Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pftt2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-08T05:23:24.123Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The occurrence of the hydrozoan genus Cassianastraea from Upper Triassic (Carnian) rocks of Williston Lake, British Columbia, Canada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

George D. Stanley Jr.  and
John-Paul Zonneveld
George D. Stanley Jr.
Affiliation:
1The University of Montana Paleontology Center, Missoula, Montana 59812, USA,
John-Paul Zonneveld
Affiliation:
2Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E3,
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Cassianastraea is an enigmatic colonial Triassic cnidarian first described as a coral but subsequently referred to the Hydrozoa. We report here the first occurrence in Canada of fossils we designate as Cassianastraea sp. from the Williston Lake region of British Columbia. The specimens come from older collections of the Geological Survey of Canada, collected in Upper Triassic (Carnian) strata assigned to either the Ludington or Baldonnel Formations. While well known in reef associations of the former Tethys region, Cassianiastraea is relatively rare in North America. The Carnian Baldonnel Formation contains the earliest coral reefs from the North American craton and we suspect that Cassianastraea sp. also came from this reef association.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 85 , Issue 1 , January 2011 , pp. 29 - 31
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Cuif, J. P. 1976. Recherches sur les Madréporaires du Trias. IV. Formes cério-méandroïdes et thamnastérioides du Trias des Alpes et du Taurus sud-anatolien. Bulletin du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, sér.3, 381, Sciences de la Terre, 53:1–195.Google Scholar
Deng, Z. and Kong, L. 1984. Middle Triassic corals and sponges from southern Guizhou and eastern Yunnan. Acta Palaeontologica Sinica, 23:489–503.Google Scholar
Gaetani, M. and Fois, E. 1979. A new and unusual Coelenterate from the Carnian of Dolomites (Italy). Bolletino della Societá Paleontologica Italiana, 17:262–271.Google Scholar
Laube, G. C. 1865. Die Fauna der Schichten von St. Cassian, I. Denkschriften der Akadamie der Wissenschaften, Wien. Mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche Classe, 24:223–296.Google Scholar
McLearn, F. E. 1960. Ammonoid faunas of the Upper Triassic Pardonet Formation, Peace River Foothills, British Columbia. Geological Survey of Canada Memoir 311, p. 1–169.Google Scholar
McRoberts, C. A. 2000. A primitive Halobia (Bivalvia Halobioidea) from the Triassic of northeastern British Columbia. Journal of Paleontology, 74:599–603.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Montanaro-Gallitelli, E. 1980. Lemniscaterina, a new order, related to Hydrozoa (Coelenterata). Memorie della Accademia Nazionale di Scienze Lettere e Arti Modena, 6:1–79.Google Scholar
Roniewicz, E. and Stanley, G. D. Jr. 1998. Middle Triassic cnidarians from the New Pass Range, central Nevada. Journal of Paleontology, 72:246–256.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Senowbari-Daryan, B., Zühlke, R., Bechstädt, T., and Flügel, E. 1993. Anisian (Middle Triassic) buildups of the Northern Dolomites (Italy): the recovery of reef communities after the Permian/Triassic crisis. Facies, 28:181–256.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tozer, E. T. 1984. The Trias and its Ammonoids: The evolution of a Time Scale. Geological Survey of Canada Miscellaneous Report, 35:1–171.Google Scholar
Volz, W. 1896. Die Korallenfauna der Trias. II. Die Korallen der Schichten von St. Cassian in Süd Tirol. Palaeontographica, 43:1–124.Google Scholar
Wells, J. W. 1956. Scleractinia, p. 328–444. In Moore, R. C. (ed.), Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Volume F. Geological Society of America and University Kansas Press, Lawrence, Kansas.Google Scholar
Zonneveld, J.-P. and Orchard, M. J. 2002. Stratal relationships of the Upper Triassic Baldonnel Formation, Williston Lake, northeastern British Columbia. Geological Survey of Canada, A8:1–11.Google Scholar
Zonneveld, J-P., Carrelli, G. G., and Riediger, C. 2004. Sedimentology of the Upper Triassic Charlie Lake, Baldonnel and Pardonet formations from outcrop exposures in the southern Trutch region, northeastern British Columbia. Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology, 52:343–375.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zonneveld, J.-P., Henderson, C. M., Stanley, G. D. Jr., Orchard, M. J., and Gingras, M.K. 2006. Oldest scleractinian coral reefs on the North American craton: Upper Triassic (Carnian), northeastern British Columbia, Canada. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 243:421–450.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zonneveld, J.-P., Beatty, T. W., Williford, K. H., Orchard, M. J., and McRoberts, C. A. 2010. Stratigraphic and Sedimentary Framework of the lower Black Bear Ridge section, British Columbia: Candidate for the base-Norian GSSP. Stratigraphy, 7:61–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar