Griman Creek Formation

Griman Creek Formation
Stratigraphic range: late Albian-early-mid Cenomanian
~106–98 Ma

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Griman Creek Formation; Stratigraphic range: late Albian-early-mid Cenomanian; ~106–98 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Type	Geological formation
Unit of	Rolling Downs Group
Sub-units	Coocoran Claystone & Wallangulla Sandstone Members
Underlies	Unconformity with Oligo-Miocene Cumborah Gravel
Overlies	Surat Siltstone, Wallumbilla Formation
Thickness	Up to 345 m (1,132 ft)
Lithology
Primary	Sandstone, siltstone, mudstone
Other	Conglomerate, coal
Location
Coordinates	[ ⚑ ] : 29°24′S 147°42′E / 29.4°S 147.7°E
Paleocoordinates	[ ⚑ ] 64°24′S 134°54′E / 64.4°S 134.9°E
Region	Queensland; New South Wales
Country	Australia
Extent	Surat Basin
Type section
Named for	Griman Creek
Named by	Reiser
Year defined	1970
	Griman Creek Formation (Australia)

The Griman Creek Formation is a geological formation in northern New South Wales and southern Queensland, Australia whose strata date back to the Albian-Cenomanian stages of the mid-Cretaceous.^[1] It is most notable being a major source of opal, found near the town of Lightning Ridge, New South Wales. Alongside the opal opalised fossils are also found, including those of dinosaurs and primitive monotremes.^[2]

Description

As a whole, the formation primarily consists of thinly bedded medium to fine sandstone, siltstone and mudstone, with sporadic coal seams. In the vicinity of Lightning Ridge, it is divided up into two informal members the underlying Wallangulla Sandstone Member which primarily consists of red fine grained sandstone, light siltstone and grey claystone and is up to 30 metres (98 ft) thick while the overlying Coocoran Claystone consists of about 10 metres of claystone. The contact between the two units is sudden and unconformable. Discontinuous clay lens beds within the Wallangulla Sandstone Member near Lightning Ridge, referred to as the Finch Clay Facies, are one of Australia's primary sources of commercial precious opal, with many mines dug in the area. These deposits are also the primary source of fossils within the formation, a large proportion of which are preserved as semi-precious opalized pseudomorphs. The fauna found in lightning ridge indicates that the depositional environment of the Finch Clay Facies was in near-coastal freshwater lagoons.^[1]

Background

See also: Surat Basin

Australia was located near the South Pole in the Early and Middle Cretaceous
GPlates reconstruction for 100 Ma (Albian-Cenomanian and Early and Late Cretaceous boundary)

Paleogeography of the Turonian (90 Ma)
Original map by Ron Blakey

Fossil content

Indeterminate avialan, euornithopod, and sauropod remains that were once misidentified as brachiosaurid are present in New South Wales, Australia.^[2] Euornithopod tracks are also present in New South Wales.^{[citation needed]}

Dipnoi

Dipnoi of the Griman Creek Formation
Taxa	Species	Presence	Material	Notes	Images
Metaceratodus wollastoni^[3]	M. wollastoni		Isolated tooth plates
C. diutinus		Isolated tooth plates
Neoceratodus potkooroki^[4]	N. potkooroki		Isolated tooth plates

Actinopterygii

Actinopterygians of the Griman Creek Formation
Taxa	Species	Presence	Material	Notes	Images
Calamopleurus?^[4]	sp.		Isolated jaw bones

Mammals

Mammals
Genus	Species	Presence	Notes	Images
Kollikodon	K. ritchiei
Steropodon	S. galmani
Stirtodon	S. elizabethae

Crocodyliformes

Crocodyliformes
Genus	Species	Presence	Notes	Images
Isisfordia	I. molnari	Lightning Ridge	Braincase and referred maxillary fragment^[5]

Dinosaurs

Indeterminate ornithopods and iguanodontians are known from the formation.^[6] Indeterminate avetheropods and megaraptorans are known from the formation.^[1] Two species of titanosauriforms and one species of titanosaur are known from teeth.^[7]

Dinosaurs
Genus	Species	Presence	Notes	Images
Fostoria	F. dhimbangunmal	New South Wales	A member of Rhabdodontomorpha.
Fulgurotherium	F. australe	New South Wales	^[2]
Rapator	R. ornitholestoides	New South Wales	A megaraptoran; "Manual element"^[2]^[8]
Walgettosuchus	W. woodwardi	New South Wales	"Vertebra"^[2]^[9] Later determined to be an indeterminate theropod^[2]
Weewarrasaurus	W. pobeni	New South Wales	An ornithopod known from an isolated dentary^[6]
Ankylosauria	Indeterminate		Osteoderm^[10]
Enantiornithes	Indeterminate
Megaraptora ("Lightning Claw")	Indeterminate	New South Wales	Partial skeleton including parts of the lower arm, claws, lower leg, part of the hip, and pieces of ribs.^[11]
Noasauridae	Indeterminate		Cervical vertebra^[12]
Sauropoda	Indeterminate		A tooth

Pterosaurs

Pterosaurs
Genus	Species	Presence	Notes	Images
Anhangueria	Indeterminate		"two isolated tooth crowns", possible limb elements^{[citation needed]}

Testudines

Turtles
Genus	Species	Presence	Notes	Images
Spoochelys	S. ormondea		Perichelydian stem-turtle^[13]^[14]
Chelidae	Indeterminate^[15]

