UCMP loc. 2975, Zapato Chino Canyon (Pliocene of the United States)

Where: Fresno County, California (36.0° N, 120.3° W)

• Paleocoordinates: 36.9° N, 118.4° W (Wright 2013)

• coordinate stated in text

When: Pecten coalingensis zone, Etchegoin Formation, Early/Lower Pliocene (5.3 - 3.6 Ma)

• "Pecten coalingensis zone"

Environment/lithology: marginal marine; lithified, coarse-grained sandstone and conglomerate

• The beds of coal, the coarseness of the sandstones and conglomerates, the variation of the lithology within short distances, and the character of the molluscan fauna may be taken as indicative of deposition under shallow water conditions. The occurrence of quantities of gypsum at some localities, if it can be proved to be interstratified with the clastic rocks, may indicate that in part the beds are terrestrial or that the basin of deposition was nearly isolated from the sea.
• On Jacalitos Creek the Pliocene strata comprise essentially an alternation of soft coarse sandstone and conglomerate. In many of the fossiliferous horizons the beds have been much indurated, causing these strata to outcrop prominently. Of minor importance are shale, rhyolitie tuff, and thin layers of coal. A bed of silicious limestone having a thickness of about ten feet was traced more than one-half mile until cut off by faulting. A short distance above and below the limestone marine fossils were found.

Size class: macrofossils

Collected by Nomland; reposited in the UCMP

Primary reference: J. O. Nomland. 1917. The Etchegoin Pliocene of middle California. University of California Publications, Bulletin of the Department of Geology 10(14):191-254 [J. Alroy/J. Alroy/J. Marcot]more details

Purpose of describing collection: general faunal/floral analysis

PaleoDB collection 220183: authorized by Jonathan Marcot, entered by Jonathan Marcot on 11.05.2021

Creative Commons license: CC0 (CC0)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
Rhynchonellata
 Terebratulida - Terebrataliidae
Terebratalia arnoldi
Terebratalia arnoldi Hertlein and Grant IV 1944
Bivalvia
 Arcida - Arcidae
"Arca trilineata" = Anadara trilineata
"Arca trilineata" = Anadara trilineata Conrad 1856 ark
 Pectinida - Pectinoidae
"Pecten egregius" = Chlamys egregius, "Pecten etchegoini" = Swiftopecten parmeleei etchegoini, "Pecten coalingensis" = Oppenheimopecten coalingaensis, "Pecten proteus" = Argopecten circularis impostor
"Pecten egregius" = Chlamys egregius Nomland 1917 scallop
"Pecten etchegoini" = Swiftopecten parmeleei etchegoini Anderson 1905 scallop
as ssp. "Pecten etchegoini nutteri" and "Pecten etchegoini wattsi"
"Pecten coalingensis" = Oppenheimopecten coalingaensis Arnold 1906 scallop
"Pecten proteus" = Argopecten circularis impostor Hanna 1924 calico scallop
 Ostreida - Ostreidae
Ostrea lurida
Ostrea lurida Carpenter 1864 oyster
Gastropoda
 Epitonioidea - Epitoniidae
"Epitonium varicostata" = Opalia varicostata
"Epitonium varicostata" = Opalia varicostata Stearns 1875 wentletrap
Echinoidea
 Clypeasteroida - Dendrasteridae
"Dendraster perrini" = Merriamaster perrini
"Dendraster perrini" = Merriamaster perrini Weaver 1908 sand dollar