The Ringbone Formation is a Campanian geologic formation in southwestern New Mexico.

Description

The base of the formation is a conglomerate with boulders up to 2.5 feet (0.76 m) 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. The total thickness is about 7,500 feet (2,300 m). The formation interfingers with the underlying Mojado Formation and is overlain by the Hidalgo Formation.

Fossils

The formation contains fossils of the gastropod Physa, the palm Sabal, and other fossils consistent with Campanian age.

Dinosaur remains of tyrannosaurs and hadrosaurs are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation. These include possible remains of Albertosaurus and a hadrosaur tail skin impression.

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. Zeller renamed the unit as the Ringbone Formation in 1970.

See also

Bibliography

  • Anderson, Brian G.; Lucas, Spencer G.; Barrick, Reese E.; Heckert, Andrew B.; Basabilvazo, George T. (28 December 1998). "Dinosaur skin impressions and associated skeletal remains from the upper Campanian of southwestern New Mexico: new data on the integument morphology of hadrosaurs". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 18 (4): 739–745. Bibcode:. doi:.
  • Basabilbazo, George (2000). (PDF). New Mexico Geological Society Field Conference Series. 51: 203–210.
  • Hayes, Philip Thayer (1970). . U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper. Professional Paper. 658-B. doi:.
  • Lasky, Samuel G. (1938). "Newly Discovered Section of Trinity Age in Southwestern New Mexico". AAPG Bulletin. 22 (5): 524–540. doi:. ISSN .
  • Lucas, Spencer G.; Basabilvazo, George; Lawton, Timothy F. (December 1990). "Late cretaceous dinosaurs from the ringbone formation, southwestern New Mexico, U.S.A.". Cretaceous Research. 11 (4): 343–349. Bibcode:. doi:.
  • Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; Osmólska, Halszka, eds. (2004). The Dinosauria (2nd ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-24209-2.
  • Zeller, R.A. Jr. (1970). (PDF). New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources Bulletin. 96.