# Ringbone Formation

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The **Ringbone Formation** is a [Campanian](/source/Campanian) geologic [formation](/source/Formation_(geology)) in southwestern [New Mexico](/source/New_Mexico).[1][2]

## Description

The base of the formation is a [conglomerate](/source/Conglomerate_(geology)) with boulders up to 2.5 feet (0.76 m) in diameter. The bulk of the formation is dark [shale](/source/Shale) with minor [sandstone](/source/Sandstone) and black [limestone](/source/Limestone). The upper beds are [tuffaceous](/source/Tuffaceous) sandstone with minor black limestone. A [basalt](/source/Basalt) flow and an [andesite](/source/Andesite) [breccia](/source/Breccia) are present in the upper beds.[1] The total thickness is about 7,500 feet (2,300 m). The formation interfingers with the underlying [Mojado Formation](/source/Mojado_Formation) and is overlain by the [Hidalgo Formation](/source/Hidalgo_Formation).[3]

## Fossils

The formation contains fossils of the [gastropod](/source/Gastropod) *[Physa](/source/Physa)*,[2][4] the [palm](/source/Arecaceae) *[Sabal](/source/Sabal)*, and other fossils consistent with [Campanian](/source/Campanian) age.[3]

[Dinosaur](/source/Dinosaur) remains of [tyrannosaurs](/source/Tyrannosaur) and [hadrosaurs](/source/Hadrosaur) are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.[5] These include possible remains of *[Albertosaurus](/source/Albertosaurus)*[6] and a hadrosaur tail skin impression.[7]

## History of investigation

The formation was first named as the Ringbone Shale by Lasky in 1938 for outcrops near Ringbone Ranch in the [Little Hatchet Mountains](/source/Little_Hatchet_Mountains).[1] Zeller renamed the unit as the Ringbone Formation in 1970.[3]

## See also

- [List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations](/source/List_of_dinosaur-bearing_rock_formations) - [List of stratigraphic units with indeterminate dinosaur fossils](/source/List_of_stratigraphic_units_with_indeterminate_dinosaur_fossils)

## References

1. Lasky 1938.

1. Hayes 1970.

1. Zeller 1970.

1. Basabilbazo 2000, p. 207.

1. Weishampel, Dodson & Osmólska 2004, pp. 517–607.

1. Lucas, Basabilvazo & Lawton 1990.

1. Anderson et al. 1998.

### Bibliography

- Anderson, Brian G.; Lucas, Spencer G.; Barrick, Reese E.; Heckert, Andrew B.; Basabilvazo, George T. (28 December 1998). "Dinosaur skin impressions and associated skeletal remains from the upper Campanian of southwestern New Mexico: new data on the integument morphology of hadrosaurs". *Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology*. **18** (4): 739–745. [Bibcode:1998JVPal..18..739A](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1998JVPal..18..739A). [doi:10.1080/02724634.1998.10011102](https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.1998.10011102)
- Basabilbazo, George (2000). ["The Upper Cretaceous Ringbone Formation, Little Hatchet Mountains, southwestern New Mexico"](https://nmgs.nmt.edu/publications/guidebooks/downloads/51/51_p0203_p0210.pdf). *New Mexico Geological Society Field Conference Series*. **51**: 203–210. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
- Hayes, Philip Thayer (1970). "Cretaceous paleogeography of southeastern Arizona and adjacent areas". *U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper*. **658-B**. Professional Paper. [doi:10.3133/pp658B](https://doi.org/10.3133/pp658B)
- Lasky, Samuel G. (1938). "Newly Discovered Section of Trinity Age in Southwestern New Mexico". *AAPG Bulletin*. **22** (5): 524–540. [doi:10.1306/3D932F80-16B1-11D7-8645000102C1865D](https://doi.org/10.1306/3D932F80-16B1-11D7-8645000102C1865D). [ISSN 0149-1423](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0149-1423)
- Lucas, Spencer G.; Basabilvazo, George; Lawton, Timothy F. (December 1990). "Late cretaceous dinosaurs from the ringbone formation, southwestern New Mexico, U.S.A.". *Cretaceous Research*. **11** (4): 343–349. [Bibcode:1990CrRes..11..343L](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1990CrRes..11..343L). [doi:10.1016/S0195-6671(05)80045-X](https://doi.org/10.1016/S0195-6671(05)80045-X)
- Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; Osmólska, Halszka (eds.) (2004). *The Dinosauria*. 2nd ed. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-24209-2.
- Zeller, R.A. Jr. (1970). ["Geology of the Little Hatchet Mountains, Hidalgo and Grant Counties, New Mexico"](https://geoinfo.nmt.edu/publications/monographs/bulletins/downloads/96/Bulletin96.pdf). *New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources Bulletin*. **96**. Retrieved 16 September 2020.

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