A Rhaetian microvertebrate fauna from Stowey Quarry,Somerset, U.K.

Rhaetian bone beds have been described from many locations in south-west England, around Bristol. One site that has never been reported is Stowey Quarry, some 13?km south of Bristol. This quarry yielded Lias, and revealed thin Rhaetian units in the quarry floor, including two bone beds, the basal Rhaetian bone bed, and a second, higher bone bed, also within the Westbury Formation. The fossil fauna of both includes elements typical of Rhaetian bone beds elsewhere, but showing differences in faunal composition between the two. The basal bone bed yielded more specimens and more species, with three taxa (Sargodon tomicus, Rhomphaiodon minor and Hybodus cloacinus) exclusive to this bed and eleven identified in total. Severnichthys acuminatus accounts for more than 50% of the countable teeth from the basal bone bed, followed by Gyrolepis albertii with 20%, Lissodus minimus with 14% and Rhomphaiodon minor with 9%. The basal bone bed, as ever, is dominated by chondrichthyans, whereas the upper bone bed is dominated by osteichthyans, which form 90% of the non-dental remains. The only unique taxon is Dapedium, and Gyrolepis albertii is the most abundant species with 45% of countable teeth, followed by Severnichthys acuminatus with 38% and Duffinselache holwellensis with 11%. These faunal differences, and the equally good condition of specimens between both samples confirms that the upper bone bed is independent of the basal bone bed, and is not a reworked subsample.     

Geology and microvertebrate faunas of the Rhaetian Westbury Formation of Doniford Bay,Somerset

The Rhaetian (latest Triassic) succession of Doniford Bay, North Somerset has been noted as a site of fossils for over 200 years, and yet has never been described in detail despite its importance for palaeontology, for knowledge of a classic Triassic-to-Jurassic transition sequence, for structural geology, and as a venue for field trips. There are two bone beds, which differ substantially in sedimentary and palaeontological characteristics. Fossils include the usual teeth, denticles, and scales of small hybodont sharks, bony fishes, and marine reptiles. The lower (basal) bone bed is in many ways like those from other localities around Bristol and in South Wales, whereas the upper bone bed shows rich organic matter and an absence of calcite, suggesting a deeper location of deposition. Further, the lower bone bed contains abundant abraded silica grains, suggesting transport of sediment and bone debris from a beach or river. The two bone beds differ in faunal composition, and the upper bone bed lacks the locally derived clasts, larger silica grains, and calcite seen in the lower bone bed. Bones and teeth are equally abraded in both bone beds, confirming long-distance transport of fish and reptile fossils and that the upper bone bed cannot be interpreted as having derived from the lower.     

Microvertebrates from the Rhaetian bone beds at Westbury Garden Cliff,near Gloucester,UK

Westbury Garden Cliff has been a noted site for Rhaetian bone beds for over a century. It is known especially as a source of excellently preserved bones of the small marine reptile Pachystropheus as well as other reptiles, and fishes. Further it is the type locality of the Westbury Formation, the lower half of the British Rhaetian (Penarth Group). It was also featured in a debate over lateral equivalence of the basal Rhaetian bone bed, with supposedly 5–6 m of pre-basal bone bed deposition. However, the bone beds at different localities are unlikely to be of exactly the same age, and the succession at Westbury Garden Cliff lacks the erosive base of the Westbury Formation seen elsewhere and so presumably started later, perhaps reflecting progressive inundation of the Welsh High, the nearest land. However, the main bone bed occurs in lenses up to 20 cm wide, and may represent hummocky cross stratification, evidence of storm bed deposition. Trace fossils in several sandstones include Selenichnites and Crescentichnus, evidence of shallow-water limulids ploughing the sediment for food, Lockeia, the living burrows of bivalves, and Chondrites burrow systems, suggesting subsequent stability of the sandstone beds.     

