McCoy Brook Formation | |
---|---|
Stratigraphic range: | |
Type | Geological formation |
Unit of | Newark Supergroup Meriden Group |
Sub-units | Scots Bay Member |
Underlies | Erosional top |
Overlies | North Mountain Basalt |
Thickness | more than 230 m (750 ft) |
Location | |
Coordinates | 45°24′N64°12′W / 45.4°N 64.2°W |
Approximate paleocoordinates | 27°24′N13°18′W / 27.4°N 13.3°W |
Region | Nova Scotia |
Country | Canada |
Extent | Bay of Fundy |
Type section | |
Named for | McCoy Brook, Nova Scotia |
The McCoy Brook Formation is a geological formation dating to roughly between 200 and 190 million years ago and covering the Hettangian to Sinemurian stages. The McCoy Brook Formation is found in outcrops around the Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia. [1]
The McCoy Brook Formation rests on the North Mountain Basalt, one of the volcanic flows associated with the Triassic–Jurassic boundary in the Newark Supergroup. The base of the McCoy Brook Formation is probably within 100,000 to 200,000 years of the boundary. [2]
This thin unit (9 m) of lacustrine sediments is preserved in six small synclinal outcrops around Scots Bay on the west side of the Blomidon Peninsula. Originally named as the Scots Bay Formation, it is now correlated with the lowermost part of the McCoy Brook Formation, where it is referred to as the Scots Bay Member. [3] [4] The Scots Bay Member accumulated in an aerobic lake on the floor of the subtropical Fundy Rift Valley, associated with Silica-rich Hydrothermal Springs derived from the CAMP vulcanism, where the biota is composed of algal Stromatolites, Oncolites, Charophyta, Ostracoda, Gastropoda, Conchostraca, fish bones, calcispheres and logs. [5]
Color key
| Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; |
Sharks | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Name | Species | Location | Stratigraphic position | Material | Notes | |
Indeterminate | Wasson Bluff | Scots Bay member | Teeth & Coprolites | A hybodont shark. Recovered from lacustrine facies | ||
Ray-finned fish | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Name | Species | Location | Stratigraphic position | Material | Notes | Images |
None designated | Wasson Bluff | Scots Bay member | Scales and skull bones [2] | Found in lacustrine limestone and lacustrine basalt aggregate | ||
aff. Semionotus sp. [2] [7] | None designated | Wasson Bluff | Scots Bay member | Disarticulated remains | Found in lacustrine limestone, lacustrine basalt aggregate, and lacustrine mudstone | |
Synapsids | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Name | Species | Location | Stratigraphic position | Material | Notes | Images |
Indeterminate | Wasson Bluff | Scots Bay Member |
| A cynodont | ||
Oligokyphus sp. | Wasson Bluff | Scots Bay Member | Fragment of a right Dentary. | A tritheledontid cynodont, found in the layers of the Scots Bay member. | ||
cf. P. monus | Wasson Bluff | Upper Member | Excellently preserved fragments of two premaxillae, ten maxillae, and six dentaries | |||
Indeterminate | Wasson Bluff | Scots Bay Member | Right humerus | A tritylodontid cynodont, found in the layers of the Scots Bay member. | ||
Sphenodonts | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Name | Species | Location | Stratigraphic position | Material | Notes | Images |
C. bairdi [10] | Wasson Bluff | Lower McCoy Brook Formation | Partial skulls and jaws, isolated cranial bones, partial postcranium, postcranial bones | A sphenodontian of relatively small size, [10] found in fluvio-lacustrine sandstone and mudstone, and basalt agglomerate | ||
cf. Palycymalia [6] [7] | Indeterminate | Wasson Bluff | Middle McCoy Brook Formation | Isolated Remains | ||
Indeterminate | Wasson Bluff | Middle McCoy Brook Formation | Isolated Remains | |||
Protosuchidae | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Genus | Species | Location | Stratigraphic position | Material | Notes | Images |
Protosuchus [6] [11] | P. micmac [11] | Wasson Bluff | Lower McCoy Brook Formation | Partial lower jaw, several other skull bones [11] | Found in fluvio-lacustrine sandstone and mudstone, and basalt agglomerate [2] | |
Indeterminate |
| Lower McCoy Brook Formation |
| Found in fluvio-lacustrine sandstone and mudstone, and basalt agglomerate | ||
Ornithischians | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Genus | Species | Location | Stratigraphic position | Material | Notes | |
Indeterminate | Wasson Bluff | Scots Bay Member |
| Suggested to be similar to Scutellosaurus and to Leshotosaurus. Represent among the oldest reliable Ornithischian remains of North America. | ||
Ornithischians | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Genus | Species | Location | Stratigraphic position | Material | Notes | |
Indeterminate | Wasson Bluff | Scots Bay Member | Teeth | Theropod dinosaur teeth similar to Megapnosaurus . | ||
Sauropodomorph dinosaurs | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Genus | Species | Location | Stratigraphic position | Material | Notes | Images |
F. eldoni | Wasson Bluff | Middle McCoy Brook Formation |
| Although long assigned to Ammosaurus, the material actually represents a new genus and species; represents the most abundant dinosaur in the formation, and has yield specimens with preserved stomach contents that suggest migration patterns. The possibility that represents more than one genus is open. [6] | ||
Color key
| Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; |
Ichnotaxa | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Genus | Species | Location | Stratigraphic position | Material | Notes | Images |
|
| Middle McCoy Brook Formation | Footprints | Small Theropod Footprints | ||
|
| Middle McCoy Brook Formation | Footprints | Ornithischian Footprints | ||
|
| Middle McCoy Brook Formation | Footprints | Crocodrylomorph Footprints | ||
|
| Middle McCoy Brook Formation | Footprints | Medium-sized Theropod Footprints | ||
|
| Middle McCoy Brook Formation | Footprints | Small Theropod Footprints | ||
|
| Middle McCoy Brook Formation | Footprints | Sauropodomorph Footprints | ||
The Bay of Fundy is a bay between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine. It is an arm of the Gulf of Maine. Its tidal range is the highest in the world. The name is probably a corruption of the French word fendu, meaning 'split'.
