From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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]
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
^ 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 .
^ Rainforth, E.C. (2006). "Antipus flexiloquus – the earliest pterosaur tracks from North America?". Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs . 38 (2): 82.
^ 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 .
^
a
b
c Little, Richard D. (1982).
"Lithified Armored Mud Balls of the Lower Jurassic Turners Falls Sandstone, North-Central Massachusetts" . The Journal of Geology . 90 (2): 203–207.
doi :
10.1086/628665 .
ISSN
0022-1376 .
JSTOR
30070759 .
S2CID
140571464 .
^ Little, R. D. (2020). Exploring Franklin County, Western Massachusetts: Your Guide to Amazing Stories in Rocks & Landscapes . Easthampton, MA: Earth View LLC.
References