Matt Formation

Matt Formation
Stratigraphic range: Early Oligocene, 33–28  Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Type	Formation
Unit of	North Helvetic Flysch
Underlies	Blattengrat Nappe, Wildflysch Nappe
Overlies	Elm Formation
Lithology
Primary	Slate, sandstone
Location
Region	Canton Glarus
Country	Switzerland
Type section
Named for	Matt, Switzerland
Named by	Siegenthaler, 1974

The Matt Formation is an Early Oligocene-aged marine geological formation that outcrops in the Glarus Alps of the Canton of Glarus, Switzerland. ^{[1] [2]} It is most notable for its fossiliferous slates found near Engi, known as the Engi slates, Glarner Schiefer (Glarus Slate) or Glarner Fischschiefer ("Glarus fish slate"), which contain the well-preserved fossils of fishes, birds, and sea turtles. The metamorphization of the rock has led to many of the fossils appearing somewhat distorted. ^[1]

Geology

The Matt Formation is divided into two sections: a lower member of turbiditic sandstones (Matt Sandstones) and the upper Engi Slates, which contain the famous fossil fishes. As with other formations along the Glarus thrust, deformation along the fault has caused the Matt Formation to be overlain by older Eocene and Late Cretaceous-aged marls and limestones of the Blattengrat and Wildflysch nappes. ^[1]

Paleobiota

The fossil fishes of Glarus were among the earliest known to Western science. Although the slates from Engi mines have been mined since the mid-16th century, the first description of its fossil fishes was by Johann Jakob Scheuchzer in 1705. Scheuchzer's writings prompted a flourishing trade in the fossil fishes of Glarus, which had been sent to museums all around Europe throughout the 18th century. ^[3] Many of these fishes were described with Linnean taxonomy for the first time in the early 19th century by Europe's pioneering paleontologists, including Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville and Louis Agassiz. ^{[4] [5]}

The Glarus slate is consistent with a marine environment in the western Paratethys Sea. The Alpine orogeny uplifted these former marine fossils far above sea level, where they are exposed today.

The paleobiota of the Glarus Slate shows close affinities with that of the Rauenberg Lagerstätte of Germany and early Oligocene formations of the Romanian Carpathians and the Caucasus Mountains. All of these localities were formerly part of the Paratethys Sea. ^[6]

Bony fish

Primarily based on Woodward (1901), with taxonomic changes: ^[7]

Genus	Species	Notes	Images
Acanthopleurus	A. collettei	A triplespine. [8]
	A. serratus
Anenchelum	A. glarisianum (=Lepidopus glarisianus)	A cutlassfish.
Archaeus	A. glarisianus	A jackfish.
Balistomorphus	B. orbiculatus	A triggerfish. [9] [8]
	B. ovalis
	B. spinosus
" Clupea "	"C." scheuchzeri	A herring.
Cryptobalistes	C. brevis	A triplespine. [8] [10]
Cyttoides	C. glaronensis	A cyttid dory.
Fistularia	F. koenigi	A cornetfish.
Glarithurus	G. friedmani	A larval surgeonfish. [11]
Homorhynchus	H. colei	A palaeorhynchid billfish.
Isurichthys	I. macrurus	An ariommatid.
Opisthomyzon	O. glaronensis	An early remora. [12]
Palaeorhynchus	P. glarisianus	A palaeorhynchid billfish.
	P. longirostris
Palaeogadus	P. troscheli	A hake.
Palimphyes	P. elongatus	A euzaphlegid scombroid.
Podocys	P. minutus	A percoid.
Pristigenys (=Acanus) [4] [13]	P. spinosus	A bigeye.
	P. regleysianus
Protosiganus (=Archaeoteuthis)	P. glaronensis	A relative of rabbitfish.
Scopeloides	S. glarisianus	A bristlemouth. [14]
Thyrsitocephalus	T. alpinus	A gempylid. [15]

Reptiles

Genus	Species	Notes	Images
Glarichelys	G. knorri	A sea turtle.

Birds

Genus	Species	Notes	Images
Protornis	P. glarniensis	A coraciiform of uncertain affinities. [16]
Trogoniformes indet.		A relative of trogons. [16]

