The Thaynes Formation is a
geologic formation
A geological formation, or simply formation, is a body of rock having a consistent set of physical characteristics ( lithology) that distinguishes it from adjacent bodies of rock, and which occupies a particular position in the layers of rock exp ...
in
Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...
and
Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...
, United States. It was recently elevated to
group
A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together.
Groups of people
* Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity
* Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic ide ...
status, as the
Thaynes Group.
It preserves
fossils dating back to the
Triassic
The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago (Year#Abbreviations yr and ya, Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 ...
period
Period may refer to:
Common uses
* Era, a length or span of time
* Full stop (or period), a punctuation mark
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Period (music), a concept in musical composition
* Periodic sentence (or rhetorical period), a concept ...
, such as
Ammonoidea,
Actinopterygii,
Actinistia
The coelacanths ( ) are fish belonging to the order Actinistia that includes two extant species in the genus ''Latimeria'': the West Indian Ocean coelacanth (''Latimeria chalumnae''), primarily found near the Comoro Islands off the east coast ...
,
Conodonta,
Gastropoda,
Nautiloidea
Nautiloids are a group of marine cephalopods (Mollusca) which originated in the Late Cambrian and are represented today by the living ''Nautilus'' and '' Allonautilus''. Fossil nautiloids are diverse and speciose, with over 2,500 recorded specie ...
,
Ichthyosauria
Ichthyosaurs (Ancient Greek for "fish lizard" – and ) are large extinct marine reptiles. Ichthyosaurs belong to the order known as Ichthyosauria or Ichthyopterygia ('fish flippers' – a designation introduced by Sir Richard Owen in 1842, altho ...
, and others. A diverse fauna known as the
Paris biota[Brayard et al. (2017): Unexpected Early Triassic marine ecosystem and the rise of the Modern evolutionary fauna. Science Advances 3 (2):e1602159; doi:10.1126/sciadv.1602159 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.1602159] has been described from the Thaynes Formation.
See also
*
List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in Montana
This article contains a list of fossil-bearing stratigraphic units in the state of Montana, U.S.
Sites
See also
* Paleontology in Montana
References
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fossiliferous stratigraphic units in Montana
Montana
Stratigraphic u ...
*
Paleontology in Montana
Paleontology in Montana refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the U.S. state of Montana. The fossil record in Montana stretches all the way back to the Precambrian. During the Late Precambrian, western Mo ...
*
Paleontology in Idaho The location of the U.S. state of Idaho
Paleontology in Idaho refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the U.S. state of Idaho. The fossil record of Idaho spans much of the geologic column from the Precambr ...
References
*
Triassic geology of Montana
Triassic Idaho
Triassic geology of Utah
Triassic geology of Wyoming
{{Triassic-stub