Dinosaur Wash, PFV 122, Dying Grounds: Norian, Arizona
collected 1998

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
unclassified
Heckert 2004 4 specimens
PEFO 20341, 20361-62, 20391
Osteichthyes
Heckert 2004 5 specimens
PEFO 20344, 20356, 20360, 20379, 20390
Ceratodontiformes - Arganodontidae
Heckert 2004
Reptilia
Heckert 2004 8 specimens
PEFO 20364-67, 20371-72, 20375-76
Murry 1989 3 specimens
PEFO 3893-95, teeth
Heckert 2004 3 specimens
PEFO 20369
Heckert 2004 1 specimen
PEFO 20368
Heckert 2004 1 specimen
PEFO 20373
Heckert 2004 1 specimen
PEFO 20370
Heckert 2004 2 specimens
PEFO 20366
Heckert 2004 1 specimen
PEFO 20337
Heckert 2004 1 specimen
PEFO 20336
Nesbitt et al. 2009 1 specimen
PEFO 4855, centrum
Heckert 2004 2 specimens
PEFO 20377-78
Parker 2006 1 specimen
PEFO 34347
Nesbitt et al. 2010
Possible new taxon
Reptilia - Theropoda
Therrien and Fastovsky 2000 1 individual
Reptilia - Ornithischia
Therrien and Fastovsky 2000 2 specimens
PEFO 20338-39
Reptilia - Parasuchidae
"group A"
Long and Murry 1995
UCMP, partial skull, squamosal, humerus
Therrien and Fastovsky 2000 8 specimens
PEFO 20340, 20384-89, 20393
Reptilia
    = Rauisuchia indet. Huene 1942
Heckert 2004
Therrien and Fastovsky 2000
Aetosauria indet. Lydekker 1889
Heckert 2004
Amphibia - Temnospondyli - Metoposauridae
Therrien and Fastovsky 2000 7 specimens
PEFO 20351-53, 20381-83
Heckert 2004
PEFO 34036, small interclavicle
Long and Murry 1995
UCMP centra
Actinopterygii
Heckert 2004 2 specimens
PEFO 20346-47
Mutter and Heckert 2006
Actinopteri - Perleidiformes - Colobodontidae
Colobodontidae indet. Stensiö 1916
Murry 1989 14 specimens
PEFO 3841-42, 3902-03
Palaeonisciformes - Palaeoniscidae
Murry 1989 2 specimens
PEFO 3846, 3906, 20342-43
    = cf. Turseodus sp. Leidy 1857
Murry and Long 1989
Palaeonisciformes - Redfieldiidae
Redfieldiidae indet. Hutchinson 1973
Murry 1989 4 specimens
PEFO 3834, 20344, 20354, 20363
? Redfieldiidae indet. Hutchinson 1973
Murry 1989 3 specimens
PEFO 3835, 3846, 3901
Chondrichthyes
Heckert 2004 3 elements
PEFO 20357-59
Chondrichthyes - Xenacanthiformes - Xenacanthidae
Xenacanthus moorei (Woodward 1889)
Murry 1989 172 specimens
PEFO 3822-23, 3897
    = "Xenacanthus" moorei Woodward 1889
Heckert 2004
PEFO 20349-50
? Xenacanthus moorei (Woodward 1889)
Murry 1989 1 specimen
PEFO 3896
Chondrichthyes - Hybodontiformes
Heckert 2004 1 specimen
PEFO 20348
? Lissodus sp. Brough 1935
Murry 1989 3 specimens
PEFO 3829, 3898-99
Chondrichthyes - Hybodontiformes - Lonchidiidae
Murry 1989 14 specimens
PEFO 3826-27
unclassified
Marsh et al. 2022 8 individuals
Site "preserves a minimum of eight individuals of varying sizes". Holotype: PEFO 43914; associated right premaxilla and maxilla
see common names

