This formation may be part of the larger
Sachrang Formation,[5] which also outcrops in Luxembourg, among other countries. The type locality is the
Edward Steichen Industrial Zone near
Bascharage and it is part of a near-continuous layer of hard, finely laminated, micritic
carbonate nodules.[2]
Fossils have been found in the Schistes bitumineux since at least the 1930s,[6] and the formation has been studied since at least 1938.[7] The Schistes bitumineux was identified as being a unit of the
Sachrang Formation shortly after its discovery.[1]
Henrotay et al. (1989) produced a detailed list of the known fossils from the Schistes bitumineux.[8]
The Serpentinum
Chronozone and
Exaratum Subchronozone were identified by Page (2003) based on ammonite remains found in the area.[9]
In May 2022, during the Lost Ocean Digging, the
National Museum of Natural History excavated the lower part of the formation for the first time. The lower part of the formation was described in more detail by Fuchs, Weis & Thuy (2024).[2]
^HENROTAY, M., MARQUES, D., Paicheler, J. C., Gall, J. C., & NEL, A. (1998). Le Toarcien inférieur des régions de Bascharage et de Bettembourg (Grand-Duché du Luxembourg): évidences paléontologiques et sédimentologiques d'environnements restreints proches de l'émersion. Geodiversitas, 20(2), 263-284.
^
abBode, A. (1933). Chondroteuthis wunnenbergi n.g. n.sp., eine neue Belemnoideenform, in günstiger Erhaltung. Sonderabdruck Aus Dem 25 Jahresbericht Des Niedersächsischen Geologischen Vereins Zu Hannover (geologische Abteilung Der Naturhistorischen Gesellschaft Zu Hannover),25, 33–66.
^Woodward, A. S. (1938). On a specimen of Pachycormus from the Schistes de Grandcour (sic) at
Bascharage. Bulletin Du Musée Royal D’histoire Naturelle De Belgique,14(48), 1–2.
^Teichert, S., & Nützel, A. (2015). Early Jurassic anoxia triggered the evolution of the oldest holoplanktonic gastropod Coelodiscus minutus by means of heterochrony. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica,60(2), 269–276.
^Szwedo, J., Weis, R. & A. Nel (2017). A bizarre sternorrhynchan wing from the Lower Jurassicof Luxembourg (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha: Pincombeomorpha?). Historical Biology, 31(6), 806–812.