References

1. Gasser, Deta; den Brok, Bas (2008-09-01). "Tectonic evolution of the Engi Slates, Glarus Alps, Switzerland". Swiss Journal of Geosciences . 101 (2): 311–322. doi:10.1007/s00015-008-1258-0. hdl: 20.500.11850/70444 . ISSN   1661-8734.
2. Monsch, Kenneth A.; Bannikov, Alexandre F. (2011). "New taxonomic synopses and revision of the scombroid fishes (Scombroidei, Perciformes), including billfishes, from the Cenozoic of territories of the former USSR". Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 102 (4): 253–300. doi:10.1017/S1755691011010085. ISSN   1755-6910.
3. Capasso, Luigi (2014). "The History of the Fossil Fish Private Collecting". Bollettino del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Verona (38): 51–89.
4. Brignon, A. (2016-12-31). "Revue historique des premières études sur les poissons fossiles (Teleostei) des ardoises d'Engi (Oligocène inférieur, canton de Glaris, Suisse)". Revue de Paléobiologie. 35 (2): 459–490. doi:10.5281/zenodo.269616.
5. "Ichthyology | The Life and Work of Louis Agassiz" . Retrieved 2024-10-01.
6. Maxwell, Erin E.; Alexander, Stefanie; Bechly, Günter; Eck, Kristina; Frey, Eberhard; Grimm, Kirsten; Kovar-Eder, Johanna; Mayr, Gerald; Micklich, Norbert; Rasser, Michael; Roth-Nebelsick, Anita; Salvador, Rodrigo B.; Schoch, Rainer R.; Schweigert, Günter; Stinnesbeck, Wolfgang (December 2016). "The Rauenberg fossil Lagerstätte (Baden-Württemberg, Germany): A window into early Oligocene marine and coastal ecosystems of Central Europe". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 463: 238–260. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2016.10.002. ISSN   0031-0182.
7. Geology, British Museum (Natural History) Department of; Woodward, Arthur Smith (1901). Catalogue of the Fossil Fishes in the British Museum (Natural History): Actinopterygian Teleostomi of the suborders Isospondyli (in part), Ostariophysi, Apodes, Percesoces, Hemibranchii, Acanthopterygii, and Anacanthini. order of the Trustees.
8. Tyler, James C. (1980). Osteology, Phylogeny, and Higher Classification of the Fishes of the Order Plectognathi (Tetraodontiformes). U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service.
9. Bannikov, A. F.; Tyler, J. C. (2008-10-01). "A new genus and species of triggerfish from the Middle Eocene of the Northern Caucasus, the earliest member of the Balistidae (Tetraodontiformes)". Paleontological Journal. 42 (6): 615–620. doi:10.1134/S0031030108060075. ISSN   1555-6174.
10. Tyler, James C.; Winterbottom, Richard (1999-12-01). "A review of the morphology and relationships of the Oligocene spikefish genera AcanthopleurusAgassiz 1844 and CryptobalistesTyler 1968 (Tetraodontiformes: Triacanthidae)". Paläontologische Zeitschrift. 73 (3): 351–367. doi:10.1007/BF02988046.
11. Tyler, James C.; Micklich, Norbert R. (2011). "A new genus and species of surgeon fish (Perciformes, Acanthuridae) from the Oligocene of Kanton Glarus, Switzerland". Swiss Journal of Palaeontology. 130 (2): 203–216. doi:10.1007/s13358-011-0016-5. ISSN   1664-2376.
12. Friedman, Matt; Johanson, Zerina; Harrington, Richard C.; Near, Thomas J.; Graham, Mark R. (2013-09-07). "An early fossil remora (Echeneoidea) reveals the evolutionary assembly of the adhesion disc". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 280 (1766): 20131200. doi:10.1098/rspb.2013.1200. ISSN   0962-8452. PMC   3730593 . PMID   23864599.
13. Carnevale, Giorgio; Johnson, G. David; Marramà, Giuseppe; Bannikov, Alexandre F. (2017). "A reappraisal of the Eocene priacanthid fish Pristigenys substriata (Blainville, 1818) from Monte Bolca, Italy". Journal of Paleontology. 91 (3): 554–565. doi:10.1017/jpa.2017.19. ISSN   0022-3360.
14. Přikryl, Tomáš; Prokofiev, Artém M.; Krzemiński, Wiesław (2012-07-01). "Feeding habits of the Oligocene bristlemouth fish Scopeloides glarisianus (Teleostei: Stomiiformes: Gonostomatidae)". Geobios. 45 (4): 377–386. doi:10.1016/j.geobios.2011.10.012. ISSN   0016-6995.
15. Rust, Seabourne; Robinson, Jeffrey H. (2024-10-19). "Revisiting Eothyrsites holosquamatus Chapman (Trichiuroidea: Gempylidae), an Eocene gemfish from the Burnside Mudstone, Dunedin, New Zealand". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 54 (5): 584–601. doi:10.1080/03036758.2023.2228211. ISSN   0303-6758. PMC   11459795 . PMID   39440288.
16. De Pietri, V. L.; Mourer-Chauviré, C.; Menkveld-Gfeller, U.; Meyer, C. A.; Costeur, L. (2013-11-01). "An assessment of the Cenozoic avifauna of Switzerland, with a description of two fossil owls (Aves, Strigiformes)". Swiss Journal of Geosciences . 106 (2): 187–197. doi:10.1007/s00015-013-0127-7. ISSN   1661-8734.