Fernando Formation

Last updated
Fernando Formation
Stratigraphic range: Plio-Pleistocene
Type Geologic formation
Underlies Pico Formation
Overlies Repetto Formation
Lithology
Primary Mudstone, siltstone, sandstone
Location
Region Los Angeles Basin, Santa Monica Mountains
Los Angeles County, California
Country United States

The Fernando Formation is a Plio-Pleistocene marine mudstone, siltstone and sandstone formation in the greater Los Angeles Basin, Ventura Basin, [1] and Santa Monica Mountains, in Los Angeles County of Southern California.

Contents

Geology

Outcrops of the formation in Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area have produced fossil shark teeth. [2] [3]

Classification

The underlying Repetto Formation is equivalent in age to the Fernando Formation, and some researchers consider it as well as the overlying Pico Formation to be a junior synonym based on benthic foraminifera stages. [4] Other researchers maintain that the Repetto and Pico Formations are distinct stratigraphic units, and that the use of the name "Fernando Formation" should be stopped due to several issues with stratigraphic correlation and access to the type section. [5]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Los Angeles Basin</span> Sedimentary basin located along the coast of southern California

The Los Angeles Basin is a sedimentary basin located in Southern California, in a region known as the Peninsular Ranges. The basin is also connected to an anomalous group of east-west trending chains of mountains collectively known as the Transverse Ranges. The present basin is a coastal lowland area, whose floor is marked by elongate low ridges and groups of hills that is located on the edge of the Pacific Plate. The Los Angeles Basin, along with the Santa Barbara Channel, the Ventura Basin, the San Fernando Valley, and the San Gabriel Basin, lies within the greater Southern California region. The majority of the jurisdictional land area of the city of Los Angeles physically lies within this basin.

The Black Peaks Formation is a geological formation in Texas whose strata date back to the Late Cretaceous. Dinosaur remains and the pterosaur Quetzalcoatlus northropi have been among the fossils reported from the formation. The boundary with the underlying Javelina Formation has been estimated at about 66.5 million years old. The formation preserves the rays Rhombodus and Dasyatis, as well as many gar scales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ogallala Formation</span> Geologic formation in the western United States

The Ogallala Formation is a Miocene to early Pliocene geologic formation in the central High Plains of the western United States and the location of the Ogallala Aquifer. In Nebraska and South Dakota it is also classified as the Ogallala Group. Notably, it records the North American Land Mammal Ages (NALMAs) Hemphillian, Clarendonian, and Barstovian. It also includes an excellent record of grass seeds and other plant seeds, which can be used for biostratigraphic dating within the formation. The Ogallala Formation outcrops of Lake Meredith National Recreation Area preserve fish fossils. Similar specimens from the same unit are found at Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument in Texas.

The Cherry Canyon Formation is a geologic formation found in the Delaware Basin of southeastern New Mexico and western Texas. It contains fossils characteristic of the Guadalupian Age of the Permian Period.

The Gardener's Clay Formation is a Pleistocene geologic unit straddling the New York-New Jersey border. Fossil fish vertebrae and teeth are preserved in its sediments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Culpeper Basin</span> Triassic rift basin in the United States

The Culpeper Basin is one of the Newark Supergroup's Triassic rift basins. It lies east of the Appalachian Mountains and extends from the Madison County—Orange County line in Virginia to Frederick, Maryland. A diverse group of sedimentary rocks including siltstone, sandstone, and conglomerate within the basin were intruded by igneous rocks, which caused thermal metamorphism at the contact with sedimentary rock.

The Bell Canyon Formation is a geologic formation found in the Delaware Basin of southeastern New Mexico and western Texas. It contains fossils characteristic of the Guadalupian Age of the Permian Period.

The Doughnut Formation is an Upper Mississippian geologic unit in the western United States. Fish fossils have been discovered in shale outcrops of this formation in Dinosaur National Monument.

The Brushy Canyon Formation is a Permian geologic unit in Guadalupe Mountains National Park. The formation contains fan sandstones that were deposited under ancient seawater during the Middle Permian. These rocks contain abundant fish fossils like sharks' teeth preserved within small phosphatic nodules.

