Astoria Formation

Astoria Formation
Stratigraphic range: Miocene
TypeGeological formation
Sub-unitsFrom top to bottom:
  • Big Creek sandstone member
  • Newport sandstone member
  • Silver Point mudstone member
  • Angora Peak sandstone member
UnderliesMontesano Formation
OverliesLincoln Creek Formation
Location
RegionWashington, Oregon
CountryUnited States

The Astoria Formation (formerly known as the Astoria shales) is a geologic formation in Washington state & Oregon. It preserves fossils dating back to the early to middle Miocene (but was formerly thought to date to the Oligocene).

Description

The Astoria Formation is a thick marine formation representing a near shore, relatively shallow-water shelf deposit. The formation spans a considerable amount of time, with its base considered to be lower boundary of Newportian Stage (late Early Miocene) & its top to be upper boundary of Newportian Stage (middle Middle Miocene).

Fossil content

Color key
Taxon Reclassified taxon Taxon falsely reported as present Dubious taxon or junior synonym Ichnotaxon Ootaxon Morphotaxon

Notes
Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text
crossed out taxa are discredited.

Mammals

Carnivorans

GenusSpeciesStratigraphy MaterialNotesImages
Desmatophoca D. brachycephala East of Knappton, Washington. Skull elements. A desmatophocid.
D. oregonensis Iron Mountain Bed & an unspecified horizon. Multiple specimens. A desmatophocid.
Enaliarctos E. emlongi South of Big Creek, Lincoln County, Oregon. USNM 250345. A pinnipedimorph, may instead be from the Nye Mudstone.[citation needed]
E. sp. Iron Mountain bed, Lincoln County, Oregon. Partial skeleton (UWBM 89114). A pinnipedimorph.
Eodesmus E. condoni Iron Mountain Bed, Oregon. A nearly complete cranium. A desmatophocid.
Pacificotaria P. hadromma Iron Mountain bed, Lincoln County, Oregon. Complete cranium (LACM 127973). A pinnipedimorph.
Proneotherium P. repenningi Lincoln County, Oregon. Remains of multiple individuals. An odobenid.
Pteronarctos P. goedertae Lincoln County, Oregon. Skulls. A pinnipedimorph.

Cetaceans

GenusSpeciesPresence MaterialNotesImages
Cophocetus C. oregonensis North of Yaquina Bay. Associated skull, jaws & skeletal elements. A baleen whale.
Dilophodelphis D. fordycei Nye Beach, Oregon. USNM 214911. A platanistid.
Wimahl W. chinookensis Washington State A kentriodontid.
Zarhinocetus Z. donnamatsonae Near Elma, Washington. UCMP 86139. An allodelphinid.

Perissodactyls

GenusSpeciesPresence MaterialNotesImages
Aphelops A. sp. Fragment of skull (USNM 187123). A rhinoceros.
Tylocephalonyx T. sp. Iron Mountain Bed, Lincoln County, Oregon. A skull (NMNH 187129). A chalicothere.

Birds

GenusSpeciesPresence MaterialNotesImages
Diomedeidae Gen. et. sp. indet. East of Knappton, Washington. Partial skeleton (SMF Av 644). An albatross.

