Inversand Company marl pit, Sewell (middle Hornerstown) (Paleocene of the United States)

Also known as KT loc. 428

Where: Gloucester County, New Jersey (39.8° N, 75.1° W: paleocoordinates 40.1° N, 52.8° W)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Hornerstown Formation (Rancocas Group), Danian (66.0 - 61.6 Ma)

• group of beds-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: offshore; unlithified, glauconitic sandstone

• Harris et al. (2010) inferred water depths of ~80 m for the Hornerstown in drillcore samples from New Jersey, consistent with grain size and foram interpretations by Adams (1963) for more proximal outcrop sections ("relatively shallow water, probably less than 300 feet"). This could represent an offshore transition environment, although there are no obvious indicators of storm waves. The extreme abundance of glauconite is consistent with largely-quiet conditions, so an offshore environment is tentatively assigned.

Size class: macrofossils

Primary reference: W. B. Gallagher. 2002. Faunal changes across the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) boundary in the Atlantic coastal plain of New Jersey: restructuring the marine community after the K-T mass-extinction event. Catastrophic Events and Mass Extinctions: Impacts and beyond. GSA Special Paper 356:291-301 [W. Kiessling/W. Kiessling/M. Carrano]more details

Purpose of describing collection: paleoecologic analysis

PaleoDB collection 26820: authorized by Wolfgang Kiessling, entered by Wolfgang Kiessling on 05.11.2002

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
Anthozoa
 Scleractinia - Flabellidae
Flabellum mortoni
Flabellum mortoni Vaughan 1900 stony coral
Calcarea
 Calcaronea - Stellispongiidae
Peronidella dichotoma
Peronidella dichotoma Laube 1865 calcareous sponge
40% volume; listed as Peridonella dichotoma
Reptilia
 Testudines - Cheloniidae
Dollochelys sp.
Dollochelys sp. Zangerl 1971 sea turtle
 Loricata - Dyrosauridae
Hyposaurus rogersii
Hyposaurus rogersii Owen 1849 crocodilian
Chondrichthyes
 Lamniformes - Otodontidae
Palaeocarcharodon sp., Otodus obliquus
Palaeocarcharodon sp. Casier 1960 mackerel shark
Otodus obliquus Agassiz 1838 mackerel shark
 Lamniformes - Odontaspididae
Odontaspis sp.
Odontaspis sp. Agassiz 1838 sand tiger shark
 Chimaeriformes - Edaphodontidae
Edaphodon agassizi
Edaphodon agassizi Buckland 1835 chimaera
Cephalopoda
 Nautilida - Aturiidae
cf. Aturia sp.
cf. Aturia sp. Bronn 1838 nautiloid
Gastropoda
 Neogastropoda - Volutidae
"cf. Volutocorbis sp." = Athleta (Volutocorbis)
"cf. Volutocorbis sp." = Athleta (Volutocorbis) Dall 1890 volute
Listed as Volutacorbis
Bivalvia
 Arcida - Cucullaeidae
Cucullaea macrodonta
 Ostreida - Ostreidae
Ostrea glandiformis
 Cardiida - Veneridae
"Caryatis veta" = Pitar
"Caryatis veta" = Pitar venus clam
 Carditida - Crassatellidae
"Crassatellites cf. littoralis" = Crassatella
"Crassatellites cf. littoralis" = Crassatella clam
Rhynchonellata
 Terebratulida -
Oleneothyris harlani