The Sainte-Barbe Clays Formation is a geological formation in Belgium. It is found in localised areas of the northern margin of the Mons Basin, alongside the equivalently aged Hautrage and Baudour Clay Formations. It is Upper

Barremian The Barremian is an age in the geologic timescale (or a chronostratigraphic stage) between 129.4 ± 1.5 Ma (million years ago) and 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma). It is a subdivision of the Early Cretaceous Epoch (or Lower Cretaceous Series). It is preceded ...

-Lower

Aptian The Aptian is an age in the geologic timescale or a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is a subdivision of the Early or Lower Cretaceous Epoch or Series and encompasses the time from 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma to 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma (million years ago), a ...

in age. It predominantly consists of laminated clay, with some lignite. It is well known for the "Iguanodon sinkhole" locality near

Bernissart Bernissart (; pcd, Bernissåt) is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Hainaut Province, province of Hainaut, Belgium. On January 1, 2006, Bernissart had a total population of 11,458. The total area is 43.42 ...

where many specimens of ''Iguanodon bernissartensis'' were described by

Louis Dollo Louis Antoine Marie Joseph Dollo (Lille, 7 December 1857 – Brussels, 19 April 1931) was a Belgian palaeontologist, known for his work on dinosaurs. He also posited that evolution is not reversible, known as Dollo's law. Together with the Austrian ...

in the late 19th century.

Geologic context

The Sainte-Barbe Clays Formation are part of the stratigraphy of the Mons Basin, a Cretaceous-Cenozoic

sedimentary basin Sedimentary basins are region-scale depressions of the Earth's crust where subsidence has occurred and a thick sequence of sediments have accumulated to form a large three-dimensional body of sedimentary rock. They form when long-term subsidence ...

in western Belgium. The subsidence of the basin floor is caused by the

dissolution Dissolution may refer to: Arts and entertainment Books * ''Dissolution'' (''Forgotten Realms'' novel), a 2002 fantasy novel by Richard Lee Byers * ''Dissolution'' (Sansom novel), a 2003 historical novel by C. J. Sansom Music * Dissolution, in mu ...

anhydrite Anhydrite, or anhydrous calcium sulfate, is a mineral with the chemical formula CaSO4. It is in the orthorhombic crystal system, with three directions of perfect cleavage parallel to the three planes of symmetry. It is not isomorphous with the ...

in the

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, million years ago. The name ''Carbonifero ...

basement A basement or cellar is one or more floors of a building that are completely or partly below the ground floor. It generally is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, ...

. Wealden facies are the oldest units within the basin, and are only found on the northern margin of the basin, being absent from the central and southern parts of the basin. Localised areas of significant subsidence, referred to as "sinkholes" are observed. The Wealden facies are overlain by "mixed

siliciclastic Siliciclastic (or ''siliclastic'') rocks are clastic noncarbonate sedimentary rocks that are composed primarily of silicate minerals, such as quartz or clay minerals. Siliciclasic rock types include mudrock, sandstone Sandstone is a clastic ...

–

carbonate A carbonate is a salt of carbonic acid (H2CO3), characterized by the presence of the carbonate ion, a polyatomic ion with the formula . The word ''carbonate'' may also refer to a carbonate ester, an organic compound containing the carbonate g ...

formations" called ''Meules'' dating to the

Albian The Albian is both an age of the geologic timescale and a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early/Lower Cretaceous Epoch/Series. Its approximate time range is 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma to 100.5 ± 0.9 M ...

Fossil content

Tetrapods

Fish

;Other fish * '' Leptolepis attenuatus'' * '' L. brevis'' * '' Notagogus parvus'' * '' Ophiopsis dorsalis''Dupont, 1892 * '' O. penicillatus''du Pauw, 1902 * '' Pachythrissops vectensis'' * '' Pholidophorus obesus'' * '' Scheenstia mantelli'' * '' Belonostomus sp.'' * '' Caturus sp.'' * '' Pholidophorus sp.'' * '' Polypsephis sp.'' * '' Typodus sp.''

Insects

The Tettigarctid

cicada The cicadas () are a superfamily, the Cicadoidea, of insects in the order Hemiptera (true bugs). They are in the suborder Auchenorrhyncha, along with smaller jumping bugs such as leafhoppers and froghoppers. The superfamily is divided into two ...

'' Hylaeoneura lignei'' is known from the formation.Lameere & Severin, 1897

Parasites

* '' Ascarites gerus''Poinar & Boucot, 2006 * '' A. priscus'' * '' Digenites proterus'' * '' Entamoebites antiquus''

Flora

* '' Alethopteris elegans'' * '' Cladophlebis dunkeri'' * '' Conites minuta'' * '' Laccopteris dunkeri'' * '' Leckenbya valdensis'' * '' Matonidium goepperti'' * '' Onychiopsis mantelli'' * '' Pecopteris conybeari'' * '' P. polymorpha'' * '' Pinites solmsi'' * '' Polypodites mantelli'' * '' Ruffordia goepperti'' * '' Sagenopteris mantelli'' * '' Sphenopteris delicatissima'' * '' S. fittoni'' * '' S. roemeri'' * '' Stellatopollis hughesii''Yans et al., 2006 * '' Weichselia mantelli'' * '' Adiantites sp.'' * '' Equisetites sp.'' * '' Gleichenia sp.''Woodward, 1885 * '' Gleichenites sp.'' * '' Hausmannia (Protorhipis)'' * '' Lycopodites sp.'' * '' cf. Taeniopteris sp.''

Ichnofossils

* '' Algites sp.''Quinet, 1969

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * {{cite LSA , last=Woodward , first=H , year=1885 , title=On ''Iguanodon mantelli'', Meyer , journal=

Geological Magazine The ''Geological Magazine'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal established in 1864, covering the earth sciences. It publishes original scientific research papers on geological topics. The journal is published bimonthly by Cambridge University ...

, decade 3 , volume=2 , pages=10–15