Bed C2A, Speeton (Cretaceous of the United Kingdom)

Where: England, United Kingdom (54.2° N, 0.2° W: paleocoordinates 44.7° N, 9.8° E)

• coordinate estimated from map

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Simbirskites variabilis ammonoid zone, Speeton Clay Formation, Late/Upper Hauterivian (136.4 - 130.0 Ma)

• Listed as Early Barremian by Underwood et al., but beds C2 and C1 belong to the Simbirskites variabilis zone, which is the uppermost Hauterivian ammonite zone.

• bed-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: transition zone or lower shoreface; unlithified, bioturbated claystone

• The Speeton Clay Fm. consists of a condensed succession, about 130m thick, spanning much of the Lower Cretaceous from the Upper Berriasian to Middle Albian. The sediments are dominantly bioturbated open marine clays, some levels being rich in diagenetic carbonate and phosphate concretions and many units being rich in glauconite. There are a number of distinct horizons of hiatal condensation and erosion at which phosphatic fish material is concentrated.

Size class: macrofossils

Preservation: original phosphate

Collected by C.J. Underwood, D. Ward

Collection methods: bulk, mechanical, sieve,

• focus on fish remains; Bulk samples of clay, 30–70 kg in dry weight, were sieved for fish material using a 125 mm or 250 mm mesh. The residues were picked for fish remains at size fractions down to 355 mm where possible, but coarse glauconite in some samples meant that picking size fractions below 500 mm was impractical. All specimens cited here are deposited in Liverpool Museum, National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside (LIVCM).

Primary reference: C. J. Underwood, S. F. Michell, and K. J. Veltkamp. 1999. Shark and Ray teeth from the Hauterivian (Lower Cretaceous) of north-east England. Palaeontology 42(2):287-302 [M. Aberhan/S. Nurnberg/S. Nurnberg]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 66418: authorized by Martin Aberhan, entered by Sabine Nürnberg on 09.10.2006

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Chondrichthyes
 Hexanchiformes - Hexanchidae
"Notorhynchus aptiensis" = Gladioserratus aptiensis
"Notorhynchus aptiensis" = Gladioserratus aptiensis Pictet 1865 cow shark
 Orectolobiformes - Orectolobidae
Cretorectolobus doylei Underwood et al. 1999 wobbegong
more than 30 teeth from five beds
 Synechodontiformes - Palaeospinacidae
Synechodus dubrisiensis Mackie 1863 elasmobranch
more than 200 teeth from 5 beds (most from bed C7H)