Miria Formation

Last updated

Miria Formation
Stratigraphic range: Maastrichtian
~70.6–66  Ma
O
S
D
C
P
T
J
K
Pg
N
Type Geological formation
Underlies Unconformity with Boongerooda Greensand
Overlies Korojon Calcarenite
ThicknessUp to 2.1 m (6.9 ft)
Lithology
Primary Calcarenite, sandstone, marl
Other Siltstone, limestone
Location
Coordinates 22°36′S114°18′E / 22.6°S 114.3°E / -22.6; 114.3
Approximate paleocoordinates 49°48′S100°36′E / 49.8°S 100.6°E / -49.8; 100.6
Region Western Australia
CountryFlag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia
Extent Carnarvon Basin
Australia relief map.jpg
Lightgreen pog.svg
Miria Formation (Australia)

The Miria Formation is a Late Cretaceous geologic formation, in Western Australia.

Possible indeterminate theropod remains have been recovered from it, [1] as well as those of sea turtles, [2] and possible azhdarchid pterosaurs. [3] The lithology of the unit consists of calcarenite with abundant phosphatic nodules. The formation is a layer between 0.6 and 2.1 metres in thickness, a surface deposited during the end of the Cretaceous in the late Maastrichtian period around sixty five million years ago. The composition is foraminiferal calcisiltite and calcarenite and is rich in macrofossils of a diverse range of species. The specimens of ammonites date the Miria Marl of the Giralia Anticline layer to a period of formation at a major extinction event in the Cretaceous. The formation shows the K/T boundary very distinctly, and is the only place on the Australian continent to present the globally correlated phenomenon. [4]

The site contains fossil remains of the ammonites that were widely dispersed across the globe in the Cretaceous and that confidently date the stratigraphy of the formation across the greatest known mass extinction event. The Miria Marl layer has revealed highly diverse fossil deposits of shark teeth and coral species that are also found in the former Gondwanan land masses in southern India and the Antarctic. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chalk Group</span> Stratigraphic Unit in England

The Chalk Group is the lithostratigraphic unit which contains the Upper Cretaceous limestone succession in southern and eastern England. The same or similar rock sequences occur across the wider northwest European chalk 'province'. It is characterised by thick deposits of chalk, a soft porous white limestone, deposited in a marine environment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maastrichtian</span> Sixth and last age of the Late Cretaceous

The Maastrichtian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) geologic timescale, the latest age of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series, the Cretaceous Period or System, and of the Mesozoic Era or Erathem. It spanned the interval from 72.1 to 66 million years ago. The Maastrichtian was preceded by the Campanian and succeeded by the Danian.

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

The Lance (Creek) Formation is a division of Late Cretaceous rocks in the western United States. Named after Lance Creek, Wyoming, the microvertebrate fossils and dinosaurs represent important components of the latest Mesozoic vertebrate faunas. The Lance Formation is Late Maastrichtian in age, and shares much fauna with the Hell Creek Formation of Montana and North Dakota, the Frenchman Formation of southwest Saskatchewan, and the lower part of the Scollard Formation of Alberta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Two Medicine Formation</span> Geological formation in Montana, United States and Alberta, Canada

The Two Medicine Formation is a geological formation, or rock body, in northwestern Montana and southern Alberta that was deposited between 83.5 ± 0.7 Ma and 70.6 ± 3.4 Ma, during Campanian time. It crops out to the east of the Rocky Mountain Overthrust Belt, and the western portion of this formation is folded and faulted while the eastern part, which thins out into the Sweetgrass Arch, is mostly undeformed plains. Below the formation are the nearshore deposits of the Virgelle Sandstone, and above it is the marine Bearpaw Shale. Throughout the Campanian, the Two Medicine Formation was deposited between the western shoreline of the Late Cretaceous Interior Seaway and the eastward advancing margin of the Cordilleran Overthrust Belt. The Two Medicine Formation is mostly sandstone, deposited by rivers and deltas.

The Cambridge Greensand is a geological unit in England whose strata are earliest Cenomanian in age. It lies above the erosive contact between the Gault Formation and the Chalk Group in the vicinity of Cambridgeshire, and technically forms the lowest member bed of the West Melbury Marly Chalk Formation. It is a remanié deposit, containing reworked fossils of late Albian age, including those of dinosaurs and pterosaurs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Austin Chalk</span> Geologic formation in Texas, United States

The Austin Chalk is an upper Cretaceous geologic formation in the Gulf Coast region of the United States. It is named after type section outcrops near Austin, Texas. The formation is made up of chalk and marl.

The Dakhla Formation is a Maastrichtian-Danian geologic formation in Egypt. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation, although none have yet been referred to a specific genus.

The Douiret Formation is a geologic formation in Tunisia, near the Berber village of Douiret. It is part of the larger Continental Intercalaire Formation, which stretches from Algeria and Niger in the west to Egypt and Sudan in the east. The Douiret Formation is located in the Tataouine basin in southern Tunisia, stretching into Algeria and Libya, and is part of the Merbah el Asfer Group of rock formations. The Douiret is 80 metres thick and consists of a 30-metre layer of sand beneath a 50-metre layer of clay.