Cartilaginous fish

GenusSpeciesPresence MaterialNotesImages
Carcharodon C. megalodon North of Newport, Oregon. Species reassigned to the genus Otodus.
Cetorhinus C. piersoni North of Newport, Oregon. Teeth. A basking shark.
Cosmopolitodus C. hastalis Coos Bay, Oregon. A tooth. A lamnid shark.
C. planus? North of Newport, Oregon. A lamnid shark.
Galeocerdo G. cf. aduncus North of Newport, Oregon. A requiem shark.
Hexanchus North of Newport, Oregon. A cow shark.
Isurus I. hastalis Coos Bay, Oregon. A tooth. Species reassigned to Cosmopolitodus.
I. planus? North of Newport, Oregon. Species reassigned to Cosmopolitodus.
Myliobatis North of Newport, Oregon. An eagle ray.
Otodus O. megalodon North of Newport, Oregon. Originally reported as Carcharodon megalodon.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Geolex — Astoria publications". ngmdb.usgs.gov. Retrieved 2022-12-19.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Toshiyuki, Kimura; Barnes, Lawrence G. (March 2016). "New Miocene fossil Allodelphinidae (Cetacea, Odontoceti, Platanistoidea) from the North Pacific Ocean". Bull. Gunma Mus. Nat. Hist. 20: 1–58.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Barnes, Lawrence G. (1987-06-18). "An Early Miocene pinniped of the genus Desmatophoca (Mammalia: Otariidae) from Washington". Contributions in Science. 382: 1–20. doi:10.5962/p.208126. ISSN 0459-8113. S2CID 198245103.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Ray, Clayton E. (1976). "Fossil Marine Mammals of Oregon". Systematic Zoology. 25 (4): 420–436. doi:10.2307/2412515. ISSN 0039-7989. JSTOR 2412515.
  5. 1 2 Berta, Annalisa (1991). "New Enaliarctos* (Pinnipedimorpha) from the Oligocene and Miocene of Oregon and the Role of "Enaliarctids" in Pinniped Phylogeny". Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology. 69 (69): 1–33. doi:10.5479/si.00810266.69.1. hdl:10088/19145.
  6. 1 2 Poust, Ashley; Boessenecker, Robert (2018). "Expanding the geographic and geochronologic range of early pinnipeds: new specimens of Enaliarctos from Northern California and Oregon". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 63. doi:10.4202/app.00399.2017. S2CID 55978096.
  7. 1 2 Tate-Jones, M. Kellum; Peredo, Carlos M.; Marshall, Christopher D.; Hopkins, Samantha S. B. (2020-07-03). "The Dawn of Desmatophocidae: A New Species of Basal Desmatophocid Seal (Mammalia, Carnivora) from the Miocene of Oregon, U.S.A.". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 40 (4) e1789867. Bibcode:2020JVPal..40E9867T. doi:10.1080/02724634.2020.1789867. ISSN 0272-4634. S2CID 224935328.
  8. 1 2 Barnes, Lawrence G. (1992-04-07). "A new genus and species of Middle Miocene enaliarctine pinniped (Mammalia, Carnivora, Otariidae) from the Astoria Formation in coastal Oregon". Contributions in Science. 431: 1–27. doi:10.5962/p.208159. ISSN 0459-8113. S2CID 199822990.
  9. 1 2 Deméré, Thomas A.; Berta, Annalisa (2001-07-20). "A reevaluation of Proneotherium repenningi from the Miocene Astoria Formation of Oregon and its position as a basal odobenid (Pinnipedia: Mammalia)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 21 (2): 279–310. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2001)021[0279:AROPRF]2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0272-4634. S2CID 88095414.
  10. 1 2 Berta, Annalisa (1994). New specimens of the Pinnipediform Pteronarctos from the Miocene of Oregon. Washington, D.C: Smithsonian Institution Press.
  11. 1 2 Boersma, Alexandra T.; McCurry, Matthew R.; Pyenson, Nicholas D. (May 2017). "A new fossil dolphin Dilophodelphis fordycei provides insight into the evolution of supraorbital crests in Platanistoidea (Mammalia, Cetacea)". Royal Society Open Science. 4 (5) 170022. Bibcode:2017RSOS....470022B. doi:10.1098/rsos.170022. ISSN 2054-5703. PMC 5451807. PMID 28573006.
  12. ↑ Peredo, Carlos Mauricio; Uhen, Mark D.; Nelson, Margot D. (2018-03-04). "A new kentriodontid (Cetacea: Odontoceti) from the early Miocene Astoria Formation and a revision of the stem delphinidan family Kentriodontidae". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 38 (2) e1411357. Bibcode:2018JVPal..38E1357P. doi:10.1080/02724634.2017.1411357. ISSN 0272-4634. S2CID 89965454.
  13. 1 2 Coombs, Margery Chalifoux (1979). "Tylocephalonyx, a new genus of North American dome-skulled chalicotheres (Mammalia, Perissodactyla)". Bulletin of the AMNH. 164 (1): 1–64. hdl:2246/1041.
  14. 1 2 Mayr, Gerald; Goedert, James L. (July 2017). "Oligocene and Miocene albatross fossils from Washington State (USA) and the evolutionary history of North Pacific Diomedeidae". The Auk. 134 (3): 659–671. doi:10.1642/AUK-17-32.1. ISSN 0004-8038. S2CID 89636332.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Welton, Bruce J. (October 1972). "Fossil Sharks in Oregon" (PDF). The Ore Bin. 34 (10): 161–172.
  16. 1 2 Welton, Bruce J. (2015-08-21). "A New Species of Late Early Miocene Cetorhinus (Lamniformes; Cetorhinidae) from the Astoria Formation of Oregon, and coeval Cetorhinus from Washington and California". Contributions in Science. 523: 67––89. doi:10.5962/p.241294. ISSN 0459-8113. S2CID 242792009.