Campbellton Formation Explained

Campbellton Formation
Type:	Geological formation
Period:	Devonian
Region:	New Brunswick
Unitof:	Gaspé Sandstones
Overlies:	Val d’Amour Formation
Thickness:	Nearly 1 kilometer

The Campbellton Formation is a geologic formation in New Brunswick. It preserves fossils dating back to the latest Pragian and Emsian of the Devonian period.

Description

The Campbellton Formation is the southernmost representative of the Gaspé Sandstones group^[1] and can be divided into 6 facies associations (restricted lacustrine, marginal lacustrine, near-shore lacustrine, coastal-deltaic, sandy to gravelly alluvial plain, and gravelly proximal alluvial environments), and is nearly a kilometer thick.^[2] Lacustrine facies are prevalent in the lower parts of the eastern belt (representing a large open lake) while upper parts of the formation are dominated by alluvial facies (representing an eastward-flowing axial braided river system).

Fossil content

Vertebrates

Acanthodians
Genus	Species	Presence	Material	Notes	Images
Ankylacanthus	A. incurvus	Atholville Beds.^[3]	Fin spines.	A possible gyracanthid, formerly known as Gyracanthus incurvus.
Cheiracanthus?	C.? costellatus
Mesacanthus	M. semistriatus

Chondrichthyans
Genus	Species	Presence	Material	Notes	Images
Doliodus	D. latispinosus		Fin spines.^[4]	Also known from the York River and Battery Point formations.
Protodus	P. jexi	"Atholville Beds, shoreline approximately 1.3 km W of the interprovincial bridgecrossing the Restigouche River, near Campbellton".^[5]	Isolated teeth.	A protodontid.

Ostracoderms
Genus	Species	Presence	Material	Notes	Images
Yvonaspis	Y. campbelltonensis			A cephalaspid, formerly listed as a species of Cephalaspis.^[6]
	Y. jexi			A cephalaspid, formerly listed as a species of Cephalaspis.
	Y. westolli			A cephalaspid, formerly listed as a species of Cephalaspis.

Placoderms
Genus	Species	Presence	Material	Notes	Images
Phlyctaenius	P. acadicus		Fragments of exoskeleton and dermal plates.	A phlyctaeniid.
	P. atholi		Fragments of exoskeleton and dermal plates.	A phlyctaeniid.
	P. stenosus		Fragments of exoskeleton and dermal plates.	A phlyctaeniid.

Invertebrates

Arthropods
Genus	Species	Presence	Material	Notes	Images
Eoarthropleura		Near the Dalhousie Junction and Point la Nim areas.		An arthropleurid.
Gaspestria	G. genselorum			A millipede.^[7]
Millipede	Unnamed.^[8]		4 detailed impression fossils.
cf. Parahughmilleria	cf. P. sp.	"Point La Nim (48°03.97’N; 66°24.78’W), west of Dalhousie, New Brunswick".^[9]	"Specimen NBMG 11012 consists of a part and counterpart of an articulated partial preabdomen of the opisthosoma".	A eurypterid.
Primitia	P. mundula		Disarticulated valves.	An ostracod.
	P. scaphoides		Disarticulated valves.	An ostracod.
Pterygotus	P. anglicus	Atholville beds near the western end of the Campbellton Formation exposure.^[10]		A eurypterid.
	P. sp.			A eurypterid.
Scorpion	Unnamed	Near the Dalhousie Junction and Point la Nim areas.		A scorpion with book lungs preserved.

Molluscs
Genus	Species	Presence	Material	Notes	Images
Cyclora	C. valvatiformis			A gastropod.
	C. imbricata			A gastropod.

Plants

Plants
Genus	Species	Presence	Material	Notes	Images
Bitelaria	B. dubjanskii	Facies 1.		A tracheophyte.
Chaleuria	C. cirrosa	Facies 5.		A tracheophyte.
Drepanophycus	D. gaspianus	Facies 1, 2, 3 and 5.		A drepanophycale.
	D. spinaeformis	Facies 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6.^[11]		A drepanophycale.
	D. sp.	Facies 1 and 5.		A drepanophycale.
Kaulangiophyton		Facies 1.		A tracheophyte.
Leclercqia	L. complexa	Facies 1 and 4.		A protolepidodendrale.
	L. andrewsii	Facies 1.		A protolepidodendrale.
Loganophyton	L. dawsoni	Facies 1, 4 and 5.		A tracheophyte.
Omniastrobus	O. dawsonii		"Impressions of strobili with numerous carbonized spore masses".^[12]
Oocampsa	O. catheta	"About ½ mi west of Dalhousie Junction."^[13]		A tracheophyte.
Oricilla	O. bilinearis	Facies 1 and 5.		A zosterophyll.
Pachytheca		Facies 2.
Pertica	P. dalhousii	Facies 5.		A tracheophyte.
Psilophyton	P. coniculum	Facies 6.		A trimerophytopsid.
	P. charientos	Facies 1.		A trimerophytopsid.
	P. princeps	Facies 1, 3, 5 and 6.		A trimerophytopsid.
	P. sp.	Facies 1 and 5.		A trimerophytopsid.
Sawdonia	S. acanthotheca	Facies 1 and 2.		A zosterophyll.
	S. ornata	Facies 1 and 5.		A zosterophyll.
Spongiophyton	S. minutissimum	Facies 1, 2 and 6.
Taeniocrada	T. dubia	Facies 2 and 5.		A tracheophyte.
Trimerophyton	T. robustius	Facies 4.		A trimerophytopsid.
Zosterophyllum	Z. divaricatum	"South shore of the Restigouche River near Dalhousie, New Brunswick".^[14]		A zosterophyll.

