Schrattenkalk Formation
The Schrattenkalk Formation is a Barremian to Aptian geologic formation in the Alps. The limestone is highly karstified. Fossil ornithopod tracks have been reported from the formation.[1] Iguanodont tracks have been registered in the Swiss portion of the formation.[2] The famous north face of the Eiger is partly composed of Schrattenkalk,[3] as well as the Sturmannshöhle in southernmost Bavaria, Germany,[4] and the Hölloch (second-longest cave in Europe) and Silberen system karst caves in Switzerland.[5]
| Schrattenkalk Formation Stratigraphic range: Barremian-Aptian | |
|---|---|
 Schrattenkalk in Luzern, Switzerland | |
| Type | Geological formation |
| Sub-units | Lower Schrattenkalk, Rawil Member, Upper Schrattenkalk |
| Underlies | Garschella Formation |
| Overlies | Tierwis Formation |
| Thickness | up to 300 m (980 ft) |
| Lithology | |
| Primary | Limestone |
| Other | Sandstone, mudstone |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | 46.9751°N 8.3303°E |
| Approximate paleocoordinates | 31.6°N 18.5°E |
| Region | Alps |
| Country |  Austria Germany Switzerland |
| Type section | |
| Named for | Schrattenfluh |
| Named by | Bernhard Studer |
| Year defined | 1834 |
  Schrattenkalk Formation (Switzerland) | |
Description
The formation is named after the Schrattenfluh in Luzern, Switzerland. The name is derived from the Swiss-German "Schratten" (a synonym of Karren) meaning clints or lapies, a phenomenon that frequently affects the limestone.[6] Kalk is limestone in German. Synonyms for the extensive formation are Hieroglyphenkalk, Calcaire à Hippurites, Urgonien, Rudistenkalk, Urgo-Aptien, Schrattenschichten, Requienenkalk, Rhodanien, Caprotinenkalk, and Urgonian Limestone.[7] The formation consists of three units, the Lower Schrattenkalk, Rawil Member and Upper Schrattenkalk.
The upper and lower units consist mostly of reefal limestones with bryozoa, gastropods, corals, sponges, brachiopods, bivalves and rudists. The Rawil Member contains beds of sandstones and mudstones containing foraminifera and echinoderms. The upper and lower members represent a photozoan-dominated carbonate platform,[8] and was deposited at the northern edge of the Tethys Ocean.[9]
Fossil content
In 2015, two new corals were described from Austria; Cairnsipsammia,[10] and Paraclausastrea vorarlbergensis.[11]
In an abandoned quarry on the shore of Lake Lucerne, close to the village of Beckenried, fossil trackways were discovered in the formation. The steeply inclined surface has more than 50 tracks (in three trackways) of ornithopod dinosaurs that are attributed to iguanodontids. Three trackways can be followed for distances of 25 to 35 metres (82 to 115 ft). The lengths of the footprints have a mean of 30 centimetres (12 in) and point to animals ranging in size of 4 to 6 metres (13 to 20 ft), with estimated hip heights between 1.8 and 2 metres (5.9 and 6.6 ft) and 1.4 to 1.7 metres (4.6 to 5.6 ft).[12]
Panorama
See also
- List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations
- Geology of the Alps
References
- Weishampel, et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution." Pp. 517-607.
- Risleten Quarry tracksite at Fossilworks.org
- Toni P. Labhart: Geologie der Schweiz. 5., überarb. Auflage. Ott Verlag, Thun 2001, S. 78ff.
- Ulrich Lagally, Stefan Glaser, Elisabeth Jobe, Georg Loth, Andreas Murr, Hubert Schmid, Wolfgang Schmid, Klaus Schwerd, Stephan Sieblitz und Ulrich Teipel: Geotope in Schwaben. In: Bayerisches Landesamt für Umwelt (Hrsg.): Erdwissenschaftliche Beiträge zum Naturschutz. Band 7. Augsburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-936385-34-2, S. 132.
- Jeannin, 2016, p.49
- Bonvallet, 2015, p.14
- Bodin, 2006, p.11
- Bodin, 2006, p.68
- Schrattenkalk Formation at Strati.ch
- Rosemarie C. Baron-Szabo (2015). "A new dendrophylliid coral genus Cairnsipsammia from the Lower Cretaceous of western Austria (Anthozoa; Scleractinia; Vorarlberg; Schrattenkalk Formation [upper Barremian-lower Aptian])". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 128 (4): 216–226. doi:10.2988/0006-324X-128.4.216.
- Rosemarie C. Baron-Szabo (2015). "Paraclausastrea vorarlbergensis sp. nov.; a new coral from the Lower Cretaceous of western Austria (Scleractinia; upper Barremian-lower Aptian; Schrattenkalk Fm.; Vorarlberg)". Zootaxa. 4032 (3): 327–332. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4032.3.9. PMID 26624368.
- Meyer, Christian; Thuring, Basil (2003). "The First Iguanodontid Dinosaur Tracks from the Swiss Alps (Schrattenkalk Formation, Aptian)". Ichnos. 10 (2–4): 221–228. doi:10.1080/10420940390256186.
Bibliography
- Bodin, Stéphane. 2006. Palaeoceanographic and palaeoclimatic changes during the Late Hauterivian - Barremian and their impact on the northern Tethyan margin: A combined sedimentological and geochemical approach (PhD thesis), 1–272. Université de Neuchâtel. Accessed 2018-08-15.
- Bonvallet, Lucie. 2015. Evolution of the Helvetic shelf (Switzerland) during the Barremian–early Aptian: paleoenvironmental, paleogeographic and paleoceanographic controlling factors (PhD thesis), 1–333. Université de Lausanne. Accessed 2018-08-15.
- Jeannin, P.-Y. 2016. Main karst and caves of Switzerland. Boletín Geológico y Minero 127. 45–56. Accessed 2018-08-15.
- Weishampel, David B.; Peter Dodson, and Halszka Osmólska. 2007. The Dinosauria, 1–861. Berkeley: University of California Press.ISBN 0-520-24209-2
Further reading
- Morycowa, E.; Decrouez, D. (2006). "Early Aptian scleractinian corals from the Upper Schrattenkalk of Hergiswil (Lucerne region, Helvetic Zone of central Switzerland)". Revue de Paléobiologie. 25 (2): 791–838.
- Kristina Schenk: Die Drusberg- und Schrattenkalk-Formation (Unterkreide) im Helvetikum des Berner Oberlandes. Dissertation Universität Bern, 1992
- Scholz, H. (1984). "Bioherme und Biostrome im Allgäuer Schrattenkalk (Helvetikum, Unterkreide)". Jahrbuch der geologischen Bundesanstalt. 127 (3): 471–499.