Highway 460 (Carboniferous of the United States)

Where: Bluefield County, West Virginia (37.3° N, 81.2° W: paleocoordinates 16.1° S, 25.7° W)

• coordinate estimated from map

When: Bluefield Formation (Mauch Chunk Group), Carboniferous (358.9 - 298.9 Ma)

• Bluefield is the lowest formation in the Mauch Chunk Group and, in the Glen Lyn area, consist of 340 m of carbonate and siliciclastic deposits.

Environment/lithology: terrestrial; cherty/siliceous mudstone

• Paleocurrent indicators in these sandstones suggest a tidal influence on the deltaic sediments. Non-calcareous mudstones at the top of the prograding sequenec contain abundant mudcracks, plant fragments, raindrop impressions, tetrapod footprints, and bioturbate textures, and they lack marine fossils; these features indicate a terrestrial depositional environment.

Size class: microfossils

Preservation: mold/impression

Primary reference: F. A. Sundberg, J. B. Bennington, M. C. Wizevich and R. K. Bambach. 1990. Upper Carboniferous (Namurian) amphibian trackways from the Bluefield Formation, West Virginia, USA. Ichnos 1(2):111-124 [M. Uhen/M. Shalap/O. Alfaro]more details

Purpose of describing collection: general faunal/floral analysis

PaleoDB collection 125942: authorized by Mark Uhen, entered by Margaret Shalap on 27.03.2012

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
Amphibia
 Temnospondyli -
Hylopus hamesi