Inferior Oolite

Inferior Oolite Group
Stratigraphic range: Aalenian – Bathonian (Middle Jurassic)

Inferior Oolite at Leckhampton Hill, Gloucestershire.
Type Group
Underlies Great Oolite Group
Overlies Lias Group
Thickness 0 - 120m
Lithology
Primary limestones
Other sandstone, mudstone
Location
Country England

The Inferior Oolite is a sequence of Jurassic age sedimentary rocks in Europe. It was deposited during the Middle Jurassic.[1] The Inferior Oolite Group as more recently defined is a Jurassic lithostratigraphic group (a sequence of rock strata) in southern and eastern England . It has been variously known in the past as the Under Oolite (or Oolyte), the Inferior Oolite, the Inferior Oolite Series and the Redbourne Group.[2]

Outcrops

The rocks are exposed from Dorset and Somerset eastwards and northwards through the English Midlands to Yorkshire.[3] It is present at depth in the Wessex-Weald Basin, where it reaches its greatest thickness of 120m. There are also restricted outcrops on the Isle of Skye in western Scotland.

Lithology and stratigraphy

Inferior Oolite (Doulting Stone) at Doulting Stone Quarry, England.

The Group comprises up to 120m thickness of oolitic limestones and subordinate sandstones and mudstones laid down during the Jurassic Period. In the East Midlands it comprises (in descending order i.e. oldest last) the Lincolnshire Limestone, Grantham and Northampton Sand formations whereas in the Cotswold Hills it comprises the Salperton Limestone, Aston Limestone and Birdlip Limestone formations.[4][5] The limestones are rich in organic material. The ammonite Parkinsonia parkinsoni, an index fossil for the Bathonian,[6] is native to the Inferior Oolite of Burton Bradstock.

Vertebrate fauna

Ornithopod tracks geographically located in North Yorkshire, England.[1] Ornithopod and theropod tracks present in North Yorkshire, England.[7]

Color key
Taxon Reclassified taxon Taxon falsely reported as present Dubious taxon or junior synonym Ichnotaxon Ootaxon Morphotaxon
 Notes
Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; crossed out taxa are discredited.
Dinosaurs of the Inferior Oolite
Genus Species Location Stratigraphic position Material Notes Images

Cetiosaurus

C. epioolithicus
  • North Yorkshire, England.[7]
Magnosaurus
Megalosaurus
Megalosaurus

Indeterminate
  • Wiltshire, England.[8]

Duriavenator

D. hesperis
  • Dorset, England.[9]

"Skull elements."[10]

Magnosaurus[9]

M. nethercombensis[9]
  • Dorset, England.[9]

"Dentaries, vertebrae, pubis, femora, [and] tibiae."[10]

Megalosaurus[1]

M. bucklandii

M. hesperis[1]
  • Dorset, England.[9]

"Skull elements."[10]

Moved to the new genus Duriavenator in 2008.

Indeterminate
  • Northamptonshire, England.[13]
  • Somerset, England.[14]

Stegosauridae

Indeterminate
  • Dorset, England.[1]

Previously referred to Stegosaurus.

See also

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution (Middle Jurassic, Europe)." In: Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 538–541. ISBN 0-520-24209-2.
  2. ↑ Waters, C.N. et al. 2007 Stratigraphical Chart of the United Kingdom: Southern Britain British Geological Survey (poster)
  3. ↑ British Geological Survey 1:50,000 scale geological map (England & Wales) sheets
  4. ↑ http://www.bgs.ac.uk/Lexicon/lexicon.cfm?pub=INO (BGS on-line lexicon of rock units)
  5. ↑ Waters, C.N. et al 2007 Stratigraphical Chart of the United Kingdom:Southern Britain British Geological Survey (poster)
  6. ↑ Wynn Jones, R: Applied Paleontology. page 146, Cambridge University Press
  7. 1 2 "Dinosaur distribution (Middle Jurassic; Europe; North Yorkshire, England)." Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 539.
  8. ↑ "Dinosaur distribution (Middle Jurassic; Europe; Wiltshire, England)." Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 540.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 "Dinosaur distribution (Middle Jurassic; Europe; Dorset, England)." Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 539.
  10. 1 2 3 "Table 4.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 73.
  11. ↑ "Dinosaur distribution (Middle Jurassic; Europe; Gloucestershire, England)." Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 538.
  12. ↑ BENSON, R. B. J. (2009), AN ASSESSMENT OF VARIABILITY IN THEROPOD DINOSAUR REMAINS FROM THE BATHONIAN (MIDDLE JURASSIC) OF STONESFIELD AND NEW PARK QUARRY, UK AND TAXONOMIC IMPLICATIONS FOR MEGALOSAURUS BUCKLANDII AND ILIOSUCHUS INCOGNITUS. Palaeontology, 52: 857–877. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-4983.2009.00884.x
  13. ↑ "Dinosaur distribution (Middle Jurassic; Europe; Northamptonshire, England)." Weishampel, et al. (2004). Pages 539-540.
  14. ↑ "Dinosaur distribution (Middle Jurassic; Europe; Somerset, England)." Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 538.

References


Preceded by Proterozoic Eon Phanerozoic Eon
Paleozoic Era Mesozoic Era Cenozoic Era
Cambrian Ordovician Silurian Devonian Carboniferous Permian Triassic Jurassic Cretaceous Paleogene Neogene 4ry


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