Avon Fissure Fill

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Avon Fissure Fill
Stratigraphic range: Norian-Hettangian, 216.5–199.6  Ma
Type Formation
Underlies Lower Carboniferous limestones
Location
Coordinates 51°30′N2°36′W / 51.5°N 2.6°W / 51.5; -2.6
Approximate paleocoordinates 35°54′N0°48′E / 35.9°N 0.8°E / 35.9; 0.8
Region South West England
CountryFlag of England.svg  England
Extent Avon (now Bristol)
Type section
Named forAvon county
Named by Henry Riley & Samuel Stutchbury
Year defined1836
England relief location map.jpg
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Avon Fissure Fill (England)

The Avon Fissure Fill, also known as the Bristol Fissure Fill or Tytherington Fissure Fill, [1] is a fissure fill in Avon, England (now Bristol) which dates variously from the Norian and Rhaetian stages of the Late Triassic, or possibly as late as the Hettangian stage of the Early Jurassic. [2] The fissure fill at Avon was a sinkhole formed by the dissolution of Lower Carboniferous limestones. [1]

It is paired with the nearby Magnesian Conglomerate; it may have been the same formation as the Magnesian Conglomerate. [1]

Paleofauna

TaxonSpeciesPresenceNotesImages
Agnosphitys [2] [3] A. cromhallensis [2] [3] Geographically present in Avon, England (now Bristol). [2] Its remains include a left ilium (holotype) and a left maxilla, astragalus and humerus (referred specimen). [2] Agnosphitys cromhallensis2 copia.jpg
Agrosaurus [4] [2] A. macgillivrayi [4] [2] Geographically present in Avon, England (now Bristol). Originally believed to have been found in Cape York Peninsula, Queensland (Australia). [2] A tibia, a claw and some other fragments. [2]
Asylosaurus [2] [5] A. yalensis [2] [5] Geographically present in Avon, England (now Bristol). [2] [6] Dorsal vertebrae, ribs, gastralia, a shoulder girdle, humeri, a partial forearm, and a hand; additional bones from the neck, tail, pelvis, arm and legs that may represent the same individual. [5] [2] Asylosaurus NT.jpg
Chimaeriformes [7] Indeterminate [7] Geographically present in Bristol. [2] Indeterminate remains. [7]
Clevosaurus [8] C. hudsoni [8] Geographically present in Gloucestershire. [2] Partial cranial and post-cranial skeleton (holotype). [8] Clevosaurus cropped.jpg
Crinoidea [7] Indeterminate [7] Geographically present in Bristol. [2] Reworked from older Carboniferous sediments (Friars Point Limestone Formation). [9]
Diphydontosaurus [7] D. avonensis [7] Geographically present in Bristol. [2] Complete to near-complete specimens. [7] Diphydontosaurus cropped.jpg
Hybodontiformes? [10] Indeterminate [10] Geographically present in Bristol. [2] Indeterminate remains. [10]
Gyrolepis [11] Indeterminate [11] Geographically present in Bristol. [2] Indeterminate remains. [11] Gyrolepis albertii 34.jpg
Lissodus [10] L. minimus [10] Geographically present in Bristol. [2] Teeth. [10] Lissodus fossil cropped.png
Palaeosaurus [2] [5] P. cylindrodon [2] [5] Geographically present in Avon, England (now Bristol) and Bristol. [2] Two teeth (one destroyed in 1940). [2] Palaeosaurus both holotypes.png
Planocephalosaurus [12] [13] P. robinsonae [12] [13] Geographically present in Bristol. [2] Skull (holotype). [12]
Rhomphaiodon [10] R. minor [10] Geographically present in Bristol. [2] Teeth. [10]
Rileyasuchus [2] [14] [15] R. bristolensis [2] [14] [15] Geographically present in Bristol. [2] Two vertebrae and a humerus. [2]
Terrestrisuchus ? [10] [7] Indeterminate [10] [7] Geographically present in Bristol and South Wales. [2] Indeterminate remains. [10] [7] Terrestrisuchus BW.jpg
Theropoda [2] Indeterminate [2] Geographically present in Avon, England (now Bristol) and Bristol. [2] Indeterminate remains. [2] Possibly similar to Pendraig milnerae . [16]
Thecodontosaurus [2] T. antiquus [2] Geographically present in Avon, England (now Bristol) and Bristol. [2] Partial cranial and postcranial remains (holotype is a lower jaw). [2] Thecodontosaurus.jpg

Related Research Articles

<i>Thecodontosaurus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Thecodontosaurus is a genus of herbivorous basal sauropodomorph dinosaur that lived during the late Triassic period.

