The Conway Formation is a

Campanian The Campanian is the fifth of six ages of the Late Cretaceous Epoch on the geologic timescale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). In chronostratigraphy, it is the fifth of six stages in the Upper Cretaceous Series. Campanian s ...

Danian The Danian is the oldest age or lowest stage of the Paleocene Epoch or Series, of the Paleogene Period or System, and of the Cenozoic Era or Erathem. The beginning of the Danian (and the end of the preceding Maastrichtian) is at the Cretaceous� ...

geologic

formation Formation may refer to: Linguistics * Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes * Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes Mathematics and science * Cave formation or speleothem, a secondar ...

in the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

of New Zealand and therefore crosses the

Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary The Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) boundary, formerly known as the Cretaceous–Tertiary (K–T) boundary, is a geological signature, usually a thin band of rock containing much more iridium than other bands. The K–Pg boundary marks the end of ...

Plesiosaur The Plesiosauria (; Greek: πλησίος, ''plesios'', meaning "near to" and ''sauros'', meaning "lizard") or plesiosaurs are an order or clade of extinct Mesozoic marine reptiles, belonging to the Sauropterygia. Plesiosaurs first appeared ...

remains are among the

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

s that have been recovered from its strata. The Conway Formation is part of the Eyre Group and Haerenga Supergroup.

Fossil content

Among others, the following fossils have been found in the formation:Haumuri Bluff
at

Fossilworks Fossilworks is a portal which provides query, download, and analysis tools to facilitate access to the Paleobiology Database The Paleobiology Database is an online resource for information on the distribution and classification of fossil animals ...

.org * ''

Alexandronectes zealandiensis ''Alexandronectes'' is a genus of elasmosaurid plesiosaur, a type of long-necked marine reptile, that lived in the oceans of Late Cretaceous New Zealand. It contains one species, ''A. zealandiensis''. Fossils of ''Alexandronectes'' were found i ...

'' * '' Onchopristis dunklei'' * '' Taniwhasaurus oweni''

References

{{reflist

* M. W. Caldwell, R. Holmes, G. L. Bell, Jr. and J. Wiffen. 2005. An unusual tylosaurine mosasaur from New Zealand: a new skull of ''Taniwhasaurus oweni'' (Lower Haumurian; Upper Cretaceous). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 25(2):393-401 * J. P. O'Gorman, R. A. Otero, and N. Hiller. 2014. A new record of an aristonectine elasmosaurid (Sauropterygia, Plesiosauria) from the Upper Cretaceous of New Zealand: implications for the Mauisaurus haasti Hector, 1874 hypodigm. Alcheringa * R. A. Otero, J. P. O'Gorman, N. Hiller, F. R. O'Keefe, and R. E. Fordyce. 2016. ''Alexandronectes zealandiensis'' gen. et sp. nov., a new aristonectine plesiosaur from the lower Maastrichtian of New Zealand. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 36(2):e1054494:1-14 * G. Warren and I. Speden. 1977. The Piripauan and Haumurian stratotypes (Mata Series, Upper Cretaceous) and correlative sequences in the Haumuri Bluff District, South Marlborough. New Zealand Geological Survey Bulletin 92:1-60 Geologic formations of New Zealand Cretaceous System of Oceania Campanian Stage Maastrichtian Stage Sandstone formations Siltstone formations Fossiliferous stratigraphic units of Oceania Paleontology in New Zealand Canterbury, New Zealand

Fossil content

See also

References

Further reading