America, within the U.S. states of Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee. The strata date from the Santonian to the Maastrichtian stages of the Late Cretaceous. The group is composed of, in ascending order, the Mooreville Chalk Formation, Demopolis Chalk Formation, Ripley Formation, and Prairie Bluff Chalk Formation. Dinosaur and mosasaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the Selma Group.[1][2]

Oil was discovered in 1939 within the Late Cretaceous Woodruff Sandstone within the Selma Chalk Formation. Known as Mississippi's first oil field, the Tinsley Oil Field is located adjacent to Tinsley, Mississippi.[3]

  1. ^ Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution (Late Cretaceous, North America)." In: Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 574-588. ISBN 0-520-24209-2.
  2. ^ Kiernan, Caitlin R. (2002). "Stratigraphic distribution and habitat segregation of mosasaurs in the Upper Cretaceous of western and central Alabama, with an historical review of Alabama mosasaur discoveries". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 22 (1): 91–103. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2002)022[0091:SDAHSO]2.0.CO;2. Retrieved 2009-02-02.
  3. ^ Shelton, M.F. (1976). Braunstein, Jules (ed.). Tinsley Oil Field, Yazoo County, Mississippi, in North American Oil and Gas Fields. Tulsa: The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. pp. 239–258. ISBN 0891813004.