Schrattenkalk Formation

Schrattenkalk Formation
Stratigraphic range: Barremian-Aptian
Schrattenkalk in Luzern, Switzerland
Type	Geological formation
Sub-units	Lower Schrattenkalk, Rawil Member, Upper Schrattenkalk
Underlies	Garschella Formation
Overlies	Tierwis Formation
Thickness	up to 300 m (980 ft)
Lithology
Primary	Limestone
Other	Sandstone, mudstone
Location
Coordinates	46°58′30″N8°19′49″E / 46.9751°N 8.3303°E / 46.9751; 8.3303
Approximate paleocoordinates	31°36′N18°30′E / 31.6°N 18.5°E / 31.6; 18.5
Region	Alps
Country	Austria, Germany, Switzerland
Type section
Named for	Schrattenfluh
Named by	Bernhard Studer
Year defined	1834
Schrattenkalk Formation (Switzerland)

The Schrattenkalk Formation is a Barremian to Aptian geologic formation in the Alps. The limestone is highly karstified. Fossil ornithopod tracks have been reported from the formation. ^[1] Iguanodont tracks have been registered in the Swiss portion of the formation. ^[2] The famous north face of the Eiger is partly composed of Schrattenkalk, ^[3] as well as the Sturmannshöhle in southernmost Bavaria, Germany, ^[4] and the Hölloch (second-longest cave in Europe) and Silberen system karst caves in Switzerland. ^[5]

Description

The formation is named after the Schrattenfluh in Luzern, Switzerland. The name is derived from the Swiss-German "Schratten" (a synonym of Karren) meaning clints or lapies, a phenomenon that frequently affects the limestone. ^[6] Kalk is limestone in German. Synonyms for the extensive formation are Hieroglyphenkalk, Calcaire à Hippurites, Urgonien, Rudistenkalk, Urgo-Aptien, Schrattenschichten, Requienenkalk, Rhodanien, Caprotinenkalk, and Urgonian Limestone. ^[7] The formation consists of three units, the Lower Schrattenkalk, Rawil Member and Upper Schrattenkalk.

The upper and lower units consist mostly of reefal limestones with bryozoa, gastropods, corals, sponges, brachiopods, bivalves and rudists. The Rawil Member contains beds of sandstones and mudstones containing foraminifera and echinoderms. The upper and lower members represent a photozoan-dominated carbonate platform, ^[8] and was deposited at the northern edge of the Tethys Ocean. ^[9]

Fossil content

In 2015, two new corals were described from Austria; Cairnsipsammia , ^[10] and Paraclausastrea vorarlbergensis . ^[11]

In an abandoned quarry on the shore of Lake Lucerne, close to the village of Beckenried, fossil trackways were discovered in the formation. The steeply inclined surface has more than 50 tracks (in three trackways) of ornithopod dinosaurs that are attributed to iguanodontids. Three trackways can be followed for distances of 25 to 35 metres (82 to 115 ft). The lengths of the footprints have a mean of 30 centimetres (12 in) and point to animals ranging in size of 4 to 6 metres (13 to 20 ft), with estimated hip heights between 1.8 and 2 metres (5.9 and 6.6 ft) and 1.4 to 1.7 metres (4.6 to 5.6 ft). ^[12]

Panorama

Panorama of the Schrattenkalk at the Schrattenfluh

See also

• List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations
  • List of stratigraphic units with ornithischian tracks
    • Ornithopod tracks
• Geology of the Alps

References

1. Weishampel, et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution." Pp. 517-607.
2. Risleten Quarry tracksite at Fossilworks.org
3. Toni P. Labhart: Geologie der Schweiz. 5., überarb. Auflage. Ott Verlag, Thun 2001, S. 78ff.
4. Ulrich Lagally, Stefan Glaser, Elisabeth Jobe, Georg Loth, Andreas Murr, Hubert Schmid, Wolfgang Schmid, Klaus Schwerd, Stephan Sieblitz und Ulrich Teipel: Geotope in Schwaben. In: Bayerisches Landesamt für Umwelt (Hrsg.): Erdwissenschaftliche Beiträge zum Naturschutz. Band 7. Augsburg 2009, ISBN   978-3-936385-34-2, S. 132.
5. Jeannin, 2016, p.49
6. Bonvallet, 2015, p.14
7. Bodin, 2006, p.11
8. Bodin, 2006, p.68
9. Schrattenkalk Formation at Strati.ch
10. Rosemarie C. Baron-Szabo (2015). "A new dendrophylliid coral genus Cairnsipsammia from the Lower Cretaceous of western Austria (Anthozoa; Scleractinia; Vorarlberg; Schrattenkalk Formation [upper Barremian-lower Aptian])". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 128 (4): 216–226. doi:10.2988/0006-324X-128.4.216. S2CID   85709658.
11. Rosemarie C. Baron-Szabo (2015). "Paraclausastrea vorarlbergensis sp. nov.; a new coral from the Lower Cretaceous of western Austria (Scleractinia; upper Barremian-lower Aptian; Schrattenkalk Fm.; Vorarlberg)". Zootaxa. 4032 (3): 327–332. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4032.3.9. PMID   26624368.
12. Meyer, Christian; Thuring, Basil (2003). "The First Iguanodontid Dinosaur Tracks from the Swiss Alps (Schrattenkalk Formation, Aptian)" (PDF). Ichnos. 10 (2–4): 221–228. Bibcode:2003Ichno..10..221M. doi:10.1080/10420940390256186. S2CID   129688898.

Bibliography

• Bodin, Stéphane (2006), Palaeoceanographic and palaeoclimatic changes during the Late Hauterivian - Barremian and their impact on the northern Tethyan margin: A combined sedimentological and geochemical approach (PhD thesis) (PDF), Université de Neuchâtel, pp. 1–272, retrieved 2018-08-15
• Bonvallet, Lucie (2015), Evolution of the Helvetic shelf (Switzerland) during the Barremian–early Aptian: paleoenvironmental, paleogeographic and paleoceanographic controlling factors (PhD thesis) (PDF), Université de Lausanne, pp. 1–333, retrieved 2018-08-15
• Jeannin, P.-Y (2016), "Main karst and caves of Switzerland" (PDF), Boletín Geológico y Minero , 127: 45–56, doi:10.21701/bolgeomin.127.1.003 , retrieved 2018-08-15
• Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; Osmólska, Halszka (2007), The Dinosauria, Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 1–861, ISBN   978-0-520-24209-8

Further reading

• Morycowa, E.; Decrouez, D. (2006). "Early Aptian scleractinian corals from the Upper Schrattenkalk of Hergiswil (Lucerne region, Helvetic Zone of central Switzerland)". Revue de Paléobiologie. 25 (2): 791–838.
• Kristina Schenk: Die Drusberg- und Schrattenkalk-Formation (Unterkreide) im Helvetikum des Berner Oberlandes. Dissertation Universität Bern, 1992
• Scholz, H. (1984). "Bioherme und Biostrome im Allgäuer Schrattenkalk (Helvetikum, Unterkreide)". Jahrbuch der geologischen Bundesanstalt. 127 (3): 471–499.