Stratigraphy of the Triassic?Jurassic Boundary Successions of the Southern Margin of the Junggar Basin, Northwestern China

The Triassic?Jurassic (Tr?J) boundary marks a major extinction event, which (~200 Ma) resulted in global extinctions of fauna and flora both in the marine and terrestrial realms. There prevail great challenges in determining the exact location of the terrestrial Tr?J boundary, because of endemism of taxa and the scarcity of fossils in terrestrial settings leading to difficulties in linking marine and terrestrial sedimentary successions. Investigation based on palynology and bivalves has been carried out over a 1113 m thick section, which is subdivided into 132 beds, along the Haojiagou valley on the southern margin of the Junggar Basin of the northern Xinjiang, northwestern China. The terrestrial Lower Jurassic is conformably resting on the Upper Triassic strata. The Upper Triassic covers the Huangshanjie Formation overlaid by the Haojiagou Formation, while the Lower Jurassic comprises the Badaowan Formation followed by the Sangonghe Formation. Fifty six pollen and spore taxa and one algal taxon were identified from the sediments. Based on the key-species and abundance of spores and pollen, three zones were erected: the Late Triassic (Rhaetian) Aratrisporites?Alisporites Assemblage, the Early Jurassic (Hettangian) Perinopollenites?Pinuspollenites Assemblage, and the Sinemurian Perinopollenites?Cycadopites Assemblage. The Tr?J boundary is placed between bed 44 and 45 coincident with the boundary between the Haojiagou and Badaowan formations. Beds with Ferganoconcha (?), Unio?Ferganoconcha and Waagenoperna?Yananoconcha bivalve assemblages are recognized. The Ferganoconcha (?) bed is limited to the upper Haojiagou Formation, Unio?Ferganoconcha and Waagenoperna?Yananoconcha assemblages are present in the middle and upper members of the Badaowan Formation. The sedimentary succession is interpreted as terrestrial with two mainly lake deposit intervals within Haojiagou and Badaowan formations, yielding fresh water algae and bivalves. However, the presence of brackish water algae Tasmanites and the marine?littoral facies bivalve Waagenoperna from the Badaowan Formation indicate that the Junggar Basin was influenced by sea water caused by transgressions from the northern Tethys, during the Sinemurian.     

Vertebrates from the Late Triassic Thecodontosaurus-bearing rocks of Durdham Down,Clifton (Bristol,UK)

Since the discovery of the basal sauropodomorph dinosaur Thecodontosaurus in the 1830s, the associated fauna from the Triassic fissures at Durdham Down (Bristol, UK) has not been investigated, largely because the quarries are built over. Other fissure sites around the Bristol Channel show that dinosaurs represented a minor part of the fauna of the Late Triassic archipelago. Here we present data on microvertebrates from the original Durdham Down fissure rocks, which considerably expand the taxonomic diversity of the island fauna, revealing that it was dominated by the sphenodontian Diphydontosaurus, and that archosauromorphs, including sphenosuchian crocodylomorphs, coelophysoid theropods, and the basal sauropodomorph Thecodontosaurus, were diverse. Importantly, a few fish teeth provide new information about the debated age of the fissure deposit, which is identified as lower Rhaetian. Thecodontosaurus had been assigned an age range over 20–25 Myr of the Late Triassic, so this narrower age determination (209.5–204 Myr) is important for studies of early dinosaurian evolution.     

A new Triassic pterosaur from Switzerland (Central Austroalpine, Grisons), Raeticodactylus filisurensis gen. et sp. nov.

A new basal non-pterodactyloid pterosaur, Raeticodactylus filisurensis gen. et sp. nov., is reported. It has been discovered in shallow marine sediments from the Upper Triassic of the lowest Kössen beds (late Norian/early Rhaetian boundary) in the central Austroalpine of Canton Grisons (Switzerland). The disarticulated specimen is comprised of an almost complete skull and a partial postcranial skeleton. A high and thin bony, sagittal cranial crest characterizes the anterodorsal region of the skull. The large mandible, with an additional keel-like expansion at the front, partly matches the enlarged sagittal cranial crest. A direct and close relationship to Austriadactylus cristatus, the only known Triassic pterosaur with a bony cranial crest so far, cannot be established. The teeth of the premaxilla are monocuspid and exhibit very strongly bowed enamel wrinkles on the lingual side whereas the enamel is smooth on the labial side. These monocuspid teeth are large and fang-like. The numerous smaller teeth of the maxilla show three, four and five cusps. These are very similar to the teeth of the Triassic pterosaur Eudimorphodon ranzii. The humerus shows a thinner construction than that seen in other Triassic pterosaurs. The femur is quite unusual with a caput femoris perpendicular to the shaft. The bones of the extremities are almost twice as long as the ones from the largest Triassic specimen E. ranzii (MCSNB 2888). The newly described pterosaur is an adult, with a wingspan of approximately 135 cm. A morphofunctional analysis suggests that R. filisurensis was a highly specialized piscivore and possibly a skim-feeder.     

