Northern end of Durlston Bay: Late/Upper Berriasian, United Kingdom

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
unclassified
Plantae indet. Haeckel 1866
Bivalvia
Bivalvia indet. Linnaeus 1758
Reptilia - Testudines
Chelonia indet. (Latreille 1800)
synonym of Testudines
Reptilia - Goniopholididae
Goniopholis kiplingi n. sp. Andrade et al. 2011
DORCM 12154 - type (well-preserved skull, dorsoventrally flattened, lacking mandibles and most teeth)
see common names

Geography
Country:United Kingdom State/province:England County:Dorset
Coordinates: 50.6° North, 1.9° West (view map)
Paleocoordinates:41.5° North, 7.9° East
Basis of coordinate:stated in text
Geographic resolution:small collection
Time
Period:Cretaceous Epoch:Early/Lower Cretaceous
Stage:Berriasian 10 m.y. bin:Cretaceous 1
Key time interval:Late/Upper Berriasian
Age range of interval:145.00000 - 140.20000 m.y. ago
Stratigraphy
Geological group:Purbeck Formation:Durlston Member:Stair Hole
Local section:Intermarine beds Local bed:129b
Stratigraphic resolution:bed
Stratigraphy comments: Bed 129b (Clements, 1993), Intermarine beds sensu Wimbledon in Benton & Spencer(1995; = Intermarine Member sensu Clements, 1993), Stair Hole Member sensu Westhead & Mather (1996), Purbeck Limestone Group; Berriasian, Lower Cretaceous (Salisbury et al., 1999; Milner & Batten, 2002).

Durlston Formation is likely upper Berriasian in age based on magnetostratigraphy (Ogg et al. 1994; Ogg et al. 2008) and correlates to other upper Berriasian assemblages in Europe (e.g. Wimbledon and Hunt 1993).
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology:fine,gray,white sandy "limestone"
Secondary lithology: calcareous mudstone
Lithology description: Alternating layers of sandy limestone and calcareous mudstone. The matrix shows centimetric to millimetric layers of fine sediment, mostly greyish to whitish in colour
Environment:terrestrial indet.
Geology comments: A weak aqueous flux was present during the depositional process. A strong current is unlikely, as it would have turned over the skull prior to definitive burial
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:body
Size of fossils:macrofossils
Temporal resolution:snapshot
Collection methods and comments
Collection methods:field collection
Reason for describing collection:taxonomic analysis
Metadata
Also known as:Goniopholis kiplingi type locality
Database number:123271
Authorizer:P. Mannion Enterer:P. Mannion
Modifier:G. Varnham Research group:vertebrate
Created:2012-01-17 03:32:54 Last modified:2022-03-17 09:45:13
Access level:the public Released:2012-01-17 03:32:54
Creative Commons license:CC BY
Reference information

Primary reference:

39475. M. B. d. Andrade, R. Edmonds, M. J. Benton and R. Schouten. 2011. A new Berriasian species of Goniopholis (Mesoeucrocodylia, Neosuchia) from England, and a review of the genus. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 163:S66-S108 [P. Mannion/P. Mannion]