Geological and Ichthyological Investigations into Palaeodrainage Hypothesis for the Tennessee ...

158 Pages·2016·14.14 MB·English

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Dissertations
Fall 12-2010
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Andrea Karen Persons
University of Southern Mississippi
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The University of Southern Mississippi

GEOLOGICAL AND ICHTHYOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS INTO
PALAEODRAINAGE HYPOTHESES FOR THE TENNESSEE RIVER

by
Andrea Karen Persons

Abstract of a Dissertation
Submitted to the Graduate School
of the University of Southern Mississippi
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

December 2010
ABSTRACT

GEOLOGICAL AND ICHTHYOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS INTO

PALAEODRAINAGE HYPOTHESES FOR THE TENNESSEE RIVER

by Andrea Karen Persons

December 2010

The course of the ancestral Tennessee River has been debated in both the geological and
biological literature for over 100 years. Several of the proposed courses for the ancestral
Tennessee place its course across the state of Mississippi. Geochemical analysis of sedimentary
rocks in the Pascagoula River basin supports these hypotheses suggesting that the rocks in the
Pascagoula basin were derived from the Highland Rim of Tennessee and northern Alabama,
while geochemical analysis of rocks from the Pearl River basin point to deposition from a
mixture of sources including the ancestral Mississippi River and perhaps the ancestral Tennessee.
To delve deeper into the history of the Tennessee River, the phylogenetic systematics of the
Etheostoma subgenus Doration were used to further test these hypotheses. Results of the
phylogenetic analyses suggest that the members of Doration along the Highland Rim are
diverged from not only the remaining Doration, but also from one another due to the breaching of
the Fort Payne chert atop the Nashville Dome during the Miocene. From the phylogenetic
analyses, it is unclear whether the ancestral Tennessee crossed Mississippi, but a couple of
patterns are evident. First, the results suggest that a stream capture event occurred between Bear
Creek of the lower Tennessee drainage and one of the eastern tributaries to the Tombigbee River
of the Mobile basin. Second, Etheostoma stigmaeum from the Pascagoula River basin are
consistently recovered as monophyletic. When coupled with the geological evidence, these
findings suggest that the history of Pascagoula River basin may be independent of its neighboring
drainages on the coastal plain, possibly due to the mobilization of salt domes in the subsurface of
the Gulf of Mexico coastal plain.
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COPYRIGHT BY

ANDREA KAREN PERSONS

2010

The University of Southern Mississippi

GEOLOGICAL AND ICHTHYOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS INTO

PALAEODRAINAGE HYPOTHESES FOR THE TENNESSEE RIVER

by

Andrea Karen Persons

A Dissertation
Submitted to the Graduate School
of The University of Southern Mississippi
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Approved:

Mac H. Alford
Director

David M. Patrick

William T. Slack

Jennifer M. Walker

Robert M. Wood

Susan A. Siltanen
Dean of the Graduate School

December 2010
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank my major advisor, Dr. Mac Alford, and my committee members, Drs.
David Patrick, Todd Slack, Jennifer Walker, and Rob Wood, for their invaluable advice on ways
to improve this project as well as the encouragement needed to make it to the finish line. I am
especially grateful to Todd Slack for assistance in collecting fishes, for providing tissue samples,
and for the rides to the SFC meetings.
I owe a big thank you to Dr. Bernie Kuhajda of the University of Alabama. No one is more
knowledgeable on the fishes of the southeastern United States, and this project would not have
been possible without the tissue samples and advice on sampling methods and collecting
localities that Bernie provided.
This project was greatly enhanced by the tissue samples provided by Dr. Steven Powers of
Roanoke College, Dr. Tom Near of Yale University, Matt Thomas of the Kentucky Department
of Fish and Wildlife Resources, and Jeff Simmons of the Tennessee Valley Authority. Also,
insights shared by Dr. Darrell Schmitz, Dr. Casey Dillman, Brook Fluker, and Heath Howell were
invaluable. I thank each of you for your generous assistance.
I would also like to thank Drs. Shiao Wang, Jake Schaefer and Brian Kreiser. Dr. Wang
generously allowed the use of lab equipment, and Dr. Schaefer and Dr. Kreiser provided samples.
Dr. Kreiser also helped to troubleshoot PCR problems and provided advice on which genes would
be useful for this study.
The geological portion of this study would not have been possible without the guidance of Dr.
Gail Russell, who provided chert samples and helped me to determine which geochemical
analyses to employ. Dr. Maurice Meylan provided advice on ways to improve the study and
information on collection localities. Lin Pope helped in the identification of geological samples,
and Dr. George Raber and Tommy Dye provided invaluable GIS assistance. Thank you all for
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sharing your knowledge with me and for making me feel welcomed in the geography and geology
department.
I especially want to thank Drs. Alan Shiller and Kevin Yeager of the USM Center for Trace
Analysis in the Department of Marine Science for preparing and performing the mass
spectrometry of the chert samples.
My unofficial little brother, Lance Wilson, and my unofficial little sister, Kristen Sorrell,
helped with the collection of geological samples. In addition, Lance also helped troubleshoot GIS
problems. Scott Clark, Liliana Hernández, Wilfredo Matamoros, Paul Mickle, Danny Millican,
Tharanga Samarakoon, and Brianna Zuber helped with the collection of ichthyological samples.
Many thanks to each of you. In addition, I want to thank the Varnado family – David, Edie, and
daughters, Isidora, Eleni, and Nina, who were kind enough to allow us access to their beautiful
property to make a collection. Thanks to each of you for your hospitality.
Portions of this study were funded by grants from the Geological Society of America, the Gulf
Coast Association of Geological Societies, and by a GAANN Fellowship administered through
the College of Science and Technology at The University of Southern Mississippi. Thank you to
Dr. Diana Flosenzier was instrumental in the administration of the GAANN Fellowship.
Most people come with a lawyer and an accountant. I come with an orthopaedic surgeon and
a team of physical therapists. I especially want to thank Michael J. Stonnington, M. D. for
sewing me back together three times as well as Julie Melançon-Falla, Quin Sirmon, and Anna
Katharine Moore for treating me like family and for keeping me on the move. Your
encouragement has meant so much.
Lastly, I owe my greatest debt of gratitude to my parents, Gene and Janie Persons. They have
continually supported me and have always encouraged me to pursue my own path. My dad even
decided to spend part of his retirement helping me to collect fishes and can now readily identify a
darter. Thank you both.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................................................ii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS..............................................................................................................iii

LIST OF TABLES.........................................................................................................................vii

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS........................................................................................................viii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS..........................................................................................................x

CHAPTER

I. PALAEODRAINAGE HYPOTHESES FOR THE TENNESSEE RIVER..........1

Introduction
Palaeodrainage Hypotheses Connecting the Tennessee and Mobile Basins
Additional Palaeodrainage Hypotheses
Could Hayes and Campbell (1894) and Hayes (1899) Have Been Right?
Potential Connection via the Sequatchie Valley
Hypotheses Placing the Course of the Ancestral Tennessee across Mississippi
Conclusions
Literature Cited

II. GEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS INTO PALAEODRAINAGE
HYPOTHESES FOR THE TENNESSEE RIVER: USE OF RARE EARTH
ELEMENTS TO ASSESS THE ORIGIN OF THE CITRONELLE GRAVELS
IN MISSISSIPPI..................................................................................................34

Introduction
The Citronelle Controversies
The Fort Payne Formation
Use of REE Signatures to Determine Chert Provenance
Methods and Materials
Results
Discussion
Conclusions
Literature Cited

III. ICHTHYOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS INTO PALAEODRAINAGE
HYPOTHESES FOR THE TENNESSEE RIVER: INSIGHTS FROM
MOLECULAR PHYLOGENETIC ANALYSES AND BIOGEOGRAPHY OF
THE ETHEOSTOMA SUBGENUS DORATION (TELEOSTEI: PERCIDAE)
.............................................................................................................................77

Introduction
Previous Studies of the Etheostoma stigmaeum Species Complex
v
Species Accounts
Hypotheses Testing and Expected Results
Materials and Methods
Results
Discussion
Conclusions
Literature Cited

IV. GEOLOGICAL AND ICHTHYOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS INTO
PALAEODRAINAGE HYPOTHESES FOR THE TENNESSEE RIVER:
A SYNTHESIS OF THE DATA.......................................................................131

APPENDIXES.............................................................................................................................137

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