Waipara River (M34/f462): Early/Lower Maastrichtian, New Zealand
collected by John Lester 1982
List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
|
Reptilia
- Plesiosauria
- Elasmosauridae
|
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Elasmosauridae indet.
Cope 1869
|
Barnes and Hiller 2010 | 2 individuals | ||||||||
| CM Zfr 145, CM Zfr 159 (partial skeleton comprising more than 115 bones) | ||||||||||
| see common names | ||||||||||
Geography
| Country: | New Zealand | State/province: | South Island | County: | North Canterbury |
| Coordinates: | 43.1° South, 172.6° East (view map) | ||||
| Paleocoordinates: | 56.4° South, 153.8° West | ||||
| Basis of coordinate: | estimated from map | ||||
| Geographic resolution: | small collection |
Time
| Period: | Cretaceous | Epoch: | Late/Upper Cretaceous |
| Stage: | Maastrichtian | 10 m.y. bin: | Cretaceous 8 |
| Key time interval: | Early/Lower Maastrichtian | ||
| Age range of interval: | 72.10000 - 66.00000 m.y. ago |
Stratigraphy
| Formation: | Conway | ||||
| Stratigraphy comments: "The Conway Formation in the Waipara River area has been dated as Haumurian-Teurian (Late Cretaceous-early Paleocene) based on dinoflagellate biostratigraphy (Roncaglia et al. 1999, Crampton et al. 2000). Sediment samples from CM Zfr 145 yielded a dinocyst assemblage attributable to the upper Alterbidinium acutulum Zone or lower Manumiella druggii Zone (early late Maastrichtian; Wilson et al. 2005)." |
Lithology and environment
| Primary lithology: | massive,bioturbation,fine,glauconitic,gray silty sandstone |
| Includes fossils? | Y |
| Lithology description: "The bones were encased in a large, oblate, calcareous concretion from the middle part of the Conway Formation (Upper Cretaceous) which is predominantly a grey, poorly indurated, massive, jarositic, slightly glauconitic fine silty sandstone (Browne & Field 1985). Pervasive bioturbation has almost entirely obliterated primary sedimentary structures; only a few major bedding surfaces are preserved. The sediment hosting the concretion is poorly sorted fine sandstone (framework grains 0.1-0.2 mm) dominated by quartz with lesser feldspar and labile rock fragments all set in a matrix of clay minerals with minor glauconite and finely disseminated pyrite. Within the concretion, the clay matrix has been replaced by calcite cement. The concretions at Waipara River occur in thick beds of dark brown-grey, organic-rich sediment that alternate with light grey beds largely devoid of concretions. Intensive bioturbation of all beds incorporates indeterminate vertical, horizontal and inclined burrows consistent with an ichnofabric index of 4 or 5 for shelf environments (sensu Droser & Bottjer 1986)." | |
| Environment: | offshore shelf |
Taphonomy
| Modes of preservation: | body,concretion |
| Size of fossils: | macrofossils |
| Spatial orientation: | random |
| Preservation of anatomical detail: | medium |
| Abundance in sediment: | rare |
| Fragmentation: | occasional |
| Bioerosion: | frequent |
| Spatial resolution: | parautochthonous |
Collection methods and comments
| Collection excludes: | some macrofossils,some microfossils | ||
| Collection methods: | mechanical,field collection | ||
| Collection size: | 1 individuals | ||
| Reason for describing collection: | general faunal/floral analysis | ||
| Museum repositories: | CM | ||
| Collectors: | John Lester | Collection dates: | 1982 |
| Collection method comments: Concretions removed as large blocks | |||
Metadata
| Database number: | 100356 | ||
| Authorizer: | M. Carrano | Enterer: | H. Street |
| Modifier: | F. Aspromonte | Research group: | vertebrate |
| Created: | 2010-12-08 08:27:29 | Last modified: | 2023-11-16 09:02:00 |
| Access level: | the public | Released: | 2010-12-08 08:27:29 |
| Creative Commons license: | CC BY |
Reference information
Primary reference:
| 86442. | N. Hiller and A. A. Mannering. 2005. A new elasmosaurid plesiosaur (Sauropterygia) from the Upper Haumurian (Maastrichtian) of the South Island, New Zealand. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 51(1):1-11 [E. Vlachos/F. Aspromonte] |
Secondary references:
| 34446 | K. M. Barnes and N. Hiller. 2010. The taphonomic attributes of a Late Cretaceous plesiosaur skeleton from New Zealand. Alcheringa 333-344 [M. Carrano/H. Street] | |
| 51104 | N. Hiller, J. P. O'Gorman, and R. A. Otero. 2014. A new elasmosaurid plesiosaur from the lower Maastrichtian of North Canterbury, New Zealand. Cretaceous Research 50:27-37 [P. Mannion/J. Tennant/F. Aspromonte] | |
| 86483 | G. J. Wilson, P. Schiøler, N. Hiller and C. M. Jones. 2005. Age and provenance of Cretaceous marine reptiles from the South Island and Chatham Islands, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Geology & Geophysics 48(2):377-387 [E. Vlachos/F. Aspromonte] |