Whitecliff Bay, Middle Headon Beds (Bed 24), Isle of Wight (Eocene of the United Kingdom)

Where: England, United Kingdom (50.7° N, 1.1° W: paleocoordinates 49.2° N, 5.0° W)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

When: Middle Member (Headon Beds Formation), Late/Upper Eocene (37.2 - 33.9 Ma)

• This author numbers beds for the whole area (multiple formations) in one series, this is bed number 24. Prestwich says that this bed belongs to the "Upper Group" of the fluvio-marine series, I have correlated it with Bosma's naming system as the Middle Headon Beds.

• bed-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: sandy marl and brown, gray, green, argillaceous, calcareous sandstone

• marls and limestone, this bed is "Alternating brown, grey and greenish grey marly sand with light yellow and brown partings-contains numerous tolerably firm casts and impressions of shells very delicately marked, but no shell remains."

Size class: macrofossils

Preservation: cast, mold/impression, trace

Primary reference: J. Prestwich. 1846. On the Tertiary or SupraCretaceous Formations of the Isle of Wight as exhibited in the sections at Alum Bay and White Cliff Bay. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 2:233-259 [J. Alroy/E. Leckey/E. Leckey]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 40771: authorized by John Alroy, entered by Erin Leckey on 30.06.2004

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Actinopteri
 Teleostei -
Teleostei indet.
bones and scales
Bivalvia
 Ostreida - Ostreidae
"Ostrea flabellula" = Cubitostrea flabellula
"Ostrea flabellula" = Cubitostrea flabellula Lamarck 1806 oyster
 Cardiida - Veneridae
Cytherea incrassata Sowerby 1817 venus clam
 Cardiida - Cyrenidae
Cyrena obovata clam
frequently bored
Gastropoda
 Neritoidea - Neritidae
 Cerithioidea - Thiaridae
"Melania fasciata" = Thiara
"Melania fasciata" = Thiara snail
 Cerithioidea - Melanopsidae
Melanopsis sp. FĂ©russac 1807 snail
 Cerithioidea - Potamididae
 Cerithioidea - Turritellidae
Turritella sp. Lamarck 1799 turret shell
 Sorbeoconcha - Naticidae
Natica sp. Scopoli 1777 moon snail
 Neogastropoda - Nassariidae
 Neogastropoda - Volutidae
Voluta sp. Linnaeaus 1758 volute