Hayden Quarry, Ghost Ranch (site 3): Norian, New Mexico
collected by Irmis, Nesbitt, Turner, et. al. 2006-

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Reptilia - Drepanosauridae
Drepanosaurus unguicaudatus Pinna 1980
Pritchard et al. 2016
Over 75 specimens in Ruth Hall Museum of Paleontology (unspecified which quarry site(s))
Reptilia
Chindesaurus bryansmalli Long and Murry 1995
    = Theropoda indet. Marsh 1881
Marsh et al. 2019
Tawa hallae Nesbitt et al. 2009
Nesbitt et al. 2009 1 specimen
GR 244, femur (1 measurement)
Coelophysoidea indet. Holtz 1994
cf. Silesaurus sp. Dzik 2003
3 specimens
"similar to Silesaurus"; GR 195, 224, 225, femur, dentary and ilium
    = Silesauridae indet. Langer et al. 2010
Nesbitt et al. 2010
Dromomeron romeri n. gen., n. sp. Irmis et al. 2007
9 specimens
GR 218 (holotype), 219-224, 238, 239, hindlimb elements
"Rauisuchidae" indet. Huene 1942
2 specimens
    = Vivaron haydeni Lessner et al. 2016
Lessner et al. 2016
GR 638, GR 642
Typothorax coccinarum Cope 1875
Rioarribasuchus chamaensis (Zeigler et al. 2002)
Reptilia - Parasuchidae
Pseudopalatinae indet. Long and Murry 1995
replaced by Mystriosuchini
"pseudopalatine phytosaurs"
see common names

Geography
Country:United States State/province:New Mexico County:Rio Arriba
Coordinates: 36.3° North, 106.5° West (view map)
Paleocoordinates:11.5° North, 45.4° West
Basis of coordinate:based on nearby landmark
Geographic resolution:outcrop
Time
Period:Triassic Epoch:Late/Upper Triassic
Stage:Norian 10 m.y. bin:Triassic 4
Key time interval:Norian
Age range of interval:228.00000 - 208.50000 m.y. ago
Stratigraphy
Formation:Chinle Member:Petrified Forest
Stratigraphic resolution:group of beds
Stratigraphy comments: lower part of the member; "The Hayden Quarry has been dated to ~215 to 213 million years ago."
"Determining absolute ages of the Chinle Formation is difficult because of a lack of available radiometric dates and comprehensive paleomagnetic records. The best age estimates come from palynological and vertebrate biostratigraphy. Litwin and his colleagues (1986; Litwin et al. 1991) described Norian-aged palynological assemblages from the approximate level of the Canjilon Quarry, and assemblages from the overlying “upper siltstone” member (which contains the Coelophysis Quarry) that are no older than mid-Norian in age. The HQ assemblage includes several biostratigraphically useful vertebrate taxa: pseudopalatine phytosaurs, and the aetosaurs Typothorax coccinarum and Rioarribasuchus chamaensis. These taxa are only found in sediments with Norian pollen at Petrified Forest National Park (PEFO), Arizona and other Chinle Formation localities. Furthermore, pseudopalatine phytosaurs and Typothorax are found both above and below the Black Forest Tuff at PEFO, a local marker bed that yielded the only published radiometric date in the Chinle Formation. Detrital zircons from the Black Forest Tuff indicate a maximum 206Pb/238U age of 213 Ma (Riggs et al. 2003). The association of vertebrate taxa found at this stratigraphic level has a longer range both above and below the Black Forest Tuff, so it is not clear what part of this range correlates with the HQ assemblage. Nonetheless, a broadly Norian age for the HQ assemblage is justified because both the vertebrates and pollen provide an unambiguous Norian signal, and there is at present no evidence to the contrary. This age assignment is also consistent with preliminary results from magnetostratigraphy in the Chama Basin (Zeigler et al. 2005)."
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology:gypsiferous,intraclastic,brown,yellow sandy conglomerate
Secondary lithology:gray,green siltstone
Includes fossils?Y
Lithology description: "The HQ deposits are contained within fossiliferous mudstones, siltstones, and sandy conglomerates that form channel deposits incised into red overbank mudstones and siltstones. The conglomerates are poorly sorted, range in color from brown to yellow and are dominated by intraformational carbonate clasts ranging in size from coarse sand to pebbles. Clasts of permineralized wood and rarer presumed charcoal are commonly found in association with vertebrate remains. Diagenetic gypsum and calcite spar is common. The conglomerates alternate with finer layers of green to pale grey mudstone and siltstone that often include root traces and other organics, but do not show any large-scale evidence of oxidation."
Environment:coarse channel fill
Geology comments: "repeated transient flooding events concentrated vertebrate (bones, carcasses, live animals) and plant material from the landscape surface, possibly in hyperconcentrated flows. These events were separated by periods of standing water and weakly-developed, poorly-drained (hydromorphic) soil formation. The hydromorphic nature of the paleosols is evidenced by the drab matrix colorations, abundance of yellow-brown (goethite) mottles, preservation of organic matter, including local leaf litter, predominance of goethite rhizocretions, and general dearth of other redoximorphic features. The high density of channel deposits incised into overbank sediments in the Petrified Forest Member indicate that avulsions were common on the Late Triassic landscape of the Chama Basin, and therefore that the Petrified Forest Member fluvial systems were unstable in this area. This large-scale instability in the local base level and resulting incision has also been reported for the Petrified Forest Member in northern Arizona"
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:body
Lagerst�tten type:concentrate
Degree of concentration:concentrated
Size of fossils:macrofossils
Preservation of anatomical detail:good
Associated major elements:some
Disassociated major elements:many
Disassociated minor elements:many
Fragmentation:occasional
Collection methods and comments
Collection methods:selective quarrying,mechanical,field collection
Reason for describing collection:taxonomic analysis
Collectors:Irmis, Nesbitt, Turner, et. al. Collection dates:2006-
Metadata
Database number:74202
Authorizer:M. Carrano, B. Gee, R. Butler, A. Dunhill Enterer:M. Carrano, B. Gee, B. Allen, R. Butler
Modifier:M. Carrano Research group:vertebrate
Created:2007-07-30 07:30:57 Last modified:2019-11-06 11:29:52
Access level:the public Released:2007-07-30 07:30:57
Creative Commons license:CC BY
Reference information