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 Bell et al., 2019
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 ^2.3 ^2.4 ^2.5 Weishampel et al., 2004, pp.573-574
↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named 4species
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 Rodney W. Berrell, Lionel Cavin, Kate Trinajstic, Catherine Boisvert, Elizabeth T. Smith, The first record of amiid fishes (Halecomorphi, Amiiformes, Amiidae, Calamopleurini?) from Eastern Gondwana, Cretaceous Research, 2023, 105538, ISSN 0195-6671, doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2023.105538.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0195667123000666
↑ Hart et al., 2019
↑ ^6.0 ^6.1 Bell et al., 2018
↑ Frauenfelder et al. 2020
↑ "Table 4.1," in Weishampel et al., 2004, p.74
↑ "Table 4.1," in Weishampel et al., 2004, p.78
↑ Bell et al., 2017
↑ Bell et al. 2016
↑ Brougham et al., 2020
↑ T-Bone Extension, Coocoran Opal Fields at Fossilworks.org
↑ Smith et al., 2013
↑ Smith, Elizabeth T. (September 2010). "Early Cretaceous chelids from Lightning Ridge, New South Wales" (in en). Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology 34 (3): 375–384. doi:10.1080/03115518.2010.488117. ISSN 0311-5518. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03115518.2010.488117.

Bibliography

Frauenfelder, Timothy G.; Nicolàs E. Campione; Elizabeth T. Smith, and Phil R. Bell. 2020. Diversity and palaeoecology of Australia's southern‐most sauropods, Griman Creek Formation (Cenomanian), New South Wales, Australia. Lethaia 54. 354-367. Accessed 2020-11-09.
Brougham, Tom; Elizabeth T. Smith, and Phil R. Bell. 2020. Noasaurids are a component of the Australian 'mid'-Cretaceous theropod fauna. Scientific Reports 10. 1428. Accessed 2020-01-29. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-57667-7 ISSN 2045-2322
Bell, Phil R.; Federico Fanti; Lachlan J. Hart; Luke A. Milan; Stephen J. Craven; Thomas Brougham, and Elizabeth Smith. 2019. Revised geology, age, and vertebrate diversity of the dinosaur-bearing Griman Creek Formation (Cenomanian), Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, Australia. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 514. 655–671. Accessed 2020-01-29. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.11.020
Hart, Lachlan J.; Phil R. Bell; Elizabeth T. Smith, and Steven W. Salisbury. 2019. Isisfordia molnari sp. nov., a new basal eusuchian from the mid-Cretaceous of Lightning Ridge, Australia. PeerJ 7. e7166. Accessed 2020-01-29. doi:10.7717/peerj.7166 ISSN 2167-8359 PMC 6590469 PMID 31275756
Bell, Phil R.; Matthew C. Herne; Tom Brougham, and Elizabeth T. Smith. 2018. Ornithopod diversity in the Griman Creek Formation (Cenomanian), New South Wales, Australia. PeerJ 6. e6008. Accessed 2020-01-29. doi:10.7717/peerj.6008 PMID 30533306 PMC 6284429
Bell, Phil R.; Michael E. Burns, and Elizabeth T. Smith. 2017. A probable ankylosaurian (Dinosauria, Thyreophora) from the Early Cretaceous of New South Wales, Australia. Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology 42. 120–124. Accessed 2017-10-23. doi:10.1080/03115518.2017.1384851 ISSN 0311-5518
Bell, Phil R.; Andrea Cau; Federico Fanti, and Elizabeth T. Smith. 2016. A large-clawed theropod (Dinosauria: Tetanurae) from the Lower Cretaceous of Australia and the Gondwanan origin of megaraptorid theropods. Gondwana Research 36. 473-487. Accessed 2020-11-09.
Smith, Elizabeth T, and Benjamin P. Kear. 2013. Spoochelys ormondea gen. et sp. nov., an Archaic Meiolaniid-Like Turtle from the Early Cretaceous of Lightning Ridge, Australia. Morphology and Evolution of Turtles Brinkman, Donald B.; Holroyd, Patricia A.; Gardner, James D.. 121–146. Accessed 2019-10-04. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-4309-0_9 ISBN 9789400743083
Weishampel, David B.; Peter Dodson, and Halszka Osmólska (eds.). 2004. The Dinosauria, 2nd edition, 1–880. Berkeley: University of California Press. Accessed 2019-02-21. ISBN:0-520-24209-2

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Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griman Creek Formation. Read more

[:0-1] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 Bell et al., 2019

[cretaceousdistribution-2] 2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 ^2.3 ^2.4 ^2.5 Weishampel et al., 2004, pp.573-574

[4species-3] Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named 4species

[:1-4] 4.0 ^4.1 Rodney W. Berrell, Lionel Cavin, Kate Trinajstic, Catherine Boisvert, Elizabeth T. Smith, The first record of amiid fishes (Halecomorphi, Amiiformes, Amiidae, Calamopleurini?) from Eastern Gondwana, Cretaceous Research, 2023, 105538, ISSN 0195-6671, doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2023.105538.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0195667123000666

[Hart2019-5] Hart et al., 2019

[bell2018-6] 6.0 ^6.1 Bell et al., 2018

[7] Frauenfelder et al. 2020

[table-4-1-74-8] "Table 4.1," in Weishampel et al., 2004, p.74

[table-4-1-78-9] "Table 4.1," in Weishampel et al., 2004, p.78

[Bell2017-10] Bell et al., 2017

[11] Bell et al. 2016

[Brougham2020-12] Brougham et al., 2020

[FWSpoochelys-13] T-Bone Extension, Coocoran Opal Fields at Fossilworks.org

[Smith2013-14] Smith et al., 2013

[15] Smith, Elizabeth T. (September 2010). "Early Cretaceous chelids from Lightning Ridge, New South Wales" (in en). Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology 34 (3): 375–384. doi:10.1080/03115518.2010.488117. ISSN 0311-5518. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03115518.2010.488117.

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