Whitby Mudstone
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| Whitby Mudstone | |
|---|---|
| Stratigraphic range: Toarcian (Falciferum-Bifrons) ~ | |
.jpg) East Cliff near Whitby | |
| Type | Geological formation |
| Unit of | Lias Group |
| Sub-units | Members:
|
| Underlies | Inferior Oolite or Ravenscar Groups Or Blea Wyke, Dogger or Bridport Sand Formations |
| Overlies | Marlstone Rock or Cleveland Ironstone Formations |
| Thickness | Up to 120 m (390 ft) |
| Lithology | |
| Primary | Mudstone |
| Other | Siltstone |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | Lua error in Module:Coordinates at line 489: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). |
| Approximate paleocoordinates | Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found. |
| Region | Yorkshire, Worcestershire |
| Country | England |
| Extent | Cleveland & Worcester Basins & East Midlands Shelf |
| Type section | |
| Named for | Whitby |
| Location | Coastal exposures from Hawsker Bottoms to Whitby Harbour |
  Whitby Mudstone (the United Kingdom) Whitby Mudstone (England) | |
The Whitby Mudstone is a Toarcian (Early Jurassic; Falciferum-Bifrons in regional chronostratigraphy) geological formation in Yorkshire and Worcestershire, England.[1] The formation, part of the Lias Group, is present in the Cleveland and Worcester Basins and the East Midlands Shelf.
Lithology
[edit | edit source]The formation consists of mudstone and siltstone, partly laminated and bituminous, medium to dark grey in colour, with rare fine grained calcareous sandstone beds. Limestone and phosphatic nodules are present at some levels.[2]
Fossil content
[edit | edit source]Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation, although none have yet been referred to a specific genus.[3][4] One of the more notable discoveries is the skull of the pterosaur Parapsicephalus, found within the Alum Shale[note 2] Member.[5]
Vertebrates
[edit | edit source]| Vertebrates of the Whitby Mudstone Formation | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genus | Species | Location | Stratigraphic position | Abundance | Notes | Images |
| cf. Campylognathoides | Indeterminate | Winterton | Falciferum Zone | NHMUK PV R 36712, Humerus[6] | A pterosaur | |
| Gyrosteus | G. mirabilis | Whitby | Multiple partial skeletons[7] | A large chondrosteid acipenseriform fish | ||
| Hauffiosaurus | H. longirostris | Whitby-Saltwick | Falciferum Zone | MCZ 1033, a skeleton | A Pliosaurid | |
| Microcleidus | M. homalospondylus | Whitby | Upper Alum Shale, Hildoceras bifrons Zone | Multiple partial skeletons | Microcleidid plesiosaur | File:Microcleidus homalospondylus.JPG |
| Macrospondylus | M. bollensis | Harpoceras serpentinum Zone | Several partial skeletons | Teleosaurid | ||
| Mystriosaurus | M. laurillardi | Whitby | Skull and lower jaws[8] | Teleosaurid, formerly considered to be the holotype of "Steneosaurus" brevior | ||
| Parapsicephalus | P. purdoni | Loftus Alum Shale Quarry, Saltwick Bay (referred material) | Upper Alum Shale Member | Single partial skull lacking the snout (GSM 3166), tentantive referral of a humerus and scapulocoracoid (NHMUK PV R36634).[9] | A Rhamphorhynchid pterosaur | |
| Pelagosaurus | P. typus | Whitby | Alum Shale | Thalattosuchian | ||
| Rhomaleosaurus | R. thorntoni | Kingsthorpe Hollow | Upper | NHMUK PV Rr4853, a single mostly complete skeleton | A Rhomaleosaurid | |
| R. zetlandicus | Loftus (also Lofthouse) Alum Mine | Alum Shale Member | YORYM G503, a partial skeleton[10] | |||
| R. cramptoni | Alum quarry, Kettleness | NMING F8785, a partial skeleton | ||||
| Plagiophthalmosuchus | P. gracilirostris | Whitby | Teleosaurid | |||
| Temnodontosaurus[11] | Temodontosaurus sp. | Oakham | Full skeleton | Ichthyosaur | ||
| ?Theropoda | Indeterminate | Femur, currently lost[12] | ||||
| Tetanurae | Indeterminate | Incomplete anterior dorsal vertebra[13] | Originally referred to Streptospondylus cuvieri. | |||
Insects
[edit | edit source]Insect compression fossils are known from nodules found on Alderton Hill near Alderton and Dumbleton in Gloucestershire, including Alderton Hill Quarry and other nearby localities.[14]
See also
[edit | edit source]Notes and references
[edit | edit source]Notes
[edit | edit source]- ^ Not to be confused with the Ordovician Alum Shale Lagerstätte of Sweden
- ^ Not to be confused with the Ordovician Alum Shale Lagerstätte of Sweden
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ Whitby Mudstone at Fossilworks.org
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- ^ Weishampel et al., 2004, pp. 517-607
- ^ O'Sullivan & Martill, 2017
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- ^ Woodward, A. S. (1889). On the paleontology of sturgeons. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 11(1), 24-32.
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Bibliography
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Further reading
[edit | edit source]- M. O'Sullivan, D. M. Martill, and D. Groocock. 2013. A pterosaur humerus and scapulocoracoid from the Jurassic Whitby Mudstone Formation, and the evolution of large body size in early pterosaurs. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association
- A. S. Smith and G. J. Dyke. 2008. The skull of the giant predatory pliosaur Rhomaleosaurus cramptoni: implications for plesiosaur phylogenetics. Naturwissenschaften 95:975-980
- M. J. Benton and M. A. Taylor. 1984. Marine reptiles from the Upper Lias (Lower Toarcian, Lower Jurassic) of the Yorkshire coast. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society 44(4):399-429
- F. v. Huene. 1926. The carnivorous Saurischia in the Jura and Cretaceous formations, principally in Europe. Revista del Museo de La Plata 29:35-167
- C. W. Andrews. 1922. Note on the skeleton of a large plesiosaur (Rhomaleosaurus thorntoni, sp. n) from the Upper Lias of Northamptonshire. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 10:407-415
- R. Tate and J. F. Blake. 1876. The Yorkshire Lias 1-475