Tensleep Sandstone

Tensleep Formation
Stratigraphic range: Late Pennsylvanian to very Early Permian
Type Geological formation
Underlies Phosphoria Formation or Chugwater Formation
Overlies Sacajewea Formation or Amsden Formation
Thickness up to 535 feet (160 m)
Lithology
Primary Sandstone
Other Limestone
Location
Region  Wyoming
Country  USA
Type section
Named for Ten Sleep, Wyoming
Named by N.H. Darton, 1904[1]

The Tensleep Sandstone is a geological formation of Pennsylvanian to very early Permian age in Wyoming.[2]

Trace fossils

Hylonomus

In 1932 Edward Branson and Maurice Mehl reported the discovery of a fossil trackway in the formation.[3] A new ichnospecies, Steganoposaurus belli, was erected for these footprints.[3] The tracks were probably made by a web-footed animal slightly less than three feet long.[3] This creature was originally presumed to be an amphibian, but the toe prints it left behind were pointed like a reptile's rather than round like an amphibians. The actual trackmaker may have been similar to the genus Hylonomus.[4] The ichnogenus Tridentichnus are similar footprints preserved in the Supai Formation of Arizona.[5]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Darton, N.H., 1904, Comparison of the stratigraphy of the Black Hills, Bighorn Mountains, and Rocky Mountain Front Range: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 15, p. 379-448.
  2. ↑ U.S. Geological Survey. "Geologic Unit: Tensleep". Retrieved 2014-12-23.
  3. 1 2 3 "Western Traces in the 'Age of Amphibians'," Lockley and Hunt (1995); page 34.
  4. ↑ "Western Traces in the 'Age of Amphibians'," Lockley and Hunt (1995); page 35.
  5. ↑ "Western Traces in the 'Age of Amphibians'," Lockley and Hunt (1995); pages 34-35.

References


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