Geography
Country:United States State/province:Arizona County:Apache
Coordinates: 34.9° North, 109.8° West (view map)
Paleocoordinates:10.4° North, 37.6° West (Wright 2013)
Basis of coordinate:stated in text
Altitude:5481 feet
Geographic resolution:outcrop
Time
Period: Triassic Epoch: Late Triassic
Stage: Norian 10 m.y. bin: Triassic 4
Key time interval: Norian
Age range of interval: 227.3 - 205.7 m.y. ago
Age estimate: 218 ± 1 Ma (U/Pb)222.74 to 216.97 Ma (paleomagnetic)
Stratigraphy
Formation:Chinle Member:Blue Mesa
Stratigraphic resolution:bed
Stratigraphy comments: "stratigraphically several meters lower than PFV 121"; Parker & Irmis (2005: fig. 8) show this high in the Blue Mesa Member. Upper Blue MEsa Mbr. is dated at 220.1 Ma.
Irmis et al. 2011: The SMC date of 218.1 ± 0.7 Ma (Fig. 2) indicates that the uppermost Blue Mesa Member of the Chinle Formation and overlying strata are mid-Norian or younger in age based on the most recent Late Triassic timescale (Furin et al., 2006; Mundil et al., 2010; Muttoni et al., 2004, 2010).
Kent et al. 2019: Magnetozones PF5r to PF10n in the underlying 65‐m‐thick section of the mudstone‐dominated Blue Mesa and Mesa Redondo members plausibly correlate to chrons E13r to E9n,
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology:paleosol/pedogenic,green,blue calcareous mudstone
Secondary lithology:paleosol/pedogenic mudstone
Includes fossils?Y
Lithology description: lower part with gleyed paleosols, poorly drained, reduced. upper part with "bluish calcic horizon toward the top of the sequence, in which the bones are thought to be preserved", and carbonate nodules.
Environment:fine channel fill
Geology comments: local paleochannel scours dissect mudstones with paleosols; floodplain-dominated fluvial system with suspension-load, high-sinuosity streams. Bones preserved in distal floodplain, with sediments deposited by crevasse splays and sheet flooding.
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:body
Degree of concentration:dispersed
Size of fossils:macrofossils,mesofossils
Associated major elements:some
Disassociated major elements:many
Disassociated minor elements:many
Fragmentation:frequent
Collection methods and comments
Collection methods:surface (float),surface (in situ),mechanical,field collection
Reason for describing collection:paleoecologic analysis
Museum repositories:NMMNH
Collection dates:1998
Metadata
Also known as:Dawn of the Dinosaurs, PEFO 85025, UCMP V7038, MNA 302/8, SMU 228, Camp Butte N1
Database number:48547
Authorizer:M. Carrano, E. Dunne, R. Butler Enterer:M. Carrano, E. Dunne, R. Butler
Modifier:G. Varnham Research group:vertebrate
Created:2005-03-22 19:53:32 Last modified:2025-02-22 15:12:02
Access level:the public Released:2005-03-22 19:53:32
Creative Commons license:CC0
Reference information

Primary reference:

12930.ETE P. A. Murry and R. A. Long. 1989. Geology and paleontology of the Chinle Formation, Petrified Forest National Park and vicinity, Arizona and a discussion of vertebrate fossils of the southwestern Upper Triassic. In S. G. Lucas and A. P. Hunt (eds.), Dawn of the Age of Dinosaurs in the American Southwest, New Mexico Museum of Natural History, Albuquerque 29-64 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]

Secondary references:

