Also known as UCMP V6875
Where: Santa Cruz County, California (37.0° N, 122.0° W: paleocoordinates 36.7° N, 120.4° W)
• coordinate estimated from map
• outcrop-level geographic resolution
When: Purisima Formation, Messinian to Messinian (7.2 - 3.6 Ma)
• latest Miocene to early Pliocene, somewhat younger than 6.7 +- 0.5 million years old, but not much younger than that date
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•Powell et al. [130] chemically correlated an ash bed from the basal portion of the Purisima formation below the Crab Marker Bed with similar deposits elsewhere in California, which have been dated to between 5.6–5.0 and 4.7 Ma. However, this estimate is contradicted by the occurrence of the diatom Thalassiosira miocenica, as well as the apparent absence of T. oestrupii, in the Opal Cliff section, implying its assignment to the upper part of subzone b of the Nitzschia reinholdii zone (6.4-5.5 Ma) [128, 130]. Given the absence of direct dating evidence for the ash layer in the basal Purisima Formation, w here assume a lower age boundary of 6.4 Ma for H. bramblei. This is further supported by the occurrence of UCMP 219079 in a similarly aged horizon (based on diatom data) near the bottom of the San Gregorio section north of Santa Cruz [5]. Magnetostratigraphic correlations recognise a depositional hiatus above the Opal Cliff section, lasting from 4.9–3.7 Ma [128, 130]. Taken together, these observations imply an age range of 6.4–4.9 Ma. (Marx & Fordyce, 2015)
• formation-level stratigraphic resolution
Environment/lithology: open shallow subtidal; sandstone
Size class: macrofossils
Reposited in the UCMP
Primary reference: F. C. Whitmore and L. G. Barnes. 2008. The Herpetocetinae, a new subfamily of extinct baleen whales (Mammalia, Cetacea, Cetotheriidae). Virginia Museum of Natural History Special Publication 14:141-180 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen/M. Uhen]more details
Purpose of describing collection: general faunal/floral analysis
PaleoDB collection 77499: authorized by Mark Uhen, entered by Mark Uhen on 14.01.2008
Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)
Taxonomic list
Mammalia | |
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Herpetocetus bramblei n. sp.
Herpetocetus bramblei n. sp. Whitmore and Barnes 2008 whale | |
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