The first discovery of crinoids and cephalopod hooklets in the British Triassic

The Late Triassic Rhaetian stage is perhaps best known in south-west Britain for the bone beds of the Westbury Formation, but there are other fossil-rich horizons within this and the underlying Blue Anchor Formation. Samples from a borehole drilled at the Filton West Chord, and collected from exposures near Bristol Parkway railway station, have yielded significant fossil material from both of these formations. The assemblage recovered from the Blue Anchor Formation is similar to those from the lower Westbury Formation, yielding roughly equal proportions of chondrichthyans and osteichthyans. Assemblages recovered from the Westbury Formation are typical of those from the upper Westbury Formation, in being dominated by osteichthyans. The borehole samples have produced the first recorded evidence of crinoids in the British Triassic, and the first evidence of coleoid cephalopods, in the form of grasping hooklets, from the Rhaetian, and indeed the first from the British Triassic.     

Microvertebrates from the Wadhurst Clay Formation (Lower Cretaceous) of Ashdown Brickworks,East Sussex,UK

Ashdown Brickworks, near Bexhill, East Sussex, has produced a large number of vertebrate fossils from the Wadhurst Clay Formation, part of the Wealden Supergroup (Hastings Group; Valanginian; Lower Cretaceous). Here we describe the microvertebrate fauna of the ‘conglomerate bed’, representing a rich sample of taxa. While most of the recovered teeth and bones are abraded, some heavily, most can be identified to species level. The taxa include four species of hybodont sharks (Egertonodus basanus, Planohybodus ensis, Polyacrodus parvidens, P. brevicostatus), three taxa of bony fishes (an unidentified Lepidotes-like semionotiform, the pycnodontiform Ocloedus, and an albuliform), three taxa of crocodyliforms (the goniopholid Hulkepholis, a bernissartiid, and the atoposaurid Theriosuchus), and the theropod dinosaurs Baryonyx and an allosauroid. Sediments of the Wadhurst Clay Formation as a whole indicate freshwater to very slightly brackish-water environments of deposition, and the mainly aquatic time-averaged mixture of fishes and tetrapods recovered from the ‘conglomerate bed’, together with isolated terrestrial species, confirms this interpretation.     

Late Eocene marginal marine deposits and paleoenvironment characterisation from the Maadi Formation (Northern Eastern Egypt)

Two beds containing relatively thick and highly concentrated oyster shell banks occurring in the densely fossiliferous Wadi Al Abraq outcrop (Upper Eocene Maadi Formation, Cairo-Sukhna Road, Egypt). Such shell beds are almost monospecific. The upper level consists mainly of Ostrea clotbeyi Bellardi, topped by a considerable concentration of Carolia placunoides Cantraine, while in the lower level occurs Ostrea multicostata Deshayes. In both beds, the upper contact with the overlying marl bed (about 2 m thick) is sharp and sometimes erosive. Similarly, the contact with the underlying shale (1.5 m thick) is sharp and erosional. The shell beds are composed mainly of loosely packed oyster shells and their fragments (usually with a high proportion of disarticulated specimens) set in the sandy limestone matrix. The collected oysters show bioerosion and skeletobiont assemblages. Bioerosion trace fossils comprise ten ichnospecies while skeletozoans comprise five taxa. In general, shells of O. clotbeyi show a higher incidence of bioerosion than O. multicostata. The shells' chaotic orientation and their moderate fragmentation indicate that the shell bed formation was associated with high energy events. On the other hand, the low frequency of articulated specimens suggests that the shell beds are parautochthonous oyster banks' remnants. The taphonomic features of the studied assemblage indicate deposition in a shallow-water, wave-dominated environment.     

Mineralogy, Petrology, and Oxygen Isotopic Geochemistry of the Clough Formation, Black Mountain, Western New Hampshire, U.S.A.

