Maastricht Formation
Geological formation in the Netherlands and Belgium
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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]
| Maastricht Formation | |
|---|---|
| Stratigraphic range: | |
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 |
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.
Depositional environment
Two primary environment-types have been described in the Maastricht Formation. The lower Kunrade Chalk representing a shallow, semi-lagoonal area near land of low relief which supplied terrigenous material. The Biofacies of the Kunrade Chalk are dominated by burrowing bivalves and abundant seagrass. In contrast, the upper Maastricht Chalk was deposited further offshore in clean carbonate sands. Periods of non deposition resulted in the lithification of sands forming hardgrounds that supported a diversity of echinoids and corals.[5]
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.[6]
The Maastricht Formation is overlain by the Paleocene Houthem Formation and was deposited on top of the older Gulpen Formation.
Vertebrate paleofauna
Dinosaurs
Color key
|
Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; |
| Dinosaurs reported from the Maastricht Formation | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genus | Species | Location | Stratigraphic position | Material | Notes | Images |
| Asteriornis | A. maastrichtensis[7] | Limb bones and a mostly complete skull | A stem-Galloanserae |  | ||
| Betasuchus | B. bredai | Geographically present in the Dutch province of Limburg. | "Femur."[8] | An abelisauroid.[2] |  | |
| Janavis | J. finalidens[9] | An ichthyornithine |  | |||
| 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][10] | ||||
| "Unnamed enantiornithine" | Unnamed | An enantiornithine.[1][10] | ||||
Mammals
Color key
|
Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; |
| Mammals reported from the Maastricht Formation | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genus | Species | Location | Stratigraphic position | Material | Notes | Images |
|
M. meurismeti |
Geographically present in the Dutch province of Limburg. |
"Right upper molar." |
 | |||
Mosasaurs
Color key
|
Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; |
| Mosasaurs reported from the Maastricht Formation | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genus | Species | Location | Stratigraphic position | Material | Notes | Images |
|
C. belgicus |
 | |||||
|
C. fraasi |
Junior synonym of C. belgicus. |
|||||
|
G. fraasi |
Reclassified as Carinodens fraasi | |||||
|
M. hoffmannii |
Holotype |  | ||||
|
M. lemonnieri |
||||||
|
P. marshi |
 | |||||
| Prognathodon | P.? saturator |  | ||||
| P.? sectorius |  | |||||
Testudines
| Testudines reported from the Maastricht Formation | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genus | Species | Location | Stratigraphic position | Material | Notes | Images |
| Allopleuron | A. hofmanni |  | ||||
| Glyptochelone | G. suyckerbuyki | |||||
Plesiosauria
- Indeterminate elasmosaurids[12][13]
Bony fish
| Bony fish reported from the Maastricht Formation[14][15][16] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genus | Species | Location | Stratigraphic position | Material | Notes | Images |
| Alaconger | A. triquetrus | Otoliths | A conger eel. | |||
| Ampheristus | A. sp. | Otolith | A cusk-eel. | |||
| Anomoeodus | A. foriri | Teeth, tooth plates | A pycnodont. | |||
| A. fraiponti | ||||||
| A. subclavatus | ||||||
| Apateodus | A. corneti | Jaws, teeth, articulated skull | An ichthyotringid aulopiform. |  | ||
| Archaemacruroides | A. vanknippenbergi | Otoliths | A gadiform of uncertain affinities. | |||
| Argentina | A. voigti | Otoliths | A herring smelt. | .jpg) | ||
| Argyroberyx | A. dentatus | Otoliths | A beryciform of uncertain affinities. | |||
| Belonostomus | B. sp. | Teeth, jaws | An aspidorhynchid. |  | ||
| Beukidercetis[17] | B. grandis | Skull bones, scutes, scales | A dercetid aulopiform.[18] | |||
| Caudadercetis | C. taverni | A dercetid aulopiform. | ||||
| Centroberyx | C. fragilis | Otolith | A nannygai. |  | ||
| Cimolichthys | C. sp. | Teeth | A cimolichthyid aulopiform. |  | ||
| Cretaserranus | C. maastrichtiensis | Otoliths | A perciform, possibly a serranid. | |||
| Cyranichthys | C. jagti | Articulated specimen, scutes | A dercetid aulopiform. | |||
| C. sideralis | ||||||
| Dercetis | D. triqueter | Articulated specimens | A dercetid aulopiform. |  | ||
| Enchodus | E. faujasi | Jaws with teeth | An enchodontid aulopiform. |  | ||
| Hoplopteryx | H. sp. | Articulated specimens | A trachichthyiform. |  | ||
| ?Ichthyotringa | ?I. tavernei | Otoliths | An ichthyotringid aulopiform. |  | ||
| Ophidercetis | O. italiensis | Skull bones, scutes | A dercetid aulopiform. | |||
| Paraulopus | P. sp. | Otolith | A cucumberfish. |  | ||
| Petrodercetis | P. bidirectus | A dercetid aulopiform. | ||||
| Pfeilichthys | P. pfeili | Otolith | A holocentriform of uncertain affinities. | |||
| Plesiopoma | P. otiosa | Otoliths | A percomorph, possibly a lanternbelly. | |||
| Rhinocephalus | R. cretaceus | Otoliths | A hake. | |||
| Saurocephalus | S. woodwardii | Teeth, jaws, vertebrae | An ichthyodectiform. |  | ||
| Severnichthys | S. sp. | Otolith | A beardfish. | |||
| Sillaginocentrus | S. alienus | Otolith | A holocentriform of uncertain affinities. | |||
| ?Sparidae indet. | Otoliths | A potential seabream, but may be another non-percomorph teleost instead. | ||||
| Tetraodontiformes indet. | Scale plates | A tetraodontiform. | ||||
Invertebrate paleofauna
Plants
Color key
|
Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; |
| Taxa | Species | Locality | Material | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Araucaria? | A?. sp. | Seed-cone scales | Identified as Araucaria, in contradiction to reports citing no Araucarian pollen present.[20][21] | ||
| Brachyphyllum | B. patens | Likely belongs to Cheirolepidiaceae.[21] | |||
| sp. 1 | Belongs to Cheirolepidiaceae.[22] | ||||
| sp. 2 | Possibly conspecific with sp. 1.[22] | ||||
| Cryptomeriopsis | C. eluvialis | Belongs to Taxodiaceae.[23] | |||
| Cunninghamites | C. ubaghsii | Likely belongs to Taxodiaceae.[23] | |||
| Elatidopsis | E. cryptomerioides | Belongs to Taxodiaceae.[23] | |||
| Mosacaulis | M. spinifer | Stems and associated foliage, Seagrass convergent.[24] | |||
| Pityophyllum | P. sp. | Pinaceous needles.[23] | |||
| Thalassocharis | T. bosquetii | Seagrass stems and roots.[25] | |||
| Thalassotaenia | T. debeyi | Seagrass leaves, similar to Posidonia.[26] |
See also
- List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations
The dictionary definition of maastricht formation at Wiktionary
