Where: Trinidad and Tobago (10.6° N, 61.1° W)
• Paleocoordinates: 10.8° N, 58.5° W (Wright 2013)
• 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 60633: authorized by Austin Hendy, entered by Austin Hendy on 19.05.2006
Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)
Taxonomic list
Bivalvia | |
"Nuculana (Saccella) ludificans" = Saccella
"Nuculana (Saccella) ludificans" = Saccella pointed nut clam | |
Caryocorbula (Caryocorbula) sp. Gardner 1926 clam | |
"Chione (Lirophora) caroniana" = Lirophora
"Chione (Lirophora) caroniana" = Lirophora venus clam | |
Merisca trinidadensis, "Moerella (Moerella) elinguis" = Tellina (Moerella)
Merisca trinidadensis tellin clam
"Moerella (Moerella) elinguis" = Tellina (Moerella) tellin clam | |
"Anadara (Scapharca) placata" = Scapharca
"Anadara (Scapharca) placata" = Scapharca clam | |
Scaphopoda | |
Dentalium (Dentalium) divulgatum tusk shell | |
Gastropoda | |
Calyptraea centralis Conrad 1841 slipper shell | |
Polinices stanislasmeunieri Maury 1917 moon snail | |
Strioterebrum aff. baculiforme auger snail
Strioterebrum aff. laevifasciola Maury 1917 auger snail | |
Olivella (Minioliva) fundarugata olive snail | |
Gordanops baranoanus Anderson 1929 snail | |
Turritella (Broderiptella) aff. mimetes Brown and Pilsbry 1911 turret shell
Turritella (Broderiptella) bifastigata Nelson 1870 turret shell Subspecies: T. (B.) bifastigata cartagenensis
| |
"Calliostoma olssoni" = Calliostoma (Elmerlinia) olssoni
"Calliostoma olssoni" = Calliostoma (Elmerlinia) olssoni Maury 1925 top snail |