The Tar Heel Formation , also known as the Coachman Formation in South Carolina, is a Late Cretaceous (early to middle Campanian -aged) geologic formation in North Carolina and South Carolina , USA. It preserves fossils , including amber dating back to the Cretaceous period . A locality known as Phoebus Landing, has been dated to 78.5-77.1 Ma, and the formation has been overall dated to the early Campanian based on fossil pollen.
5-649: Likely deposited in a nearshore coastal environment representing a lower shoreface , it contains a high diversity of vertebrate remains. It has one of the most diverse dinosaur faunas known from the former landmass of Appalachia , the majority of which are known from two sites: Phoebus Landing along the Cape Fear River in Bladen County, North Carolina , as well as Stokes Quarry in Darlington County, South Carolina . Fossil pollen grains suggest
10-535: A subtropical to warm, moist temperate climate for the region, with an ecosystem largely dominated by flowering plants . The Tar Heel/Coachman Formation appears to be roughly concurrent with the Marshalltown Formation of New Jersey , which preserves a similar fauna. Ischyrhiza Squalicorax Hybodus Scapanorhynchus Asteracanthus Brachyrhizodus Cretolamna Cretodus Carcharias Odontaspis Based on
15-488: The sedimentary depositional environment , that lies below the everyday wave base . The wave base is the maximum depth at which a water wave's passage causes significant water motion. In this portion of the coastal marine environment, only the larger waves produced during storms have the power to agitate the seafloor. Between storms, finer grained sediments accumulate on the seafloor, but during storms those sediments get suspended and moved around, resulting in
20-580: The Paleobiology Database & Stringer et al (2018). Some species are known only from otolith remains from Blue Banks & Auger Hole Landings, North Carolina, which are indicated: Records from SC based on Schwimmer et al (2015): Based mainly on Brownstein (2018): cf. Hadrosaurus Hypsibema Lophorhothon An indeterminate hadrosauroid is known from Stokes Quarry, SC. Saurornitholestes A widespread dromaeosaurid ("raptor"). Specimens from this formation provided
25-583: The first evidence of this species from Appalachia. Indeterminate theropods, ornithomimosaurs, and maniraptorans are known from Stokes Quarry. Based on the Paleobiology Database: Stokes Quarry, SC Based on the Paleobiology Database: Stokes Quarry, SC Stokes Quarry, SC Based on the Paleobiology Database: Lower shoreface Lower shoreface refers to the portion of the seafloor, and
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