The rocks of the Clough Formation, Black Mountain, New Hampshire,were regionally metamorphosed at 5.5 (±0.5) kb and 495°± 10 °C during the Acadian orogeny. Mineral assemblagesattained chemical equilibrium during metamorphism on the scaleof single sedimentary beds up to 1 m thick. An aqueous, intergranular,metamorphic fluid was probably present; however, the concentrationsof the species H₂O, H₂, and O₂ as well as the abundance of ¹⁸Oin the fluid varied from bed to bed. Neither isobaric nor polybaricosmotic equilibrium of H2 was attained between sedimentary beds.Fluid composition was controlled in each bed by the inherentbuffer capacity of the solid phases. Despite the effects ofprogressive dehydration during metamorphism, the buffer capacitiesof the mineral assemblages were sufficiently great that vestigesof premetamorphic heterogeneity of volatile components havebeen preserved.     

Kaeveria fluegeli (Zaninetti, Altiner, Dager et Ducret, 1982) (Foraminifera) from Upper Triassic of the South-East Pamirs

Foraminifers representing species Kaeveria fluegeli have been found in the Zorkaradjilga Formation (Sagenites quinquepunctatus Zone) of the upper Norian (or lower Rhaetian) in the central structural-facies zone of the South-East Pamirs. Their occurrence here is an additional criterion substantiating age and correlation of host deposits and an evidence in favor of fauna migration from the southern Tethys during the respective time span not only in northwestern areas of that ocean (Northern Calcareous Alps), but also in its central part (the South-East Pamirs).     

The Faraoni event (latest Hauterivian) in ichnological record: The Río Argos section of southern Spain

The Early Cretaceous (latest Hauterivian) Faraoni Oceanic Anoxic Event (F-OAE) in the Río Argos section (Caravaca region, southern Spain), the candidate for the Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) of the Hauterivian–Barremian transition, has been studied. Its ichnological bed-by-bed analysis allows for interpretation of oxygenation changes through the Faraoni Level interval and improvement upon previous characterization of oxygen conditions prior, during and after the F-OAE. The trace fossil assemblage belongs to the Zoophycos ichnofacies and it includes Chondrites intricatus, Chondrites targionii, Halimedides isp., Palaeophycus isp., ?Patagonichnus isp., Planolites isp., Rhizocorallium isp., Taenidium isp., Thalassinoides isp., Trichichnus linearis, Zavitokichnus fusiformis, and Zoophycos isp. Their diversity in particular beds fluctuates. Beds with four to six ichnotaxa reflect a multi-tiered macrobenthic trace maker assemblage living in good oxic and trophic conditions. In one bed below and one bed above the Faraoni Level (both marls without primary lamination), there are only two or three, mostly opportunistic ichnotaxa (Trichichnus, Chondrites, Planolites). They record dysoxic conditions. At the base of the Faraoni Level, one thicker and two thinner beds of marly mudstones (21.2 and 3.5 cm thick, respectively) are characterized by primary lamination. At the top and in the basal part of the thicker bed and in the thinner beds some trace fossils are present. These beds were deposited under anoxic conditions and later colonized by trace makers either from overlying beds deposited under oxic conditions or from the level of a greenish lamina in the lower part of the thicker bed, recording short episodes of dysoxic conditions. The thinner anoxic beds are separated by marls deposited under dysoxic conditions.     

Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of the Oligocene Afales Basin, Ithaki island, western Greece

Assemblages of benthic foraminifera from one clastic succession in the Afales Basin (Ithaki Island, western Greece) were investigated to reconstruct palaeoenvironmental conditions during the Oligocene. The section consists of alternating hemipelagic marls and detrital deposits, designated as flysch-like beds, attributed to biostratigraphic Zones P20 and P21. Planktic percentages are mostly high (66–80%). Benthic foraminiferal assemblages comprise calcareous and agglutinated taxa (up to 15%). The prevalence of epifaunal foraminifera indicates good ventilation of the bottom water resulting from basin morphology, which enabled the undisturbed flow of water throughout the basin. Palaeodepth estimates imply bathyal deposition, from about 800 to 1200 m deep. The benthic foraminiferal fauna is of high diversity along the section, as is expected in deep marine environments. The abundances of the most common foraminiferal taxa (Cibicidoides spp., Oridorsalis umbonatus, Gyroidinoides spp., Stilostomella spp., Nodosariidae, Nuttallides umbonifera) are quite variable and imply generally oligotrophic to mesotrophic environmental conditions with variable organic flux.     

