The Cambridge Greensand is a geological unit in England whose strata are earliest Cenomanian in age.[1] It lies above the erosive contact between the Gault Formation and the Chalk Group in the vicinity of Cambridgeshire , and technically forms the lowest member bed of the West Melbury Marly Chalk Formation.[2] It is a remanié deposit, containing reworked fossils of late Albian age, including those of dinosaurs and pterosaurs.
Description [ edit ] The lithology is made out of glauconitic marl , described as a "chalk mud", containing abundant ostracod , coccolith and foram remains, with a concentration of phosphatic nodules and bones at the base.[1] [2]
Vertebrate paleofauna [ edit ] Birds Genus Species Locality Material Notes Images Enaliornis E. barrette Braincases, vertebrae, pelvis [and] limb elements[3] This genus is the oldest known hesperornithine E sedgwicki Hindlimb elements[3] E. seeleyi Assorted cranial and postcranial elements
Dinosaurs [ edit ] Ornithischians [ edit ] Color key Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text ; crossed out taxa are discredited.
Ornithischians Genus Species Locality Material Notes Images Anoplosaurus A. curtonotus "Partial postcranium"[4] A. major "Cervical vertebrae."[4] "Vertebrae."[5] Acanthopholis A. eucercus "[Two] caudal centra."[4] Nomen dubium A. platypus "Phalanx, caudal centra."[4] Nomen dubium A. macrocercus "Osteoderms."[4] "Vertebrae, fragmentary skeleton elements."[5] Reassigned to Syngonosaurus A. stereocercus "Osteoderms."[4] "Vertebrae."[5] Nomen dubium Eucercosaurus E. tanyspondylus "Vertebrae."[4] Trachodon T. cantabrigiensis "Dentary tooth."[6] Nomen dubium
Saurischians [ edit ] Pterosaurs [ edit ] Color key Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text ; crossed out taxa are discredited.
Ichthyosaurs [ edit ] Lepidosauria [ edit ] Color key Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text ; crossed out taxa are discredited.
Lepidosauria Genus Species Locality Material Notes Images Patricosaurus P. merocratus [15] Chimeric specimen
Invertebrates [ edit ] Ammonites [ edit ] See also [ edit ] References [ edit ] ^ a b Hart, Malcolm B.; Fox, Lyndsey R. (2020). "Micropalaeontology and stratigraphical setting of the Cambridge Greensand" . Geological Society, London, Special Publications . 498 (1): 147–163. Bibcode :2020GSLSP.498..147H . doi :10.1144/SP498-2018-144 . ISSN 0305-8719 . S2CID 210304478 . ^ a b Cambridge Greensand at BGS ^ a b "Table 11.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 215. ^ a b c d e f g "Table 17.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 367. ^ a b c "Table 19.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 417. ^ "Table 20.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 443. ^ "Table 13.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 270. ^ a b Holgado, Borja (2021). "On the validity of the genus Amblydectes Hooley 1914 (Pterodactyloidea, Anhangueridae) and the presence of Tropeognathinae in the Cambridge Greensand" . Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências . 93 (suppl 2). doi :10.1590/0001-3765202120201658 . ISSN 1678-2690 . ^ Smith, Roy E.; Ibrahim, Nizar; Longrich, Nicholas; Unwin, David M.; Jacobs, Megan L.; Williams, Cariad J.; Zouhri, Samir; Martill, David M. (September 2023). "The pterosaurs of the Cretaceous Kem Kem Group of Morocco" . PalZ . 97 (3): 519–568. doi :10.1007/s12542-022-00642-6 . ISSN 0031-0220 . ^ Taissa Rodrigues & Alexander Wilhelm Armin Kellner (2013). "Taxonomic review of the Ornithocheirus complex (Pterosauria) from the Cretaceous of England" . ZooKeys (308): 1–112. doi :10.3897/zookeys.308.5559 . PMC 3689139 . PMID 23794925 . ^ Unwin D.M., 2001, "An overview of the pterosaur assemblage from the Cambridge Greensand (Cretaceous) of Eastern England", Mitteilungen aus dem Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin , Geowissenschaftliche Reihe 4: 189–221 ^ Averianov A.O. (2012). "Ornithostoma sedgwicki – valid taxon of azhdarchoid pterosaurs". Proceedings of the Zoological Institute RAS . 316 (1): 40–49. ^ a b Smith, Roy E.; Martill, David M.; Unwin, David M.; Steel, Lorna (February 2021). "Edentulous pterosaurs from the Cambridge Greensand (Cretaceous) of eastern England with a review of Ornithostoma Seeley, 1871" . Proceedings of the Geologists' Association . 132 (1): 110–126. doi :10.1016/j.pgeola.2020.10.004 . ^ Valentin Fischer; Nathalie Bardet; Myette Guiomar & Pascal Godefroit (2014). "High Diversity in Cretaceous Ichthyosaurs from Europe Prior to Their Extinction" . PLOS ONE . 9 (1): e84709. Bibcode :2014PLoSO...984709F . doi :10.1371/journal.pone.0084709 . PMC 3897400 . PMID 24465427 . ^ P. M. Barrett and S. E. Evans. 2002. A reassessment of the Early Cretaceous reptile 'Patricosaurus merocratus' Seeley from the Cambridge Greensand, Cambridgeshire, UK. Cretaceous Research 23:231-240 ^ C. W. Wright and W. J. Kennedy. 1979. Origin and evolution of the Cretaceous micromorph ammonite family Flickiidae. Palaeontology 22:685-704