Valtos Sandstone Formation

The Valtos Sandstone Formation is a Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) formation found in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. It is the thickest member of the Great Estuarine Group. The lithology consists of sets of approximately 6 metre thick cross bedded sandstone, capped by thin shelly limestones containing bivalves of the genus Neomiodon [1] Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation, although none have yet been referred to a specific genus.[2]

Archosaurs of the Valtos Formation[3]
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Abundance	Notes	Images
Theriosuchus	Indeterminate			Dentary fragment[4]
Sauropoda	Indeterminate	Near Valtos		Limb bone, rib, caudal vertebra, Tooth
Stegosauria	Indeterminate	Isle of Eigg		Fibula[5]
Theropoda	Indeterminate			Teeth and caudal vertebra	Vertebra likely to belongs to a coelurosaur

Valtos Sandstone Formation Stratigraphic range: Middle Jurassic Bathonian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Sandstones of the Valtos Sandstone Formation outcropping between two dolerite sills, the Kilt Rock, Trotternish, Skye
Type	Formation
Unit of	Great Estuarine Group
Underlies	Duntulm Formation
Overlies	Lealt Shale Formation
Thickness	up to 120 m
Lithology
Primary	sandstone
Other	limestone, mudstone
Location
Region	Scotland
Country	United Kingdom
Extent	Inner Hebrides
Type section
Named for	Valtos, Skye
Named by	Harris and Hudson
Location	Cliffs between Valtos and Mealt Falls
Year defined	1980
Thickness at type section	95 m

See also

• List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations
  • List of stratigraphic units with indeterminate dinosaur fossils
• List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in Scotland

Footnotes

1. British Geological Survey. "Valtos Sandstone Formation". BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units. Retrieved 2018-03-08.
2. Weishampel, et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution." Pp. 517-607.
3. Clark, Neil D. L. (2018-02-05). "Review of the Dinosaur Remains from the Middle Jurassic of Scotland, UK". Geosciences. 8 (2): 53. Bibcode:2018Geosc...8...53C. doi:10.3390/geosciences8020053.
4. Young, Mark T.; Tennant, Jonathan P.; Brusatte, Stephen L.; Challands, Thomas J.; Fraser, Nicholas C.; Clark, Neil D. L.; Ross, Dugald A. (February 2016). "The first definitive Middle Jurassic atoposaurid (Crocodylomorpha, Neosuchia), and a discussion on the genus T heriosuchus: Middle Jurassic T heriosuchus From Skye". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 176 (2): 443–462. doi:10.1111/zoj.12315. PMC 4989461. PMID 27594716.
5. PANCIROLI, Elsa; FUNSTON, Gregory F.; HOLWERDA, Femke; MAIDMENT, Susannah C. R.; FOFFA, Davide; LARKIN, Nigel; CHALLANDS, Tom; DEPOLO, Paige E.; GOLDBERG, Daniel; HUMPAGE, Matthew; ROSS, Dugald (2020-08-27). "First dinosaur from the Isle of Eigg (Valtos Sandstone Formation, Middle Jurassic), Scotland". Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: 1–16. doi:10.1017/s1755691020000080. ISSN 1755-6910.

References

• Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. 861 pp. ISBN 0-520-24209-2.
• Various Contributors to the Paleobiology Database. "Fossilworks: Gateway to the Paleobiology Database". Archived from the original on 31 July 2014. Retrieved 8 July 2014.