Article: The ammonite faunas and stratigraphy of the upper part of the Upper Kimmeridge Clay of Dorset
Publication: Palaeontology
Volume:
21
Part:
3
Publication Date:
July
1978
Page(s):
469
–
533
Author(s):
John C. W. Cope
Abstract
Re-examination of 122-4 m of the Upper Kimmeridge Clay (Jurassic), from the Freshwater Steps Stone Band up to the Portland Sand of the type section, east of Kimmeridge, Dorset, has been undertaken, and bed-by-bed ammonite collections made throughout this thickness. The ammonites include representatives of three genera belonging to two subfamilies: twenty species and two subspecies are described. The following taxa are new: Pectinatites (Pectinatites) dorsetensis, P. (P.) strahani, P. (P.) circumligatus; Pavlovia composita, P. composita waddingtoni, P. superba; genus Virgatopavlovia, V.fittoni, V. hounstoutensis. The pallasioides Zone fauna is identified for the first time in Dorset, below the rotunda Zone, and a new zone, thefittoni Zone, introduced for the beds formerly correlated with the pallasioides Zone. Correlations are suggested with other areas of Britain and with the Volgian succession of Russia.