The Kimmeridgian is a stage of the Late JurassicEpoch. It spans the time between 155.7 ± 4 Ma and 150.8 ± 4 Ma (million years ago). The Kimmeridgian stage follows the Oxfordian stage and precedes the Tithonian stage.
The stage takes its name from the village of Kimmeridge on the Dorset coast, England where the exposure is at its greatest extent. The beach at Kimmeridge Bay is a good place for looking for fossils — there are specimens on the beach washed in by the tide.
Historically the term Kimmeridgian has been used in two different ways. The base of the interval is the same but the top was defined by British stratigraphers as the base of the Portlandian stage (sensu anglico) whereas in France the top was defined as the base of the Tithonian (sensu gallico). The differences have not yet been fully resolved, although Kimmeridge-Tithonian are now the agreed terms globally[1]
type species of the genus, is known from Western Europe (England, France, Switzerland and Germany) of the Late Jurassic (Late Kimmeridgian-Early Tithonian).
An opportunistic carnivore that fed on fish, belemnites and other marine animals and possible carrion. Metriorhynchus grew to an average adult length of 3 meters (9.6 feet).
Ammonites such as this Jurassic period ammonite were common during the latest environment of the Kimmeridgian stage.
The variation of fauna during the Kimmeridgian stage indicates the existence of two distinct environments, the first being a being a shallow and agitated layer abundant in pebbles and fossils and the second following environment being a calm and deep layer marked by an absence of pebbles and by an abundance of pelagic organisms, such as Ammonites.
