Agua de la Mula plesiosar locality, Hoplitocrioceras gentilii subzone: Early Hauterivian, Argentina
List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
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Reptilia
- Plesiosauria
- Elasmosauridae
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Elasmosauridae indet.
Cope 1869
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23 elements | |||||||||
| PV-6893/1-23- MOZ: 23 dissarticulated vertebrae (18 cervicals, four dorsals, and one caudal) and other undetermined bone fragments of the postcranial skeleton | ||||||||||
| see common names | ||||||||||
Geography
| Country: | Argentina | State/province: | Neuquén |
| Coordinates: | 38.0° South, 70.0° West (view map) | ||
| Paleocoordinates: | 37.5° South, 33.9° West | ||
| Basis of coordinate: | based on nearby landmark | ||
| Geographic resolution: | small collection |
Time
| Period: | Cretaceous | Epoch: | Early Cretaceous |
| Stage: | Hauterivian | 10 m.y. bin: | Cretaceous 2 |
| Key time interval: | Early Hauterivian | Ammonoid zone: | Hoplitocrioceras gentilii |
| Age range of interval: | 132.6 - 125.77 m.y. ago |
Stratigraphy
Lithology and environment
| Primary lithology: | black,gray lithified mudstone |
| Secondary lithology: | tabular,shelly/skeletal lithified "limestone" |
| Lithology description: "Three facies were recognized. The first one consists of black and gray mudrocks, and appears only at the base of the section. It was probably deposited in a low energy offshore subenvironment, under the stormweather wave base. Intercalated mudrocks and fossiliferous limestones compose the second facies. The limestones are tabular, 0.5 m thick in average, and comprise reworked and fragmented fauna, including plesiosaur remains PV-6894/1-2-MOZ. They were interpreted as storm deposits. The mudrocks represent pelagic background sediments and contained most of the plesiosaur remains studied in this paper (PV-6890/1-10-MOZ, PV-6891-MOZ, PV-6892-MOZ, and PV-6893/1-23-MOZ). This facies has been interpreted as a transitional subenvironment, between the fairweather and the stormweather wave base. The last facies consists mainly of heterolithic sandstones and amalgamated coquinas, and occurs at the top of shallowing-up cycles that begin with facies two. It contains reworked mollusks and corals, and a diverse assemblage of trace fossils. It represents a lower to upper shoreface subenvironment, between low tide level and fairweather wave base." | |
| Environment: | transition zone/lower shoreface |
| Geology comments: "In agreement with Spalletti (1992) and Brinkmann (1994), the Lower Member of the Agrio Formation was interpreted as deposited in a relatively shallow and warm marine environment (offshore to upper shoreface) under periodical storm
influence." | |
Taphonomy
| Modes of preservation: | body |
| Size of fossils: | macrofossils |
| Spatial orientation: | random |
| Preservation of anatomical detail: | poor |
| Abundance in sediment: | rare |
| Disassociated major elements: | some |
| Fragmentation: | occasional |
| Spatial resolution: | parautochthonous |
Collection methods and comments
| Collection excludes: | some macrofossils |
| Collection methods: | surface (in situ),field collection |
| Collection size: | 23 specimens |
| Reason for describing collection: | general faunal/floral analysis |
| Collection method comments: "The described and figured material is deposited in the following collection under the catalogue number listed in the text: Museo Juan Olsacher. Dirección General de Minería de la Provincia de Neuquén. Olascoaga 421, Zapala (8340), Neuquén, Argentina." | |
Metadata
| Database number: | 102088 | ||
| Authorizer: | M. Carrano | Enterer: | H. Street |
| Modifier: | F. Aspromonte | Research group: | vertebrate |
| Created: | 2011-01-08 08:03:39 | Last modified: | 2023-11-07 17:05:18 |
| Access level: | the public | Released: | 2011-01-08 08:03:39 |
| Creative Commons license: | CC BY |
Reference information
Primary reference:
| 34690. | D. G. Lazo and M. Cichowolski. 2003. First plesiosaur remains from the Lower Cretaceous of the Neuquen Basin, Argentina. Journal of Paleontology 77(4):784-789 [M. Carrano/H. Street/F. Aspromonte] |
Secondary references:
| 86336 | J. P. O'Gorman, D. G. Lazo, L. Luci, C. S. Cataldo, E. Schwarz, M. Lescano, and M. B. Aguirre-Urreta. 2015. New plesiosaur records from the Lower Cretaceous of the Neuquén Basin, west-central Argentina, with an updated picture of occurrences and facies relationships. Cretaceous Research 56:372-387 [E. Vlachos/F. Aspromonte] |