Pierre Shale (USGS D1907, D1908) (Cretaceous of the United States)

Where: Niobrara County, Wyoming (43.3° N, 104.3° W: paleocoordinates 49.2° N, 71.6° W)

• coordinate estimated from map

• small collection-level geographic resolution

When: Red Bird Silty Member (Pierre Shale Formation), Campanian (83.6 - 72.1 Ma)

• bed-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: offshore; lithified, concretionary, ferruginous, gray, red, silty, calcareous shale and limestone

• "shale; silty; contains closely spaced ls concretions commonly 3-5 ft in diameter which weather grayish orange, moderate brown and orange brown, and locally have thin veins of yellow calcite. In places the concretions have been replaced by small masses of tepee butte ls."
• "shale; silty; contains closely spaced ls concretions commonly 3-5 ft in diameter which weather grayish orange, moderate brown and orange brown, and locally have thin veins of yellow calcite. In places the concretions have been replaced by small masses of tepee butte ls."

Reposited in the USGS

Collection methods: mechanical,

Primary reference: J. R. Gill, W. A. Cobban, and P. M. Kier. 1966. The Red Bird Section of the Upper Cretaceous Pierre Shale in Wyoming. United States Geological Survey Professional Paper 393-A:1-73 [J. Alroy/M. Sommers/A. Clement]more details

Purpose of describing collection: biostratigraphic analysis

PaleoDB collection 1671: authorized by John Alroy, entered by Mike Sommers on 25.05.1999

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

• "The fossils are ordinarily well-preserved. Most of the cephalopod shells and the inner nacreous layer of Inoceramus are aragonitic, especially specimens from above the Red Bird Silty Member. Shell material and specimens from the Red Bird member and the upper 50' of the underlying Mitten Member is partially transformed to calcite...Ammonites...of the [mid-upper third] of the Mitten Member are...entirely aragonite whereas shell material [of underlying material] is completely transformed to calcite."
Show authors, comments, and common names
Bivalvia
 Ostreida - Pteriidae
"Pteria linguaeformis" = Phelopteria linguaeformis
"Pteria linguaeformis" = Phelopteria linguaeformis Evans and Shumard 1854 pearl oyster
 Myalinida - Inoceramidae
Inoceramus aff. proximus, "Inoceramus tenuilineatus" = Inoceramus (Cataceramus) tenuilineatus
Inoceramus aff. proximus clam
originally entered as "Inoceramus aff. proximus"
"Inoceramus tenuilineatus" = Inoceramus (Cataceramus) tenuilineatus Hall and Meek 1855 clam
 Lucinida - Lucinidae
Lucina occidentalis
 Cardiida - Arcticidae
Tenea circularis
 Nuculanida - Nuculanidae
Nuculana corsicana
Nuculana corsicana pointed nut clam
 Nuculida - Nuculidae
Nucula sp.
Nucula sp. Lamarck 1799 nut clam
Cephalopoda
 Ammonitida - Baculitidae
Baculites gregoryensis
Baculites gregoryensis Cobban 1951 ammonite
 Ammonitida - Nostoceratidae
Didymoceras sp.
Didymoceras sp. Hyatt 1900 ammonite
sp. nov.
 Ammonitida - Placenticeratidae
Placenticeras sp.
Placenticeras sp. Meek 1876 ammonite
Bryozoa
  -
Bryozoa indet.
Bryozoa indet. Ehrenberg 1831
pyriporoid bryozoan