CV 86-05, Cross Valley (Eocene of Antarctica)

Where: Antarctica (64.3° S, 56.7° W: paleocoordinates 63.4° S, 63.8° W)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: La Meseta Formation, Ypresian (56.0 - 47.8 Ma)

• Location places it within Telm 1-2. Likely from Telm 2 given the description of "starfish beds" in Stillwell & Zinsmeister (1992).

• group of beds-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: prodelta; brown siltstone

• According to Stillwell & Zinsmeister (1992), "Telm2 strata are typically very fine grained. These strata were deposited below wave base or in a protected embayment as shown by the lack of current ripples, scour features, or evidence of reworking. Localized shell banks with a bioclastic fabric indicate occasional higher current energy and some distance of transport, although the distance of transport was minimal. The presence of local slump structures indicates that deposition of Telm2 may have occurred on a sloping unstable surface." These characteristics suggest a prodelta is the best interpretation.
• "fine buff silts"

Size class: macrofossils

Reposited in the USNM

Primary reference: D. B. Blake and R. B. Aronson. 1998. Eocene stelleroids (Echinodermata) at Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula. Journal of Paleontology 72(2):339-353 [L. Ivany/E. Kowalski/L. Villier]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 81846: authorized by Austin Hendy, entered by Austin Hendy on 16.07.2008, edited by Matthew Clapham

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
Asteroidea
 Forcipulatida - Asteriidae
Sclerasterias zinsmeisteri n. sp.
Sclerasterias zinsmeisteri n. sp. Blake and Aronson 1998 sea star
 Forcipulatida - Zoroasteridae
Zoroaster aff. fulgens
Zoroaster aff. fulgens Thomson 1873 sea star
 Valvatida - Goniasteridae
Tesselaster clarki n. sp.
Tesselaster clarki n. sp. Blake and Aronson 1998 sea star
 Paxillosida - Astropectinidae
Ctenophoraster downeyae
Ctenophoraster downeyae Blake and Zinsmeister 1979 sea star