Vertebrate trackways in the Parrsboro Formation (upper Carboniferous) at Rams Head, Cumberland County, Nova Scotia

Authors

  • David J. Mossman Department of Geography, Mount Allison University, 14 Main Street, Sackville, New Brunswick E4L 1E6, Canada
  • Robert G. Grantham Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History, 1747 Summer Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H3A6, Canada

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4138/2032

Abstract

Vertebrate trace fossils are reported from the upper Parrsboro Formation at Rams Head, west of Parrsboro, Nova Scotia. They occur as casts of tetrapod trackways. The trackmakers thrived in a floodplain setting vegetated with tree ferns. Pseudobradypus erneri Schmidt, represented by three trackways, has previously been reported from Germany. It is interpreted as having been produced by a cotylosaur and occurs in association with several scattered footprints and poorly preserved trackways of Hylopus hardingi Dawson; microsaurian-produced ichnotaxa are represented by Dromilopus quadrifidus Matthew and Cursipes dawsoni Matthew. Assignment of these trace fossils to the late Namurian to Westphalian A (upper Carboniferous) accords with the palynologically deduced age of the strata. As such, the sequence, which hosts the trace fossils, is stratigraphically equivalent to the Coal Mine Point Member of the Joggins Formation. REÉSUMÉ Des traces de vertébrés fossilisés sont signalées dans I'étage supéiieur de la formation de Parrsboro, à Rams Head, a I'ouest de Parrsboro, en Nouvelle-Écosse. Elles se manifestent sous forme de sillons de contre-empreintes de télrapods. Les créatures qui ont laissé ces traces vivaient dans une plaine inondable dont la végefation se composait de fougeres géantes. L'espéce Pseudobradypus erneri de Schmidt, qui a laissé trois sillons d'empreintes, a déjà été signalée en Allemagne. On croit qu'il pourrait s'agir d'un cotylosaurien et les empreintes s'accompagnent de plusieurs autres empreintes dispersées et mal préservées de l'espéce Hylopus hardingi de Dawson; des traces fossilisées auraient été laissées par des microsauriens comme le Dromilopus quadrifidus de Matthew et le Cursipes dawsoni de Matthew. L'attribution de ces empreintes fossilisées au namurien supérieur et au westphalien A (Carbonifere supérieur) corroborerait l'âge palynologique estimé de cet étage. De fait, la séquence qui renferme les traces fossilisées s'apparente au plan stratigraphique aux vestiges trouvés dans le secteur Coal Mine Point de la formation de Joggins. Traduit par la rédaction

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Published

1999-10-01

How to Cite

Mossman, D. J., & Grantham, R. G. (1999). Vertebrate trackways in the Parrsboro Formation (upper Carboniferous) at Rams Head, Cumberland County, Nova Scotia. Atlantic Geoscience, 35(3). https://doi.org/10.4138/2032

Issue

Vol. 35 No. 3 (1999)

Section

Articles

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