Cambridge Greensand

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Cambridge Greensand
Stratigraphic range: Earliest Cenomanian ~100  Ma
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S
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C
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Pg
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Type Member
Unit ofWest Melbury Marly Chalk Formation
Underlies Chalk Group
Overlies Gault Formation
Thickness0.1–1 m (0.33–3.28 ft)
Lithology
Primary Glauconitic marl
Other Phosphorite
Location
Coordinates 52°12′N0°06′E / 52.2°N 0.1°E / 52.2; 0.1
Approximate paleocoordinates 41°00′N1°48′E / 41.0°N 1.8°E / 41.0; 1.8
Region England
CountryFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  UK
ExtentNorth Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire
Type section
Named for Cambridge
LocationArlesey Brickpit
England relief location map.jpg
Lightgreen pog.svg
Cambridge Greensand (England)

The Cambridge Greensand is a geological unit in England whose strata are earliest Cenomanian in age. [1] 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. [2] It is a remanié deposit, containing reworked fossils of late Albian age, including those of dinosaurs and pterosaurs.

Contents

Description

The lithology is made out of glauconitic marl, described as a "chalk mud", containing abundant ostracod, coccolith and foram remains, with a concentration of phosphatic nodules and bones at the base. [1] [2]

Vertebrate paleofauna

Birds

Birds
GenusSpeciesLocalityMaterialNotesImages
Enaliornis E. barretteBraincases, vertebrae, pelvis [and] limb elements [3] This genus is the oldest known hesperornithine
E sedgwickiHindlimb elements [3]
E. seeleyiAssorted cranial and postcranial elements

Dinosaurs

Ornithischians

Color key
Taxon Reclassified taxonTaxon falsely reported as presentDubious taxon or junior synonym Ichnotaxon Ootaxon Morphotaxon
Notes
Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; crossed out taxa are discredited.
Ornithischians
GenusSpeciesLocalityMaterialNotesImages
Anoplosaurus A. curtonotus"Partial postcranium" [4]
A.major"Cervical vertebrae." [4] "Vertebrae." [5]
Acanthopholis A. eucercus"[Two] caudal centra." [4] Nomen dubium
A. platypus"Phalanx, caudal centra." [4] Nomen dubium
A. macrocercus"Osteoderms." [4] "Vertebrae, fragmentary skeleton elements." [5] Reassigned to Syngonosaurus
A. stereocercus"Osteoderms." [4] "Vertebrae." [5] Nomen dubium
Eucercosaurus E. tanyspondylus"Vertebrae." [4]
Trachodon T. cantabrigiensis"Dentary tooth." [6] Nomen dubium

Saurischians

Saurischians
GenusSpeciesLocalityMaterialNotesImages
Macrurosaurus M. semnus "Caudal vertebrae" [7] Titanosauriform sauropod or indeterminate macronarian

Pterosaurs

Color key
Taxon Reclassified taxonTaxon falsely reported as presentDubious taxon or junior synonym Ichnotaxon Ootaxon Morphotaxon
Notes
Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; crossed out taxa are discredited.
Pterosaurs
GenusSpeciesLocalityMaterialNotesImages
Amblydectes A. crassidensJaw fragments
A. eurygnathusJaw fragmentsPossibly a junior synonym of A. crassidens [8]
Camposipterus C. colorhinusAnterior rostra fragments
C. nasutusPartial rostrum
C. sedgwickiiAnterior rostrum
Draigwenia D. platystomusAnterior rostrum fragmentsFormerly Amblydectes platystomus [8]
Lonchodraco L. machaerorhynchusReassigned to Ikrandraco machaerorhynchus
L. microdonJunior synonym of L. machaerorhynchus
Nicorhynchus N. capitoJaw fragmentsPossibly synonomous with Coloborhynchus [9]
Ornithocheirus O. simus [10] [11]
"Ornithocheirus" denticulatus
"Ornithocheirus" polyodon
Ornithostoma [12] [13] O. sedgwickiJaw fragmentsAzhdarchoid pterosaur [13]

