Risleten Quarry tracksite (Cretaceous of Switzerland)

Also known as Beckenried

Where: Nidwalden, Switzerland (47.0° N, 8.5° E: paleocoordinates 31.6° N, 18.5° E)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Upper Member (Schrattenkalk Formation), Aptian (125.0 - 113.0 Ma)

• middle lower Aptian to middle upper Aptian; upper part of formation

• bed-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: peritidal; bioturbated packstone and wackestone

• "shallow water...with traces of emersion"
• "The lower and upper parts of the section are made up of cross-bedded grain- to packstone that contain a large amount of miliolinid foraminfera, echinoderms, and rudist bivalves (Requiena). The grainstones often contain a large number of orbitolinid foraminifera (Palorbitolina lenticularis). The finer grained pack- to wackestones yield dasycladacean algae (Keller, 1983 and personal observations).

•The trackbearing surface is a highly bioturbated packstone (biomicrite). Thin sections show that it is largely composed of miliolinid foraminifera (Quinqueloculina), recrystallized mollusc fragments, and sponge spiculae. Peloids, ostracods, oyster fragments, some echinoderms, and angular quartz grains are also present. The footprints are infilled by a wackestone with a high number of sponge spicules oriented parallel to the bedding plane and some miliolinid foraminifera. The texture reveals a cryptalgal fabric. The filling is finely laminated; toward the top, birds eye forming vugs can be observed."

Size class: macrofossils

Preservation: mold/impression, trace

Collected by M. Weh, C. Meyer, B. Thüring in 2000

Collection methods: surface (in situ), peel or thin section,

• discovered by geologist Markus Weh while swimming in Lake Lucerne

Primary reference: C. A. Meyer and B. Thüring. 2003. The first iguanodontid dinosaur tracks from the Swiss Alps (Schrattenkalk Formation, Aptian). Ichnos 10(2–4):221-228 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]more details

Purpose of describing collection: general faunal/floral analysis

PaleoDB collection 90131: authorized by Matthew Carrano, entered by Matthew Carrano on 08.07.2009

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Tubothalamea
 Miliolida - Hauerinidae
Quinqueloculina sp. d'Orbigny 1826
 Miliolida - Miliolidae
Miliolidae indet. Ehrenberg 1839
unclassified
  -
Porifera indet. Grant 1836
Deuteropoda
  -
Ostracoda indet. Latreille 1802 ostracod
unclassified
  -
Mollusca indet. Linnaeus 1758
Bivalvia
 Ostreida - Ostreidae
Ostreidae indet. Rafinesque 1815 oyster
Reptilia
 Ornithischia - Iguanodontipodidae
"Iguanodontipus billsarjeanti n. sp." = Caririchnium billsarjeanti
"Iguanodontipus billsarjeanti n. sp." = Caririchnium billsarjeanti Meyer and Thüring 2003 ornithopod
trackways TR1–3 (200+ specimens)
unclassified
  -