Macknight Bjerg Quarry: Norian, Greenland
collected 1991–1992

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Saurichthyiformes - Saurichthyidae
Coelacanthimorpha
Actinistia indet. (Cope 1870)
Amphibia - Temnospondyli - Plagiosauridae
49 specimens
6 skeletons and more than 35 variously complete skulls
    = Gerrothorax pulcherrimus Fraas 1913
Jenkins et al. 2008
Amphibia - Temnospondyli - Cyclotosauridae
MGUH.VP 9522 (MCZ field no. 15/92G), one large skull, smaller skull roof, jaws, centra and limb elements
Schoch and Milner 2000
    = Cyclotosaurus posthumus Fraas 1913
Damiani 2001
Marzola et al. 2017
Reptilia
Jenkins et al. 2001 1 individual
Partial postcranial skeleton and lower jaws
Reptilia - Pterosauria
1 individual
MCZ field no. 13/91G
Jenkins et al. 2001
MGUH VP 3393 (holotype), relatively complete skeleton
unclassified
Dipnoi indet. Müller 1884
Chondrichthyes - Hybodontiformes - Hybodontidae
see common names

Geography
Country:Greenland State/province:East Greenland
Coordinates: 71.4° North, 22.6° West (view map)
Paleocoordinates:43.9° North, 9.5° East (Wright 2013)
Basis of coordinate:stated in text
Geographic resolution:outcrop
Time
Period: Triassic Epoch: Late Triassic
Stage: Norian 10 m.y. bin: Triassic 4
*Period:Late/Upper Triassic
*International age/stage:Early/Lower Carnian - Late/Upper Rhaetian
Key time interval: Norian
Age range of interval: 227.3 - 205.7 m.y. ago
* legacy (obsolete) database fields
Stratigraphy
Geological group:Scoresby Land Formation:Fleming Fjord Member:Ørsted Dal
Stratigraphic resolution:group of beds
Stratigraphy comments: from the lower part of the informal "Carlsberg Fjord beds" of the Ørsted Dal member; this part of the sequences appears to late Norian according to Clemmensen et al. (1998, PPP, 140:135, fig. 3)
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology:planar lamination,red,blue silty,conglomeratic claystone
Secondary lithology:desiccation cracks,current ripples,wave ripples,"cross stratification" sandstone
Includes fossils?Y
Lithology description: member composed of "cyclic, bedded claystones or silty claystones and thin sandstones. This unit is also characterized by a well-developed composite cyclicity...The dominant facies in the cycles is red or violet claystone, or silty claystone with horizontal lamination. Commonly violet claystones are overlain by more silty, redbrown claystones. These claystones contain sandstone laminae, thin paleosols, and some infraformational conglomerates with bone fragments...The sandstones...are characterized by small-scale, wave-formed or current-formed cross-lamination and more rarely large-scale, current-formed cross-lamination. Upper bedding planes frequently contain dessication features, wave ripple marks, and dinosaur tracks."
Environment:lacustrine - small
Geology comments: "shallow or ephemeral lake influenced by predominant winds from the NNE."
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:body
Degree of concentration:concentrated
Size of fossils:macrofossils
Preservation of anatomical detail:good
Abundance in sediment:abundant
Associated major elements:some
Disassociated major elements:some
Disassociated minor elements:many
Fragmentation:occasional
Temporal resolution:snapshot
Collection methods and comments
Collection excludes:all microfossils,some genera,species names
Collection methods:selective quarrying,mechanical,field collection
Reason for describing collection:paleoecologic analysis
Museum repositories:MCZ
Collection dates:1991–1992
Metadata
Also known as:area V, Jameson Land
Database number:26995
Authorizer:M. Carrano, M. Clapham, R. Butler Enterer:M. Carrano, R. Butler, M. Clapham
Modifier:M. Carrano Research group:vertebrate
Created:2002-11-11 14:03:32 Last modified:2025-02-22 15:12:02
Access level:the public Released:2002-11-11 14:03:32
Creative Commons license:CC0
Reference information

Primary reference:
7466. F. A. Jenkins, N. H. Shubin, W. W. Amaral, S. M. Gatesy, C. R. Schaff, L. B. Clemmensen, W. R. Downs, A. R. Davidson, N. Bonde and F. Osbaeck. 1994. Late Triassic continental vertebrates and depositional environments of the Fleming Fjord Formation, Jameson Land, East Greenland. Meddelelser om Grønland, Geoscience 32:1-25 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]

Secondary references:

30410 R. J. Damiani. 2001. A systematic revision and phylogenetic analysis of Triassic mastodonsauroids (Temnospondyli: Stereospondyli). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 133(4):379-482 [J. Mueller/T. Liebrecht]
29536 F. A. Jenkins, N. H. Shubin, S. M. Gatesy and K. Padian. 2001. A diminutive pterosaur (Pterosauria: Eudimorphodontidae) from the Greenlandic Triassic. Bulletin Museum of Comparative Zoology 156(1):151-170 [R. Butler/R. Butler]
35632 F. A. Jenkins, N. H. Shubin, S. M. Gatesy and A. Warren. 2008. Gerrothorax pulcherrimus from the Upper Triassic Fleming Fjord Formation of East Greenland and a reassessment of head lifting in temnospondyl feeding. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 28(4):935-950 [R. Butler/R. Butler]
63029 M. Marzola, O. Mateus, N. H. Shubin and L. B. Clemmensen. 2017. Cyclotosaurus naraserluki, sp. nov., a new Late Triassic cyclotosaurid (Amphibia, Temnospondyli) from the Fleming Fjord Formation of the Jameson Land Basin (East Greenland). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 37(2):e1303501 [M. Clapham/M. Clapham/B. Allen]
28828 R. Schoch and A. R. Milner. 2000. Stereospondyli. Handbuch der Paläoherpetologie - Encyclopedia of Paleoherpetology 3B:1-203 [J. Mueller/T. Liebrecht]