Where: Trinidad and Tobago (10.6° N, 61.1° W: paleocoordinates 10.5° N, 59.6° W)
• coordinate based on nearby landmark
• outcrop-level geographic resolution
When: Melajo Clay Member (Springvale Formation), Late/Upper Miocene (11.6 - 5.3 Ma)
• 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.
• bed-level stratigraphic resolution
Environment/lithology: offshore; unlithified, yellow, blue, silty claystone and unlithified, coarse-grained sandstone
Size class: macrofossils
Reposited in the PRI, USNM
Collection methods: quarrying,
• 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.
Primary reference: P. Jung. 1969. Miocene and Pliocene mollusks from Trinidad. Bulletins of American Paleontology 55(247):293-697 [A. Miller/A. Hendy]more details
Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis
PaleoDB collection 60405: authorized by Austin Hendy, entered by Austin Hendy on 14.05.2006
Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)
Taxonomic list
Scaphopoda | |
Dentalium (Dentalium) divulgatum tusk shell | |
Bivalvia | |
Crassinella guppyi Dall 1896 clam | |
Semele aff. anteriocosta Vokes 1938 clam | |
"Moerella (Moerella) elinguis" = Tellina (Moerella), Merisca trinidadensis
"Moerella (Moerella) elinguis" = Tellina (Moerella) tellin clam
Merisca trinidadensis tellin clam | |
Caryocorbula (Caryocorbula) sp. Gardner 1926 clam
Tenuicorbula melajoensis Jung 1969 clam | |
"Anadara (Scapharca) placata" = Scapharca, Anadara (Anadara) inaequilateralis
"Anadara (Scapharca) placata" = Scapharca clam
Anadara (Anadara) inaequilateralis Maury 1917 ark | |
Arcopsis adamsi Dall 1886 clam | |
Anomia simplex d'Orbigny 1845 jingle | |
Cyclopecten sp. Verrill 1897 mud scallop | |
"Aequipecten (Plagioctenium) cf. maturensis" = Argopecten
"Aequipecten (Plagioctenium) cf. maturensis" = Argopecten calico scallop | |
"Nuculana (Saccella) ludificans" = Saccella
"Nuculana (Saccella) ludificans" = Saccella pointed nut clam | |
Nucula (Lamellinucula) baccata nut clam | |
Gastropoda | |
"Calliostoma olssoni" = Calliostoma (Elmerlinia) olssoni
"Calliostoma olssoni" = Calliostoma (Elmerlinia) olssoni Maury 1925 top snail | |
Nassarius (Uzita) trinitatensis Jung 1969 snail |