See also

• List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in New Brunswick

References

• Web site: Fossilworks: Gateway to the Paleobiology Database. ((Various Contributors to the Paleobiology Database)). 17 December 2021.

Notes and References

1. Kennedy . Kirsten L. . Miller . Randall F. . Gibling . Martin R. . 2012-11-15 . Palaeoenvironments of Early Devonian fish and other aquatic fauna of the Campbellton Formation, New Brunswick, Canada . Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology . en . 361-362 . 61–72 . 10.1016/j.palaeo.2012.08.002 . 2012PPP...361...61K . 0031-0182.
2. KennedyKirsten . R . GiblingMartin . 2011-11-10 . The Campbellton Formation, New Brunswick, Canada: paleoenvironments in an important Early Devonian terrestrial locality . Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences . 48 . 12 . 1561–1580 . en . 10.1139/e11-055. 2011CaJES..48.1561K .
3. Burrow . Carole J. . Turner . Susan . Desbiens . Sylvain . Miller . Randall F. . August 2008 . Early Devonian putative gyracanthid acanthodians from eastern CanadaInternational Geoscience Programme (IGCP) Contribution 491, Middle Palaeozoic Vertebrate Biogeography, Palaeogeography, and Climate. . Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences . 45 . 8 . 897–908 . 10.1139/e08-033 . 0008-4077.
4. Burrow . Carole J. . Turner . Susan . Maisey . John G. . Desbiens . Sylvain . Miller . Randall F. . 2017 . Spines of the stem chondrichthyan Doliodus latispinosus (Whiteaves) comb. nov. from the Lower Devonian of eastern Canada . Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences . 54 . 12 . 1248 . 10.1139/cjes-2017-0059 . 2017CaJES..54.1248B . 0008-4077. free . 1807/78890 . free .
5. Turner . Susan . Miller . Randall F. . January 2008 . Protodus jexi Woodward, 1982 (Chondrichthyes), from the Lower Devonian Campbellton Formation, New Brunswick, Canada . Acta Geologica Polonica . 58 . 2 . 133–145.
6. Belles-Isles . Michel . 1989-11-01 . Yvonaspis, nouveau genre d'Osteostraci (Vertebrata, Agnatha) du Dévonien (Emsien–Eifélien) des Grès de Gaspé (Québec, Canada) . Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences . 26 . 11 . 2396–2401 . 10.1139/e89-204 . 1989CaJES..26.2396B . 0008-4077.
7. Wilson . Heather M. . 2006 . Juliformian Millipedes from the Lower Devonian of Euramerica: Implications for the Timing of Millipede Cladogenesis in the Paleozoic . Journal of Paleontology . 80 . 4 . 638–649 . 10.1666/0022-3360(2006)80[638:JMFTLD]2.0.CO;2 . 4095102 . 85823417 . 0022-3360.
8. Shear . W. . Gensel . P. . Jeram . A. . 1996 . Fossils of large terrestrial arthropods from the Lower Devonian of Canada . Nature . 384 . 6609 . 555–557 . 10.1038/384555A0. 1996Natur.384..555S . 4367636 .
9. Miller . Randall . Kennedy . Kirsten . Gibling . Martin . 2012-03-20 . A eurypterid from the lacustrine facies of the Early Devonian Campbellton Formation, New Brunswick, Canada . Atlantic Geology . 48 . 14–19 . 10.4138/atlgeol.2012.002 . 1718-7885. free .
10. Randall . F. Mill . 2007-12-31 . Pterygotus anglicus Agassiz (Chelicerata: Eurypterida) from Atholville, Lower Devonian Campbellton Formation, New Brunswick, Canada . Palaeontology . en . 50 . 4 . 981–999 . 10.1111/j.1475-4983.2007.00683.x . 140667798 . 0031-0239. free .
11. KENNEDY . K. L. . GENSEL . P. G. . GIBLING . M. R. . Paleoenvironmental Inferences from the Classic Lower Devonian Plant-Bearing Locality of the Campbellton Formation, New Brunswick, Canada . 2012-06-29 . PALAIOS . 27 . 6 . 424–438 . 10.2110/palo.2012.p12-004r . 2012Palai..27..424K . 128939115 . 0883-1351.
12. Bonacorsi . Nikole K. . Gensel . Patricia G. . Hueber . Francis M. . Leslie . Andrew B. . 2021-03-01 . Omniastrobus gen. nov., an Emsian Plant with Implications for the Evolution of Heterospory in the Early Devonian . International Journal of Plant Sciences . 182 . 3 . 198–209 . 10.1086/712356 . 232050463 . 1058-5893.
13. Andrews . Henry N. . Gensel . Patricia G. . Kasper . Andrew E. . 1975-08-15 . A new fossil plant of probable intermediate affinities (Trimerophyte–Progymnosperm) . Canadian Journal of Botany . 53 . 16 . 1719–1728 . 10.1139/b75-201 . 0008-4026.
14. Gensel . Patricia G. . Wellman . Charles H. . Taylor . Wilson A. . November 2013 . Spore Wall Ultrastructure of the Lower Devonian Zosterophylls Renalia hueberi and Zosterophyllum divaricatum . International Journal of Plant Sciences . 174 . 9 . 1302–1313 . 10.1086/673240 . 83930515 . 1058-5893.