Mansfeld mining district (Permian of Germany)

Also known as Mansfelder Revier, Mansfelder Mulde, Mansfelder Land, Kupferschiefer, Copper Shale, Wolfsschacht, Otto-Schacht

Where: Saxony Anhalt, Germany (51.5° N, 11.5° E: paleocoordinates 16.1° N, 23.3° E)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

• local area-level geographic resolution

When: Kupferschiefer Member (Werra Formation), Wuchiapingian (259.9 - 254.2 Ma)

• The Kupferschiefer (T1) is the basalmost unit of the Werra Formation (Z1), the latter being the basalmost formation of the Zechstein Series (Uppermost Permian of Central Europe).

•Brauns et al. (2003) reported a date of 257.3±1.6 Ma (Late Permian/Lopingian: Wuchiapingian) for the Kupferschiefer based on a Re-Os geochronological study. The presence of the conodont Mesogondolella britannica in Kupferschiefer equivalents supports a middle Wuchiapingian age for the Protorosaurus-bearing levels (Legler et al. 2005, 2008).

• member-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: offshore; lithified, black claystone

• Deposition took place "below wave base in a stratified water body (Paul, 1986a)" (Becker & Bechstädt, 2006, Sedimentology 53, pp. 1083–1120)

•"Sedimentation rates during Kupferschiefer deposition were low (5 mm kyr)1; Füchtbauer, 1968). The Kupferschiefer is thus interpreted as a condensed section, which formed during maximum flooding (Ross & Ross, 1995; Strohmenger et al., 1996a)." (Becker & Bechstädt, 2006)

Size class: macrofossils

Collection methods: surface (float), mechanical,

• The fossils come from the spoil heaps of the copper mines.

•GM = Geiseltalmuseum of the Martin-Luther-Universität, Halle/Saale, Germany

•SSWG = Geological Institute of the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität, Greifswald, Germany

Primary reference: S. E. Evans and H. Haubold. 1987. The gliding reptiles of the Upper Permian. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 90(3):275-303 [J. Mueller/T. Liebrecht/T. Liebrecht]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 85484: authorized by Johannes Mueller, entered by Torsten Liebrecht on 30.12.2008, edited by Bethany Allen

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Reptilia
 Diapsida -
Protorosaurus speneri4 Meyer 1832 archosauromorph
then in the collection of the "M.A.-G. Eisleben"
 Eosuchia -
Coelurosauravus sp.2 Piveteau 1926 diapsid
specimen in the private collection of T. Schneider, Helbra (catalogue no. of copy: MB.R.3610)
 Eosuchia - Weigeltisauridae
Glaurung schneideri n. gen. n. sp.1, "Palaeochamaeleo jaekeli n. gen. n. sp." = Weigeltisaurus jaekeli, "Gracilisaurus ottoi n. gen. n. sp." = Weigeltisaurus jaekeli3
Glaurung schneideri n. gen. n. sp.1 Bulanov and Sennikov 2015 diapsid
"Palaeochamaeleo jaekeli n. gen. n. sp." = Weigeltisaurus jaekeli Weigelt 1930 diapsid
SSWG 113/7 (type)
"Gracilisaurus ottoi n. gen. n. sp." = Weigeltisaurus jaekeli3 Weigelt 1930 diapsid
GM 1462 (type); specimen formerly assigned to Protorosaurus speneri