Turners_Falls_Formation

Turners Falls Formation

Turners Falls Formation

Add article description


The Turners Falls Formation or Turners Falls Sandstone is an Early Jurassic geological formation in Massachusetts. Various reptile tracks and footprints are known from this strata. These include Antipus flexiloquus, which has been interpreted as belonging to a small quadrupedal reptile[1] or a pterosaur,[2] though it is most likely a crocodylomorph.[3]

Quick Facts Type, Unit of ...

The formation is thought to represent the distal zones of three alluvial fans flowing west into a semiarid rift valley formed by a Mesozoic graben.[4] These deposits represent the first infilling of the lowland that would one day become the Connecticut River Valley.[4]

In addition to trace fossils, the Turners Falls Formation bears some of the most well-preserved specimens of armored mud balls in the world.[4][5]

See also


References

  1. Coombs, Walter P. (1996). "Redescription of the ichnospecies Antipus flexiloquus Hitchcock, from the Early Jurassic of the Connecticut Valley". Journal of Paleontology. 70 (2): 327–331. doi:10.1017/S0022336000023416. ISSN 0022-3360. S2CID 132779327.
  2. Rainforth, E.C. (2006). "Antipus flexiloquus – the earliest pterosaur tracks from North America?". Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. 38 (2): 82.
  3. Whyte, M. A.; Romano, M. (2014-05-01). "First record of the pterosaur footprint Pteraichnus from the Saltwick Formation (Aalenian) of the Cleveland Basin, Yorkshire, UK". Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society. 60 (1): 19–27. doi:10.1144/pygs2014-338. ISSN 0044-0604.
  4. Little, R. D. (2020). Exploring Franklin County, Western Massachusetts: Your Guide to Amazing Stories in Rocks & Landscapes. Easthampton, MA: Earth View LLC.

References



Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Turners_Falls_Formation, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.