Southfork Quarry
Basic information
Sample name: Southfork Quarry
Reference: J. E. Storer. 1984. Fossil mammals of the Southfork Local Fauna (early Chadronian) of Saskatchewan. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciencesn 21(12):1400-1405 [ER 4178]
Geography
Country: Canada
State: Saskatchewan
Coordinate: 49.615° N, -108.755° W
Coordinate basis: stated in text
Scale: quarry
Formation: Cypress Hills
Time interval: Late Eocene
Zone: Chadronian
Ma: 37
Age basis: AEO
Geography comments: "in road cuts northwest of Southfork station, southwest quarter, section 2, township 8, range 21, west of the 3rd meridian" (Russell 1982)
said to be "low in the early Chadronian"
said to be "low in the early Chadronian"
Environment
Lithology: siliciclastic (mixed)
Taphonomic context: fluvial deposit
Habitat comments: "whitish bentonitic sandstone" (Russell 1982) described as "bentonitic claystone" by Gilbert and MacDougall (2022), who emphasise that this is only one of several fossiliferous facies including conglomerates and "interbedded sandstone, siltstone, and claystone"
facies shift "from a braided-fluvial system to a debris flow-filled incised channel... the assemblage accumulated over a significant interval of time in different depositional environments" including a paleosol at the top (Gilbert and MacDougall 2022)
facies shift "from a braided-fluvial system to a debris flow-filled incised channel... the assemblage accumulated over a significant interval of time in different depositional environments" including a paleosol at the top (Gilbert and MacDougall 2022)
Methods
Life forms: carnivores,ungulates
Sample size: 24 specimens
Years: 1962, 1971
Museum: Royal Saskatchewan Museum; Royal Ontario Museum
Sampling comments: discovered in 1962 by A. E. Swanston (Russell 1982) and "fossiliferous pockets were worked out in the early 1970's"
"A second phase of collection was carried out in 1971 by the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM)... Another phase of excavation took place sporadically from 1996 to the present by both the RSM and joint initiatives between the RSM and the Eastend Community Tourism Authority (ECTA)" and almost all current specimen numbers are RSM
mammals are described by Storer (1984) and newly collected lower vertebrates are listed by Gilbert and MacDougall (2022), who repeat Storer's old mammal inventory that only comprises the 1962 and 1971 specimens
"A second phase of collection was carried out in 1971 by the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM)... Another phase of excavation took place sporadically from 1996 to the present by both the RSM and joint initiatives between the RSM and the Eastend Community Tourism Authority (ECTA)" and almost all current specimen numbers are RSM
mammals are described by Storer (1984) and newly collected lower vertebrates are listed by Gilbert and MacDougall (2022), who repeat Storer's old mammal inventory that only comprises the 1962 and 1971 specimens
Metadata
Sample number: 4640
Contributor: John Alroy
Enterer: John Alroy
Created: 2025-01-06 04:02:09
Modified: 2025-01-06 04:02:09
Abundance distribution
8 species
1 singleton
total count 24
geometric series index: 14.3
Fisher's α: 4.202
geometric series k: 0.7742
Hurlbert's PIE: 0.8333
Shannon's H: 1.9469
Good's u: 0.9670
Each square represents a species. Square sizes are proportional to counts.
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Register
| †Hyaenodon horridus | 2 | |
| Mesohippus sp. | 1 | |
| †Colodon occidentalis | 2 | |
| †Hyracodon petersoni | 3 | |
| †Megacerops coloradensis | 6 | |
| Gilbert and MacDougall (2022): "Brontotheriidae indet."; "skulls, mandibles, and postcranial elements" (at least six) | ||
| †Brachyhyops viensis | 3 | |
| †Leptomeryx cf. yoderi | 2 | |
| †Leptomeryx cf. blacki | 5 | |