Anchisaurus is a genus of basal sauropodomorph dinosaur. It lived during the Early Jurassic Period, and its fossils have been found in the red sandstone of the Upper Portland Formation, Northeastern United States, which was deposited from the Hettangian age into the Sinemurian age, between about 200 and 192 million years ago. Until recently it was classed as a member of Prosauropoda. The genus name Anchisaurus comes from the Greek αγχιanchi-; "near, close" + Greek σαυρος ; "lizard". Anchisaurus was coined as a replacement name for "Amphisaurus", which was itself a replacement name for Hitchcock's "Megadactylus", both of which had already been used for other animals.
Protosuchus is an extinct genus of carnivorous crocodyliform from the Early Jurassic. It is among the earliest animals that resemble crocodilians. Protosuchus was about 1 metre (3.3 ft) in length and about 40 kilograms (88 lb) in weight.
Oligokyphus is an extinct genus of herbivorous tritylodontid cynodont known from the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic of Europe, Asia and North America.
The Newark Supergroup, also known as the Newark Group, is an assemblage of Upper Triassic and Lower Jurassic sedimentary and volcanic rocks which outcrop intermittently along the east coast of North America. They were deposited in a series of Triassic basins, the Eastern North American rift basins, approximately 220–190 million years ago. The basins are characterized as aborted rifts, with half-graben geometry, developing parallel to the main rift of the Atlantic Ocean which formed as North America began to separate from Africa. Exposures of the Newark Supergroup extend from South Carolina north to Nova Scotia. Related basins are also found underwater in the Bay of Fundy. The group is named for the city of Newark, New Jersey.
The Fundy Basin is a sediment-filled rift basin on the Atlantic coast of southeastern Canada. It contains three sub-basins; the Fundy sub-basin, the Minas Basin and the Chignecto Basin. These arms meet at the Bay of Fundy, which is contained within the rift valley. From the Bay of Fundy, the Minas Basin trends northeast to Nova Scotia. Chignecto Bay runs from the Bay of Fundy northwest between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia which is separated from the waters of the Northumberland Strait by the Isthmus of Chignecto. The Fundy Basin is best known for the bay it contains. The Bay of Fundy is home to huge tidal changes and tidal bores. It is part of the system of Eastern North America Rift Basins.
The Elliot Formation is a geological formation and forms part of the Stormberg Group, the uppermost geological group that comprises the greater Karoo Supergroup. Outcrops of the Elliot Formation have been found in the northern Eastern Cape, southern Free State, and in the eastern KwaZulu-Natal provinces of South Africa. Outcrops and exposures are also found in several localities in Lesotho such as Qacha's Neck, Hill Top, Quthing, and near the capital, Maseru. The Elliot Formation is further divided into the lower (LEF) and upper (UEF) Elliot formations to differentiate significant sedimentological differences between these layers. The LEF is dominantly Late Triassic (Norian-Hettangian) in age while the UEF is mainly Early Jurassic (Sinemurian-Pliensbachian) and is tentatively regarded to preserve a continental record of the Triassic-Jurassic boundary in southern Africa. This geological formation is named after the town of Elliot in the Eastern Cape, and its stratotype locality is located on the Barkly Pass, 9 km north of the town.
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.
The Shuttle Meadow Formation is a Mesozoic geologic formation in the Hartford Basin in Connecticut and Massachusetts, USA. Insect fossils of Mormolucoides articulatus and dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation; Coelophysis sp.
