US59, Ravenscrag Butte flora (Paleocene of Canada)

Where: Saskatchewan, Canada (49.5° N, 109.0° W: paleocoordinates 55.6° N, 85.6° W)

• coordinate stated in text

When: Ravenscrag Formation, Paleocene (66.0 - 56.0 Ma)

• The stratigraphic position of the collection is given relative to the No. 1 coal zone, which is approximately at the base of the formation. US59 is located in a block found at the base of section beneath locality US1.

Environment/lithology: terrestrial; claystone

• During the early Tertiary, most of southern Saskatchewan was a broad alluvial plain dominated by meandering river systems. Locally, at the Ravenscrag Butte site, small lakes or ponds, sluggish streams, swamps and lowland forests successively dominated the area over a period of perhaps 2 million years.
• The Ravenscrag Formation consists of interbedded, nonmarine clays, silts, sands, and lignite. The measured section at the Ravenscrag Butte site is about 67 m thick, and lithologically, the formation in divided into two facies; the lower 38 metres comprises the grey facies, the upper 29 metres, the buff facies. At a distance, the two facies are easily distinguishable on the basis of colour. Commonly, the buff facies are less than 31 m thick in measured sections due to erosion or cover at the top. There are four conspicuous beds of coal or coaly shale in the sections at Ravenscrag Butte, including the No. 1 coal zone. The fourth coal zone marks the transition from grey to buff facies. Locality US59 is a grey clay block.

Size class: macrofossils

Preservation: adpression

Collection methods: salvage, surface (float),

Primary reference: E. E. McIver and J. F. Basinger. 1993. Flora of the Ravenscrag Formation (Paleocene), Southwestern Saskatchewan, Canada. Palaeontographica Canadiana 10:1-85 [R. Lupia/B. Wilborn/B. Wilborn]more details

Purpose of describing collection: paleoecologic analysis

PaleoDB collection 34428: authorized by Rick Lupia, entered by Brooke Wilborn on 31.08.2003

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
 Animalia -
Animalia "Unidentified insect wing 1"
Gastropoda
 Stylommatophora - Subulinidae
Fortuna marsilioides
Fortuna marsilioides slug
Fortuna marsilioides comb. nov.
unclassified
  -
Plantae "Unidentified leaf 4", Plantae "Unidentified leaf 5"
Angiospermae
 Sapindales - Sapindaceae
cf. Sapindus grandifoliolus
cf. Sapindus grandifoliolus Ward 1885 soapnut
 Saxifragales - Cercidiphyllaceae
Trochodendroides flabella
Trochodendroides flabella
Trochodendroides flabella comb. nov.
 Cornales - Cornaceae
Cornophyllum newberryi
Cornophyllum newberryi
Cornophyllum newberryi comb. nov.
 Mesangiosperms - Araceae
Pistia corrugata
Pistia corrugata Lesquereux 1874 water cabbage
Magnoliopsida
  -
Dicotylophyllum anomalum
Lycopodiopsida
 Isoetales - Isoetaceae
cf. Isoetites horridus
cf. Isoetites horridus Dawson 1883 clubmoss
Stems, sporangia, microspores, megaspores