The Intertrappean Beds are a Late Cretaceous and Early Paleocene geologic formation in India. The beds are found as interbeds between Deccan Traps layers, including the slightly older Lameta Formation. The formation spans the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary, with a stratigraphic range of only a few hundred thousand years before and after the boundary, and a significant debate exists about whether specific sites belong to the Cretaceous or the Paleocene.

The Molecap Greensand is a Late Cretaceous geologic formation, located in the state of Western Australia in Australia.

The Sierra Perenchiza Formation is a late Campanian to late Maastrichtian geologic formation in Spain. Dinosaur, pterosaur, turtle, lissamphibian, frog and albanerpetontid remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation, although none have yet been referred to a specific genus and the crocodylomorphs Acynodon, Doratodon ibericus and Musturzabalsuchus are also known from this formation.

The Tahora Formation is a Late Cretaceous geologic formation that outcrops in northeastern New Zealand near Napier. It is Haumurian in age according to the New Zealand geologic time scale. It forms part of the Upper Cretaceous to Teurian (Danian) Tinui Group. It unconformably overlies the Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous Urewera Group or the Upper Cretaceous Matawai Group. It is conformably overlain by the Haumurian to Teurian Whangai Formation. It consist of three members, the Maungataniwha Sandstone Member, the Mutuera Member and the Houpapa Member. It is named for Tahora Station, south of Matawai in the Gisborne Region. The aptly named Maungataniwha Sandstone Member is known for its rich reptile fossil remains, first investigated by amateur palaeontologist Joan Wiffen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tropic Shale</span>

The Tropic Shale is a Mesozoic geologic formation. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation, including Nothronychus graffami. The Tropic Shale is a stratigraphic unit of the Kaiparowits Plateau of south central Utah. The Tropic Shale was first named in 1931 after the town of Tropic where the Type section is located. The Tropic Shale outcrops in Kane and Garfield counties, with large sections of exposure found in the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument.

The Lianmuqin Formation, also transcribed as Lianmugin Formation, and Lianmuxin Formation, is an Early Cretaceous geologic formation composed of "interbedded red green and yellow variegated mudstones and siltstones". Dinosaur remains have been recovered from it.

The Moreno Formation is a Mesozoic geologic formation located in San Joaquin Valley (California).
Dinosaur remains diagnostic to the genus level are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Villalba de la Sierra Formation</span>

The Villalba de la Sierra Formation is a Campanian to Maastrichtian geologic formation in Spain. Fossil dinosaur eggs have been reported from the formation, that comprises gypsiferous, grey, argillaceous mudstones and sandstones, deposited in a floodplain environment characterised by high seasonality and variability in water availability.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sânpetru Formation</span>

The Sânpetru Formation is an early Maastrichtian geologic formation. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation. It is located in Romania, near Sânpetru village, part of Sântămăria-Orlea commune. It forms a component of the Hațeg Island fauna.

The Hornerstown Formation is a Paleogene or latest Mesozoic geologic formation in New Jersey. The age of these deposits have been controversial. While most fossils are of animals types known from the earliest Cenozoic era, several fossils of otherwise exclusively Cretaceous age have been found. These include remains of the shark Squalicorax, several types of non-avian dinosaurs, the teleost fish Enchodus, several species of ammonite, and marine lizards referred to the genus Mosasaurus. Some of these remains show signs of severe abrasion and erosion, however, implying that they are probably re-worked from older deposits. Most of these fossils are restricted to the lowest point in the formation, one rich in fossils and known as the Main Fossiliferous Layer, or MFL. Other explanations for the out-of-place fossils in the MFL is that they represent a time-averaged assemblage that built up and remained unburied during a time of low sediment deposition, or that they were stirred up from deeper in the sediment and deposited together during a tsunami.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nyctosauridae</span> Family of pteranodontian pterosaurs

Nyctosauridae is a family of specialized soaring pterosaurs of the late Cretaceous Period of North America, Africa, and possibly Europe. It was named in 1889 by Henry Alleyne Nicholson and Richard Lydekker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rødvig Formation</span>

The Rødvig Formation is a geological formation deposited during the earliest part of the Danian and it was first identified by Richard Taylor and Richard Phillips in 1827. It is known from exposures at Stevns Klint in Denmark. The unit lies directly above the K–Pg boundary and contains fossils that provide a record of the recovery of various groups following the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction. The upper boundary of the formation is an unconformity in the form of a hardground, beneath which the formation is sometimes missing. The base of the unit is irregular due to the presence of mounding associated with bryozoa, causing variations in thickness. The unit is subdivided into the lower Fiskeler Member mainly formed of marl and the overlying Cerithium Limestone Member.

References

  1. Weishampel, et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution" Pp. 517-607. in Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. 861 pp. ISBN   0-520-24209-2. " Pp. 517-607.
  2. Kear, Benjamin P.; Siverson, Mikael (September 2010). "First evidence of a Late Cretaceous sea turtle from Australia". Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology. 34 (3): 265–272. Bibcode:2010Alch...34..265K. doi:10.1080/03115511003659622. ISSN   0311-5518.
  3. Bennett, S. Christopher; Long, John A. (1991). "A large pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous (Late Maastrichtian) of Western Australia". Records of the Western Australian Museum. 15: 435–443.
  4. 1 2 Australian Heritage Council (2012). Australia's fossil heritage : a catalogue of important Australian fossil sites. CSIRO Publishing. pp. 122–123. ISBN   9780643101777.