Devon Mine, 61-11-17-3 (Cretaceous of Canada)

Also known as Sample #61-11-17-3, Devon Mine, 10 miles southwest of Edmonton (Horseshoe Canyon Formation)

Where: Alberta, Canada (53.6° N, 113.5° W: paleocoordinates 61.3° N, 84.1° W)

• coordinate based on political unit

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Horseshoe Canyon Formation (Edmonton Group), Early/Lower Maastrichtian (70.6 - 66.0 Ma)

• Smple is from the upper part of lower coaly zone of Horseshoe Canyon Formation, about midway between the base of the Bearpaw Formation and the Kneehills Member, and is middle Maestrichtian in age.

• formation-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: terrestrial; shale

• probably swamp/mire because located in a coal mine
• black shale 45 ft above main coal seam

Size class: microfossils

Preservation: original sporopollenin

Collection methods: surface (in situ), chemical, sieve,

• 100-mesh wire screen used (149-micron openings); 30 to 50 grams sample used

Primary reference: J. D. Campbell and B. Untergasser. 1972. Two new megaspore species from the continental Upper Cretaceous (Campanian-Maastrichtian) of the Alberta Plains. Canadian Journal of Botany 50(12):2553-2557 [R. Lupia/T. Naeher/J. Cassara]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 33623: authorized by Rick Lupia, entered by Tiffany Naeher on 04.08.2003

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

• Specimens of Molaspora reticulata were recovered from 14 samples collected at 5 localities in the Plains of central Alberta. 4 of the localities lie at the same stratigraphic horizon in the upper part of the lower coaly zone of the Horseshoe Canyon Formation, about midway between the base of the Bearpaw Formation and the Kneehills Member (i.e., middle Maestrichtian in age). The fifth locality, about 100 mi north of the City of Edmonton, is stratigraphically much lower; it yielded 8 specimens in 3 samples, and lies about 700 ft above the "First White Speckled Shale" and about 700 ft below strata equivalent to the base of the Bearpaw Formation (i.e., middle Campanian in age).
Show authors, comments, and common names
Polypodiopsida
  - Marsileaceae
Molaspora reticulata n. sp.