Mines in Coleraine-Bovey vicinity (Cretaceous of the United States)

Where: Itasca County, Minnesota (47.3° N, 93.4° W: paleocoordinates 46.0° N, 55.0° W)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

• local area-level geographic resolution

When: Coleraine Formation, Turonian (93.9 - 89.8 Ma)

• "On the basis of the fauna [the fm.] is considered the age equivalent of the lower Benton in the Colorado series." TURONIAN info from R.E. Sloan (1964) The Cret. Syst. in MN; Minn. Geol. Surv. Rept. Invest. 5

• formation-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: marine; poorly lithified, green shale and conglomerate

• "Shale containing oyster beds once extended over nearly the entire Hill Walker pit and continued eastward into the western part of the Morrision pit. In the Canisteo pit...the basal conglomerate bore pebbles of quartz, iron formation, and highly altered igneous and metamorphic rock, all firmly cemented This graded through a few inches of a red-green, fine pebble conglomerate into a few feet of massive lean ore." Bovey- "About a foot of coarse conglomerate occured at the base; the pebbles were composed of the underlying iron-ore formation, some being highly polished pieces of hematite and limonite in a greenish iron-clay matrix. OVer this congl was about 8 ft of greenish iron-clay with concretions of the same material. No fossils were ever found in the concretions. Along the W side of the pit about 6 inches of fine pebble congl in a gritty green matrix was overlain by 5-7 ft of green to red soft fine lean ore."

Collection methods: surface (in situ), mechanical,

• "During a 12 month period in 1937 and 1938 the writer studied in detail the Mesabi invertebrate fossil collection at the University of Minnesota...Good fossil specimens were difficult to find during the field season of 1937 when the writer visited the region."

Primary reference: H. R. Bergquist. 1944. Cretaceous of the Mesabi Iron Range, Minnesota. Journal of Paleontology 18(1):1-30 [J. Alroy/M. Sommers/J. Alroy]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 1990: authorized by John Alroy, entered by Mike Sommers on 15.06.1999, edited by Austin Hendy and Pete Wagner

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

• "No attempt was made to identify any vertebrate material such as shark and reptile teeth and vertebrae, which are rather plentiful. The plant life has likewise been neglected..."
unclassified
  -
Vertebrata indet. Lamarck 1801
shark and other fish teeth, reptile teeth
Polychaeta
 Sabellida - Serpulidae
Bivalvia
 Mytilida - Mytilidae
 Myalinida - Inoceramidae
Inoceramus fragilis Hall and Meek 1856 clam
 Ostreida - Ostreidae
Ostrea congesta Conrad 1843 oyster
Ostrea gilei oyster
n. sp.
Ostrea staufferi oyster
(Alectryonia) n. sp.
 Ostreida - Gryphaeidae
Exogyra boveyensis oyster
n. sp.
Exogyra lamellosa oyster
n. sp.
Exogyra mesabiensis oyster
n. sp.
 Ostreida - Bakevelliidae
Gervillia ? propleura oyster
originally entered as "Gervillia ? propleura"
 Cardiida - Mactridae
Cymbophora ? utahensis clam
originally entered as "Cymbophora ? utahensis"
 Pholadomyida - Pholadomyidae
Cephalopoda
 Ammonitida - Engonoceratidae
"Epengonoceras cf. dumblei" = Metengonoceras
"Epengonoceras cf. dumblei" = Metengonoceras ammonite
originally entered as "Epengonoceras cf. dumblei"
 Ammonitida - Acanthoceratidae
Metoicoceras bergquisti Cobban 1983 ammonite
originally entered as "Metioceras aff. swallovi"
Crustacea
  -
Crustacea indet. BrĂ¼nnich 1772
crustacean fragments