Maastricht Formation

Short description: Geological formation in the Netherlands and Belgium

Maastricht Formation
Stratigraphic range: Maastrichtian-Danian

PreЄ

Old stone quarry at Kunrade, where the Kunrade Member of the Maastricht Formation outcrops

Type| Geological formation
Sub-units| Meerssen Member, Nekum Member, Emael Member, Schiepersberg Member, Gronsveld Member, Valkenburg Member and Kunrade Member
Underlies| Houthem Formation
Overlies| Gulpen Formation
Thickness| 30–90 m (98–295 ft)
Lithology
Primary| Chalk
Other| Marl, flint
Location
Region| Europe
Country|  Netherlands
Belgium
Type section
Named for| Maastricht
Named by| Dumont
Year defined| 1849

The Maastricht Formation (Dutch: Formatie van Maastricht; abbreviation: MMa), named after the city of Maastricht in the Netherlands, is a geological formation in the Netherlands and Belgium whose strata date back to the Late Cretaceous, within 500,000 years of the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary,[1] now dated at 66 million years ago. The formation is part of the Chalk Group and is between 30 and 90 metres (98 and 295 ft) thick. It crops out in southern parts of Dutch and Belgian Limburg and adjacent areas in Germany . It can be found in the subsurface of northern Belgium and southeastern Netherlands, especially in the Campine Basin and Roer Valley Graben. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.[2]

## Contents

* 1 Lithology
* 2 Stratigraphy
* 3 Vertebrate paleofauna
* 3.1 Dinosaurs
* 3.2 Mammals
* 3.3 Mosasaurs
* 3.4 Testudines
* 3.5 Invertebrates
* 4 See also
* 5 References

## Lithology

The Maastricht Formation consists of soft, sandy shallow marine limestone (in Limburg locally called "mergel"), in fact chalk and calcareous arenite. These lithologies locally alternate with thin bands of marl or clay. The lower parts of the formation contain flint concretions. The upper parts can have shellrich layers. Its age is between about 70 and 66 million years, which puts it in the Maastrichtian, a stage that was named after the formation. The top of the formation has been identified as Danian (early Paleocene) in age.[3][4] The type locality is at the ruins of Lichtenberg castle on Mount Saint Peter, Maastricht.

## Stratigraphy

The Maastricht Formation was first described by Belgian geologist André Dumont in 1849. The formation is subdivided in seven members, from top to bottom these are the Meerssen Member, Nekum Member, Emael Member, Schiepersberg Member, Gronsveld Member, Valkenburg Member and Kunrade Member. The members are often hard to distinguish.[5]

The Maastricht Formation is overlain by the Paleocene Houthem Formation and was deposited on top of the older Gulpen Formation.

## Vertebrate paleofauna

### Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs reported from the Maastricht Formation

Genus  | Species  | Location  | Stratigraphic position  | Material  | Notes  | Images
Asteriornis | A. maastrichtensis[6] |  |  | Limb bones and a mostly complete skull  | A stem-Galloanserae  |
Betasuchus | B. bredai | Geographically present in the Dutch province of Limburg.  |  | "Femur."[7] | An abelisauroid.[2] |
Janavis | J. finalidens[8] |  |  |  | An ichthyornithine  |
~~Megalosaurus~~ | M. bredai | Geographically present in the Dutch province of Limburg.  |  |  | Reclassified as Betasuchus bredai.[2] |
Orthomerus | O. dolloi | Geographically present in the Dutch and Belgian provinces of Limburg.  |  |  | A dubious hadrosaurid.[2] |
Indeterminate euhadrosaurian remains  |  | Geographically present in the Dutch province of Limburg.  |  |  | A hadrosauroid.[2] |
"Unnamed ornithurine"  | Unnamed  |  |  |  | An ornithurine.[1][9] |
"Unnamed enantiornithine"  | Unnamed  |  |  |  | An enantiornithine.[1][9] |

### Mammals

Mammals reported from the Maastricht Formation

Genus  | Species  | Location  | Stratigraphic position  | Material  | Notes  | Images

Maastrichtidelphys

M. meurismeti

| Geographically present in the Dutch province of Limburg.  |  |

"Right upper molar."

