Fruitland Formation

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Fruitland Formation
Stratigraphic range: Campanian [1]
~76.3–75  Ma
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Fruitland Formation at type.jpg
Fruitland Formation at its type location north of Fruitland, New Mexico
Type Geological formation
Sub-unitsFossil Forest Member
Ne-nah-ne-zad Member
Underlies Kirtland Formation
Overlies Pictured Cliffs Sandstone
Lithology
Primary Sandstone
Other Shale, coal
Location
Coordinates 36°45′07″N108°26′31″W / 36.752°N 108.442°W / 36.752; -108.442
Approximate paleocoordinates 43°30′N79°36′W / 43.5°N 79.6°W / 43.5; -79.6
RegionFlag of New Mexico.svg  New Mexico
Flag of Colorado.svg  Colorado
CountryFlag of the United States.svg  USA
Usa edcp relief location map.png
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Fruitland Formation (the United States)
USA New Mexico relief location map.svg
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Fruitland Formation (New Mexico)

The Fruitland Formation is a geologic formation found in the San Juan Basin in the states of New Mexico and Colorado, in the United States of America. It contains fossils dating it to the Campanian age of the late Cretaceous. [2]

Contents

The Fruitland Formation shares its name with Fruitland, New Mexico. That city is on what was the western shore of the Western Interior Seaway. [3]

Description

The Fruitland Formation is a sedimentary geological formation containing layers of sandstone, shale, and coal. It was laid down in marshy delta conditions, with poor drainage and frequent flooding, under a warm, humid and seasonal climate.

San Juan Basin Upper Cretaceous stratigraphy San Juan Basin Upper Cretaceous stratigraphy PeerJ e5435 fig 1.png
San Juan Basin Upper Cretaceous stratigraphy

The Fruitland is underlain by the Pictured Cliffs Sandstone, and overlain by the more recent Kirtland Formation. The sequence of rocks represents the final filling of the Cretaceous seaway. The underlying Pictured Cliffs is a marginal marine sandstone, deposited in an environment similar to offshore barrier islands of the southeast United States. As the seaway retreated, the Pictured Cliffs was covered by the Fruitland Formation, which was deposited in near-shore swampy lowlands. The formation is dated to the late Campanian (part of the Cretaceous period), and was deposited over a period of about a million years. Radiometric dating from 23 meters above the base of the formation has yielded an age of 76.03 ± 0.41 Ma ago. An ash bed lying above the upper boundary with the Kirtland Formation has been dated to 75.02 ± 0.13 Ma ago. The underlying Pictured Cliffs Sandstone would be dated 76.94 - 76.27 Ma, based on the presence of the ammonite Baculites scotti, therefore placing the base of the Fruitland Formation at ~76.3 Ma. [4]

The formation is subdivided into the upper Fossil Forrest Member (deposited between about 75.5-75 million years ago) and the lower Ne-nah-ne-zad Member (deposited from 76.3-75.5 million years ago). The Fossil Forrest member is considered to be part of the Hunter Wash, fauna shared with the overlying lower Kirtland Formation. [1]

Paleofauna

Ornithischians

Ornithischians of the Fruitland Formation
GenusSpeciesMemberAbundanceNotesImages
Hadrosauridae indet. [5] Intermediate [5] Fossil Forest [5] One print [5] Giant hadrosaur track, indicating an individual larger than Shantungosaurus , the largest known hadrosaur. [5]
Parasaurolophus FMNH Parasaurolophus fossil.jpg
Parasaurolophus
Pentaceratops Pentaceratops sternbergii holotype AMNH6325.jpg
Pentaceratops
Stegoceras Royal Tyrrell Museum Stegoceras.jpg
Stegoceras
Titanoceratops Titanoceratops.jpg
Titanoceratops
Parasaurolophus [6] P. cyrtocristatus [6] Fossil Forest [6] A partial skull associated with a mostly complete postcranial skeleton, and a partial skull and fragmentary ribs of a juvenile individual. [6] A lambeosaurine hadrosaurid also known from the Kaiparowits Formation. [6]
Pentaceratops [7] P. sternbergii [7] Fossil Forest [7] [Two] nearly complete skulls and a nearly complete frill. [7] A chasmosaurine ceratopsid also known from the Kirtland Formation. [7]
Stegoceras [8] S. novomexicanum [8] Fossil Forest [8] Partial remains of [three] frontals and nearly complete frontoparietal. [8] A basal pachycephalosaurid also known from the lower Kirtland Formation. [8]
Titanoceratops [9] T. ouranos [9] A partial skull, syncervical vertebrae, cervical vertebrae, dorsal vertebrae, sacral vertebrae, caudal vertebrae, ribs, humeri, radius, femora, tibiae, fibula, ilia, ischia, and ossified tendons. [9] Possibly represents a junior synonym of Pentaceratops, holotype may possibly have come from the Kirtland Formation. [9]