Ichthyosaurs

Ichthyosaurs
GenusSpeciesLocalityMaterialNotesImages
Cetarthrosaurus C. walkeri [14]
Maiaspondylus M. cantabrigiensis
Pervushovisaurus P. campylodon
Sisteronia S. seeleyi

Lepidosauria

Color key
Taxon Reclassified taxonTaxon falsely reported as presentDubious taxon or junior synonym Ichnotaxon Ootaxon Morphotaxon
Notes
Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; crossed out taxa are discredited.
Lepidosauria
GenusSpeciesLocalityMaterialNotesImages
Patricosaurus P. merocratus [15] Chimeric specimen

Invertebrates

Ammonites

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 Hart, Malcolm B.; Fox, Lyndsey R. (2020). "Micropalaeontology and stratigraphical setting of the Cambridge Greensand". Geological Society, London, Special Publications. 498 (1): 147–163. Bibcode:2020GSLSP.498..147H. doi:10.1144/SP498-2018-144. ISSN   0305-8719. S2CID   210304478.
  2. 1 2 Cambridge Greensand at BGS
  3. 1 2 "Table 11.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 215.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Table 17.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 367.
  5. 1 2 3 "Table 19.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 417.
  6. "Table 20.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 443.
  7. "Table 13.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 270.
  8. 1 2 Holgado, Borja (2021). "On the validity of the genus Amblydectes Hooley 1914 (Pterodactyloidea, Anhangueridae) and the presence of Tropeognathinae in the Cambridge Greensand". Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências. 93 (suppl 2). doi:10.1590/0001-3765202120201658. ISSN   1678-2690.
  9. Smith, Roy E.; Ibrahim, Nizar; Longrich, Nicholas; Unwin, David M.; Jacobs, Megan L.; Williams, Cariad J.; Zouhri, Samir; Martill, David M. (September 2023). "The pterosaurs of the Cretaceous Kem Kem Group of Morocco". PalZ. 97 (3): 519–568. doi:10.1007/s12542-022-00642-6. ISSN   0031-0220.
  10. Taissa Rodrigues & Alexander Wilhelm Armin Kellner (2013). "Taxonomic review of the Ornithocheirus complex (Pterosauria) from the Cretaceous of England". ZooKeys (308): 1–112. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.308.5559 . PMC   3689139 . PMID   23794925.
  11. Unwin D.M., 2001, "An overview of the pterosaur assemblage from the Cambridge Greensand (Cretaceous) of Eastern England", Mitteilungen aus dem Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, Geowissenschaftliche Reihe 4: 189–221
  12. Averianov A.O. (2012). "Ornithostoma sedgwicki – valid taxon of azhdarchoid pterosaurs". Proceedings of the Zoological Institute RAS. 316 (1): 40–49.
  13. 1 2 Smith, Roy E.; Martill, David M.; Unwin, David M.; Steel, Lorna (February 2021). "Edentulous pterosaurs from the Cambridge Greensand (Cretaceous) of eastern England with a review of Ornithostoma Seeley, 1871". Proceedings of the Geologists' Association. 132 (1): 110–126. doi:10.1016/j.pgeola.2020.10.004.
  14. Valentin Fischer; Nathalie Bardet; Myette Guiomar & Pascal Godefroit (2014). "High Diversity in Cretaceous Ichthyosaurs from Europe Prior to Their Extinction". PLOS ONE. 9 (1): e84709. Bibcode:2014PLoSO...984709F. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0084709 . PMC   3897400 . PMID   24465427.
  15. P. M. Barrett and S. E. Evans. 2002. A reassessment of the Early Cretaceous reptile 'Patricosaurus merocratus' Seeley from the Cambridge Greensand, Cambridgeshire, UK. Cretaceous Research 23:231-240
  16. C. W. Wright and W. J. Kennedy. 1979. Origin and evolution of the Cretaceous micromorph ammonite family Flickiidae. Palaeontology 22:685-704