Chandler Bridge Creek (Ashley Fm.) (Oligocene of the United States)

Where: Dorchester County, South Carolina (33.0° N, 80.2° W: paleocoordinates 32.9° N, 73.6° W)

• coordinate estimated from map

When: Ashley Formation (Cooper Group), Rupelian (33.9 - 28.1 Ma)

• early Chattian, NP 24, 30 cm below contact with the overlying Chandler Bridge Formation; Ashley Formation is identified as Rupelian rather than its conventional assignment as Chattian by Weems et al. 2004

•The Ashley Formation falls within calcareous nannoplankton zone NP24 [103], ranging from 29.6–26.8 Ma [12, 20]. The presence of the dinoflagellate Chiropteridium lobospinosum indicates a minimum age of 28.1 Ma [103, 104]. Together, these constraints imply a late Rupelian age (29.6–28.1 Ma) for the Ashley Formation, which is further supported by a strontium date of 29.1 Ma [105]. (Marx & Fordyce, 2015)

• member-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: lagoonal or restricted shallow subtidal; lithology not reported

• littoral-sublittoral, lagoonal and backbay

Size class: macrofossils

Preservation: original phosphate

Collection methods: quarrying, surface (in situ)

Primary reference: A. E. Sanders and L. G. Barnes. 2002. Paleontology of the Late Oligocene Ashley and Chandler Bridge Formations of South Carolina, 2: Micromysticetus rothauseni, a primitive cetotheriid mysticete (Mammalia: Cetacea). Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology 93:271-293 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen/M. Uhen]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 45777: authorized by Mark Uhen, entered by Mark Uhen on 01.12.2004

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Angiospermae
 Vitales - Vitaceae
Vitis sp.2 Linnaeus 1753 grapevine
Anthozoa
 Scleractinia - Dendrophylliidae
Balanophyllia sp.2 Wood 1844 stony coral
Gnathostomata
  -
Chondrichthyes indet.2 Huxley 1880 cartilaginous fish
Mammalia
 Cetacea -
Odontoceti indet.2 Flower 1867 toothed whale
genera X, Y, Z
 Cetacea - Xenorophidae
Xenorophus sp.2 Kellogg 1923 toothed whale
 Cetacea -
Squalodontoidea indet. Simpson 1945 toothed whale
 Cetacea - Eomysticetidae
Micromysticetus rothauseni n. gen. n. sp. Sanders and Barnes 2002 whale
 Sirenia - Dugongidae
Dugongidae indet. Gray 1821 dugong
Halitherium sp.2 Kaup 1838 dugong
Crenatosiren olseni1 Reinhart 1976 dugong
Reptilia
 Testudines - Cheloniidae
Procolpochelys sp.2 Hay 1908 sea turtle
Syllomus sp.2 Cope 1896 sea turtle
 Testudines - Dermochelyidae
Psephophorus sp.2 von Meyer 1847 leatherback
 Crocodylia -
Gavialosuchus sp.2 Toula and Kail 1885 crocodilian
Aves
  -
Aves indet.2 Linnaeus 1758 bird
 Odontopterygiformes - Pelagornithidae
"Pseudodontornithidae indet." = Pelagornithidae
"Pseudodontornithidae indet." = Pelagornithidae Fürbringer 1888 bird