Agrosaurus is a potentially dubious genus of thecodontosaurid sauropodomorph probably originating from the Magnesian Conglomerate of England that was originally believed to be a Triassic prosauropod from Australia. Agrosaurus would thus be the oldest dinosaur from that country. However, this appears to have been an error, and the material actually appears to come from Thecodontosaurus or a Thecodontosaurus-like animal from Bristol, England. The type species is Agrosaurus macgillivrayi.

<i>Agnosphitys</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Agnosphitys is a genus of dinosauriform that lived during the Late Triassic. It contains only one species, the type species A. cromhallensis. Its remains include an ilium, maxilla, astragalus and humerus, which date variously from the Norian and Rhaetian stages of the Late Triassic, or possibly as late as the Hettangian stage of the Early Jurassic. The fissure fill at Avon, of which Agnosphitys was probably recovered from, was a sinkhole formed by the dissolution of Lower Carboniferous limestones.

<i>Palaeosaurus</i> Genus of reptiles (fossil)

Palaeosaurus is a genus of indeterminate archosaur known from two teeth found in the Bromsgrove Sandstone Formation and also either the Magnesian Conglomerate or the Avon Fissure Fill of Clifton, Bristol, England. It has had a convoluted taxonomic history.

Rileyasuchus is a genus of phytosaur from the Rhaetian Magnesian Conglomerate of England. It has a confusing history, being associated with the taxonomy of Palaeosaurus and Thecodontosaurus, and being a replacement name for a preoccupied genus.

<i>Planocephalosaurus</i> Extinct genus of reptiles

Planocephalosaurus is an extinct genus of basal rhynchocephalian. Fossils of the genus are primarily known from fissure fill deposits from the Late Triassic of southwest Britain, with fragmentary remains possibly belonging to the genus also known from the Late Triassic of Texas.

<i>Terrestrisuchus</i> Genus of terrestrial crocodylomorph

Terrestrisuchus is an extinct genus of very small early crocodylomorph that was about 76 centimetres (30 in) long. Fossils have been found in Wales and Southern England and date from near the very end of the Late Triassic during the Rhaetian, and it is known by type and only known species T. gracilis. Terrestrisuchus was a long-legged, active predator that lived entirely on land, unlike modern crocodilians. It inhabited a chain of tropical, low-lying islands that made up southern Britain, along with similarly small-sized dinosaurs and abundant rhynchocephalians. Numerous fossils of Terrestrisuchus are known from fissures in limestone karst which made up the islands it lived on, which formed caverns and sinkholes that preserved the remains of Terrestrisuchus and other island-living reptiles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thecodontosauridae</span> Extinct family of dinosaurs

Thecodontosauridae is a family of basal sauropodomorph dinosaurs that are part of the Bagualosauria, known from fossil remains found exclusively in the Magnesian Conglomerate of Bristol, England, which dates back to the Rhaetian stage of the Late Triassic. Two genera are known: Agrosaurus and Thecodontosaurus; the former is often considered to be the same animal as the latter.

<i>Asylosaurus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Asylosaurus is a genus of basal sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Late Triassic Avon Fissure Fill of England. It is based on partial remains, discovered in the autumn of 1834, described in 1836 by Henry Riley and Samuel Stutchbury as pertaining to Thecodontosaurus, that Othniel Charles Marsh brought to Yale University between 1888 and 1890. These remains thus escaped destruction by a bombardment in 1940 during World War II, unlike the original holotype of Thecodontosaurus. Asylosaurus was described in 2007 by Peter Galton. The type species is A. yalensis, referring to Yale. The bones originally came from a Rhaetian-age cave fill at Durdham Down, Clifton, Bristol.

