Turners Falls Formation

Last updated
Turners Falls Formation
Type Geological formation
Unit of Newark Supergroup
Location
Region Massachusetts
Country United States

The Turners Falls Formation or Turners Falls Sandstone is an Early Jurassic geological formation in Massachusetts. Various reptile tracks and footprints are known from this strata. These include Antipus flexiloquus , which has been interpreted as belonging to a small quadrupedal reptile [1] or a pterosaur, [2] though it is most likely a crocodylomorph. [3]

Contents

The formation is thought to represent the distal zones of three alluvial fans flowing west into a semiarid rift valley formed by a Mesozoic graben. [4] These deposits represent the first infilling of the lowland that would one day become the Connecticut River Valley. [4]

In addition to trace fossils, the Turners Falls Formation bears some of the most well-preserved specimens of armored mud balls in the world. [4] [5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Coombs, Walter P. (1996). "Redescription of the ichnospecies Antipus flexiloquus Hitchcock, from the Early Jurassic of the Connecticut Valley" . Journal of Paleontology. 70 (2): 327–331. doi:10.1017/S0022336000023416. ISSN   0022-3360. S2CID   132779327.
  2. ↑ Rainforth, E.C. (2006). "Antipus flexiloquus – the earliest pterosaur tracks from North America?". Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. 38 (2): 82.
  3. ↑ Whyte, M. A.; Romano, M. (2014-05-01). "First record of the pterosaur footprint Pteraichnus from the Saltwick Formation (Aalenian) of the Cleveland Basin, Yorkshire, UK" . Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society. 60 (1): 19–27. doi:10.1144/pygs2014-338. ISSN   0044-0604.
  4. 1 2 3 Little, Richard D. (1982). "Lithified Armored Mud Balls of the Lower Jurassic Turners Falls Sandstone, North-Central Massachusetts" . The Journal of Geology. 90 (2): 203–207. doi:10.1086/628665. ISSN   0022-1376. JSTOR   30070759. S2CID   140571464.
  5. ↑ Little, R. D. (2020). Exploring Franklin County, Western Massachusetts: Your Guide to Amazing Stories in Rocks & Landscapes. Easthampton, MA: Earth View LLC.

References


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.