Excavating a vertebrate‐bearing horizon in the Upper Triassic sediments of North Mendip

Carpenter, Simon

doi:10.1046/j.1365-2451.2001.0010a.x

Cited by 3 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…In the 1880s, Stowey Quarry was a long, narrow strip, running north-south, but since then it expanded eastwards, with planning permission for extraction of the Lias for building and road foundations in 1954 and 1998, forming a roughly square excavation of more than 20 acres (Figs. 2, 3c ;Carpenter, 2001). The quarry owners received planning permission for tipping of demolition and construction waste and other inert materials, in 1980, with a further permission in 2007 to develop a materials recycling facility.…”

Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In 1999, Simon Carpenter and Richard Wilkins, two amateur palaeontologists, excavated a fossiliferous level occurring in the "Pre-Planorbis beds" (Fig. 2a and b), recovering a fossil assemblage rich in marine vertebrates, including marine reptiles, as well as fronds of the cycadeoid plant Otozamites and fish remains (Carpenter, 2001). At the same time, Hesselbo et al (2004) were measuring stratigraphic thicknesses, sedimentary facies indicators, and stable isotopes through Triassic-Jurassic boundary sections across SW England, and they included Stowey Quarry as a key location, recording a composite section from Stowey and nearby Chilcompton (Hesselbo et al, 2004, Fig. 1) and noting a major negative carbon isotope excursion there corresponding to the level of the Cotham Marble.…”

Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Rhaetian microvertebrate fauna from Stowey Quarry, Somerset, U.K.

Cavicchini

Heyworth

Duffin

et al. 2018

Proceedings of the Geologists' Association

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Rhaetian bone beds have been described from many locations in south-west England, around Bristol. One site that has never been reported is Stowey Quarry, some 13 km south of Bristol. This quarry yielded Lias, and revealed thin Rhaetian units in the quarry floor, including two bone beds, the basal Rhaetian bone bed, and a second, higher bone bed, also within the Westbury Formation. The fossil fauna of both includes elements typical of Rhaetian bone beds elsewhere, but showing differences in faunal composition between the two. The basal bone bed yielded more specimens and more species, with three taxa (Sargodon tomicus,Rhomphaiodon minor and Hybodus cloacinus) exclusive to this bed and eleven identified in total. Severnichthys acuminatus accounts for more than 50% of the countable teeth from the basal bone bed, followed by Gyrolepis albertii with 20%, Lissodus minimus with 14% and Rhomphaiodon minor with 9%. The basal bone bed, as ever, is dominated by chondrichthyans, whereas the upper bone bed is dominated by osteichthyans, which form 90% of the non-dental remains. The only unique taxon is Dapedium, and Gyrolepis albertii is the most abundant species with 45% of countable teeth, followed by Severnichthys acuminatus with 38% and Duffinselache holwellensis with 11%. These faunal differences, and the equally good condition of specimens between both samples confirms that the upper bone bed is independent of the basal bone bed, and is not a reworked subsample.

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Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Rhaetian microvertebrate fauna from Stowey Quarry, Somerset, U.K.

Cavicchini

Heyworth

Duffin

et al. 2018

Proceedings of the Geologists' Association

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“…Over several years, a good relationship was made with the quarry owner so that the vertebrate‐bearing horizon was left intact and undisturbed during normal quarrying. The material could then be examined and the fossils extracted in situ (Carpenter, ).…”

Section: Geological Setting and History Of The Specimenmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At Sutton Hill Quarry, Donovan () recorded approximately 1.5 m of Pre‐planorbis beds above the top of the White Lias (i.e., the Sun Bed). Although this relationship might suggest that the basal Pre‐planorbis beds are the latest Triassic, the condensed sequence (the “fossil bed” of Carpenter, ) with relatively abundant, isolated, and vertebrate elements such as BRSMG Cg2405 indicates a possible disconformity. To test the possibility that a stratigraphic gap occurs between the White Lias and the Blue Lias at Sutton Hill Quarry, a sample of matrix from the new specimen was analysed at the University of Birmingham, UK.…”

Section: Geological Setting and History Of The Specimenmentioning

confidence: 99%

An ichthyosaur from the UK Triassic–Jurassic boundary: A second specimen of the leptonectid ichthyosaur Wahlisaurus massarae Lomax 2016

Lomax

Evans

Carpenter³

2018

Geological Journal

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The holotype of Wahlisaurus massarae is known only from a partial skull and postcranial skeleton from the Lower Jurassic, collected near Normanton on Soar, Nottinghamshire, UK. It is diagnosed relative to other ichthyosaurs on the basis of autapomorphies of the coracoid and a unique combination of characters. Here, we report a second specimen of W. massarae. The new specimen comprises a practically complete right coracoid that clearly shows the unique morphology of W. massarae. This specimen was collected in situ from a quarry in Somerset, from the base of the Blue Lias Formation, which corresponds to the Triassic-Jurassic boundary (uppermost Rhaetian or lowermost Hettangian), extending the geographic and stratigraphic range of the species. Furthermore, the coracoid of the new specimen is 20% anteroposteriorly longer than in the holotype, representing a larger individual. In light of preparation and the identification of additional fragments of the holotype, a redescription of the skull morphology of the holotype, as well as comparison with the skull roof of Leptonectes tenuirostris, is included.

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“…Ichthyosaurus has previously been reported from the uppermost Triassic (Rhaetian) of Somerset (McGowan & Motani 2003), but recent studies suggested that specimens from Somerset are probably from the lowermost Jurassic (Hettangian; Benson et al 2012Benson et al , 2015Lomax & Massare 2017). However, DRL recently examined specimens of Ichthyosaurus currently held in a private collection that were collected in situ from the base of the Liassic Group (probably Rhaetian) of northern Somerset (Carpenter 2001). Thus it is plausible that some specimens of Ichthyosaurus in historical collections are from the Rhaetian.…”

Section: Systematic Palaeontologymentioning

confidence: 99%