Redeposited conglomerates in a miocene flysch sequence at Blackmount,Western Southland,New Zealand

The Middle Miocene Monowai Formation represents a gravel delta that prograded south into a flysch basin complex developed along the Moonlight Tectonic Zone, southern New Zealand. The delta-slope environment was characterized by a conglomeratic sequence up to 500 m thick. Most of the gravel was moved downslope by mass-transport processes. A complete spectrum exists from synsedimentary slide sheets (up to 10 m thick and 100 m long) that retain pre-sliding sedimentary structures, to more mature mass-transported sediment types in which all original structures have been destroyed. The most distal deposits include ungraded homogeneous pebble conglomerates up to 3 m thick. Some of the more mature redeposited conglomerate-sand-mud units (X–Y–Z sequences) are between 2 and 10 m thick; they comprise a basal X-division of bouldery conglomerate, a middle Y-division of pebbly mudstone or pebbly sandstone, and an upper Z-division of hydroplastically folded mudstone. Though X–Y–Z sequences may have been deposited from very proximal turbidity or fluxoturbidity currents, inertia-flow emplacement seems more likely. An inertia-flow mode of emplacement also seems most probable for the other redeposited sediment types described from the Monowai Formation.     

Welsh Borderland bouillabaisse: Lower Old Red Sandstone fish microfossils and their significance

Fish remains from over 100 localities in the Upper Silurian to Lower Devonian (traditional Lower Old Red Sandstone: LORS: Přidolí–Pragian) of Wales and the Welsh Borderland Anglo-Welsh Basin, southwest Britain have been investigated. Work on microfossils of fish (‘microvertebrates’, generally <5–8 mm) is reviewed, covering agnathan thelodonts, heterostracans, cephalaspids, anaspids, and gnathostomes including acanthodians, placoderms, and chondrichthyans, including the first from Pembrokeshire. Scales of the following taxa are newly identified: acanthodians Euthacanthus sp., Nostolepis musca, Parexus recurvus and Cheiracanthoides sp. cf. C. rarus; early “sharks” including Altholepis sp.; and a (?)radotinid placoderm. Species ranges in space, time and environment reveal interesting patterns, the most significant being a wide geographic distribution, which does not support a wholly freshwater provenance for the Anglo-Welsh Basin; endemic taxa are few. Using the International mid-Palaeozoic Microvertebrate zonal scheme, the presence of a Thelodus parvidens–Paralogania ludlowiensis-osteostracan Assemblage within the Ludlow Bonebed at the base of the former Downton Group (now in part in the new lithostratigraphically defined Daugleddau Group) supports a basal Přidolí age for the member. A mid-Přidolí dearth with few taxa, mainly acanthodians and cephalaspids is followed by an upper Přidolí Trimerolepis–Paralogania kummerowi–Loganellia cuneata-poracanthodid-Toombsaspis pococki Assemblage. The Silurian–Devonian boundary is equated with the appearance of Turinia pagei and associated taxa including Phialaspis symondsi at a level about 30 m below the local Chapel Point Limestone. This biozone can be correlated across the Old Red Sandstone continent. All vertebrate species including newly recognised Lochkovian chondrichthyans indicate marine environments were present in the LORS.     

北票—义县地区义县组岩石地层特征

北票-义县地区的义县组地层是一套火山-沉积地层,其中火山岩地层占80%以上,具有四个火山作用亚旋回,第一亚旋回以基性-偏碱的基性-中基性火山作用为特征,第二亚旋回以中基性-酸性的火山作用为特征,第三亚旋回以基性-中性火山作用为特征,第四亚旋回以中酸性火山作用为特征;义县组火山-沉积地层包含至少7个沉积夹层,可以进一步归纳为四套沉积层,即底砾岩层、下部火山岩中的沉积夹层、中部湖相沉积层和上部河湖相沉积层,沉积层中生物化石主要集中在3个主要层位.综合火山岩的旋回性特征,岩石组合、岩石产出特征,不同岩石组合的上、下接触关系和岩石形成环境的分析结果,结合同位素年代学及生物地层学的研究成果,区内义县组被划分成了4个岩性段.同位素年龄数据显示义县组时代为早白垩世,其形成年龄介于135~120Ma之间,含中华龙鸟、孔子鸟和辽宁古果等珍稀化石的湖相沉积层是在125~127Ma之间形成的.     