<i>Clevosaurus</i> Extinct genus of reptiles

Clevosaurus is an extinct genus of rhynchocephalian reptile from the Late Triassic and the Early Jurassic periods. Species of Clevosaurus were widespread across Pangaea, and have been found on all continents except Australia and Antarctica. Five species of Clevosaurus have been found in ancient fissure fill deposits in south-west England and Wales, alongside other sphenodontians, early mammals and dinosaurs. In regards to its Pangaean distribution, C. hadroprodon is the oldest record of a sphenodontian from Gondwana, though its affinity to Clevosaurus has been questioned.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magnesian Conglomerate</span>

The Magnesian Conglomerate is a geological formation in Clifton, Bristol in England, Gloucestershire and southern Wales, present in Tytherington, Durdham Down, Slickstones Quarry and Cromhall Quarry.

<i>Diphydontosaurus</i> Extinct genus of reptiles

Diphydontosaurus is an extinct genus of small rhynchocephalian reptile from the Late Triassic of Europe. It is the most primitive known member of Sphenodontia.

Tricuspisaurus is an extinct genus of reptile originally described as a trilophosaurid; it was later considered likely to be a procolophonid, but recent analyses have affirmed the original classification. Fossils are known from the Ruthin Quarry in Glamorgan, Wales, one of several Late Triassic to Early Jurassic British fissure deposits. Like some trilophosaurs, it has an edentulous, or toothless beak. Tricuspisaurus gets its name from its heterodont dentition, which includes tricuspid teeth, or teeth with three cusps. The type species, T. thomasi, was named in 1957 along with the possible trilophosaur Variodens inopinatus from Somerset, England.

Aenigmaspina is an extinct genus of enigmatic pseudosuchian (=crurotarsan) archosaur from the Late Triassic of the United Kingdom. Its fossils are known from the Pant-y-ffynnon Quarry in South Wales, of which its type and only known species is named after, A. pantyffynnonensis. Aenigmaspina is characterised by the unusual spines on its vertebrae, which are broad and flat on top with a unique 'Y' shape. Although parts of its skeleton is relatively well known, the affinities of Aenigmaspina to other pseudosuchians are unclear, although it is possibly related to families Ornithosuchidae, Erpetosuchidae or Gracilisuchidae.

The Klettgau Formation is a geological formation in Switzerland. It is Late Triassic in age, covering most of the mid to late Norian, the Carnian, and into the Rhaetian, spanning a period of 26-30 million years.

Rhomphaiodon is an extinct genus of prehistoric sharks in the order Synechodontiformes that has been found in Late Triassic and Early Jurassic deposits located in Europe. The type species R. minor was originally named as a species of Hybodus in 1837 by Louis Agassiz. A second species, R. nicolensis, was added when the genus was named in 1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pant-y-Ffynnon Quarry</span> Stone quarry in Wales

Pant-y-Ffynnon Quarry is a stone quarry in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, around 3 kilometers east of Cowbridge. It contains fissure fill deposits dating to the Late Triassic (Rhaetian), hosted within karsts of Carboniferous aged limestone, primarily the Friars Point Limestone Formation. Remains of numerous small vertebrates, notably archosaurs, are known from the fissure fills in the quarry, similar to other Late Triassic-Early Jurassic fissure fill deposits known from Southwest England and southern Wales.

Smilodonterpeton is an extinct genus of procolophonid from the Late Triassic of the United Kingdom. It contains a single species, Smilodonterpeton ruthinensis.

<i>Cryptovaranoides</i> Extinct genus of reptiles

Cryptovaranoides is an extinct genus of reptile from the Late Triassic Magnesian Conglomerate of England. It contains a single species, Cryptovaranoides microlanius.

