Griman_Creek_Formation
Griman Creek Formation
Geological formation in Australia
The Griman Creek Formation is a geological formation in northern New South Wales and southern Queensland, Australia whose strata date back to the Albian-Cenomanian stages of the mid-Cretaceous.[1] It is most notable being a major source of opal, found near the town of Lightning Ridge, New South Wales. Alongside the opal opalised fossils are also found, including those of dinosaurs and primitive monotremes.[2]
| Griman Creek Formation | |
|---|---|
| Stratigraphic range: late Albian-early-mid Cenomanian ~106–98 Ma | |
| Type | Geological formation |
| Unit of | Rolling Downs Group |
| Sub-units | Coocoran Claystone & Wallangulla Sandstone Members |
| Underlies | Unconformity with Oligo-Miocene Cumborah Gravel |
| Overlies | Surat Siltstone, Wallumbilla Formation |
| Thickness | Up to 345 m (1,132 ft) |
| Lithology | |
| Primary | Sandstone, siltstone, mudstone |
| Other | Conglomerate, coal |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | 29.4°S 147.7°E / -29.4; 147.7 |
| Approximate paleocoordinates | 64.4°S 134.9°E / -64.4; 134.9 |
| Region |  Queensland New South Wales |
| Country |  Australia |
| Extent | Surat Basin |
| Type section | |
| Named for | Griman Creek |
| Named by | Reiser |
| Year defined | 1970 |
As a whole, the formation primarily consists of thinly bedded medium to fine sandstone, siltstone and mudstone, with sporadic coal seams. In the vicinity of Lightning Ridge, it is divided up into two informal members the underlying Wallangulla Sandstone Member which primarily consists of red fine grained sandstone, light siltstone and grey claystone and is up to 30 metres (98 ft) thick while the overlying Coocoran Claystone consists of about 10 metres of claystone. The contact between the two units is sudden and unconformable. Discontinuous clay lens beds within the Wallangulla Sandstone Member near Lightning Ridge, referred to as the Finch Clay Facies, are one of Australia's primary sources of commercial precious opal, with many mines dug in the area. These deposits are also the primary source of fossils within the formation, a large proportion of which are preserved as semi-precious opalized pseudomorphs. The fauna found in lightning ridge indicates that the depositional environment of the Finch Clay Facies was in near-coastal freshwater lagoons.[1]
GPlates reconstruction for 100 Ma (Albian-Cenomanian and Early and Late Cretaceous boundary)
Original map by Ron Blakey
Indeterminate avialan, euornithopod, and sauropod remains that were once misidentified as brachiosaurid are present in New South Wales, Australia.[2] Euornithopod tracks are also present in New South Wales.[citation needed]
Dipnoi
| Dipnoi of the Griman Creek Formation | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taxa | Species | Presence | Material | Notes | Images |
| Metaceratodus wollastoni[3] | M. wollastoni | Isolated tooth plates | |||
| Ceratodus diutinus[3] | C. diutinus | Isolated tooth plates | |||
| Neoceratodus potkooroki[4] | N. potkooroki | Isolated tooth plates | |||
Actinopterygii
| Actinopterygians of the Griman Creek Formation | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taxa | Species | Presence | Material | Notes | Images |
| Calamopleurus?[4] | sp. | Isolated jaw bones | |||
Mammals
| Mammals | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genus | Species | Presence | Notes | Images |
| Kollikodon | K. ritchiei | [citation needed] | ||
| Steropodon | S. galmani | [citation needed] | ||
| Stirtodon | S. elizabethae | |||
Crocodyliformes
| Crocodyliformes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genus | Species | Presence | Notes | Images |
| Isisfordia | I. molnari | Lightning Ridge | Braincase and referred maxillary fragment[5] | |
Dinosaurs
Indeterminate ornithopods and iguanodontians are known from the formation.[1] Indeterminate avetheropods and megaraptorans are known from the formation.[1] Two species of titanosauriforms and one species of titanosaur are known from teeth.[6]
| Dinosaurs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genus | Species | Presence | Notes | Images |
| Fostoria | F. dhimbangunmal | New South Wales | A member of Rhabdodontomorpha. | |
| Fulgurotherium | F. australe | New South Wales | [2] | |
| Rapator | R. ornitholestoides | New South Wales | A megaraptoran; "Manual element"[2][7] | |
| Walgettosuchus | W. woodwardi | New South Wales | "Vertebra"[2][8] Later determined to be an indeterminate theropod[2] |
|
| Weewarrasaurus | W. pobeni | New South Wales | An ornithopod known from an isolated dentary[1] | |
| Ankylosauria | Indeterminate | Osteoderm[9] | ||
| Enantiornithes | Indeterminate | Partial femora[citation needed] | ||
| Megaraptora ("Lightning Claw") | Indeterminate | New South Wales | Partial skeleton including parts of the lower arm, claws, lower leg, part of the hip, and pieces of ribs.[10] | |
| Noasauridae | Indeterminate | Cervical vertebra[11] | ||
| Sauropoda | Indeterminate | A tooth |
||
Pterosaurs
| Pterosaurs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genus | Species | Presence | Notes | Images |
| Anhangueria | Indeterminate | "two isolated tooth crowns", possible limb elements[citation needed] | ||
Testudines
- List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations
- South Polar region of the Cretaceous
- Western Interior Seaway
- Cenomanian-Turonian extinction event
- Cenomanian formations
- Australia
- Winton Formation, fossiliferous formation in Queensland
- Molecap Greensand, fossiliferous formation in Western Australia
- South America
- Alcântara Formation, fossiliferous formation of the São Luís-Grajaú Basin, Brazil
- Candeleros and Lisandro Formation, fossiliferous formations of the Neuquén Basin, Argentima
- Cerro Fortaleza and Mata Amarilla Formation, fossiliferous formations of the Austral Basin
- Chipaque Formation, Cenomanian-Turonian source rock formation of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense and Llanos Basin, Colombia
- Kem Kem Beds, Cenomanian Lagerstätte in Morocco
- Echkar Formation, fossiliferous formation of the Iullemmeden Basin, Niger
- North America
- Europe
- Cambridge Greensand, fossiliferous formation in England
- Asia
- Burmese amber
- Sannine Formation
- Khodzhakul Formation, fossiliferous formation in Uzbekistan
- Weishampel, Dodson & Osmólska 2004, pp. 573–574.