A herpetotheriid marsupial.[10]

### Mosasaurs

Mosasaurs reported from the Maastricht Formation

Genus  | Species  | Location  | Stratigraphic position  | Material  | Notes  | Images

Carinodens

C. belgicus

|  |  |  |  | Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination

C. fraasi

|  |  |  |

Junior synonym of C. belgicus.

~~Globidens~~

G. fraasi

|  |  |  |

Reclassified as Carinodens fraasi

Liodon

L. sectorius

|  |  |  |  |

Mosasaurus

M. hoffmannii

|  |  |  | Holotype | Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination

M. lemonnieri

|  |  |  |  |

Plioplatecarpus

P. marshi

|  |  |  |  |

"Prognathodon"

"P. saturator"

|  |  |  |

### Testudines

* Glyptochelone suyckerbuyki
* Allopleuron hoffmani

### Invertebrates

Invertebrates reported from the Maastricht Formation

Genus  | Species  | Location  | Stratigraphic position  | Material  | Notes  | Images

Maastrichtiocaris[11]

M. rostratus

|  | Middle Meerssen Member  | Carapace  | A cyclidan crustcean, youngest member of the group, has also alternatively been suggested to be a crab.  |

## See also

* List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Longrich, N.R.; Tokaryk, T.; Field, D.J. (2011). "Mass extinction of birds at the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) boundary". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108 (37): 15253–15257. doi:10.1073/pnas.1110395108. PMID 21914849. Bibcode: 2011PNAS..10815253L.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution (Late Cretaceous, Europe)." In: Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 588-593. ISBN 0-520-24209-2.
3. ↑ Vellekoop, J., Van Tilborgh, K.H., Van Knippenberg, P., Jagt, J.W.M., Stassen, P., Goolaerts, S. and Speijer, R.P. (2020), Type‐Maastrichtian gastropod faunas show rapid ecosystem recovery following the Cretaceous–Palaeogene boundary catastrophe. Palaeontology, 63: 349-367. doi:10.1111/pala.12462
4. ↑ John W.M. Jagt, Werner M. Felder, Rudi W. Dortangs & Jacques Severijns (1996) The Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary in the Maastrichtian type area (SE Netherlands, NE Belgium); a historical account, Geologie en Mijnbouw 75: 107-118
5. ↑ See for example: Stratigraphy of the ENCI quarry, by H. Zevenberg
6. ↑ Field, Daniel J.; Benito, Juan; Chen, Albert; Jagt, John W. M.; Ksepka, Daniel T. (March 2020). "Late Cretaceous neornithine from Europe illuminates the origins of crown birds" (in en). Nature 579 (7799): 397–401. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2096-0. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 32188952. Bibcode: 2020Natur.579..397F. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2096-0.
7. ↑ "Table 4.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 78.
8. ↑ Benito, J.; Kuo, P.-C.; Widrig, K. E.; Jagt, J. W. M.; Field, D. J. (2022). "Cretaceous ornithurine supports a neognathous crown bird ancestor". Nature 612 (7938): 100–105. doi:10.1038/s41586-022-05445-y. PMID 36450906. https://zenodo.org/record/6591303.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Dyke, G.J.; Schulp, A.S.; Jagt, J.W.M. (2008). "Bird remains from the Maastrichtian type area (Late Cretaceous)". Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 87 (4): 353–358. doi:10.1017/S0016774600023404.
10. ↑ Martin, J.; Case, J.; Jagt, J.W.M.; Schulp, A.S.; Mulder., E. (2005). "A New European Marsupial Indicates a Late Cretaceous High-Latitude Transatlantic Dispersal Route.". Journal of Mammalian Evolution 12 (3): 495–511. doi:10.1007/s10914-005-7330-x.
11. ↑ Fraaije, René H. B.; Schram, Frederick R.; Vonk, Ronald (March 2003). "Maastrichtiocaris rostratus new genus and species, the first Cretaceous cycloid" (in en). Journal of Paleontology 77 (2): 386–388. doi:10.1666/0022-3360(2003)077<0386:MRNGAS>2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0022-3360. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-paleontology/article/abs/maastrichtiocaris-rostratus-new-genus-and-species-the-first-cretaceous-cycloid/B120881E6DAFEFF333003E49C0639CAE.

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