Salero Formation | |
---|---|
Stratigraphic range: Campanian-Early Maastrichtian ~ | |
Type | Geological formation |
Overlies | Fort Crittenden Formation |
Location | |
Region | Arizona |
Country | United States |
The Salero Formation is a Late Cretaceous geologic formation in the United States. The formation is 70-74 million years old.
The Cretaceous is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of the entire Phanerozoic. The name is derived from the Latin creta, "chalk", which is abundant in the latter half of the period. It is usually abbreviated K, for its German translation Kreide.
The Early Cretaceous or the Lower Cretaceous is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma.
Richardoestesia is a morphogenus of theropod dinosaur teeth, originally described from the Late Cretaceous of what is now Canada, the United States and Kazakhstan. It currently contains two species, R. gilmorei and R. isosceles, and a possible third, R. asiatica. It has been used as a morphotaxon to describe other theropod teeth widely displaced in time and space from the type species. If all teeth assigned to the genus are truly reflective of the animals biology and taxonomic state, it would have been one of the longest lasting dinosaur genera, perhaps also being the most widely distributed.
The Yixian Formation is a geological formation in Jinzhou, Liaoning, People's Republic of China, that spans the late Barremian and early Aptian stages of the Early Cretaceous. It is known for its exquisitely preserved fossils, and is mainly composed of basalts interspersed with siliciclastic sediments.
The Aptian is an age in the geologic timescale or a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is a subdivision of the Early or Lower Cretaceous Epoch or Series and encompasses the time from 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma to 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma, approximately. The Aptian succeeds the Barremian and precedes the Albian, all part of the Lower/Early Cretaceous.
Archaeornithomimus is a genus of ornithomimosaurian theropod dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous period, around 96 million years ago in the Iren Dabasu Formation.
The Hell Creek Formation is an intensively studied division of mostly Upper Cretaceous and some lower Paleocene rocks in North America, named for exposures studied along Hell Creek, near Jordan, Montana. The formation stretches over portions of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. In Montana, the Hell Creek Formation overlies the Fox Hills Formation. The site of Pompeys Pillar National Monument is a small isolated section of the Hell Creek Formation. In 1966, the Hell Creek Fossil Area was designated as a National Natural Landmark by the National Park Service.
Astrodon is a genus of large herbivorous sauropod dinosaur, measuring 20 m (66 ft) in length, 9 m (30 ft) in height and 20 metric tons in body mass. It lived in what is now the eastern United States during the Early Cretaceous period, and fossils have been found in the Arundel Formation, which has been dated through palynomorphs to the Albian about 112 to 110 million years ago.
Pneumatoarthrus is an extinct genus of sea turtle known from the Late Cretaceous Mount Laurel Formation of Monmouth County, New Jersey. Only a single species, P. peloreus, is known.
The Kirtland Formation is a sedimentary geological formation.
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.
Luanchuanraptor is a genus of dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous of China. The genus is based on a partial skeleton from the Qiupa Formation in Luanchuan, Henan. They were medium-sized dromaeosaurids, the first Asian dromaeosaurid taxa described from outside the Gobi Desert or northeastern China.
Cimolopterygidae is an extinct family of ornithurines known from the Late Cretaceous epoch. Remains attributed to cimolopterygids have been found in the Frenchman Formation of Saskatchewan, the Lance Formation of Wyoming, the Fox Hills Formation of Colorado, the Hell Creek Formation of Montana, and the Allen Formation of Rio Negro, Argentina. Most date to the end of the Maastrichtian age, about 66 million years ago, though a much earlier species has also been identified from the Campanian-aged Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta, about 75 million years ago.
Sphaerium beckmani is an extinct species of fossil freshwater pea clams from the Late Cretaceous deposits of North America. This species was first described by the American paleontologist Loris Shano Russell in 1976. The specimens were collected by the American paleontologist Karl M. Waage from 1961 to 1962 from the Hell Creek Formation of eastern Montana. The locality is dated to the late Maastrichtian Age.
Acheroraptor is an extinct genus of dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur known from the latest Maastrichtian Hell Creek Formation of Montana, United States. It contains a single species, Acheroraptor temertyorum. A. temertyorum is one of the two geologically youngest known species of dromaeosaurids, the other being Dakotaraptor, which is also known from Hell Creek. A basal cousin of Velociraptor, Acheroraptor is known from upper and lower jaw material.
Yaminuechelys is an extinct genus of chelid turtle from Argentina and the Dorotea Formation of Chile. The genus first appeared during the Late Cretaceous and became extinct during the Late Paleocene.
Neurankylus is an extinct genus of turtles in the family Baenidae that lived between 112 and 61 million years ago in Canada and the United States. It was originally placed within the monotypic family Neurankylidae, but it has since been placed in the Neurankylinae, alongside Trinitichelys. The type species, Neurankylus eximius, was described by Lawrence Lambe in 1902. The species N. lithographicus was discovered in the Milk River Formation (Canada), alongside the holotype of the pachycephalosaurid dinosaur Acrotholus audeti.
Basilemys is a large, terrestrial nanhsiungchelyid turtle from the Upper Cretaceous of North and Central America. Basilemys has been found in rocks dating to the Campanian and Maastrichtian subdivisions of the Late Cretaceous and is considered to be the largest terrestrial turtle of its time. In an analysis made by Sukhanov et al. on a nansiunghelyid turtle from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia, it was demonstrated that Asian nanhsiungchelyids gave rise to the North American nanhsiungchelyids.
Anatolemys is an extinct turtle genus in the family Macrobaenidae. Two species are known, both of which lived in the Late Cretaceous. Fossils were discovered in the Yalovach Formation of Tajikistan, the Kulbikin Member and Khodzhakul and Bissekty Formations of Uzbekistan and the Bostobe Formation of Kazakhstan. With 70 cm (2.3 ft) in carapace length, Anatolemys maximus was one of the three largest macrobaenids along with Early Cretaceous Yakemys multiporcata and Paleocene Judithemys backmani.
Kansaignathus is an extinct genus of dromaeosaurid theropod from the Late Cretaceous Yalovach Formation of Tajikistan. The genus contains only one species, the type species, K. sogdianus. The generic name of Kansaignathus comes from near the town of Konsoy where it was discovered and the Greek word "gnathos" meaning "jaw". The specific epithet "sogdianus" is derived from the historical region of Sogdiana, which was an ancient name for the Fergana Valley region where the fossil was discovered. Kansaignathus is known from a single right dentary bone and a few post-cranial bone fragments. It was the first, and so far the only, dinosaur from Tajikistan to be described and named.