Version 1
: Received: 9 December 2022 / Approved: 19 December 2022 / Online: 19 December 2022 (07:26:59 CET)
Version 2
: Received: 19 December 2022 / Approved: 20 December 2022 / Online: 20 December 2022 (03:07:26 CET)
McMenamin, M.A.S. A Late Triassic Nuculanoid Clam (Bivalvia: Nuculanoidea) and Associated Mollusks: Implications for Luning Formation (Nevada, USA) Paleobathymetry. Geosciences2023, 13, 80.
McMenamin, M.A.S. A Late Triassic Nuculanoid Clam (Bivalvia: Nuculanoidea) and Associated Mollusks: Implications for Luning Formation (Nevada, USA) Paleobathymetry. Geosciences 2023, 13, 80.
McMenamin, M.A.S. A Late Triassic Nuculanoid Clam (Bivalvia: Nuculanoidea) and Associated Mollusks: Implications for Luning Formation (Nevada, USA) Paleobathymetry. Geosciences2023, 13, 80.
McMenamin, M.A.S. A Late Triassic Nuculanoid Clam (Bivalvia: Nuculanoidea) and Associated Mollusks: Implications for Luning Formation (Nevada, USA) Paleobathymetry. Geosciences 2023, 13, 80.
Abstract
A silicified, thick-shelled, smooth-surfaced nuculanoid bivalve has been recovered by acid maceration of the Late Triassic (Carnian-Norian) strata of the Luning Formation, Nevada. Comparable modern nuculanoid clams inhabit water depths from 525-2,562 meters, and the living clam (an undescribed species of Pseudoneilonella from Caleta Sierra, Coquimbo, Chile) most similar to the fossil lives at 878-933 m. The Triassic nuculanoid clam (possibly a neilonellid) is inferred here to have inhabited marine waters at approximately 1000 m deep during deposition of the Shaly Limestone Member of the Luning Formation. This new fossil discovery falsifies hypotheses that the ichthyosaurs (Shonisaurus popularis) of Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park, Nevada, USA, were deposited, respectively, in either shoreline deposits or in strata that accumulated above storm wave base.
Keywords
taxodont bivalves; Nuculanoidea; Neilonellidae; Triassic; Nevada; Luning Formation; paleobathymetry, Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park
Subject
Environmental and Earth Sciences, Paleontology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Commenter: Mark McMenamin
Commenter's Conflict of Interests: Author