Locality KH Clay Hill site (Permian of the United States)

Where: Knox County, Texas (33.8° N, 99.5° W: paleocoordinates 2.4° N, 29.0° W)

• coordinate estimated from map

• small collection-level geographic resolution

When: Vale Formation (Clear Fork Group), Kungurian (279.3 - 272.3 Ma)

• "Robert Roth, of the Humble Oil and Refining Company of Wichita Falls, Texas, believes that surface and subsurface data show that the beds in question are part of the 'Bullwagon' member of the Vale formation. This places the section high in the Vale, just below the Choza." (Olson, 1948 p. 190);

•"base of upper part of Vale" (Olson, 1954)

•the base and top of the Clear Fork Group (i.e., Arroyo, Vale, and Choza formations) are both within the Kungurian: see Wardlaw 2005 (Permophiles) for the base, and DiMichele et al. 2001 (J Paleont) for the top

• member-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: coarse channel fill; pebbly, green, red conglomerate

• "The channels are evidence that a rather large, braided stream passed north or south over the area in a valley of considerable width. The region must have had a moderately high annual rainfall to support the fauna and flora. The total rainfall was perhaps not greatly different from what it is today, and the temperature may have been quite similar, with possibly less seasonal variation. The rains, however appear to have been periodic and torrential [...] " Olson (1948, p. 192)
• "The channel fill is largely clay pebble conglomerate, with pebbles ranging from a few millimeters to about 8 cm. in diameter. Rounding of the pebbles is uniformly high, but sphericity is varied. [...] The coarsest material tend to lie at the center of the channel, whereas the marginal parts are predominantly sand or clay with fine scattered pebbles." Olson (1948, p. 191)

Size class: macrofossils

Reposited in the FMNH

• Olson (1958) subdivided Locality KH into four sub-locations: Clay Hill site, Diplocaulus Quarry Site, and Chocolate Hill Site.

Primary reference: E. C. Olson. 1958. Fauna of the Vale and Choza: Summary, Review, and Integration of the Geology and the Faunas. Fieldiana Geology 10(32):397-448 [R. Butler/E. Dunne]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 177000: authorized by Richard Butler, entered by Emma Dunne on 15.03.2016

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
Osteichthyes
 Synapsida - Sphenacodontidae
"Dimetrodon gigashomogenes" = Dimetrodon giganhomogenes
"Dimetrodon gigashomogenes" = Dimetrodon giganhomogenes Case 1907 synapsid
Amphibia
 Nectridea - Diplocaulidae
Diplocaulus recurvatus
Diplocaulus recurvatus Olson 1952 tetrapod
 Temnospondyli - Eryopidae
Eryops megacephalus
Eryops megacephalus Cope 1877 tetrapod
Chondrichthyes
 Xenacanthiformes - Xenacanthidae
Xenacanthus sp.
Xenacanthus sp. Beyrich 1848 elasmobranch