840 ft, Crowsnest River ["Colorado Shale"] (Cretaceous of Canada)

Where: Alberta, Canada (49.6° N, 114.7° W: paleocoordinates 54.3° N, 75.8° W)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Scaphites ventricosus ammonoid zone, Middle Coniacian (89.3 - 85.8 Ma)

• STRATIGRAPHIC RELATIONS: In the Rocky Mountain Foothills of Alberta the units corresponding to the Colorado Group are the Crowsnest Volcanics, Blackstone Formation, Cardium Formation, and the lower part of the Wapiabi Formation, in order of decreasing age. The Colorado Shale is obsolete as a lithostratigraphic unit in Alberta, but a reliable replacement name for these collections could not be found. AGE: Coniacian, on the basis of ammonite biostratigraphy; Scaphites ventricosus zone. STRATIGRAPHIC POSITION: From 840 ft above base of section.

• bed-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: marine; lithified, concretionary, argillaceous shale

• ENVIRONMENT: Marine siliciclastic.
• SPECIFIC LITHOLOGY: Dominantly argillaceous, incorporating subordinate shaly conglomerate, sandstone and siltstone. LITHIFICATION: Lithified, on the basis of figured specimens.

Size class: macrofossils

Preservation: mold/impression, concretion

Collected by McLearn; reposited in the NMC

Collection methods: surface (in situ),

• COLLECTOR: Not stated, but possibly F. H. McLearn. REPOSITORY: National Museum of Canada.

Primary reference: F. H. McLearn. 1929. Mesozoic Palaeontology of Blairmore Region: Stratigraphic Palaeontology. National Museum of Canada Bulletin 58:80-107 [A. Hendy/A. Hendy]more details

Purpose of describing collection: general faunal/floral analysis

PaleoDB collection 87511: authorized by Austin Hendy, entered by Austin Hendy on 18.03.2009

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

• COVERAGE: Exhaustive for ammonoids and bivalves. NOMENCLATURE: Supported by authoritative publications, with somewhat antiquated nomenclature, but species resolution.
Cephalopoda
 Ammonitida - Scaphitidae
Scaphites ventricosus Meek and Hayden 1862 ammonite
 Ammonitida - Baculitidae
Baculites cf. asper Morton 1830 ammonite
Bivalvia
 Myalinida - Inoceramidae
Inoceramus undabundus, "Inoceramus exogyroides" = Volviceramus exogyroides
Inoceramus undabundus Meek and Hayden 1862 clam
"Inoceramus exogyroides" = Volviceramus exogyroides Meek and Hayden 1862 clam
 Pectinida - Oxytomidae
Pteria cf. nebrascana Evans and Shumard 1857 scallop