RR 290 - Melajo Clay, Melago River area: Late/Upper Miocene, Trinidad and Tobago
List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
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Scaphopoda
- Dentaliida
- Dentaliidae
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Dentalium (Dentalium) divulgatum
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Gastropoda
- Turritellidae
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Turritella (Broderiptella) aff. mimetes
(Brown and Pilsbry 1911)
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Turritella (Broderiptella) bifastigata
(Nelson 1870)
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| Subspecies: T. (B.) bifastigata cartagenensis | ||||||||||
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Gastropoda
- Neotaenioglossa
- Calyptraeidae
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Calyptraea centralis
(Conrad 1841)
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Gastropoda
- Neogastropoda
- Olividae
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Olivella (Minioliva) fundarugata
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Gastropoda
- Neogastropoda
- Nassariidae
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Calophos rohri
(Rutsch 1942)
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= Gordanops baranoanus
Anderson 1929
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Landau and Marques da Silva 2010 | |||||||||
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Gastropoda
- Neogastropoda
- Terebridae
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Strioterebrum aff. baculiforme
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Strioterebrum aff. laevifasciola
(Maury 1917)
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Gastropoda
- Naticidae
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Polinices stanislasmeunieri
Maury 1917
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Gastropoda
- Trochidae
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Calliostoma olssoni
(Maury 1925)
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| recombined as Calliostoma (Elmerlinia) olssoni | ||||||||||
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Bivalvia
- Nuculanida
- Nuculanidae
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Nuculana (Saccella) ludificans
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| original and current combination Saccella | ||||||||||
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Bivalvia
- Arcida
- Arcidae
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Anadara (Scapharca) placata
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| original and current combination Scapharca | ||||||||||
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Bivalvia
- Lucinida
- Lucinidae
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Lucina (Lucinisca) roigi
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Bivalvia
- Pholadida
- Corbulidae
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Caryocorbula (Caryocorbula) sp.
Gardner 1926
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Bivalvia
- Cardiida
- Veneridae
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Chione (Lirophora) caroniana
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| original and current combination Lirophora | ||||||||||
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Bivalvia
- Cardiida
- Cardiidae
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Trigoniocardia (Trigoniocardia) maturensis
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Bivalvia
- Cardiida
- Tellinidae
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Moerella (Moerella) elinguis
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| spelled with current rank as Tellina (Moerella) | ||||||||||
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Merisca trinidadensis
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| see common names | ||||||||||
Geography
| Country: | Trinidad and Tobago |
| Coordinates: | 10.6° North, 61.1° West (view map) |
| Paleocoordinates: | 10.5° North, 59.6° West |
| Basis of coordinate: | based on nearby landmark |
| Geographic resolution: | outcrop |
Time
| Period: | Neogene | Epoch: | Miocene |
| 10 m.y. bin: | Cenozoic 6 | ||
| Key time interval: | Late/Upper Miocene | ||
| Age range of interval: | 11.63000 - 5.33300 m.y. ago |
Stratigraphy
| Formation: | Springvale | Member: | Melajo Clay | ||
| Regional section: | Melajo River | ||||
| Stratigraphic resolution: | bed | ||||
| Stratigraphy comments: The Melajo Clay Member of the Springvale Formation is correlated with the Savaneta Glaconitic Sandstone Member of the Springvale Formation, although part of it may be younger. The Melajo fauna is late Miocene in age. The Melajo Clay rests transgressively on the phyllites of the Northern Range with a basal conglomerate of about 1 m thickness. The conglomerate graes into a 1.5 m thick limestone, which is overlain by a bed of sand of about 1 m thickness. Above the sand is the Melajo Clay. The total thickness of the Melajo Clay is about 200 ft. It is unconformably overlain by Pleistocene sand and gravel deposits. | |||||
Lithology and environment
| Primary lithology: | yellow,blue unlithified silty claystone |
| Secondary lithology: | coarse unlithified sandstone |
| Includes fossils? | Y |
| Lithology description: Blue, yellowish weatheirng clay and silty clay with occasional sandy layers. Sand is probably coarse. | |
| Environment: | offshore |
| Geology comments: The Melajo fauna can be divided into two assemblages: one occurring the limestone and coarse sand near the base of the Melajo Clay, the other on in the overlying clay and silty clay. The difference of the two assemblages is facies controlled. The basal assemblage represents a typical, tropical, near-shore fauna, whereas the overlying assemblage points to a deeper environment. This collection is derived from the clay assemblage, a siliciclastic and deeper water environment and is hence assigned to a siliciclastic - offshore environment. | |
Taphonomy
| Modes of preservation: | body |
| Size of fossils: | macrofossils |
| Preservation of anatomical detail: | good |
Collection methods and comments
| Collection excludes: | some macrofossils,some microfossils |
| Collection methods: | selective quarrying,field collection |
| Reason for describing collection: | taxonomic analysis |
| Museum repositories: | PRI,USNM |
| Collection method comments: All material descibed in this report is reposited in the Naturhistorisches Mueum, Basel, or the USNM. Additional material collection from this unit is found at PRI. | |
| Taxonomic list comments:Exhaustive for Mollusca, although author suggests that further collection would reveal additional forms. Corals, bryozoa and spines of echinoderms also exists in the unit, though are not listed. Van de Bold (1963) also lists ostracords from several localities. Foraminiferal assemblages are also listed in unpublished reports by Saunders. | |
Metadata
| Database number: | 60633 | ||
| Authorizer: | A. Hendy | Enterer: | A. Hendy |
| Modifier: | A. Hendy | Research group: | marine invertebrate |
| Subset of collection #: | 60399 | ||
| Created: | 2006-05-19 08:17:42 | Last modified: | 2013-11-25 13:37:23 |
| Access level: | the public | Released: | 2006-05-19 08:17:42 |
| Creative Commons license: | CC BY |
Reference information
Primary reference:
| 17317. | P. Jung. 1969. Miocene and Pliocene mollusks from Trinidad. Bulletins of American Paleontology 55(247):293-697 [A. Miller/A. Hendy] |
Secondary references:
| 36423 | B. Landau and C. Marques da Silva. 2010. Early Pliocene gastropods of Cubagua, Venezuela: Taxonomy, palaeobiogeography and ecostratigraphy. Palaeontos 19:1-221 [A. Hendy/A. Hendy] |