Age and paleoenvironmental significance of mega-invertebrates from the "San Pedro" Formation in the Coyote Hills, Fullerton and Buena Park, Orange County, Southern California

Open-File Report 2000-319
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Abstract

The "San Pedro" Formation in the Coyote Hills contains an invertebrate fossil as-semblage of 184 taxa from 158 localities. The fauna consists of two annelids, 174 mollusks (80 bivalves, 94 gastropods, and three scaphopods), five arthropods, and three echinoids, along with other minor constituents recognized by not specifically identified during the present study. These fossils are divided into three assemblages; 1) a lower, Pliocene assemblage (which may not differ ecologically from the middle fauna), 2) a middle, cool water assemblage, and 3) an upper, temperate to warm water. These fossils suggest a probably late Pliocene to early Pleistocene age for outcrops of the "San Pedro" Formation in the Coyote Hills. A fourth assemblage with a limited, restricted marine fauna occurs in the overlying Coyote Hills Formation. The occurrence of Solamen columbianum (Dall) (Mollusca: Bivalvia) in the "San Pedro" Formation of the Coyote Hills marks its first occurrence as a fossil. The oldest fossil occurrence of the gastropods Tegula pulligo (Gmelin), questionably Haliotis cracherodii Leach, and the crustacean Randallia ornata (Randell) occurs in the "San Pedroï" Formation in the Coyote Hills.

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Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Age and paleoenvironmental significance of mega-invertebrates from the "San Pedro" Formation in the Coyote Hills, Fullerton and Buena Park, Orange County, Southern California
Series title Open-File Report
Series number 2000-319
DOI 10.3133/ofr2000319
Year Published 2000
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Reston, VA
Contributing office(s) Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center
Description 83 p.
Country United States
State California
County Orange County
City Buena Park, Fullerton
Other Geospatial Coyote Hills
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