Kapp Koburg, Kongsøya (Triassic of Norway)

Where: Svalbard, Norway (78.9° N, 28.2° E: paleocoordinates 64.7° N, 10.0° W)

• coordinate estimated from map

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Kapp Koburg Member (Wilhelmøya Formation), Rhaetian (208.5 - 201.3 Ma)

• group of beds-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: marginal marine; concretionary, sideritic sandstone

• "The sequence containing vertebrate remains constitutes a 36 m thick coarsening-upwards unit. The lower 13 m consists of poorly consolidated mudstones with minor silty interbeds. Occasional vague moulds after decalcified bivalves are seen in the mudstones. Thin sideritic beds are often associated with well-rounded bone fragments. ... The overlying 16 m of the section forms a coarsening-upwards sequence with a gradually increasing component of thin silt- and sandstone interbeds showing well-developed lenticular and wavy bedding. Sideritic beds contain vertebrate remains, and bones fill the bases of small erosive washout structures. One sandy bed contains a sideritic concretion which encapsules the reptile skeleton .... This coarsening-upwards sequence culminates in a 2 m thick massive sandstone which is overlain by thin siltstones and mudstones. These fine rapidly upwards into mudstones characterised by non-marine palynomorphs."

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils

Preservation: concretion

Collected in 1973

Primary reference: D. Worsley and N. Heintz. 1977. The stratigraphic significance of a marine vertebrate fauna of Rhaetian age, Kong Karls Land. Årbok Norsk Polarinstitutt 1976:69-81 [M. Carrano/H. Street/M. Carrano]more details

Purpose of describing collection: biostratigraphic analysis

PaleoDB collection 107002: authorized by Matthew Carrano, entered by Hallie Street on 31.03.2011

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Reptilia
 Plesiosauria -
Plesiosauria indet. de Blainville 1835 plesiosaur
One partial skeleton (not collected), multiple isolated elements (limb and rib and gastralia fragments)
 Ichthyosauria -
Ichthyosauria indet. ichthyosaur
vertebrae - between 11 and 18 cm, no neural arches preserved