East Berlin Formation
| East Berlin Formation | |
|---|---|
| Stratigraphic range: Early Jurassic | |
| Type | Geological formation |
| Unit of | Newark Supergroup |
| Lithology | |
| Primary | Mudstone ,Siltstone ,Mudrock ,Shale , Sandstone |
| Location | |
| Region | New England |
| Country | United States |
| Extent | Massachusetts and Connecticut |
The East Berlin Formation is an Early Jurassic geological formation in New England, United States. Dinosaur footprints and trackways are abundant in this formation. These tracks include Eubrontes (belonging to medium-sized-theropods similar to Dilophosaurus), Anchisauripus (belonging to small theropods like Coelophysis), and Anomoepus (belonging to indeterminate small ornithischians).[1] Several museums, parks, and tourist attractions are based around the East Berlin Formation's dinosaur tracks, including Dinosaur State Park in Rocky Hill, Connecticut and Powder Hill Dinosaur Park in Middlefield, Connecticut.[2][3]
Although the East Berlin Formation was originally intended to apply to the Hartford Basin of Connecticut and Massachusetts, equivalent strata is found elsewhere in the Newark Supergroup. Equivalent formations include the Waterfall Formation (Culpeper Basin; Virginia, Maryland), Towaco Formation (Newark Basin; New Jersey), White Oaks Formation (Pomperaug Basin, Connecticut), and Turner Falls Sandstone (Deerfield Basin, Massachusetts).[4]
Despositional environment
The formation was deposited in an alluvial and lacustrine half-graben succession which was deposited in a climate semi-arid in nature.[5] A 2026 study on certain Eubrontes tracks show that they were made in an area with an ephemeral lake system rather than at the margin of a perennial lake in the Hartfort basin.[6]
Fossil content
Color key
|
Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; |
| Dinosaurs from the Lianhe Formation | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genus | Species | Material | Notes | Images |
| Eubrontes[1] | Made by medium-sized-theropods similar to Dilophosaurus | |||
| Anchisauripus[1] | Made by small theropods similar to Coelophysis | |||
| Anomoepus[1] | Made by indeterminate small ornithischians | |||
See also
Footnotes
- ^ a b c d Weishampel, et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution." Pp. 517-607.
- ^ Galton, Peter M.; Farlow, James O. (2003). "Dinosaur State Park, Connecticut, USA: history, footprints, trackways, exhibits" (PDF). Zubia. 21: 129–173.
- ^ Getty, Patrick R.; Hardy, Laurel; Bush, Andrew M. (April 2015). "Was the Eubrontes Track Maker Gregarious? Testing the Herding Hypothesis at Powder Hill Dinosaur Park, Middlefield, Connecticut". Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History. 56 (1): 95–106. doi:10.3374/014.056.0109. S2CID 131281795.
- ^ Weems, Robert E.; Tanner, Lawrence H.; Lucas, Spencer G. (2016). "Synthesis and revision of the lithostratigraphic groups and formations in the Upper Permian?–Lower Jurassic Newark Supergroup of eastern North America". Stratigraphy. 13 (2).
- ^ "The Jurassic East Berlin Formation, Hartford Basin, Newark Supergroup (Connecticut and Massachusetts): A Saline Lake–Playa–Alluvial Plain System".
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Drzewiecki, Peter A.; Steinen, Randolph; Bora, Erick; Milardo, Justin S. (2026-02-28). "CONSTRAINING DINOSAUR BEHAVIOR FROM PALEOENVIRONMENTAL INTERPRETATIONS: EARLY JURASSIC EAST BERLIN FORMATION, DINOSAUR STATE PARK, ROCKY HILL, CONNECTICUT, USA". Palaios. 41 (1): 1–23. doi:10.2110/palo.2025.026. ISSN 1938-5323.
References
- Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. 861 pp. ISBN 0-520-24209-2.