Primary reference:

24915.ETE R. B. Irmis, S. J. Nesbitt, K. Padian, N. D. Smith, A. H. Turner, D. T. Woody, and A. Downs. 2007. A Late Triassic dinosauromorph assemblage from New Mexico and the rise of dinosaurs. Science 317:358-361 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]

Secondary references:

60789 E. J. Lessner, M. R. Stocker, N. D. Smith, A. H. Turner, R. B. Irmis and S. J. Nesbitt. 2016. A new rauisuchid (Archosauria, Pseudosuchia) from the Upper Triassic (Norian) of New Mexico increases the diversity and temporal range of the clade. PeerJ 4:e2336 [R. Butler/R. Butler]
75613 A. D. Marsh, W. G. Parker, M. C. Langer and S. J. Nesbitt. 2019. Redescription of the holotype specimen of Chindesaurus bryansmalli Long and Murry, 1995 (Dinosauria, Theropoda), from Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 39(3):e1645682 [B. Gee/B. Gee]
70805 J. W. Martz and B. J. Small. 2019. Non-dinosaurian dinosauromorphs from the Chinle Formation (Upper Triassic) of the Eagle Basin, northern Colorado: Dromomeron romeri (Lagerpetidae) and a new taxon, Kwanasaurus williamparkeri (Silesauridae). PeerJ 7:e7551:1-71 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
32231 S. J. Nesbitt, C. A. Sidor, R. B. Irmis, K. D. Angielczyk, R. M. H. Smith and L. A. Tsuji. 2010. Ecologically distinct dinosaurian sister group shows early diversification of Ornithodira. Nature 464:95-98 [J. Alroy/J. Alroy]
31393 S. J. Nesbitt, N. D. Smith, R. B. Irmis, A. H. Turner, A. Downs and M. A. Norell. 2009. A complete skeleton of a Late Triassic saurischian and the early evolution of dinosaurs. Science 326:1530-1533 [R. Butler/R. Butler]
66755 A. C. Pritchard, A. H. Turner, R. B. Irmis, S. J. Nesbitt, and N. D. Smith. 2016. Extreme Modification of the Tetrapod Forelimb in a Triassic Diapsid Reptile. Current Biology 26(20):2779-2786 [A. Dunhill/B. Allen]