The Forest Marble is a geological
formation
Formation may refer to:
Linguistics
* Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes
* Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes
Mathematics and science
* Cave formation or speleothem, a secondar ...
in
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separa ...
. Part of the
Great Oolite Group
The Great Oolite Group is a Middle Jurassic stratigraphic unit that outcrops in southern England. It consists of a complex set of marine deposits primarily mudstone and bioclastic ooidal and fine grained limestone, deposited in nearshore to shel ...
, it dates to the late
Bathonian
In the geologic timescale the Bathonian is an age and stage of the Middle Jurassic. It lasted from approximately 168.3 Ma to around 166.1 Ma (million years ago). The Bathonian Age succeeds the Bajocian Age and precedes the Callovian Age.
St ...
stage of the
Middle Jurassic
The Middle Jurassic is the second epoch of the Jurassic Period. It lasted from about 174.1 to 163.5 million years ago. Fossils of land-dwelling animals, such as dinosaurs, from the Middle Jurassic are relatively rare, but geological formation ...
.
[Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution (Middle Jurassic, Europe)." In: Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 538–541. .]
Lithology
The primary lithology of the formation typically consists of greenish grey variably calcareous silicate mudstone, with lenticular cross bedded limestone units deposited in a marine setting.
Dinosaurian fauna
Ornithischians
Saurischians
Microvertebrate fauna
Despite the formation being nearly entirely marine, at several localities abundant remains of terrestrial microvertebrates are found, the primary locality being the Kirtlington Mammal Bed (designated 3p) in
Kirtlington Quarry
Kirtlington Quarry is a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest west of Kirtlington in Oxfordshire. It is a Geological Conservation Review site, and it is part of the Kirtlington Quarry Local Nature Reserve.
Kirtlington Quarry is one of ...
near
Kirtlington
Kirtlington is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire about west of Bicester. The parish includes the hamlet of Northbrook. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 988. The parish measures nearly north–south and about ea ...
,
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...
. Another important locality is Watton Cliff near
Eype in
Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...
.
Amphibians
Turtles
Choristoderes
Lepidosauromorphs
Crocodyliformes
Mammaliamorphs
See also
*
List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations
This list of dinosaur-bearing rock formations is a list of geologic formations in which dinosaur fossils have been documented.
Containing body fossils
* List of stratigraphic units with dinosaur body fossils
** List of stratigraphic units with f ...
*
Bradford Clay
Footnotes
References
* Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. 861 pp. {{ISBN, 0-520-24209-2.
Geologic formations of England
Middle Jurassic Europe
Jurassic England
Bathonian Stage
Jurassic System of Europe