Sloan Canyon Formation | |
---|---|
Stratigraphic range: | |
Type | Formation |
Unit of | Dockum Group |
Underlies | Sheep Pen Sandstone |
Overlies | Travesser Formation |
Thickness | 38–46 meters (125–151 ft) |
Lithology | |
Primary | Mudstone |
Other | Siltstone, marl |
Location | |
Coordinates | 36°56′17″N103°09′35″W / 36.9381°N 103.1598°W |
Region | New Mexico |
Country | United States |
Type section | |
Named for | Sloan Canyon |
Named by | B.H. Parker |
Year defined | 1930 |
The Sloan Canyon Formation is a late Triassic geologic formation exposed in northeastern New Mexico. [1] Fossil theropod tracks have been reported from the formation. [2]
The Sloan Canyon Formation consists of variegated reddish-brown, purple, and green mudstones, with some beds of siltstone and marl. It rests on the Travesser Formation and is overlain by the Sheep Pen Sandstone. Total thickness is 38–46 meters (125–151 ft). [3]
The formation is usually assigned to the Dockum Group. [1] [3] The proposal of Spencer G. Lucas and his collaborators to abandon the Dockum Group, possibly in favor of the Chinle Group, is highly controversial. [4]
A phytosaur skull was found in the Sloan Canyon Formation in 1939, establishing that it was a Triassic formation. [5] The formation is part of one of the largest continuously mapped Triassic vertebrate tracksites, with the earliest studied exposures at Peacock Canyon. Ichnofossils (track fossils) include the archosaurs Brachychirotherium and Chirotherium , a possible therapsid, and the reptile Rhynchosauroides . [6]
The beds now assigned to this unit were previously mistaken for Morrison Formation. [3] The Sloan Canyon Formation was first named by B.H. Parker in 1930. [7]
Jameson Land is a peninsula in eastern Greenland.
Gojirasaurus is genus of coelophysoid theropod dinosaur named after the giant monster movie character Gojira.
The Chinle Formation is an Upper Triassic continental geological formation of fluvial, lacustrine, and palustrine to eolian deposits spread across the U.S. states of Nevada, Utah, northern Arizona, western New Mexico, and western Colorado. In New Mexico, it is often raised to the status of a geological group, the Chinle Group. Some authors have controversially considered the Chinle to be synonymous to the Dockum Group of eastern Colorado and New Mexico, western Texas, the Oklahoma panhandle, and southwestern Kansas. The Chinle Formation is part of the Colorado Plateau, Basin and Range, and the southern section of the Interior Plains. A probable separate depositional basin within the Chinle is found in northwestern Colorado and northeastern Utah. The southern portion of the Chinle reaches a maximum thickness of a little over 520 meters (1,710 ft). Typically, the Chinle rests unconformably on the Moenkopi Formation.
The Glen Canyon Group is a geologic group of formations that is spread across the U.S. states of Nevada, Utah, northern Arizona, north west New Mexico and western Colorado. It is called the Glen Canyon Sandstone in the Green River Basin of Colorado and Utah.
The Kayenta Formation is a geological formation in the Glen Canyon Group that is spread across the Colorado Plateau province of the United States, including northern Arizona, northwest Colorado, Nevada, and Utah. Traditionally has been suggested as Sinemurian-Pliensbachian, but more recent dating of detrital zircons has yielded a depositional age of 183.7 ± 2.7 Ma, thus a Pliensbachian-Toarcian age is more likely A previous depth work recovered a solid Lower-Middle Pliensbachian age from measurements done in the Tenney Canyon.
The Dockum is a Late Triassic geologic group found primarily on the Llano Estacado of western Texas and eastern New Mexico with minor exposures in southwestern Kansas, eastern Colorado, and Oklahoma panhandle. The Dockum reaches a maximum thickness of slightly over 650 m but is usually much thinner. The Dockum rests on an unconformity over the Anisian aged Anton Chico Formation.