- Kemp, A. (1997). "Four species of Metaceratodus (Osteichthyes: Dipnoi, Family Ceratodontidae) from Australian Mesozoic and Cenozoic deposits". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 17 (1): 26–33. doi:10.1080/02724634.1997.10010949. ISSN 0272-4634. Wikidata Q104114935.
- Berrell, Rodney W.; Cavin, Lionel; Trinajstic, Kate; Boisvert, Catherine; Smith, Elizabeth T. (August 2023). "The first record of amiid fishes (Halecomorphi, Amiiformes, Amiidae, Calamopleurini?) from Eastern Gondwana". Cretaceous Research. 148: 105538. Bibcode:2023CrRes.14805538B. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2023.105538.
- "Table 4.1," in Weishampel, Dodson & Osmólska 2004, p. 74
- "Table 4.1," in Weishampel, Dodson & Osmólska 2004, p. 78
- Smith, Elizabeth T. (September 2010). "Early Cretaceous chelids from Lightning Ridge, New South Wales". Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology. 34 (3): 375–384. Bibcode:2010Alch...34..375S. doi:10.1080/03115518.2010.488117. S2CID 129726482.
Bibliography
- Frauenfelder, Timothy G.; Campione, Nicolás E.; Smith, Elizabeth T.; Bell, Phil R. (July 2021). "Diversity and palaeoecology of Australia's southern-most sauropods, Griman Creek Formation (Cenomanian), New South Wales, Australia". Lethaia. 54 (3): 354–367. Bibcode:2021Letha..54..354F. doi:10.1111/let.12407.
- Birch, Sienna A.; Smith, Elizabeth T.; Bell, Phil R. (29 January 2020). "Noasaurids are a component of the Australian 'mid'-Cretaceous theropod fauna". Scientific Reports. 10 (1): 1428. Bibcode:2020NatSR..10.1428B. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-57667-7. PMC 6989633. PMID 31996712.
- Bell, Phil R.; Fanti, Federico; Hart, Lachlan J.; Milan, Luke A.; Craven, Stephen J.; Birch, Sienna A.; Smith, Elizabeth (January 2019). "Revised geology, age, and vertebrate diversity of the dinosaur-bearing Griman Creek Formation (Cenomanian), Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, Australia". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 514: 655–671. Bibcode:2019PPP...514..655B. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.11.020. hdl:11585/651841.
- Hart, Lachlan J.; Bell, Phil R.; Smith, Elizabeth T.; Salisbury, Steven W. (21 June 2019). "Isisfordia molnari sp. nov . , a new basal eusuchian from the mid-Cretaceous of Lightning Ridge, Australia". PeerJ. 7: e7166. doi:10.7717/peerj.7166. PMC 6590469. PMID 31275756.
- Bell, Phil R.; Herne, Matthew C.; Brougham, Tom; Smith, Elizabeth T. (4 December 2018). "Ornithopod diversity in the Griman Creek Formation (Cenomanian), New South Wales, Australia". PeerJ. 6: e6008. doi:10.7717/peerj.6008. PMC 6284429. PMID 30533306.
- Bell, Phil R.; Burns, Michael E.; Smith, Elizabeth T. (2 January 2018). "A probable ankylosaurian (Dinosauria, Thyreophora) from the Early Cretaceous of New South Wales, Australia". Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology. 42 (1): 120–124. Bibcode:2018Alch...42..120B. doi:10.1080/03115518.2017.1384851.
- Bell, Phil R.; Cau, Andrea; Fanti, Federico; Smith, Elizabeth T. (August 2016). "A large-clawed theropod (Dinosauria: Tetanurae) from the Lower Cretaceous of Australia and the Gondwanan origin of megaraptorid theropods". Gondwana Research. 36: 473–487. Bibcode:2016GondR..36..473B. doi:10.1016/j.gr.2015.08.004.
- Smith, Elizabeth T.; Kear, Benjamin P. (2013). "Spoochelys ormondea gen. Et sp. Nov., an Archaic Meiolaniid-Like Turtle from the Early Cretaceous of Lightning Ridge, Australia". Morphology and Evolution of Turtles. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology. pp. 121–146. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-4309-0_9. ISBN 978-94-007-4308-3.
- Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; Osmólska, Halszka, eds. (2004). The Dinosauria (2nd ed.). University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-94143-4.