17273ETE A. B. Heckert. 2004. Late Triassic microvertebrates from the lower Chinle Group (Otischalkian-Adamanian: Carnian), southwestern U.S.A. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 27:1-170 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
24941ETE A. B. Heckert and S. G. Lucas. 2006. Micro- and small vertebrate biostratigraphy and biochronology of the Upper Triassic Chinle Group, southwestern USA. In J. D. Harris, S. G. Lucas, J. A. Spielmann, M. G. Lockley, A. R. C. Milner, J. I. Kirkland (eds.), The Triassic-Jurassic Terrestrial Transition. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 37:94-104 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/P. Wagner]
17974ETE A. P. Hunt and J. Wright. 1999. New discoveries of Late Triassic dinosaurs from Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona. In V. L. Santucci & L. McClelland (eds.), National Park Service Geologic Resources Division Technical Report NPS/NRGRD/GRDTR-99/03. National Park Service Paleontological Research Volume 4:96-100 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
79158 R. B. Irmis, R. Mundil, J. W. Martz and W. G. Parker. 2011. High-resolution U-Pb ages from the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation (New Mexico, USA) support a diachronous rise of dinosaurs. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 309:258-267 [P. Mannion/G. Varnham/G. Varnham]
79159 D. V. Kent, P. E. Olsen, C. Lepre, C. Rasmussen, R. Mundil, G. E. Gehrels, D. Giesler, R. B. Irmis, J. W. Geissman and W. G. Parker. 2019. Magnetochronology of the Entire Chinle Formation (Norian Age) in a Scientific Drill Core From Petrified Forest National Park (Arizona, USA) and Implications for Regional and Global Correlations in the Late Triassic. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems [P. Mannion/G. Varnham]
14122ETE R. A. Long and P. A. Murry. 1995. Late Triassic (Carnian and Norian) Tetrapods from the Southwestern United States. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 4:1-254 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/P. Wagner]
78440 K. M. Loughney, D. E. Fastovsky, and W. G. Parker. 2011. Vertebrate fossil preservation in blue paleosols from the Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona, with implications for vertebrate biostratigraphy in the Chinle Formation. Palaios 26(11):700-718 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
83433 A. D. Marsh, W. G. Parker, S. J. Nesbitt, B. T. Kligman, and M. R. Stocker. 2022. Puercosuchus traverorum n. gen. n. sp.: a new malerisaurine azendohsaurid (Archosauromorpha: Allokotosauria) from two monodominant bonebeds in the Chinle Formation (Upper Triassic, Norian) of Arizona. Journal of Paleontology 96:1-39 [E. Dunne/E. Dunne]
12934ETE P. A. Murry. 1989. Microvertebrate fossils from the Petrified Forest and Owl Rock Members (Chinle Formation) in Petrified Forest National Park and vicinity, Arizona. In S. G. Lucas and A. P. Hunt (eds.), Dawn of the Age of Dinosaurs in the American Southwest, New Mexico Museum of Natural History, Albuquerque 249-277 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
24939ETE R. J. Mutter and A. B. Heckert. 2006. Re-investigation of enigmatic fish bones known as colobodontid/perleidid toothplates from the Upper Triassic Chinle Group (southwestern U.S.A.). In J. D. Harris, S. G. Lucas, J. A. Spielmann, M. G. Lockley, A. R. C. Milner, & J. I. Kirkland (eds.), The Triassic-Jurassic Terrestrial Transition. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 37:530-542 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/P. Wagner]
32231 S. J. Nesbitt, C. A. Sidor, R. B. Irmis, K. D. Angielczyk, R. M. H. Smith and L. A. Tsuji. 2010. Ecologically distinct dinosaurian sister group shows early diversification of Ornithodira. Nature 464:95-98 [J. Alroy/J. Alroy]
31327 S. J. Nesbitt, M. R. Stocker, B. J. Small and A. Downs. 2009. The osteology and relationships of Vancleavea campi (Reptilia: Archosauriformes). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 157:814-864 [R. Butler/R. Butler/R. Butler]
15512ETE W. Parker and R. B. Irmis. 2005. Advances in Late Triassic vertebrate paleontology based on new material from Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona. Vertebrate Paleontology in Arizona, New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 29:45-58 [M. Carrano/K. Maguire/M. Carrano]
16671ETE W. G. Parker. 2002. Correlation of locality numbers for vertebrate fossil sites in Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona. A. B. Heckert & S. G. Lucas (eds.), Upper Triassic Stratigraphy and Paleontology. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 21:37-42 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
31632 W. G. Parker. 2005. Faunal review of the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation of Arizona. In R. D. McCord (ed.), Vertebrate Paleontology of Arizona, Mesa Southwest Museum Bulletin 11:34-54 [R. Butler/R. Butler]
18306ETE W. G. Parker. 2006. The stratigraphic distribution of major fossil localities in Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona. In W. G. Parker, S. R. Ash & R. B. Irmis (eds.), A Century of Research at Petrified Forest National Park, 1906-2006: Geology and Paleontology. Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin 62:47-61 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
5705ETE 1461F. Therrien and D.E. Fastovsky. 2000. Paleoenvironment of early theropods , Chinle Formation (Late Triassic), Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona. Palaios 15:194-211 [A. Behrensmeyer/A. Behrensmeyer/M. Kosnik]