Ringbone Formation
{{Short description|Geologic formation in New Mexico}}
{{Infobox rockunit
| name = Ringbone Formation
| image =
| caption =
| type = Geological formation
| age = Campanian
~{{fossil range|84|71}}
| period = Campanian
| prilithology = Mudstone
| otherlithology = Sandstone
| namedfor = Ringbone Ranch
| namedby = S.G. Lasky
| year_ts = 1938
| region = New Mexico
| country = United States
| coordinates = {{coord|31.959|N|108.464|W|display=inline,title}}
| paleocoordinates = {{coord|39.3|N|80.7|W|display=inline}}
| unitof =
| subunits =
| underlies = Hidalgo Formation
| overlies = Mojado Formation
| thickness = {{convert|7500|feet|meters}}
| extent =
| area =
| map = {{Location map+ | United States#New Mexico
| relief = 1
| width = 250
| float = center
| places =
{{Location map~ | United States#New Mexico
| lat_deg = 31.959
| lon_deg = -108.464
| mark = Lightgreen pog.svg
| marksize = 12
}}
}}
| map_caption =
}}
The Ringbone Formation is a Campanian geologic formation in southwestern New Mexico.{{sfn|Lasky|1938}}{{sfn|Hayes|1970}}
Description
The base of the formation is a conglomerate with boulders up to {{convert|2.5|feet|meters}} in diameter. The bulk of the formation is dark shale with minor sandstone and black limestone. The upper beds are tuffaceous sandstone with minor black limestone. A basalt flow and an andesite breccia are present in the upper beds.{{sfn|Lasky|1938}} The total thickness is about {{convert|7500|feet|meters}}. The formation interfingers with the underlying Mojado Formation and is overlain by the Hidalgo Formation.{{sfn|Zeller|1970}}
Fossils
The formation contains fossils of the gastropod Physa,{{sfn|Hayes|1970}}{{sfn|Basabilbazo|2000|p=207}} the palm Sabal, and other fossils consistent with Campanian age.{{sfn|Zeller|1970}}
Dinosaur remains of tyrannosaurs and hadrosaurs are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.{{sfn|Weishampel|Dodson|Osmólska|2004|loc="Dinosaur distribution."|pp=517-607}} These include possible remains of Albertosaurus{{sfn|Lucas|Basabilvazo|Lawton|1990}} and a hadrosaur tail skin impression.{{sfn|Anderson|Lucas|Barrick|Heckert|1998}}
History of investigation
The formation was first named as the Ringbone Shale by Lasky in 1938 for outcrops near Ringbone Ranch in the Little Hatchet Mountains.{{sfn|Lasky|1938}} Zeller renamed the unit as the Ringbone Formation in 1970.{{sfn|Zeller|1970}}
See also
References
{{Reflist|3}}
= Bibliography =
- {{cite journal |last1=Anderson |first1=Brian G. |last2=Lucas |first2=Spencer G. |last3=Barrick |first3=Reese E. |last4=Heckert |first4=Andrew B. |last5=Basabilvazo |first5=George T. |title=Dinosaur skin impressions and associated skeletal remains from the upper Campanian of southwestern New Mexico: new data on the integument morphology of hadrosaurs |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |date=28 December 1998 |volume=18 |issue=4 |pages=739–745 |doi=10.1080/02724634.1998.10011102|bibcode=1998JVPal..18..739A }}
- {{cite journal |last1=Basabilbazo |first1=George |title=The Upper Cretaceous Ringbone Formation, Little Hatchet Mountains, southwestern New Mexico |journal=New Mexico Geological Society Field Conference Series |date=2000 |volume=51 |pages=203–210 |url=https://nmgs.nmt.edu/publications/guidebooks/downloads/51/51_p0203_p0210.pdf |access-date=14 October 2021}}
- {{cite journal |last1=Hayes |first1=Philip Thayer |title=Cretaceous paleogeography of southeastern Arizona and adjacent areas |journal=U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper |series=Professional Paper |date=1970 |volume=658-B |doi=10.3133/pp658B|doi-access=free }}
- {{cite journal |last1=Lasky |first1=Samuel G. |title=Newly Discovered Section of Trinity Age in Southwestern New Mexico |journal=AAPG Bulletin |date=1938 |volume=22 |issue=5 |pages=524–540 |doi=10.1306/3D932F80-16B1-11D7-8645000102C1865D |language=en |issn=0149-1423}}
- {{cite journal |last1=Lucas |first1=Spencer G. |last2=Basabilvazo |first2=George |last3=Lawton |first3=Timothy F. |title=Late cretaceous dinosaurs from the ringbone formation, southwestern New Mexico, U.S.A. |journal=Cretaceous Research |date=December 1990 |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=343–349 |doi=10.1016/S0195-6671(05)80045-X|bibcode=1990CrRes..11..343L }}
- {{cite book |editor-last1=Weishampel |editor-first1=David B. |editor1-link=David B. Weishampel |editor-last2=Dodson |editor-first2=Peter |editor2-link=Peter Dodson|editor-last3=Osmólska |editor-first3=Halszka |editor3-link=Halszka Osmólska|year=2004 |title=The Dinosauria |edition=2nd |location=Berkeley |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=0-520-24209-2}}
- {{cite journal |last1=Zeller |first1=R.A. Jr. |year=1970 |title=Geology of the Little Hatchet Mountains, Hidalgo and Grant Counties, New Mexico |journal=New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources Bulletin |volume=96 |url=https://geoinfo.nmt.edu/publications/monographs/bulletins/downloads/96/Bulletin96.pdf |access-date=16 September 2020}}
Category:Cretaceous formations of New Mexico
Category:Mudstone formations of the United States