The Wolfville Formation is a Triassic geologic formation of Nova Scotia. The formation is of Carnian to early Norian age. Fossils of small land vertebrates have been found in the formation, including procolophonid and early archosauromorph reptiles and cynodonts. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation, although none have yet been referred to a specific genus.
Stegomosuchus is an extinct genus of small protosuchian crocodyliform. It is known from a single incomplete specimen discovered in the late 19th century in Lower Jurassic rocks of south-central Massachusetts, United States. It was originally thought to be a species of Stegomus, an aetosaur, but was eventually shown to be related to Protosuchus and thus closer to the ancestry of crocodilians. Stegomosuchus is also regarded as a candidate for the maker of at least some of the tracks named Batrachopus in the Connecticut River Valley.
Platyognathus is an extinct genus of protosuchian crocodyliform. Fossils are known from the Early Jurassic Lower Lufeng Formation in Yunnan, China and belong to the type and only species, P. hsui.
Sarahsaurus is a genus of basal sauropodomorph dinosaur which lived during the Early Jurassic period in what is now northeastern Arizona, United States.
Arctotraversodon is an extinct genus of traversodontid cynodonts from the Late Triassic of Canada. Fossils first described from the Wolfville Formation in Nova Scotia in 1984 represented the first known traversodontid from North America. The type and only species is A. plemmyridon and is represented by teeth and several dentary bones.
Boreogomphodon is an extinct genus of traversodontid cynodonts from the Late Triassic of the eastern United States. Fossils have been found from the Turkey Branch Formation in Virginia and the Pekin Formation of North Carolina.
The Blomidon Formation is a unit of Upper Triassic (Norian–Rhaetian) sedimentary rocks, which outcrops in Nova Scotia. At outcrop they reach a maximum thickness of 365 metres (1,198 ft), but up to 1,168 metres (3,832 ft) has been proven from well data and a thickness of up to 2,500 metres (8,200 ft) has been inferred from seismic reflection data. It overlies the mainly Carnian Wolfville Formation and underlies the North Mountain Basalt. The type section is exposed between Cape Blomidon and Paddy Island.
Wasson Bluff is the name applied to a series of imposing cliff faces on the north shore of the Minas Basin about 5 miles (8.0 km) east of the town of Parrsboro, Nova Scotia. The cliffs, which stretch approximately one mile (1.6 km) from Wasson Brook in the east, to Swan Creek in the west, consist of 200-million-year-old rocks that have yielded a wide array of fossils including more than 100,000 bones from Canada's oldest-known dinosaurs as well as the smallest dinosaur tracks ever found. The fossils date from a critical time in the evolution of life, the boundary between the Triassic and Jurassic geological periods, when mass extinctions led not only to the dominance of the dinosaurs, but also to the evolution of groups of vertebrates, such as fish, crocodiles, frogs and mammals, whose descendants are still alive today. The abrasive action of the tides, considered to be the world's highest, constantly exposes fossils on the cliff faces, shores and seabed.
The Midland Formation is a Mesozoic geological formation in the Culpeper Basin of Virginia. It is a sedimentary unit which formed in a short period of time between the first two basalt flows in the basin: the Hickory Grove and Mount Zion Church basalts. The most common rocks in the formation are dark reddish interbedded sandstones and siltstones, representative of fluvial (stream) environments. Rare but fossiliferous calcareous shale and limestone also occurs, representing recurring lacustrine (lake) conditions. The Midland Formation is considered equivalent to the Shuttle Meadow Formation of the Hartford Basin, the Feltville Formation of the Newark Basin, and the Bendersville Formation of the Gettysburg Basin. Some sources prefer to classify the Midland Formation as part of the Shuttle Meadow Formation.
Eldon Thomas George was a Canadian fossil collector and amateur geologist who made many significant discoveries on the shores of Minas Basin and the Bay of Fundy from the time that he began his fossil and mineral hunting career in the 1940s. George found the world's smallest dinosaur tracks in 1984 near Parrsboro, Nova Scotia, Canada. His other finds include a wide variety of fossilized amphibian and dinosaur prints that were displayed, along with the world's smallest dinosaur tracks, at his Parrsboro Rock and Mineral Shop and Museum. One of them is a 17-inch (43 cm) track that may have been a primitive, two-legged, crocodile-like creature that was nearly 20 feet (6.1 m) long. George's other discoveries include a fossilized insect with three pairs of wings and a tiny horseshoe crab that supplies a "missing link" in the area's natural history.
Oryctorhynchus is an extinct genus of rhynchosaur from the Late Triassic (Carnian-Norian)-aged Wolfville Formation of Nova Scotia, Canada that may have been the same animal as Beesiiwo. The type species, O. bairdi, was named and described in 2020. It was originally seen as a species of Hyperodapedon until 2020.