Saurischians

Some remains (OMNH 10131) of Bistahieversor may actually have originated in the upper Fruitland Formation. [10]

Saurischians of the Fruitland Formation
GenusSpeciesMemberAbundanceNotesImages
Bistahieversor [11] B. sealeyi [11] Fossil Forest [11] A rostral ramus of a lacrimal, and a partial skull and postcranial skeleton of an adult individual. [11] A eutyrannosaur tyrannosauroid also known from the Kirtland Formation. [11]
Bistahieversor Bistahieversor.jpg
Bistahieversor
Ornithomimus OrnithomimusROM.JPG
Ornithomimus
Dromaeosauridae [12] Indeterminate [12] Fossil Forest [12] Numerous isolated teeth. [12] Indeterminate dromaeosaurid remains. [12]
Ornithomimidae [12] Indeterminate [12] Fossil Forest [12] Distal end of metatarsals, distal end of a phalanx, and foot-bone fragments. [12] Indeterminate ornithomimid ornithomimosaur remains. [12]
cf. Ornithomimus [12] cf. O edmontonicus [12] Fossil Forest [12] A manual ungual. [12] Material possibly referable to Ornithomimus. [12]
 ?Troodontidae [13] Indeterminate [13] Fossil Forest [13] Isolated teeth. [14] Formerly identified as Paronychodon sp., referral to Troodontidae doubtful. [15]
Color key
Taxon Reclassified taxonTaxon falsely reported as presentDubious taxon or junior synonym Ichnotaxon Ootaxon Morphotaxon
Notes
Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; crossed out taxa are discredited.

Economic geology

Fruitland Formation at the Bisti Wilderness Sphimx at Bisti badlands.jpg
Fruitland Formation at the Bisti Wilderness

The Fruitland Formation contains beds of bituminous coal that are mined in places along the outcrop. Original reserves of coal in the formation have been estimated at 200 billion tons. [16]

Since the 1980s, the coal beds of the Fruitland Formation have yielded large quantities of coalbed methane. The productive area for coalbed methane straddles the Colorado-New Mexico state line, and is one of the most productive areas for coalbed methane in the United States. The methane released from the Fruitland Formation, through oil and gas production and a bit of natural seepage, contributes to the Four Corners Methane Hot Spot. [17] [18]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Parasaurolophus</i> Hadrosaurid ornithopod dinosaur genus from Late Cretaceous Period

Parasaurolophus is a genus of hadrosaurid "duck-billed" dinosaur that lived in what is now western North America and possibly Asia during the Late Cretaceous period, about 76.5–73 million years ago. It was a large herbivore that could reach over 9 metres (30 ft) long and weigh over 5 metric tons, and were able to move as a biped and a quadruped. Three species are universally recognized: P. walkeri, P. tubicen, and the short-crested P. cyrtocristatus. Additionally, a fourth species, P. jiayinensis, has been proposed, although it is more commonly placed in the separate genus Charonosaurus. Remains are known from Alberta, New Mexico, and Utah, as well as possibly Heilongjiang if Charonosaurus is in fact part of the genus. The genus was first described in 1922 by William Parks from a skull and partial skeleton found in Alberta.

The Oldman Formation is a stratigraphic unit of Late Cretaceous age that underlies much of southern Alberta, Canada. It consists primarily of sandstones that were deposited in fluvial channel and floodplain environments. It was named for exposures along the Oldman River between its confluence with the St. Mary River and the city of Lethbridge, and it is known primarily for its dinosaur remains and other fossils.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kirtland Formation</span> Geological formation in New Mexico and Colorado, United States

The Kirtland Formation is a sedimentary geological formation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horseshoe Canyon Formation</span> Geological formation in Canada

The Horseshoe Canyon Formation is a stratigraphic unit of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin in southwestern Alberta. It takes its name from Horseshoe Canyon, an area of badlands near Drumheller.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Juan Basin</span> Structural basin in the Southwestern United States

The San Juan Basin is a geologic structural basin located near the Four Corners region of the Southwestern United States. The basin covers 7,500 square miles and resides in northwestern New Mexico, southwestern Colorado, and parts of Utah and Arizona. Specifically, the basin occupies space in the San Juan, Rio Arriba, Sandoval, and McKinley counties in New Mexico, and La Plata and Archuleta counties in Colorado. The basin extends roughly 100 miles (160 km) N-S and 90 miles (140 km) E-W.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laramie Formation</span> Geological formation in the United States

The Laramie Formation is a geologic formation of the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) age, named by Clarence King in 1876 for exposures in northeastern Colorado, in the United States. It was deposited on a coastal plain and in coastal swamps that flanked the Western Interior Seaway. It contains coal, clay and uranium deposits, as well as plant and animal fossils, including dinosaur remains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dakota Formation</span> Rock units in midwestern North America

