New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics abstracts

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An occurrence of the tube fossil Torlessia mackayi Bather, 1906 from southwest Wellington, New Zealand

M. J. HANNAH
J. D. COLLEN

Research School of Earth Sciences
Victoria University of Wellington
P.O. Box 600
Wellington, New Zealand

Abstract  An outcrop of Upper Triassic Torlesse strata containing a spectacular occurrence of Torlessia mackayi Bather is documented from near Sinclair Head, southwest Wellington. Hundreds of well-preserved specimens of this fossil, many of them large and complete, occur on some 10 m² of a single bedding plane. Complete specimens range 30-70 mm in length, have medium to strong curvature, and are now flattened, although reconstructions suggest that the original form was tubular with diameters of 1.0-1.3 mm. The tube surface is ornamented with longitudinal striae. Some areas of the outcrop show prominent ripple marks, and the tubes of T. mackayi are aligned subparallel to the ripple crests, indicating postmortem transport from a nearby dense grouping of the organisms.

Keywords  paleontology; sedimentology; Torlesse; Torlessia mackayi; Sinclair Head; transportation

New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, 1995, Vol. 38: 117-119

0028-8306/95/3801-0117 $2.50/0 (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand 1995

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (966K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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