Preprint Article Version 2 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

A Late Triassic Nuculanoid Clam (Bivalvia: Nuculanoidea): Implications for Luning Formation (Nevada, USA) Paleobathymetry

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)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

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. 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

Comments (1)

Comment 1
Received: 20 December 2022
Commenter: Mark McMenamin
Commenter's Conflict of Interests: Author
Comment: Italics and last sentence added to abstract. —MMc
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