Geraldine Bonebed (Permian to of the United States)

Where: Archer County, Texas (33.7° N, 98.7° W: paleocoordinates 3.3° S, 31.2° W)

• coordinate estimated from map

• small collection-level geographic resolution

When: Nocona Formation (Wichita Group), Asselian to Asselian (298.9 - 290.1 Ma)

• The Geraldine Bonebed has been placed in the Nocona Formation, the old assignment to the Admiral Formation has been revised, as the Admiral is now restriced to a marine limestone and shale unit lying to the southwest of the same age as the Nocona.

• group of beds-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: "floodplain"; graded, gray, yellow claystone

• Extensive discussion of paleoenvironmental interpretation (p. 223-226; 233-234). The setting of the Geraldine Bobebed and vicinity was a lushly vegetated floodplain with small lakes and a swamp forest of Psaronius, Cordaites and some seed ferns. Forest and brush vegetation (Walchia, seed ferns) lived on the "upland" divides between drainages.
• gray, blocky to flaky and rarely laminated claystone grading downwards into yellow clays...Notable is the occurrence of small "blebs" of azurite and malachite staining on joint faces. Some layers of small clay pebbles are present

Size class: macrofossils

Preservation: adpression, charcoalification, coalified

Collection methods: quarrying,

Primary reference: P. M. Sander. 1987. Taphonomy of the Lower Permian Geraldine Bonebed in Archer County, Texas. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 61:221-236 [H. Sims/S. Ostrowski/J. Cassara]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 11165: authorized by Hallie Sims, entered by Summer Ostrowski on 23.07.2001, edited by Hallie Sims and Torsten Liebrecht

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

unclassified
  -
Amphibia
 Temnospondyli - Zatracheidae
Zatrachys sp. Cope 1878 tetrapod
no exact amount given; "not from quarry itself but from the general vicinity"
 Temnospondyli - Trimerorhachidae
Trimerorhachis insignis Cope 1878 tetrapod
spelled "Trimerorachis insignis" in the reference; "not from quarry itself but from the general vicinity"
 Temnospondyli - Eryopidae
Eryops megacephalus Cope 1877 tetrapod
Reptilia
 Bolosauria - Bolosauridae
Bolosaurus striatus Cope 1878 parareptile
Osteichthyes
 Synapsida - Sphenacodontidae
Dimetrodon natalis Cope 1878 synapsid
 Synapsida - Edaphosauridae
Edaphosaurus boanerges Romer and Price 1940 synapsid
 Synapsida - Ophiacodontidae
Ophiacodon retroversus Cope 1878 ophiacodont
AMNH 4195 (part)
Ophiacodon uniformis Cope 1878 ophiacodont
MCZ 7787 (a single astragalus); "not from quarry itself but from the general vicinity"
 Cotylosauria - Diadectidae
Diadectes sp. Cope 1878 tetrapod
 Cotylosauria -
Archeria crassidisca Cope 1884 tetrapod
 Dipnoi - Sagenodontidae
Sagenodus sp. Owen 1867 lungfish
MCZ 8453 (tooth plate); "not from quarry itself but from the general vicinity"
Chondrichthyes
 Xenacanthida - Orthacanthidae
Orthacanthus texensis Cope 1888 elasmobranch
Deuteropoda
  -
Ostracoda indet. Latreille 1802 ostracod
Hexapoda
 Hexapoda -
Hexapoda indet. Latreille 1825
Peltaspermopsida
 Peltaspermales - Peltaspermaceae
Odontopteris sp. Brongniart 1825
Odontopteris genuina
From list by Darrah in Romer and Price (1940)
Callipteris sp. Brongniart 1849
Equisetopsida
 Pinidae - Pinidae
Dadoxylon sp. Endlicher 1847
 Sphenophyllales -
Sphenophyllum oblongifolium
From list by Darrah in Romer and Price (1940)
Sphenopteridae
  - Sphenopteridae
Sigillariaceae
  - Sigillariaceae
Sigillaria brardii
From list by Darrah in Romer and Price (1940)
Walchia
  -
Walchia sp. Sternberg 1825
fronds, stem impressions, and shoots
 Coniferales -
Samaropsis spp. Göppert 1864
Pinopsida
 Cordaitanthales -
Tingia
  -
Tingia sp. Halle 1925
From list by Darrah in Romer and Price (1940)
Callipteridium
  -
Callipteridium virginianum
From list by Darrah in Romer and Price (1940)
Pteropsida
 Filicinae -
Pecopteris sp. Brongniart 1822
Pecopteris arborescens
From list by Darrah in Romer and Price (1940)
Pecopteris candolleana
From list by Darrah in Romer and Price (1940)
Pecopteris unita
From list by Darrah in Romer and Price (1940)
Polypodiopsida
 Marattiales - Marattiidae
Psaronius sp. Cotta 1832
 Cyatheales - Polypodiidae
"Pecopteris hemitelioides" = Hemitelites hemitelioides
"Pecopteris hemitelioides" = Hemitelites hemitelioides Brongniart 1834 scaly tree fern
From list by Darrah in Romer and Price (1940)
 Equisetales - Equisetidae
Calamites sp. Suckow 1784
Orginally described as Dorycalamites by W. C. Darrah in Romer and Price 1940. Synonym of Calamites
Calamites undulatus Sternberg 1825
Bacillariophyceae
 Naviculales - Pinnulariaceae
Pinnularia sp. Ehrenberg 1843 diatom
From list by Darrah in Romer and Price (1940)