<i>Hwiccewyrm</i> Fossil genus of parareptile

Hwiccewyrm is an extinct genus of leptopleuronine procolophonid parareptile from the Late Triassic Magnesian Conglomerate of England. The type, and currently only, species is H. trispiculum.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Magnesian Conglomerate in the Paleobiology Database
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 Langer, 2004. Basal Saurischia. In Weishampel, Dodson and Osmolska. The Dinosauria Second Edition. University of California Press. 861 pp.
  3. 1 2 Nicholas C. Fraser, Kevin Padian, Gordon M. Walkden and A. L. M. Davis, 2002. Basal dinosauriform remains from Britain and the diagnosis of the Dinosauria. Palaeontology. 45(1), 79-95.
  4. 1 2 H. G. Seeley. (1891). On Agrosaurus macgillivrayi (Seeley), a saurischian reptile from the N.E. coast of Australia. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 47:164-165
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Galton, Peter (2007). "Notes on the remains of archosaurian reptiles, mostly basal sauropodomorph dinosaurs, from the 1834 fissure fill (Rhaetian, Upper Triassic) at Clifton in Bristol, southwest England". Revue de Paléobiologie. 26 (2): 505–591.
  6. ↑ Riley H and Stutchbury S (1836a) "A description of various remains of three distinct saurian animals discovered in the autumn of 1834, in the Magnesian Conglomerate on Durdham Down, near Bristol". Geological Society of London, Proceedings, 2 (45): 397-399.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Mussini, G.; Whiteside, D. I.; Hildebrandt, C.; Benton, M. J. (2020). "Anatomy of a Late Triassic Bristol fissure: Tytherington fissure 2". Proceedings of the Geologists' Association . 131 (1): 73–93. doi:10.1016/j.pgeola.2019.12.001.
  8. 1 2 3 W. E. Swinton. (1939). A new Triassic rhynchocephalian from Gloucestershire. ''Annals and Magazine of Natural History: Zoology, Botany, and Geology'' '''4''':591-59
  9. ↑ Keeble, Emily; Whitestide, David I.; Benton, Michael J. (2018). "The terrestrial fauna of the Late Triassic Pant-y-ffynnon Quarry fissures, South Wales, UK and a new species of Clevosaurus (Lepidosauria: Rhynchocephalia)" (PDF). Proceedings of the Geologists' Association . 129 (2): 99–119. doi:10.1016/j.pgeola.2017.11.001. hdl:1983/5afdc677-3ea0-4519-813d-6052ef8370ec.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Foffa, D.; Whiteside, D. I.; Viegas, P. A.; Benton, M. J. (2014), "Vertebrates from the Late Triassic Thecodontosaurus-bearing rocks of Durdham Down, Clifton (Bristol, UK)", Proceedings of the Geologists' Association , 125: 317–332
  11. 1 2 3 Romano, Carlo; Koot, Martha B.; Kogan, Ilja; Brayard, Arnaud; Minikh, Alla V.; Brinkmann, Winand; Bucher, Hugo; Kriwet, Jürgen (February 2016). "Permian-Triassic Osteichthyes (bony fishes): diversity dynamics and body size evolution". Biological Reviews. 91 (1): 106–147. doi:10.1111/brv.12161. PMID   25431138. S2CID   5332637.
  12. 1 2 3 Fraser, N.C. (November 1982). "A New Rhynchocephalian from the British Upper Trias" (PDF). Palaeontology. 25 (4): 709–725.
  13. 1 2 Fraser, N.C.; Walkden, G.M. (August 1984). "The postcranial skeleton of the Upper Triassic sphenodontid Planocephalosaurus robinsonae" (PDF). Palaeontology. 27 (3): 575–595.
  14. 1 2 von Huene, F. (1902). Überischt über die Reptilien der Trias. Geologische und Paläontologie Abhandlungen, Neu Folge 8:97-156. [German]
  15. 1 2 Kuhn, O. (1961). Die Familien der rezenten und fossilen Amphibien und Reptilien. Meisenbach:Bamberg, 79 p.
  16. ↑ Spiekman SN, Ezcurra MD, Butler RJ, Fraser NC, Maidment SC (2021). "Pendraig milnerae, a new small-sized coelophysoid theropod from the Late Triassic of Wales". Royal Society Open Science. 8 (10): Article ID 210915. doi: 10.1098/rsos.210915 . PMC   8493203 .
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