The Klettgau Formation is a geological formation in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. It is

Late Triassic The Late Triassic is the third and final epoch (geology), epoch of the Triassic geologic time scale, Period in the geologic time scale, spanning the time between annum, Ma and Ma (million years ago). It is preceded by the Middle Triassic Epoch ...

in age, covering most of the mid to late

Norian The Norian is a division of the Triassic Period. It has the rank of an age (geochronology) or stage (chronostratigraphy). It lasted from ~227 to million years ago. It was preceded by the Carnian and succeeded by the Rhaetian. Stratigraphic defi ...

, the

Carnian The Carnian (less commonly, Karnian) is the lowermost stage of the Upper Triassic Series (or earliest age of the Late Triassic Epoch). It lasted from 237 to 227 million years ago (Ma). The Carnian is preceded by the Ladinian and is followed by t ...

, and into the

Rhaetian The Rhaetian is the latest age of the Triassic Period (in geochronology) or the uppermost stage of the Triassic System (in chronostratigraphy). It was preceded by the Norian and succeeded by the Hettangian (the lowermost stage or earliest age ...

, spanning a period of 26-30 million years.Klettgau Formation
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

Description

The primary depositional environment was that of a playa with marine and fluvial intercalations. The lithology is quite variable consisting primarily of fine grained rocks typically

claystones Mudrocks are a class of fine-grained siliciclastic sedimentary rocks. The varying types of mudrocks include siltstone, claystone, mudstone, slate, and shale. Most of the particles of which the stone is composed are less than and are too smal ...

and dolocretes, often with sandstone or carbonatic fluvial channel fills.Jordan et al., 2016

Fossil content

Dinosaur fossils are known from the formation, including those of ''

Plateosaurus ''Plateosaurus'' (probably meaning "broad lizard", often mistranslated as "flat lizard") is a genus of plateosaurid dinosaur that lived during the Late Triassic period, around 214 to 204 million years ago, in what is now Central and Northern Eur ...

,'' '' Notatesseraeraptor frickensis'' and ''

Schleitheimia ''Schleitheimia'' (named after the type locality of Schleitheim), is an extinct genus of sauropodiform sauropodomorph dinosaur, from the Gruhalde Member of Klettgau Formation of Switzerland. The type species, ''Schleitheimia schutzi'' was formal ...

''Zahner & Brinkmann, 2019Rauhut et al., 2020 The following other fossils were found in the formation: ;Prozostrodontia * '' Hallautherium schalchi''Tatarinov, 1985 * '' Helvetiodon schutzi'' * '' ?Thomasia sp.'' * ''cf. Thomasia sp.'' * ''Thomasia antiqua'' * ''T. moorei'' * '' Tricuspes cf. tuebingensis'' * ?Haramiyidae indet. *''

Morganucodon ''Morganucodon'' (" Glamorgan tooth") is an early mammaliaform genus that lived from the Late Triassic to the Middle Jurassic. It first appeared about 205 million years ago. Unlike many other early mammaliaforms, ''Morganucodon'' is well represe ...

'' peyeri *''

'' sp. ;Reptiles * '' Deltadectes elvetica''Whiteside et al., 2017 * '' Termatosaurus albertii''Clemens, 1980 * ''

Proganochelys quenstedtii ''Proganochelys'' is an extinct, primitive stem-turtle that has been hypothesized to be the sister taxon to all other turtles creating a monophyletic group, the ''Casichelydia''. ''Proganochelys'' was named by Georg Baur in 1887 as the oldest tur ...

'' * '' Paleollanosaurus sp.'' * '' ?Variodens sp.'' * '' cf. Diphydontosaurus sp.'' * '' cf. Eudimorphodon sp.'' * Archosauriformes indet.Butler et al., 2006 * Nothosauridae indet. * Pterosauria indet. * Sphenodontia indet. * Theropoda indet.Carrano, 2020 ;Amphibians * Labyrinthodontia indet. ;Fish * '' Ceratodus parvus''Schalch & Peyer, 1919 * '' Sargodon tomicus'' * '' Dapedium sp.''Peyer, 1956 * '' Hybodus sp.'' * Osteichthyes indet. ;Invertebrates * Crinoidea indet. * Echinodermata indet. * Mollusca indet.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * {{cite LSA , last=Schalch , first=F. , first2=B. , last2=Peyer , year=1919 , title=Über ein neues Rhätvorkommen im Keuper des Donau-Rheinzuges - On a new occurrence of the Rhaetian in the Keuper of the Danube-Rhine valleys , journal= Mitteilungen der Badischen Geologischen Landesanstalt , volume=8 , pages=263–315 Geologic formations of Switzerland Triassic System of Europe Triassic Switzerland Carnian Stage Norian Stage Rhaetian Stage Marl formations Mudstone formations Conglomerate formations Dolomite formations Shallow marine deposits Paleontology in Switzerland