Sunnydown Farm Quarry (limestone): Middle Berriasian, United Kingdom
collected by P. Ensom

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Ostracoda
Ostracoda indet. Latreille 1802
West 1988
Bivalvia
Bivalvia indet. Linnaeus 1758
West 1988
Gastropoda
Gastropoda indet. Cuvier 1795
West 1988
Reptilia
Sauropoda indet. Marsh 1878
Reptilia - Titanosauridae
Megaloolithidae indet. Zhao 1979
Barrett et al. 2010
Reptilia - Faveoloolithidae
Faveoloolithidae indet. Zhao and Ding 1976
Barrett et al. 2010
Reptilia - Theropoda
Theropoda indet. Marsh 1881
Ensom 1988
    = Carnosauria indet. Huene 1920
Ensom et al. 1994
2 types, large and small
Reptilia - Iguanodontidae
cf. Iguanodon sp. Mantell 1825
Ensom 1988
    = ? Iguanodontidae indet. Bonaparte 1850
Ensom et al. 1994
unclassified
Plantae indet. Haeckel 1866
West 1988
"plant debris"
cf. Thalassinoides sp. Ehrenberg 1944
see common names

Geography
Country:United Kingdom State/province:England County:Dorset
Coordinates: 50.6° North, 2.0° West (view map)
Paleocoordinates:41.5° North, 7.9° East
Basis of coordinate:based on nearby landmark
Altitude:0 meters
Geographic resolution:small collection
Time
Period: Cretaceous Epoch: Early Cretaceous
Stage: Berriasian 10 m.y. bin: Cretaceous 1
*Period:Late/Upper Jurassic *Epoch:Malm
*International age/stage:Tithonian
Key time interval: Middle Berriasian
Age range of interval: 142.7 - 140.6 m.y. ago
* legacy (obsolete) database fields
Stratigraphy
Geological group:Purbeck Formation:Lulworth Member:Worbarrow Tout
Stratigraphic resolution:bed
Stratigraphy comments: Uppermost Lulworth Beds of Casey 1963, lying just below the Cinder Member, the base of which currently marks the Jr/K boundary in Southern England. Section originally published by Ensom 1985. Fossils come from 2.2 m below the Cinder Member. Equivalent to DB103 and WB117 (listed as WB112 in error).
Cherty Freshwater Mbr = top of Worbarrow Tout Mbr
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology:burrows,shelly/skeletal cherty/siliceous,carbonaceous wackestone
Secondary lithology: argillaceous,calcareous claystone
Includes fossils?Y
Includes fossils?Y
Lithology description: footprints were made in a fine-grained mixture of smectite and illite and are preserved as casts on the base of the overlying cherty biomicrite. West 1988: "well-laminated and rather contorted, calcareous, sandy, carbonaceous shale. It contains plant debris, numerous bivalve fragments, ostracod valves, some quartz sand grains and vertebrate teeth. Some silicified gastropods and spherulites of chalcedony are present. Much of the calcite is micritic."
Environment:lacustrine - large
Geology comments: Conditions of deposition generally brackish or freshwater, though there are occasional appearances of almost normal marine faunas. Clays may represent mud flats bordering an extensive freshwater lake. "Waterlogged and in reducing conditions."
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:body,cast,trace
Size of fossils:macrofossils,mesofossils,microfossils
Spatial orientation:life position
Preservation of anatomical detail:medium
Associated major elements:some
Disassociated major elements:some
Temporal resolution:snapshot
Spatial resolution:autochthonous
Collection methods and comments
Collection methods:selective quarrying,surface (float),surface (in situ),field collection,observed (not collected)
Reason for describing collection:taxonomic analysis
Collectors:P. Ensom
Collection method comments: 19 footprints (9 forelimb, 10 hindlimb)
Metadata
Also known as:Langton Matravers, tracksite
Database number:28994
Authorizer:J. Alroy, M. Carrano Enterer:E. Leckey, M. Carrano
Modifier:M. Carrano Research group:vertebrate
Created:2003-03-10 15:17:10 Last modified:2022-09-30 15:35:02
Access level:the public Released:2003-03-10 15:17:10
Creative Commons license:CC BY
Reference information

Primary reference:
8336. P. C. Ensom. 1987. A remarkable new vertebrate site in the Purbeck Limestone Formation on the Isle of Purbeck. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 108:205-206 [J. Alroy/E. Leckey/E. Leckey]

Secondary references:

38206 P. M. Barrett, R. B. J. Benson, and P. Upchurch. 2010. Dinosaurs of Dorset: Part II, the sauropod dinosaurs (Saurischia, Sauropoda) with additional comments of the theropods. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 131:113-126 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
8338 P. C. Ensom. 1988. Excavations at Sunnydown Farm, Langton Matravers, Dorset: amphibians discovered in the Purbeck Limestone Formation. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 109:148-150 [J. Alroy/E. Leckey/M. Carrano]
31246ETE P. C. Ensom. 1989. Sunnydown Farm sauropod footprint site. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 110:167-168 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
31239ETE P. C. Ensom. 1990. Correction to 'A remarkable vertebrate site in the Purbeck Limestone Formation in the isle of Purbeck', P. C. Ensom, Dorset Proceedings, Vol. 108, 1987, pp. 205-206. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 111:133 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
14906ETE P. C. Ensom. 2002. Vertebrate trace fossils in the Purback Limestone Group of southern England. Special Papers in Palaeontology 68:203-220 [M. Carrano/K. Maguire/M. Carrano]
31269ETE P. C. Ensom, S. E. Evans, J. E. Francis, Z. Kielan-Jaworowska, and A. R. Milner. 1994. The fauna and flora of the Sunnydown Farm footprint site and associated sites: Purbeck Limestone Formation, Dorset. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 115:181-182 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
31240ETE J. F. Nunn. 1990. A new tridactyl footprint impression in Durlston Bay, Swanage. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 111:133-134 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
31238ETE I. M. West. 1988. Notes on some Purbeck sediments associated with the dinosaur footprints at Sunnydown Farm, near Langton Matravers, Dorset. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 109:153-154 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
14904ETE J. L. Wright. 1999. Ichnological evidence for the use of the forelimb in iguanodontid locomotion. In D. M. Unwin (ed.), Special Papers in Palaeontology. Cretaceous Fossil Vertebrates 60:209-219 [M. Carrano/K. Maguire/M. Carrano]