An Upper Cretaceous (middle Campanian) marine chondrichthyan and osteichthyan fauna from the Rattlesnake Mountain sandstone member of the Aguja Formation in West Texas

A thin phosphate-granule conglomerate within the Upper Cretaceous (middle Campanian) Rattlesnake Mountain sandstone member of the Aguja Formation preserves a diverse chondrichthyan and osteichthyan fauna. This highly fossiliferous deposit (the ‘Ten Bits Microsite’) yielded about 5000 teeth, spines, and denticles in a small amount of matrix (c. 150 kg). About 30 identifiable species of sharks, rays, and bony fishes are recognized. Two of the three most abundant chondrichthyan species at Ten Bits (Scapanorhynchus texanus and Ischyrhiza mira) are also the most common species in other middle to late Campanian marine vertebrate faunas along the Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plain. The myliobatiform rays Brachyrhizodus and Rhombodus that occur at Ten Bits also appear to be characteristic of the Gulf and Atlantic Coast, as are lamniform sharks such as Cretalamna and Serratolamna. These taxa are entirely absent or extremely rare in Western Interior Campanian faunas. In contrast, some small orectolobiform sharks (Cantioscyllium, Chiloscyllium, Columbusia) and small rays (Protoplatyrhina) found at Ten Bits are common in shallow water faunas of the Western Interior and Texas Coastal Plain, but rarely reported from the eastern Gulf or Atlantic Coast. The common Western Interior ray Myledaphus bipartitus does not occur at Ten Bits or in any Gulf or Atlantic Coast fauna. Ptychotrygon agujaensis is abundantly represented in the Ten Bits fauna, but unknown in correlative marine faunas. Although Ptychotrygon occurs in all Western Interior, Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plain faunas, it is represented elsewhere by apparently endemic species at each collection site. The differences between Western Interior, Gulf, and Atlantic Coastal Plain faunas probably reflect latitudinal variation in water temperature or salinity, or different oceanic water circulation patterns between the Western Interior Seaway and the Gulf or Atlantic Coast that restricted the distributions of some marine fish species. The Ten Bits fauna shares typical species with both Western Interior and Gulf and Atlantic Coast faunas, reflecting its position at the border between these provinces; however, the dominant taxa found at Ten Bits are the same as those found on the Gulf and Atlantic Coast, and indicate that western Texas was more closely allied biogeographically with that province than with the Western Interior of North America. One species tentatively identified in the Ten Bits fauna on the basis of a single tooth, Igdabatis cf. I. indicus, is otherwise known only from southern Europe and Asia, although a similar large myliobatid ray also occurs rarely in Texas Coastal Plain faunas. These occurrences indicate that western Texas may have been near the northern limit of the range for some tropical Tethyan marine vertebrate species.     

A diverse Pleistocene marsupial trackway assemblage from the Victorian Volcanic Plains,Australia

A diverse assemblage of late Pleistocene marsupial trackways on a lake bed in south-western Victoria provides the first information relating to the gaits and morphology of several megafaunal species, and represents the most speciose and best preserved megafaunal footprint site in Australia. The 60–110 ka volcaniclastic lacustrine sedimentary rocks preserve trackways of the diprotodontid Diprotodon optatum, a macropodid (probably Protemnodon sp.) and a large vombatid (perhaps Ramsayia magna or ‘Phascolomys’ medius) and possible prints of the marsupial lion, Thylacoleo carnifex. The footprints were imprinted within a short time period, demonstrating the association of the taxa present, rather than the time-averaged accumulations usually observed in skeletal fossil deposits. Individual manus and pes prints are distinguishable in some trackways, and in many cases some digital pad morphology is also present. Several parameters traditionally used to differentiate ichnotaxa, including trackway gauge and the degree of print in-turning relative to the midline, are shown to be subject to significant intraspecific variation in marsupials. Sexual dimorphism in the trackway proportions of Diprotodon, and its potential for occurrence in all large bodied, quadrupedal marsupials, is identified here for the first time.