The Cabrillo Formation is a Maastrichtian stage geologic formation in coastal San Diego County, southern California. It is part of the Rosario Group. The Maastrichtian stage is of the Late Cretaceous Epoch, during the Mesozoic Era.

The Bull Run Formation is a Late Triassic (Norian) stratigraphic unit in the eastern United States. Fossil fish bones and scales have been found in outcrops of the formation's Groveton Member in Manassas National Battlefield Park. Indeterminate fossil ornithischian tracks have been reported from the formation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cliff House Sandstone</span> Geologic formation in the western US

The Cliff House Sandstone is a late Campanian stratigraphic unit comprising sandstones in the western United States.

The Glenns Ferry Formation is a Pliocene stratigraphic unit in the western United States. Outcrops of the formation in Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument preserve the remains of seven fish species, five of which are extinct. These include the teleosteans Mylopharodon hagermanensis, Sigmopharyngodon idahoensis, and Ptychocheilus oregonensis, Ameirurus vespertinus, and the sunfish Archoplites taylori. A nearly complete skull of the catfish Ameirurus vespertinus was recovered in 2001 from the wall of the Smithsonian Horse Quarry.

The Lost Burro Formation is a Middle to Upper/Late Devonian geologic formation in the Mojave Desert of California in the Western United States.

The Hidden Valley Dolomite is a Silurian−Devonian geologic formation in the northern Mojave Desert of California, in the western United States.

The Pico Formation is a Pliocene epoch stratigraphic unit and geologic formation in the greater Los Angeles Basin, the Santa Monica Mountains, and the Santa Susana Mountains, in Los Angeles County of Southern California.

The Drake Bay Formation is a Pliocene stratigraphic unit in California. In 1993, paleontologists excavated a whale skeleton associated with fossil shark teeth and fish vertebrae that may have belonged to a giant salmon from Drake Bay sediments at Point Reyes National Seashore.

The Mountain Springs Formation is Devonian stratigraphic unit in Arizona. The remains of both antiarch and arthrodire placoderms are known from the formation.

The Repetto Formation is a Pliocene epoch sedimentary unit in the greater Los Angeles Basin composed primarily of sandstone and conglomerate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burrow fossil</span> Trace fossil

Burrow fossils are the remains of burrows - holes or tunnels excavated into the ground or seafloor - by animals to create a space suitable for habitation, temporary refuge, or as a byproduct of locomotion preserved in the rock record. Because burrow fossils represent the preserved byproducts of behavior rather than physical remains, they are considered a kind of trace fossil. One common kind of burrow fossil is known as Skolithos, and the similar Trypanites, Ophiomorpha and Diplocraterion.

References

  1. Liddicoat, 2001
  2. Hunt, Santucci, and Kenworthy (2006). "Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area", page 67.
  3. "Hunt, ReBecca K.; Santucci, Vincent L.; and Kenworthy, Jason (2006). "A preliminary inventory of fossil fish from National Park Service units." in S.G. Lucas, J.A. Spielmann, P.M. Hester, J.P. Kenworthy, and V.L. Santucci (ed.s), Fossils from Federal Lands. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 34, pp. 63–69" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-10-19. Retrieved 2015-11-16.
  4. Sorlien, Christopher C.; Seeber, Leonardo; Broderick, Kris G.; Luyendyk, Bruce P.; Fisher, Michael A.; Sliter, Ray W.; Normark, William R. (June 2013). "The Palos Verdes anticlinorium along the Los Angeles, California coast: Implications for underlying thrust faulting". Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems. 14 (6): 1866–1890. Bibcode:2013GGG....14.1866S. doi:10.1002/ggge.20112.
  5. Blake, Gregg H. 1991. "Review of the Neogene biostratigraphy and stratigraphy of the Los Angeles Basin and implications for basin evolution," In: Biddle, Kevin T. (ed), "Active Margin Basins", AAPG Memoir 52, 319pp.