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A New Marine Vertebrate Assemblage from the Late Boessenecker, California’s Purisma Formation Part I PalArch’s Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology, 8(4) (2011) A NEW MARINE VERTEBRATE ASSEMBLAGE FROM THE LATE NEOGENE PURISIMA FORMATION IN CENTRAL CALIFORNIA, PART I: FOSSIL SHARKS, BONY FISH, BIRDS, AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THE AGE OF THE PURISIMA FORMATION WEST OF THE SAN GREGORIO FAULT Robert W. Boessenecker* * Department of Earth Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59715 [email protected] Robert W. Boessenecker. 2011. A New Marine Vertebrate Assemblage from the Late Neogene Purisima Formation in Central California, Part I: Fos- sil Sharks, Bony Fish, Birds, and Implications for the Age of the Purisma For- mation West of the San Gregorio Fault. – Palarch’s Journal of Vertebrate Pa- laeontology 8(4) (2011), 1-30. ISSN 1567-2158. 30 pages + 8 figures, 1 table. Keywords: Purisima Formation, Pliocene, Miocene, chondrichthyes, aves, osteichthyes ABSTRACT The Miocene to Pliocene Purisima Formation crops out in multiple transform fault bounded structural blocks in central California. As a result of poor exposure, strike slip fault offset, and uncertain intraformational correlations, some exposures of the Purisima Formation are not well dated. The San Gregorio section of the Purisima Formation occurs in the Pigeon Point Block, west of the San Gregorio Fault, along the coast of southern Halfmoon Bay. Ages based on invertebrate and diatom biostratigraphy support a Late Miocene to Early Pliocene age, while ash correlations indicate a much younger Middle to Late Pliocene (3.3-2.5 Ma) age. Ab- undant remains of marine vertebrates occur in the Purisima Formation. Recent fieldwork in the San Gregorio section identified a modest assemblage of 26 taxa, including sharks (Carcharodon carcharias, Carcharodon sp., Cetorhinus maximus, cf. Hexanchus, Isurus oxy- rinchus, Pristiophorus sp., Squatina sp., and Sphyrna sp.), skates (Raja sp., cf. R. binoculata), bony fish Paralichthys( sp., Thunnus sp.), birds (Mancalla diegensis, Morus sp.), and 13 ma- rine mammal taxa, including several new records for the Purisima Formation. The non- mammalian vertebrates of this assemblage are described herein. The vertebrate assemblage is utilized to evaluate previous biostratigraphic and tephrochronologic age determinations for the San Gregorio section. The stratigraphic range of Carcharodon carcharias, Raja sp., cf. R. binoculata, Mancalla diegensis, and some of the marine mammals strongly indicate a Middle to Late Pliocene age for the upper and middle parts of the section, while a Late Miocene or Early Pliocene age is probable for the base of the section. © PalArch Foundation 1 Boessenecker, California’s Purisma Formation Part I PalArch’s Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology, 8(4) (2011) Introduction Chondrichthyes Hexanchidae In 1827, the surveyor of the HMS Blossom, cf. Hexanchus Lt. Edward Belcher, reported “petrified bones Pristiophoridae of a cylindrical form” from coastal cliffs near Pristiophorus sp. modern day Santa Cruz, California (Vander- Squatinidae hoof, 1951: 109-110). These were probably ceta- Squatina sp. cean vertebrae from exposures of the Purisima Cetorhinidae Formation and constitute one of the earliest Cetorhinus maximus records of fossil vertebrates collected from the Lamnidae west coast of North America (Powell, 1998). Carcharodon carcharias Several decades later, a partial odontocete ros- Carcharodon sp. trum was designated as the holotype of Loncho- Isurus oxyrinchus delphis occiduus by the preeminent anatomist Sphyrnidae Joseph Leidy (1868). The specimen was collect- cf. Sphyrna ed from Miocene rocks near ‘Halfmoon Lake’ (a Rajidae probable corruption of Halfmoon Bay), suggest- Raja sp., cf. R. binoculata ing this fossil likely originated from the Puri- Osteichthyes sima Formation (Barnes, 1976; Powell, 1998). Scombridae Aside from a few isolated cetacean and pinni- Thunnus sp. ped bones mentioned by Repenning and Ted- Paralichthyidae ford (1977) and Barnes (1976), few other ma- Paralichthys sp. rine vertebrate fossils have been reported from Aves the extensive exposures around Halfmoon Bay. Sulidae Much richer vertebrate assemblages have been Morus sp. collected from the Purisima Formation at Point Alcidae Reyes and Santa Cruz (see Palaeontologic Back- Mancalla diegensis ground). Mammalia In August 2004 the author and T. Palladino Pinnipedia investigated exposures of the Purisima Forma- Otariidae tion near Halfmoon Bay, based on reports of Otariidae indet. whale bones by local surfers. Multiple prolific Odobenidae bonebeds were discovered during fieldwork in Dusignathus sp. 2005 and 2006. A diverse vertebrate assemblage Odontoceti comprising 26 taxa (table 1) of sharks (Carchar- Odontoceti indet. odon carcharias, Cetorhinus maximus, cf. Hexan- Delphinidae chus, Isurus oxyrhincus, Pristiophorus sp., Squa- Globicephalinae indet. tina sp., and cf. Sphyrna), skates (Raja sp., cf. R. Lipotidae binoculata), bony fish (Paralichthys sp., Thun- Parapontoporia sp, cf. P. sternbergi nus sp.), birds (Mancalla diegensis, Morus sp.), Phocoenidae pinnipeds (Dusignathus sp., Otariidae indet.), New genus and species and cetaceans (Parapontoporia sp., Phocoenidae Phocoeninae indet. new genus, Phocoeninae indet., Globicephali- Mysticeti nae indet., Odontoceti indet., Balaenidae sp. in- Balaenidae det.1, Balaenidae sp. indet. 2, Balaenopteridae Balaenidae sp. indet. 1 indet., Balaenopteridae, new species, Herpetoce- Balaenidae sp. indet. 2 tus bramblei, Herpetocetus sp.) was established. Balaenopteridae These include several new vertebrate records Balaenopteridae indet. for the Purisima Formation, and potentially Balaenopteridae, new species new cetacean taxa (Boessenecker, 2006). These Cetotheriidae sensu stricto Herpetocetus bramblei c Table 1. List of fossil vertebrate taxa preserved in the Herpetocetus sp. San Gregorio section of the Purisima Formation, Halfmoon Bay, California. © PalArch Foundation 2 Boessenecker, California’s Purisma Formation Part I PalArch’s Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology, 8(4) (2011) localities are within the San Gregorio section of Institutional Abbreviations the Purisima Formation (Powell et al., 2007), an informal name applied to Purisima Formation SCMNH, Santa Cruz Museum of Natural His- strata on the west side of the San Gregorio Fault tory, Santa Cruz, California, USA; (and therefore in the Pigeon Point Structural SDNHM, San Diego Natural History Museum, Block), in the southern part of Halfmoon Bay, San Diego, California, USA; San Mateo County, California (figure 1). This UCMP, University of California Museum of Pa- section was initially mapped as the Late Mio- leontology, Berkeley, California, USA. cene Tahana Member (Cummings et al., 1962) on lithologic grounds. However, conflicting Palaeontologic Background age data exist for this section, including a Late Miocene age based on previous biostratigraphy Despite the abundance of vertebrate fossils in (Durham & Morgan, 1978; Gavigan, 1984), and the San Gregorio section of the Purisima Forma- a Middle Pliocene age supported by tephrochro- tion, only three previous studies have addressed nologic correlations and recent molluscan bio- them. In 1907 D. S. Jordan reported a single tooth stratigraphy (Sarna-Wocjicki et al., 1991; Powell of the shark Carcharodon “arnoldi” (identified as et al., 2007). The aim of this paper is to describe Carcharodon carcharias in this report) from the the non-mammalian marine vertebrates, and ‘Pliocene of Pescadero.’ A fragmentary, putative discuss the age of the San Gregorio section of physeteroid rostrum collected by R.M. Touring the Purisima Formation in light of this new ma- was mentioned by Packard (1962). In their de- rine vertebrate assemblage. scription of the Purisima Formation in the Half- moon Bay region, Cummings et al. (1962) noted the presence of cetacean bones at the base of Materials and Methods the San Gregorio section. Additional studies re- The fossils described herein were collected in garding other Purisima Formation vertebrates 2005 and 2006 from coastal exposures, speci- include mention, discussions, or descriptions of mens were recovered from the cliff face as well sharks (Stewart & Perry, 2002), pinnipeds (Kel- as screen washing of sediment. Specimens were logg, 1927; Mitchell, 1962; Repenning & Ted- prepared at Montana State University Depart- ford, 1977; Barnes & Perry, 1989; Boessenecker & ment of Earth Sciences and the Museum of the Perry, 2011), sirenians (Domning, 1978), and ce- Rockies in Bozeman, MT. Terminology for chon- taceans (Leidy, 1868; Glen, 1959; Packard, 1962; drichthyan teeth follows Purdy et al. (2001). Barnes, 1976, 1985; Pyenson & Brudvik, 2007; Terminology for batoid cranial morphology fol- Boessenecker & Geisler, 2008; Whitmore & lows Dean & Motta (2004). Terminology for avi- Barnes, 2008; Boessenecker et al., 2009; Good- an osteology follows Howard (1929). Detailed win et al., 2009). With the exception of fossil locality data are available to qualified research- material described by Kellogg (1927), Mitchell ers upon request. (1962), Repenning & Tedford (1977), Barnes Although the Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary (1985) and Whitmore & Barnes (2008), very few has recently been changed from 1.806 Ma to vertebrate fossils from the Purisima Formation 2.588 Ma due to inclusion of the Gelasian Stage have been described in sufficient detail. within the Pleistocene and modification of the Quaternary (Gibbard et al., 2009), this change is Geologic Background based on chronostratigraphy and does not re- flect the biostratigraphic integrity
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