Where: Saskatchewan, Canada (49.5° N, 109.0° W: paleocoordinates 55.6° N, 85.6° W)
• coordinate stated in text
When: Ravenscrag Formation, Paleocene (66.0 - 56.0 Ma)
• The stratigraphic position of the collection is given relative to the No. 1 coal zone, which is approximately at the base of the formation. US64 is a block found at base of section beneath locality US4.
Environment/lithology: terrestrial; claystone
• During the early Tertiary, most of southern Saskatchewan was a broad alluvial plain dominated by meandering river systems. Locally, at the Ravenscrag Butte site, small lakes or ponds, sluggish streams, swamps and lowland forests successively dominated the area over a period of perhaps 2 million years.
• The Ravenscrag Formation consists of interbedded, nonmarine clays, silts, sands, and lignite. The measured section at the Ravenscrag Butte site is about 67 m thick, and lithologically, the formation in divided into two facies; the lower 38 metres comprises the grey facies, the upper 29 metres, the buff facies. At a distance, the two facies are easily distinguishable on the basis of colour. Commonly, the buff facies are less than 31 m thick in measured sections due to erosion or cover at the top. There are four conspicuous beds of coal or coaly shale in the sections at Ravenscrag Butte, including the No. 1 coal zone. The fourth coal zone marks the transition from grey to buff facies. Locality US64 is a clay block.
Size class: macrofossils
Preservation: adpression
Collection methods: salvage, surface (float),
Primary reference: E. E. McIver and J. F. Basinger. 1993. Flora of the Ravenscrag Formation (Paleocene), Southwestern Saskatchewan, Canada. Palaeontographica Canadiana 10:1-85 [R. Lupia/B. Wilborn/B. Wilborn]more details
Purpose of describing collection: paleoecologic analysis
PaleoDB collection 34429: authorized by Rick Lupia, entered by Brooke Wilborn on 31.08.2003
Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)
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