Turtle Tuff (Eocene of Argentina)

Also known as Western margin of Cañadon Hondo; near the 'Bird Clay'

Where: Chubut, Argentina (45.4° S, 67.6° W: paleocoordinates 47.8° S, 57.8° W)

• coordinate estimated from map

• small collection-level geographic resolution

When: Casamayoran mammal zone, Sarmiento Formation, Middle Eocene (47.8 - 37.7 Ma)

• bed-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: wet floodplain; massive, sandy tuff

• Sedimentary facies recorded in the Turtle Tuff suggest low energy conditions of deposition, and frequent periods of subaerial exposure. These facies are interpreted as having developed in the floodplain setting of a mixed load fluvial channel (e.g. meandering fluvial system), as in the Cerro Verde – Rocas Gemelas composite section (Pol et al. 2012; Sterli et al. 2015).
• It is composed of massive and laminated, fine to very fine tuffs and massive mudstones. The geometry of the beds is exclusively tabular, and tractive structures are absent. The only sedimentary structure recognized consists of parallel lamination, strictly associated with fine to very fine tuffaceous beds. Pedogenic features such as iron and manganese nodules, rhizoliths and burrows are common within the massive beds. The fossiliferous bed located in the middle section is constituted by a massive sandy tuff, 1.3 m thick, with rhizoliths at the top.

Size class: macrofossils

Collected by P. Puerta, and other teams from MEF in 2001, 2010, 2012; reposited in the MEF

Primary reference: I. J. Maniel, M. S. de la Fuente, J. Sterli, J. M. Jannello, and J. M. Krause. 2018. New remains of the aquatic turtle Hydromedusa casamayorensis (Pleurodira, Chelidae) from the middle Eocene of Patagonia: taxonomic validation and phylogenetic relationships. Papers in Palaeontology 1-29 [E. Vlachos/E. Vlachos/P. Mannion]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 193010: authorized by Evangelos Vlachos, entered by Evangelos Vlachos on 03.05.2018

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
Reptilia
 Testudines - Chelidae
Hydromedusa casamayorensis
Hydromedusa casamayorensis de la Fuente and Bona 2002 sideneck turtle