The palaeontology of the Liassic (Lower Jurassic) clay pits at Stonehouse and Tuffley in Gloucestershire

Abstract

SummaryThe two pits expose Pliensbachian silty shales and ferruginous limestones and sandstones. Fossils collected in situ are listed and two new morphospecies of fossil bivalve mollusc are described—Hippopodium tuffleyensis and Hettangia aperta. A taxonomic discussion is followed by palaeoecological inferences drawn from the essentially bivalve-dominated molluscan fauna. The conclusions indicate that the silty shales were deposited in well oxygenated waters, probably not exceeding 100 m, and the limestones at even shallower depths. Pebbles in the limestones indicate that some erosion preceded each of the limestones in the Margaritatus zone.