Scunthorpe Mudstone

The Scunthorpe Mudstone is a geologic formation in England. It preserves plesiosaur fossils dating back to the Late Triassic (Rhaetian) to Early Jurassic (Hettangian) period.^[1] It predominantly consists of grey mudstone with thin beds of argillaceous limestone and calcareous siltstone.^[2] The Ichthyosaur Wahlisaurus is known from the formation.^[3] As is the holotype specimen of the dinosaur Sarcosaurus.^[4]

Scunthorpe Mudstone
Stratigraphic range: Rhaetian-Hettangian ~205–196.5 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Type	Formation
Unit of	Lias Group
Sub-units	Barnstone Member
Underlies	Charmouth Mudstone Formation
Overlies	Lilstock Formation
Thickness	Up to 128 m
Lithology
Primary	Mudstone
Other	Limestone, Siltstone
Location
Coordinates	52.9°N 1.0°W / 52.9; -1.0
Approximate paleocoordinates	38.0°N 1.3°E / 38.0; 1.3
Region	England
Country	United Kingdom
Extent	East Midlands Shelf Leicester to Market Weighton
Type section
Named for	Scunthorpe
Location	Blyborough Borehole, Blyborough, Lincolnshire
Scunthorpe Mudstone (the United Kingdom) Show map of the United Kingdom Scunthorpe Mudstone (England) Show map of England

See also

• List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in England

References

1. Cropwell plesiosaur at Fossilworks.org
2. "Scunthorpe Mudstone Formation". BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
3. Lomax, Dean R. (4 May 2017). "A new leptonectid ichthyosaur from the Lower Jurassic (Hettangian) of Nottinghamshire, England, UK, and the taxonomic usefulness of the ichthyosaurian coracoid". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 15 (5): 387–401. Bibcode:2017JSPal..15..387L. doi:10.1080/14772019.2016.1183149. ISSN 1477-2019. S2CID 88578965.
4. Ezcurra, Martín D; Butler, Richard J; Maidment, Susannah C R; Sansom, Ivan J; Meade, Luke E; Radley, Jonathan D (23 June 2020). "A revision of the early neotheropod genus Sarcosaurus from the Early Jurassic (Hettangian–Sinemurian) of central England". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 191: 113–149. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa054. hdl:11336/160038. ISSN 0024-4082.

Further reading

• R. Forrest. 1998. A possible early elasmosaurian plesiosaur from the Triassic/Jurassic boundary of Nottinghamshire. Mercian Geologist 14(3):135-143