Kimmeridge Clay


The Kimmeridge Clay is a sedimentary deposit of fossiliferous marine clay which is of Late Jurassic to lowermost Cretaceous age and occurs in southern and eastern England and in the North Sea. This rock formation is the major source rock for North [Sea oil]. The fossil fauna of the Kimmeridge Clay includes turtles, crocodiles, sauropods, plesiosaurs, pliosaurs and ichthyosaurs, as well as a number of invertebrate species.

Description

Kimmeridge Clay is named after the village of Kimmeridge on the Dorset coast of England, where it is well exposed and forms part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. Onshore, it is of Late Jurassic age and outcrops across England, in a band stretching from Dorset in the south-west, north-east to North Yorkshire. Offshore, it extends into the Lower Cretaceous and it is found throughout the Southern, Central and Northern North Sea.
The foundations of the Humber Bridge on the southern side of the bridge are on Kimmeridge Clay beneath superficial deposits, under the Humber estuary.

Economic importance

Kimmeridge Clay is of great economic importance, being the major source rock for oil fields in the North Sea hydrocarbon province. It has distinctive physical properties and log responses.

Vertebrate fauna

Fauna uncovered from the Kimmeridge Clay include:

Archosaurs

Thalattosuchians

GenusSpeciesLocationMemberAbundanceNotesImages

Bathysuchus
B. megarhinus
A pelagic teleosaurid.

Cricosaurus
C. gracilis
A metriorhynchine metriorhynchid

Dakosaurus
D. maximus
A geosaurine metriorhynchid

Metriorhynchus
M. brevirostris
A metriorhynchine metriorhynchid

Plesiosuchus
P. manseli
A geosaurine metriorhynchid

Torvoneustes
T. carpenteri
A geosaurine metriorhynchid

Torvoneustes
T. coryphaeus
A geosaurine metriorhynchid
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Ornithischians

Indeterminate ankylosaur osteoderms have been found in Wiltshire, England. Indeterminate stegosaurid remains have been found in Dorset and Wiltshire, England.
GenusSpeciesLocationMemberAbundanceNotesImages

Cumnoria
C. prestwichii
  • Oxfordshire
"Fragmentary skull and skeleton."Iguanodontian

Dacentrurus
D. armatus
  • Cambridgeshire
  • Dorset
  • Wiltshire
vertebrae, a massive right femur, ribs and a near complete pelvis.Stegosaur. Wiltshire remains include specimens previously referred to Omosaurus armatus and O. hastiger.

Ornithopoda
Indeterminate
  • Dorset?
Kimmeridge clay remains considered to represent a possible close relative of Bugenasaura are now regarded as the remains of an indeterminate euornithopod.

Omosaurus
O.armatus
  • Wiltshire
Reclassified as Dacentrurus armatus because the generic name Omosaurus was preoccupied.-
Omosaurus
O. hastiger
  • Wiltshire
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Saurischians

Indeterminate ornithomimmid remains have been found in Dorset, England. An undescribed theropod genus was found in Dorset.
GenusSpeciesLocationStratigraphic positionMaterialNotesImages

Bothriospondylus
B. suffosus
  • Wiltshire
" dorsal and sacral centra."Considered a nomen dubium.

Cetiosaurus
C. humerocristatus
  • Dorset
Now Duriatitan.

Cetiosaurus
Indeterminate
  • Oxfordshire
Remains previously referred to an indeterminate species of Cetiosaurus are now regarded as indeterminate sauropod material.

Duriatitan
D. humerocristatus
  • Dorset
Humerus
A titanosauriform

Gigantosaurus
G. megalonyx
  • Cambridgeshire
Remains previously referred to Gigantosaurus megalonyx are now regarded as indeterminate sauropod material.

"Ischyrosaurus"
I. manseli
  • Oxfordshire
"Humerus."
Remains previously referred to Ischyrosaurus manseli are now regarded as indeterminate sauropod material.

Juratyrant
J. langhami
  • Dorset
Partial skeleton
A primitive tyrannosaur
TorvosaurusIndeterminate
  • Swindon, Dorset
Tibia and maxilla fragment, collected separatelyA megalosaurid

Theropoda
Indeterminate
  • Wiltshire
  • Dorset
A tooth from Foxhangers, Wiltshire, phalanges from an unspecified locality in Wiltshire, and a proximal caudal vertebra from Shotover, Oxfordshire.Remains previously referred to Megalosaurus are now regarded as indeterminate theropod material.

Sauropoda
Indeterminate
  • Oxfordshire
  • Cambridgeshire
  • Norfolk
Remains previously attributed to one or more indeterminate species of Ornithopsis are now regarded as possible indeterminate sauropod material.
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Pterosaurs

GenusSpeciesLocationMaterialNotesImages
CuspicephalusC. scarfiDorsetPartial SkullMissing Crest, lower jaw and dentition
GermanodactylusindeterminateCharnel, DorsetMay be a non-pterodactyloid monofenestratan instead
RhamphorhynchusR. etchesiEncombe, Dorset
CtenochasmatoideaindeterminateAbingdon, OxfordshireLeft first wing finger phalanx
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Invertebrates

The invertebrate fauna of the Kimmeridge Clay includes: