Shotover Hill, Oxford Clay: Oxfordian, United Kingdom

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Anthozoa - Scleractinia - Microsolenidae
Anabacia orbulites (Lamouroux 1821)
recombined as Chomatoseris orbulites
Cephalopoda - Belemnitida - Belemnopseidae
Belemnites hastatus Blainville 1808
recombined as Belemnopsis hastata
Cephalopoda - Belemnitida - Belemnitidae
Belemnites abbreviatus
Belemnites porrectus
Belemnites tornatilis
Cephalopoda - Ammonitida - Kosmoceratidae
Ammonites gemmatus Phillips 1835
recombined as Kosmoceras gemmatum
Cephalopoda - Ammonitida - Cardioceratidae
Ammonites cordatus Sowerby 1813
recombined as Cardioceras (Cardioceras) cordatum
Cephalopoda - Ammonitida
Ammonites vertebralis
nomen vanum belonging to Ammonitida
Gastropoda - Aporrhaidae
Alaria bispinosa
synonym of Dicroloma
Bivalvia - Ostreida - Palaeolophidae
Ostrea gregarea Sowerby 1816
recombined as Actinostreon gregareum
Bivalvia - Cardiida - Anthracosiidae
Myacites recurvus
replaced by Unionites
Bivalvia - Trigoniida - Myophorellidae
Trigonia clavellata Sowerby 1826
recombined as Myophorella (Clavitrigonia) clavellata
Bivalvia - Trigoniida - Trigoniidae
Trigonia costata
Bivalvia - Nuculanida - Nuculanidae
Nucula nuda Wissmann 1841
synonym of Leda subtrigona
Nucula elliptica Goldfuss 1837
recombined as Leda elliptica
Lingulata - Discinida - Disciniidae
Discina latissima
Stenolaemata - Cyclostomata - Diastoporidae
Diastopora diluviana Canu 1898
Malacostraca - Decapoda - Erymidae
Glyphea stricklandi Phillips 1871
recombined as Eryma stricklandi
Crinoidea - Isocrinida - Pentacrinitidae
Extracrinus sp. Austin and Austin 1847
synonym of Pentacrinites
Echinoidea - Cidaroida - Cidaridae
Cidaris inspirata
Echinoidea - Salenioida - Acrosaleniidae
Acrosalenia spinosa Agassiz 1847
Chondrichthyes - Hybodontiformes - Hybodontidae
Hybodus grossiconus Agassiz 1839
recombined as Orthybodus grossiconus
Chondrichthyes - Chimaeriformes - Callorhynchidae
Ischyodus egertoni (Buckland 1835)
Reptilia - Ichthyosauridae
Ichthyosaurus dilatatus Phillips 1871
nomen dubium belonging to Ichthyosaurus
Reptilia - Metriorhynchidae
Dakosaurus sp. Quenstedt 1856
Reptilia - Rhamphorhynchidae
Rhamphorhynchus bucklandi (Meyer 1832)
recombined as Rhamphocephalus bucklandi
Reptilia - Plesiosauria - Cryptoclididae
Plesiosaurus oxoniensis Phillips 1871
nomen dubium belonging to Cryptoclidus
Reptilia - Plesiosauria - Pliosauridae
Pliosaurus gamma Phillips 1871
Spelled "Pleiosaurus"
    = Pliosauridae indet. Seeley 1874
Tarlo 1960
Only two cervical centra from Weymouth were retained in Pliosaurus gamma by Tarlo (1960)
Actinopteri - Pycnodontiformes - Gyrodontidae
Gyrodus sp. Agassiz 1833
Actinopteri - Lepisosteiformes
Lepidotus macrocheirus Egerton 1845
unclassified
Hybodus polyprion Agassiz 1839
recombined as Secarodus polyprion
see common names

Geography
Country:United Kingdom State/province:England County:Oxfordshire
Coordinates: 51.7° North, 1.2° West (view map)
Paleocoordinates:42.4° North, 8.7° East
Basis of coordinate:estimated from map
Geographic resolution:outcrop
Time
Period:Jurassic Epoch:Late/Upper Jurassic
Stage:Oxfordian 10 m.y. bin:Jurassic 5
Key time interval:Oxfordian
Age range of interval:163.50000 - 157.30000 m.y. ago
Stratigraphy
Geological group:Ancholme Formation:Oxford Clay
Stratigraphic resolution:group of beds
Stratigraphy comments: "In the railway cutting at Kcnnington this sand, fully exposed, is varied with beds and large nodules of sandstone slightly calcareous, while, for a considerable space towards Littlemore, lie widely-interrupted parts of the next rock above, viz. coralline oolite. The oolite lies in separated patches on the same plane, which were probably connected; the intervals between them are occupied by sand which may be supposed to have been left after the decomposition of the oolite. The upper parts of the oolite are absent for a large tract hereabout; and it may be supposed that the large waste of them was caused by long exposure to atmospheric agency in very ancient times (pre-glacial or earlier). This process of surface waste has affected a great part of the area of coralline oolite in Oxfordshire, Berkshire, and Wilts, and seems to explain the patchy and irregular distribution often observable in this rock; though, as far as relates to the purely oolitic and not shelly part of the rock, the original circumstances of deposit must be taken into account."
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology:fine,shelly/skeletal poorly lithified sandstone
Includes fossils?Y
Lithology description: "This deposit has been penetrated, by a boring for water at St. Clement's, to a depth of 400 feet. (Add 70 for the higher beds up to the calcareous grit.) The lower parts, which are seen but rarely in the Oxford district, yield Ammonites Duncani; the upper parts, Ammonites vertebralis. Gryphaea dilatata appears in the upper half; and bones of Plesiosaurus occur both in the upper and the lower parts."
Environment:marine indet.
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:body
Size of fossils:macrofossils
Preservation of anatomical detail:good
Abundance in sediment:common
Fragmentation:occasional
Spatial resolution:parautochthonous
Collection methods and comments
Collection excludes:some macrofossils
Reason for describing collection:general faunal/floral analysis
Taxonomic list comments:Taxa known from the well at St. Clement's along the section between Oxford and Shotover Hill.
Metadata
Also known as:A
Database number:100669
Authorizer:M. Carrano, R. Benson Enterer:H. Street, R. Benson
Modifier:M. Carrano Research group:marine invertebrate,vertebrate
Created:2010-12-11 09:00:24 Last modified:2023-08-25 15:10:07
Access level:the public Released:2010-12-11 09:00:24
Creative Commons license:CC BY
Reference information

Primary reference:

23773.ETE J. Phillips. 1871. Geology of Oxford and the Valley of the Thames. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1-523 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/E. Vlachos]

Secondary references:

38384 L. B. Tarlo. 1960. A review of Upper Jurassic pliosaurs. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Geology Series 14(5):147-189 [R. Benson/R. Benson/R. Benson]
51229 M. T. Young, L. Steel, M. P. Rigby, E. A. Howlett, and S. Humphrey. 2014. Largest known specimen of the genus Dakosaurus (Metriorhynchidae: Geosaurini) from the Kimmeridge Clay Formation (Late Jurassic) of England, and an overview of Dakosaurus specimens discovered from this formation (including reworked specimens from the Woburn Sands Formation). Historical Biology [P. Mannion/J. Tennant]