The Dakota is a sedimentary geologic unit name of formation and group rank in Midwestern North America. The Dakota units are generally composed of sandstones, mudstones, clays, and shales deposited in the Mid-Cretaceous opening of the Western Interior Seaway. The usage of the name Dakota for this particular Albian-Cenomanian strata is exceptionally widespread; from British Columbia and Alberta to Montana and Wisconsin to Colorado and Kansas to Utah and Arizona. It is famous for producing massive colorful rock formations in the Rocky Mountains and the Great Plains of the United States, and for preserving both dinosaur footprints and early deciduous tree leaves.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness</span> Wilderness in New Mexico, United States

The Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness is a 45,000-acre (18,000 ha) wilderness area located in San Juan County in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Established in 1984, the Wilderness is a desolate area of steeply eroded badlands managed by the Bureau of Land Management, except three parcels of private Navajo land within its boundaries. The John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, signed March 12, 2019, expanded the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness by approximately 2,250 acres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raton Formation</span> A geologic formation in New Mexico and Colorado

The Raton Formation is a geological formation of Upper Cretaceous and Paleocene age which outcrops in the Raton Basin of northeast New Mexico and southeast Colorado.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foremost Formation</span> Geologic formation in Alberta, Canada

The Foremost Formation is a stratigraphic unit of Late Cretaceous (Campanian) age that underlies much of southern Alberta, Canada. It was named for outcrops in Chin Coulee near the town of Foremost and is known primarily for its dinosaur remains and other fossils.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Almond Formation</span> Geological formation in Wyoming, U.S.

The Almond Formation is a geological formation of Late Cretaceous age in Wyoming. It was deposited in marsh, deltaic, lagoonal, estuarine, and shallow marine environments along the western shore of the Western Interior Seaway. It consists primarily of fine- to medium-grained sandstone, siltstone, shale, and coal. Fossils from the Almond Formation include remains of dinosaurs and plants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pictured Cliffs Formation</span> Geologic formation in New Mexico and Colorado

The Pictured Cliffs Formation is a Campanian geologic formation in the San Juan Basin of New Mexico. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation, although none have yet been referred to a specific genus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Point Lookout Sandstone</span> Geological formation in New Mexico and Colorado

The Point Lookout Sandstone is a Cretaceous bedrock formation occurring in New Mexico and Colorado.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Menefee Formation</span> Geologic formation in New Mexico and Colorado

The Menefee Formation is a lower Campanian geologic formation found in Colorado and New Mexico, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Straight Cliffs Formation</span> Geologic formation in south central Utah, USA

The Straight Cliffs Formation is a stratigraphic unit in the Kaiparowits Plateau of south central Utah. It is Late Cretaceous in age and contains fluvial, paralic, and marginal marine (shoreline) siliciclastic strata. It is well exposed around the margin of the Kaiparowits Plateau in the Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monument in south central Utah. The formation is named after the Straight Cliffs, a long band of cliffs creating the topographic feature Fiftymile Mountain.

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

Titanoceratops is a controversial genus of herbivorous ceratopsian dinosaur. It was a giant chasmosaurine ceratopsian that lived in the Late Cretaceous period in what is now New Mexico. Titanoceratops was named for its large size, being one of the largest known horned dinosaurs and the type species was named T. ouranos, after Uranus (Ouranos), the father of the Greek titans. It was named in 2011 by Nicholas R. Longrich for a specimen previously referred to Pentaceratops. Longrich believed that unique features found in the skull reveal it to have been a close relative of Triceratops, classified within the subgroup Triceratopsini. However, other researchers have expressed skepticism, and believe "Titanoceratops" to simply be an unusually large, old specimen of Pentaceratops.

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

Ahshislepelta is a monospecific genus of ankylosaur dinosaur from New Mexico that lived during the Late Cretaceous in what is now the Hunter Wash Member of the Kirtland Formation. The type and only species, Ahshislepelta minor, is known only from an incomplete postcranial skeleton of a small subadult or adult individual. It was named in 2011 by Michael Burns and Robert M. Sullivan. Based on the size of the humerus, Ahshislepelta is larger than Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus but smaller than Talarurus and Pinacosaurus grangeri.

<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 Poison Canyon Formation is a geologic formation in the Raton Basin of Colorado and New Mexico. The formation was deposited from the late Cretaceous through the Paleocene.

