Raritan Formation
{{Short description|Mesozoic geologic formation containing dinosaur fossils and amber}}
{{Infobox rockunit
| name = Raritan Formation
| image = Raritan_Formation.png
| caption = Outcrop of the Raritan Formation near Rocky Point above Round Bay, Severn River, Anne Arundel County, Maryland
| type = Sedimentary
| age = Turonian
| period = Turonian
| prilithology =
| otherlithology =
| namedfor = Raritan Bay
| namedby = G. H. Cook (1888)Cook, G.H., 1888, Report of the subcommittee on the Mesozoic: American Geologist, v. 2, p. 257-268.
| region = New Jersey, New York, Maryland
| country = USA
| coordinates =
| unitof = Potomac Group
| subunits = Raritan Fire Clay, Farrington Sand Member, Woodbridge Clay Member, Sayreville Sand Member, South Amboy Fire Clay Member
| underlies = Magothy Formation
| overlies = Newark Supergroup, Patapsco Formation
| thickness =
| extent =
| area =
| map =
| map_caption =
}}
The Raritan Formation is a Cretaceous (Turonian) sedimentary geologic formation of the Atlantic Coastal Plain.
Overview
The formation was first described in 1888 by G. H. Cook, who measured sections in the vicinity of Raritan Bay in New Jersey. It was extended into Maryland by William Bullock Clark in 1893.
The formation is described in the USGS publication Tolchester folio, Maryland (1917) as follows:
:The formation consists of diverse materials similar to those composing the Patapsco formation, except that, in general, the clays are not so highly colored. White and buff sands; stratified light chocolate-colored sandy clays, in places containing leaf impressions; light-colored argillaceous sands and sandy clays (Fuller's earth); and white, yellow, drab, bluish-drab, and variegated clays all occur in deposits of this age. The variegated clays are well exposed in the steep bluff at Worton Point (see photo below). The delicate pinkish tints which they present at many places have given rise to the local name "peach-blossom clays."{{cite report|last1=Miller|first1=B.L.|last2=Mathews|first2=E.B.|last3=Bibbins|first3=A.B.|last4=Little|first4=H.P.|year=1917|title=Tolchester folio, Maryland|publisher=U.S. Geological Society|series=Folios of the Geologic Atlas|number=204|language=en|doi=10.3133/gf204|isbn=0607728965|url=https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/gf204|hdl=1969.1/3671|hdl-access=free}}
File:Tolchester folio Maryland Plate II.jpg|Vertically jointed clay of Raritan Formation in wave-cut cliff, Worton Point, Kent County (c. 1917)
File:Erosion remnants of white quartzose sandstone of Raritan formation in Patapsco River off Rock Point sgw00950.jpg|The White Rocks off of Rock Point in Anne Arundel County are composed of lithified sands of the Raritan Formation (c. 1917)
Fossils
Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation, although none have yet been referred to a specific genus.{{cite book|last1=Weishampel|first1=David B.|last2=Dodson|first2=Peter|last3=Osmólska|first3=Halszka|year=2004|chapter=Dinosaur distribution|title=The Dinosauria, 2nd edition|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|pages=517-607|isbn=0-520-24209-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vtZFDb_iw40C }} A tyrannosauroid similar to Appalachiosaurus is known from the formation.{{Cite journal|last=Brownstein|first=Chase D.|date=2018-02-08|title=The biogeography and ecology of the Cretaceous non-avian dinosaurs of Appalachia|url=https://palaeo-electronica.org/content/2018/2123-appalachia-biogeography|journal=Palaeontologia Electronica|language=English|volume=21|issue=1|pages=1–56|doi=10.26879/801|issn=1094-8074|doi-access=free}}
Many plant fossils have been recovered from the Raritan.{{cite book|last=Berry|first=Edward Wilber|year=1911|title=The Flora of the Raritan Formation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=95ZEAQAAMAAJ&pg=PP5|publisher=Geological Survey of New Jersey|location=Trenton, New Jersey}} The formation hosts the New Jersey Amber deposits.
See also
{{Portal|Earth sciences|Paleontology|Dinosaurs||}}
References
{{Reflist}}
- {{citation |last=Weishampel |first=David B. |last2=Dodson |first2=Peter |last3=Osmólska |first3=Halszka |year=2004 |title=The Dinosauria, 2nd edition |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vtZFDb_iw40C |publisher=Berkeley: University of California Press |pages=1–880 |accessdate=2019-02-21 |isbn=0-520-24209-2}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Geologic formations of New Jersey
Category:Cretaceous geology of New Jersey
Category:Upper Cretaceous Series of North America
Category:Geologic formations of New York (state)
Category:Geologic formations of Maryland
Category:Paleontology in New Jersey
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