Fruitland Formation
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| Fruitland formation Stratigraphic range: Late Cretaceous |
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|---|---|
| Type | Geological formation |
| Underlies | Kirtland Formation |
| Overlies | Pictured Cliffs Sandstone |
| Location | |
| Region | North America |
The Fruitland Formation is a sedimentary geological formation containing layers of sandstone, shale, and coal. It was laid down in marshy delta conditions, with poor drainage and frequent flooding, under a warm, humid and seasonal climate. It is dated from the late Campanian (part of the Cretaceous period), and is found in the San Juan Basin in the states of New Mexico and Colorado, in the United States of America.
The Fruitland is underlain by the Pictured Cliffs Sandstone, and overlain by the more recent Kirtland Formation. The sequence of rocks represents the final filling of the Cretaceous seaway. The underlying Pictured Cliffs is a marginal marine sandstone, deposited in an environment similar to offshore barrier islands of the southeast United States. As the seaway retreated, the Pictured Cliffs was covered by the Fruitland Formation, which was deposited in near-shore swampy lowlands.
The Fruitland Formation contains beds of bituminous coal that are mined in places along the outcrop.
Since the 1980s, the coal beds of the Fruitland Formation have yielded large quantities of coalbed methane. The productive area for coalbed methane straddles the Colorado-New Mexico state line, and is one of the most productive areas for coalbed methane in the United States.
Contents |
[edit] Paleofauna
[edit] Ornithischians
Color key
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Notes Uncertain or tentative data are in small text; |
| Ornithischians of the Fruitland Formation | ||||||
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| Genus | Species | Location | Member | Abundance | Notes | Images |
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Indeterminate[1] |
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Indeterminate[2] |
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K. navajovius[3] |
Fruitland remains once attributed to Kritosaurus navajovius are now regarded as indeterminate hadrosaurine remains.[4] |
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Indeterminate[5] |
Remains previously referred to a possible Monoclonius are now regarded as indeterminate ceratopsid remains.[4] |
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P. cyrtocristatus[4] |
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P. fenestratus[4] |
A jr. synonym of P. sternbergii.[4] |
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P. stenbergii[4] |
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S. novomexicanum[7] |
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"(holotype) NMMNH P-33898, nearly complete frontoparietal" and "SMP VP-2555, greater posterior part of left frontal and anterior-most portions of left and right frontals"[7] |
Also found in the lower Kirtland Formation. |
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Indeterminate[8] |
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[edit] Saurischians
Some remains (OMNH 10131) of Bistahieversor, a tyrannosauroid from the overlying Kirtland Formation, may actually have originated in the upper Fruitland Formation.[9]
Color key
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Notes Uncertain or tentative data are in small text; |
| Saurischians of the Fruitland Formation | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genus | Species | Location | Member | Abundance | Notes | Images |
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Indeterminate[10] |
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G. libratus[11] |
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Indeterminate[12] |
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P. lacustris[4] |
Now regarded as possible indeterminate troodontid remains.[4] |
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[edit] See also
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ a b Listed as "?Chasmosaurus sp." in "3.3 New Mexico, United States; 7. Fruitland Formation," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 580.
- ^ a b Listed as "?Corythosaurus sp." in "3.3 New Mexico, United States; 7. Fruitland Formation," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 580.
- ^ a b Listed as "?Kritosaurus navajovius" in "3.3 New Mexico, United States; 7. Fruitland Formation," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 580.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "3.3 New Mexico, United States; 7. Fruitland Formation," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 580.
- ^ a b Listed as "?Monoclonius sp." in "3.3 New Mexico, United States; 7. Fruitland Formation," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 580.
- ^ "Kirtlandian Index Fossils," in Sullivan and Lucas (2006). Page 10.
- ^ a b c d Steven E. Jasinski and Robert M. Sullivan (2011). "Re-evaluation of pachycephalosaurids from the Fruitland-Kirtland transition (Kirtlandian, late Campanian), San Juan Basin, New Mexico, with a description of a new species of Stegoceras and a reassessment of Texascephale langstoni". Fossil Record 3. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Bulletin 53: 202–215. http://www.robertmsullivanphd.com/uploads/164._Jasinski_and_Sullivan__Stegoceras__COLOR.pdf.
- ^ a b Listed as "?Thescelosaurus sp." in "3.3 New Mexico, United States; 7. Fruitland Formation," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 580.
- ^ "Systematic Paleontology; Referred Specimens," in Carr and Williamson. (2010). Page 1.
- ^ a b Listed as "?Albertosaurus sp." in "3.3 New Mexico, United States; 7. Fruitland Formation," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 580.
- ^ a b Listed as "?Gorgosaurus libratus" in "3.3 New Mexico, United States; 7. Fruitland Formation," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 580.
- ^ a b Listed as "?Ornithomimus sp." in "3.3 New Mexico, United States; 7. Fruitland Formation," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 580.
[edit] References
- Carr, T.D. and Williamson, T.E. (2010). "Bistahieversor sealeyi, gen. et sp. nov., a new tyrannosauroid from New Mexico and the origin of deep snouts in Tyrannosauroidea." Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 30(1): 1-16. doi:10.1080/02724630903413032
- Sullivan, R.M., and Lucas, S.G. 2006. "The Kirtlandian land-vertebrate "age" – faunal composition, temporal position and biostratigraphic correlation in the nonmarine Upper Cretaceous of western North America." New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Bulletin 35:7-29.
- Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. 861 pp. ISBN 0-520-24209-2.