References

  1. 1 2 Sullivan, R.M.; Lucas, S.G. (2006). "The Kirtlandian land-vertebrate "age" – faunal composition, temporal position and biostratigraphic correlation in the nonmarine Upper Cretaceous of western North America". New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin. 35: 7–29. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  2. Fruitland Formation at Fossilworks.org
  3. National Geographic Map of the Day, published in May 2014, depicting North America about 77 million years ago; https://twitter.com/natgeomaps/status/1129816543251054592
  4. Fowler, Denver Warwick (2017-11-22). "Revised geochronology, correlation, and dinosaur stratigraphic ranges of the Santonian-Maastrichtian (Late Cretaceous) formations of the Western Interior of North America". PLOS ONE. 12 (11): e0188426. Bibcode:2017PLoSO..1288426F. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0188426 . ISSN   1932-6203. PMC   5699823 . PMID   29166406.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Hunt, Adrian P.; Lucas, Spencer G. (2003). "A New Hadrosaur Track from the Upper Cretaceous Fruitland Formation of Northwestern New Mexico" (PDF). New Mexico Geological Society Field Conference Series. 54: 379–381. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Gates, Terry A.; Evans, David C.; Sertich, Joseph J. W. (2021-01-25). "Description and rediagnosis of the crested hadrosaurid (Ornithopoda) dinosaur Parasaurolophus cyrtocristatus on the basis of new cranial remains". PeerJ. 9: e10669. doi: 10.7717/peerj.10669 . ISSN   2167-8359. PMC   7842145 . PMID   33552721.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Fowler, D.W.; Freedman Fowler, E.A. (2020). "Transitional evolutionary forms in chasmosaurine ceratopsid dinosaurs: evidence from the Campanian of New Mexico". PeerJ. 8: e9251. doi: 10.7717/peerj.9251 . PMC   7278894 . PMID   32547873.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Steven E. Jasinski; Robert M. Sullivan (2011). "Re-evaluation of pachycephalosaurids from the Fruitland-Kirtland transition (Kirtlandian, late Campanian), San Juan Basin, New Mexico, with a description of a new species of Stegoceras and a reassessment of Texascephale langstoni" (PDF). Fossil Record 3. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Bulletin. 53: 202–215. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2011-08-25.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Longrich, N.R. (2011). "Titanoceratops ouranos, a giant horned dinosaur from the Late Campanian of New Mexico". Cretaceous Research. 32 (3): 264–276. Bibcode:2011CrRes..32..264L. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2010.12.007.
  10. Carr, T.D. and Williamson, T.E. (2010). "Bistahieversor sealeyi, gen. et sp. nov., a new tyrannosauroid from New Mexico and the origin of deep snouts in Tyrannosauroidea." Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 30(1): 1-16. doi:10.1080/02724630903413032
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Carr, Thomas D.; Williamson, Thomas E. (2010). "Bistahieversor sealeyi, gen. et sp. nov., a new tyrannosauroid from New Mexico and the origin of deep snouts in Tyrannosauroidea". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 30 (1): 1–16. Bibcode:2010JVPal..30....1C. doi:10.1080/02724630903413032. S2CID   54029279.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Lucas, Spencer G.; Mateer, Niall J.; Hunt, Adrian P.; O'Neill, F. Michael (1987). "Dinosaurs, the age of the Fruitland and Kirtland Formations, and the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary in the San Juan Basin, New Mexico". The Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary in the San Juan and Raton Basins, New Mexico and Colorado. Geological Society of America Special Papers. Vol. 209. pp. 35–50. doi:10.1130/SPE209-p35. ISBN   0-8137-2209-8.
  13. 1 2 3 Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; Osmólska, Halszka, eds. (2004). The Dinosauria, 2nd edition. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 580. ISBN   0-520-24209-2 . Retrieved 2019-02-21.
  14. David C. Evans, Derek William Larson, Thomas Michael Cullen & Robert M Sullivan (2014) ‘Saurornitholestes’ robustus is a troodontid (Dinosauria: Theropoda). Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 51: (7): 730-734. doi: 10.1139/cjes-2014-0073 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/cjes-2014-0073
  15. David C. Evans, Derek William Larson, Thomas Michael Cullen & Robert M Sullivan (2014) ‘Saurornitholestes’ robustus is a troodontid (Dinosauria: Theropoda). Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 51: (7): 730-734. doi: 10.1139/cjes-2014-0073 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/cjes-2014-0073
  16. Fassett, James E.; Hinds, Jim S. (1971). "Geology and Fuel Resources of the Fruitland Formation and Kirtland Shale of the San Juan Basin, New Mexico and Colorado". U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper. Professional Paper. 676. doi: 10.3133/pp676 .
  17. Fenton, James (May 12, 2016). "Geologist: Coal outcrops cause methane hot spot". Farmington Daily Times. Retrieved 2019-12-21.
  18. Elliott, Dan (2016-08-15). "Methane "hot spot" over Four Corners linked to oil, gas production sites". The Denver Post. Retrieved 2019-12-21.