Lithographic limestone from the Gerofit Formation (Turonian) north of Makhtesh Ramon, southern Israel; a variety of Jerusalem stone (meleke).
The Turonian (French: Turonien) was definied by the French paleontologist Alcide d'Orbigny (1802–1857) in 1842. Orbigny named it after the French city of Tours in the region of Touraine (department Indre-et-Loire), which is the original type locality.
The base of the Turonian stage is defined as the place where the ammonite species Wutinoceras devonense first appears in the stratigraphic column. The official reference profile (the GSSP) for the base of the Turonian is located in the Rock Canyon anticline near Pueblo, Colorado (USA, coordinates: 38° 16' 56" N, 104° 43' 39" W).[2]
The top of the Turonian stage (the base of the Coniacian) is defined as the place in the stratigraphic column where the inoceramidbivalve species Cremnoceramus rotundatus first appears.
Subdivision
The Turonian is sometimes subdivided in Lower/Early, Middle and Upper/Late substages or subages. In the Tethys domain, it contains the following ammonite biozones:
Other important index fossils are species of the inoceramid genusInoceramus (I. schloenbachi, I. lamarcki and I. labiatus). Inoceramids are bivalve Mollusca related to today's mussels.
Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada; Alabama, Kansas, New Mexico and Texas, USA; Argentina; Central Asia
The Cretaceous ecological equivalent of modern seabirds such as gulls, petrels, and skimmers. At 60 cm (2 ft), it was the size of a gull. Although the wings and breastbone are very modern in appearance (suggesting strong flight ability), the jaws retained numerous small, sharp teeth
The earliest-known ceratopsian to have eyebrow horns and the oldest-known ceratopsian from North America, appears to have been roughly 3 to 3.5 meters long (10–11 ft) and 1 meter (3 ft) tall at the hips.
Would have been 6 m (20 ft) long[1] and 2 m (7 ft) high when in the quadrupedal stance, and weighed 1100 – 1500 kg (2400 - 3300 lb). Like many hadrosaurs, it could switch between bipedal and quadrupedal stances, but unusually it had large spines protruding from the vertebrae.
A 7–14 m (23–47 ft) long creature, was very similar to the related Elasmosaurus. It had a compact body with a short tail and large flippers. Its small skull had long, forward-facing teeth ideal for catching slippery fish and squid that came together outside of its mouth when the mouth was closed, and was placed atop a very long neck.
Kennedy, W.J.; Walaszczyk, I. & Cobban, W.A.; 2005: The Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the base of the Turonian Stage of the Cretaceous: Pueblo, Colorado, U.S.A., Episodes 28(2): pp 93–104.