Dromomeron is a genus of lagerpetid avemetatarsalian which lived around 220 to 211.9 ± 0.7 million years ago. The genus contains species known from Late Triassic-age rocks of the Southwestern United States and northwestern Argentina. It is described as most closely related to the earlier Lagerpeton of Argentina, but was found among remains of true dinosaurs like Chindesaurus, indicating that the first dinosaurs did not immediately replace related groups.
The Cooper Canyon Formation is a geological formation of Norian age in Texas and New Mexico.
Machaeroprosopus is an extinct genus of mystriosuchin leptosuchomorph phytosaur from the Late Triassic of the southwestern United States. M. validus, once thought to be the type species of Machaeroprosopus, was named in 1916 on the basis of three complete skulls from Chinle Formation, Arizona. The skulls have been lost since the 1950s, and a line drawing in the original 1916 description is the only visual record of the specimen. Another species, M. andersoni, was named in 1922 from New Mexico, and the species M. adamanensis, M. gregorii, M. lithodendrorum, M. tenuis, and M. zunii were named in 1930. Most species have been reassigned to the genera Smilosuchus, Rutiodon, or Phytosaurus. Until recently, M. validus was considered to be the only species that has not been reassigned. Thus, Machaeroprosopus was considered to be a nomen dubium or "doubtful name" because of the lack of diagnostic specimens that can support its distinction from other phytosaur genera. However, a taxonomic revision of Machaeroprosopus, conducted by Parker et al. in 2013, revealed that UW 3807, the holotype of M. validus, is not the holotype of Machaeroprosopus, while the species Machaeroprosopus buceros, Machaeroprosopus being a replacement name, with a fixed type species, for Metarhinus, is the combinatio nova of the type species of the genu: Belodon buceros. Therefore, the name Pseudopalatus must be considered a junior synonym of Machaeroprosopus, and all species of the former must be reassigned to the latter. This revised taxonomy was already accepted in several studies, including Stocker and Butler (2013). Stocker and Butler (2013) also treated M. andersoni as a valid species, and not a junior synonym of Machaeroprosopus buceros as was previously suggested by Long and Murry (1995).
Paratypothorax is an extinct genus of aetosaur, known from a single species, Paratypothorax andressorum. It was a broadly distributed member of the group found in Germany, North America, and possibly parts of Gondwana. The best specimens come from Germany, though for more than a century they were mistakenly considered phytosaur armor. Paratypothorax was a large and wide-bodied typothoracine aetosaur, as well as the namesake of the tribe Paratypothoracisini.
The Garita Creek Formation is a geologic formation in New Mexico that contains vertebrate fossils characteristic of the Carnian Age of the late Triassic.
Kayentavenator is a genus of small carnivorous tetanuran dinosaur that lived during the Early Jurassic Period; fossils were recovered from the Kayenta Formation of northeastern Arizona and were described in 2010.
The Bell Ranch Formation is a Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) geologic formation in eastern and northeastern New Mexico and the western Oklahoma panhandle. Fossil theropod tracks have been reported from the formation.
The Redonda Formation is a geologic formation exposed in eastern New Mexico. It contains vertebrate fossils of the late Triassic Period. Fossil theropod tracks have been reported from the formation.
The Baldy Hill Formation is a geologic formation in northeastern New Mexico and western Oklahoma. It preserves fossils dating back to the late Triassic period.
The Sheep Pen Sandstone is a late Triassic geologic formation exposed in northeastern New Mexico. Fossil theropod tracks have been reported from the formation.
The Travesser Formation is a geologic formation in northeastern New Mexico, southeastern Colorado, westernmost Oklahoma, and northwestern Texas, particularly in the Dry Cimarron valley. It preserves fossils dating back to the late Triassic period.
The Bluewater Creek Formation is a geologic formation in west-central New Mexico. It preserves fossils dating back to the late Triassic period.
The Exeter Sandstone is a geologic formation exposed in northeastern New Mexico. Its age is poorly controlled, but it is thought to have been deposited during the middle Jurassic.