Chorelek Valley, west (Miocene of Ukraine)

Where: Crimea, Ukraine (45.2° N, 36.3° E: paleocoordinates 45.8° N, 41.8° E)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Chersonian Formation, Sarmatian (12.7 - 11.6 Ma)

• Late Sarmatian s.l. of the eastern Paratethys (= Tortonian), early late Miocene; Chersonian For- mation

•The Chersonian Formation has been dated to the late Sarmatian sensu lato, based on the occurrence of numerous Mactra (Chersonimactra) caspia [85]. In the region of the Central Paratethys, the Sarmatian Stage (sensu stricto) as a whole has been assigned the Middle Miocene [86, 87]. By contrast, the upper part of the Sarmatian as found in the area of the eastern Paratethys correlates with the early Tortonian (11.2–9.6 Ma) [88, 89] (Marx & Fordyce, 2015)

• formation-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: shallow subtidal; calcareous siltstone

• regression, shallow? lower precipitation than previous formations, lower temperature than previous formations

Size class: macrofossils

Primary reference: P. Goldin and D. Startsev. 2014. Brandtocetus, a new genus of baleen whales (Cetacea, Cetotheriidae) from the late Miocene of Crimea, Ukraine. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 34(2):419-433 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen]more details

Purpose of describing collection: general faunal/floral analysis

PaleoDB collection 152869: authorized by Mark Uhen, entered by Joseph Villari on 01.12.2013, edited by Mark Uhen

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Bivalvia
 Cardiida - Mactridae
Mammalia
 Cetacea - Cetotheriidae
Brandtocetus chongulek Goldin and Startsev 2014 whale