Welles Quarry (Arroyo del Agua) (Permian of the United States)

Also known as UCMP locality 3528, NMMNH locality L 4825

Where: Rio Arriba County, New Mexico (36.1° N, 106.6° W: paleocoordinates 6.5° N, 33.0° W)

• coordinate stated in text

• small collection-level geographic resolution

When: El Cobre Canyon Formation (Cutler Group), Wolfcampian (298.9 - 286.0 Ma)

• Chama Basin

• group of beds-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: lacustrine; brown, green siltstone and claystone

• The Welles quarry, VanderHoof quarry and Quarry Butte locality were interpreted by Langston (1953) as belonging to a single large lake deposit, due to their similar lithologies and verte- brate assemblages. However, Berman et al. (1988) interpreted the quarries as ephemeral crevasse channels that were temporary sites of standing water within a locally anastomosed river system.
• "The Welles quarry is similar lithologically to the VanderHoof quarry [The VanderHoof quarry is in green and brown micaceous clay and siltstone that progressively becomes lighter colored towards its top. These clays and siltstones are capped by a medium-grained crossbedded sandstone and underlain by a layer of marl and spherical carbonate concretions.]." Lucas et al. (2005)

Size class: macrofossils

Reposited in the NMMNH, UCMP

Primary reference: S. G. Lucas, S. K. Harris, J. A. Spielmann, D. S. Berman, A. C. Henrici, A. B. Heckert, K. E. Zeigler and L. F. Rinehart. 2005. Early Permian Vertebrate Assemblage and its Biostratigraphic Significance, Arroyo del Agua, Rio Arriba County, New Mexico. New Mexico Geological Society, 56th Field Conference Guidebook, Geology of the Chama Basin 288-296 [R. Butler/E. Dunne]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 180384: authorized by Richard Butler, entered by Emma Dunne on 14.07.2016

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
Amphibia
 Temnospondyli - Zatracheidae
Zatrachys serratus
Zatrachys serratus Cope 1878 tetrapod
 Temnospondyli - Dissorophidae
Platyhystrix rugosus
Platyhystrix rugosus Case 1910 tetrapod
 Temnospondyli - Eryopidae
Eryops grandis
Eryops grandis Marsh 1878 tetrapod
 Temnospondyli - Cochleosauridae
Chenoprosopus milleri
Chenoprosopus milleri Mehl 1913 tetrapod
Osteichthyes
 Synapsida - Sphenacodontidae
Sphenacodon ferox
Sphenacodon ferox Marsh 1878 synapsid
 Synapsida - Ophiacodontidae
Ophiacodon mirus
Ophiacodon mirus Marsh 1878 ophiacodont
 Cotylosauria - Diadectidae
Diadectes lentus
Diadectes lentus Marsh 1878 tetrapod
 Elonichthyiformes - Acrolepidae
Progyrolepis sp.
Progyrolepis sp. Fritsch 1893 ray-finned fish
Chondrichthyes
 Xenacanthiformes - Xenacanthidae
Xenacanthus sp.
Xenacanthus sp. Beyrich 1848 elasmobranch