Nugget Sandstone

Nugget Sandstone
Nugget Sandstone
Stratigraphic range: Norian-Toarcian; ~220–180 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Type	Geological formation
Unit of	Glen Canyon Group
Underlies	Carmel Formation
Overlies	Chinle Formation
Thickness	200 m (660 ft)
Lithology
Primary	Sandstone
Other	Mudstone, siltstone
Location
Coordinates	40°24′N 109°18′W / 40.4°N 109.3°W
Approximate paleocoordinates	27°24′N 46°36′W / 27.4°N 46.6°W
Region	Colorado, Idaho, Utah
Country	United States
Extent	Colorado Plateau
	Nugget Sandstone (the United States) Nugget Sandstone (Utah)

The Nugget Sandstone is a Late Triassic to Early Jurassic geologic formation that outcrops in Colorado, Idaho and Utah, western United States. Fossil theropod tracks have been reported from the formation.^[1]

Fossil content

Intermediate theropod, sphenosuchian, drepanosaurid and sphenodontian remains are known.^[2]

Paleofauna reported from the Nugget Sandstone
Genus	Species	Material	Notes	Images
Caelestiventus^[3]	C. hanseni	Most of the skull, a complete lower jaw, a finger bone	A dimorphodontid pterosaur, the first known diagnostic pterosaur in North America.

^ Weishampel, et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution." Pp. 517-607.
^ B. B. Britt, D. J. Chure, G. F. Engelmann and J. D. Shumway. 2016. Rise of the erg—paleontology and paleoenvironments of the Triassic-Jurassic transition in northeastern Utah. Geology of the Intermountain West 3:1-32
^ Brooks B. Britt; Fabio M. Dalla Vecchia; Daniel J. Chure; George F. Engelmann; Michael F. Whiting; Rodney D. Scheetz (2018). "Caelestiventus hanseni gen. et sp. nov. extends the desert-dwelling pterosaur record back 65 million years". Nature Ecology & Evolution. in press. doi:10.1038/s41559-018-0627-y. PMID 30104753.

Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. 861 pp. ISBN 0-520-24209-2

Lockley, M. G.; Tedrow, A. R.; Chamberlain, K. C.; Minter, N. J.; Lim, J.-D. (2011). Sullivan, R. M.; Lucas, S. G.; Spielmann, J. A. (eds.). "Footprints and invertebrate traces from a new site in the Nugget Sandstone (Lower Jurassic) of Idaho: implications for life in the northern reaches of the great Navajo-Nugget erg system in the western USA". Fossil Record 3. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin. 53: 344–356.
Lockley, M. G. (2011). Sullivan, R. M.; Lucas, S. G.; Spielmann, J. A. (eds.). "Theropod- and prosauropod-dominated ichnofaunas from the Navajo-Nugget Sandstone (Lower Jurassic) at Dinosaur National Monument: implications for prosauropod behaviour and ecology". Fossil Record 3. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin. 53: 316–320.
Lockley, M. G. (1986). "A Guide to Dinosaur Tracksites of the Colorado Plateau and American Southwest". University of Colorado at Denver Geology Department Magazine. Special Issue 1: 1–56.