The Crystal River Formation (Eocene) at Martin, Marion County, Florida

Abstract

Although several paleontologists have mistakenly said that Martin Station is located in Hernando County, Dall clearly stated that it was a railway station at Martin, Marion County, Florida, which is about ten miles north of Ocala. The importance of this place is that it is the type locality for Turritella martinensis Dall, which MacNeil and others have used as a zone fossil for lower Oligocene strata in Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. The authors suggest that the strata at Martin are Eocene in age. There appears to be no Oligocene beds in the immediate vicinity of Martin. We believe that the Eocene-Oligocene boundary in Florida should be placed between Puri's Asterocyclina- Spirulaea vernoni zone and his Lepidocyclina chaperi zone.