Battery Point Formation

Battery Point Formation
Battery Point Formation
Stratigraphic range: Early Emsian-Early Eifelian
	Sawdonia ornata fossil from the Battery Point Formation
Type	Geological formation
Unit of	Gaspé Sandstones
Underlies	Malbaie Formation
Overlies	York River Formation
Thickness	2,300 m (7,550) ft
Location
Region	Quebec
Country	Canada

The Battery Point Formation is a geologic formation in Quebec. It preserves fossils dating back to the early Emsian to early Eifelian the lower Devonian period.^[1]

Description

A part of the Gaspé Sandstones,^[2] the Battery Point Formation is believed to have been deposited in a fluvial environment based on the presence of rootlets as well as the abundance of trough and planar-tabular cross bedding, and the lower part resembles modern braided systems more than meandering systems.^[2]^[3] It rests unconformably on the shallow marine sandstones of the York River Formation (the basal unit of the Gaspé Sandstones and making the Battery Point Formation the first continental unit of the sequence^[2]), transitioning upwards into the Malbaie Formation, and is 2,300 meters (7,550 feet) thick.^[4]

Fossil content

Limited intervals in the lower part of the formation contain remains of a few brachiopods and bivalves, though marine fauna is not known from other parts of the formation.^[1] Plant and freshwater fish fossils are also known, with a large diversity of primitive vascular plants found within the formation.^[2]

Animals
Genus	Species	Presence	Material	Notes	Images
Ankylacanthus	A. incurvus	Cap-aux-Os locality, Gaspé Peninsula.^[5]	Fin spines.^[5]	A possible gyracanthid, formerly known as Gyracanthus incurvus.^[5]
Doliodus	D. latispinosus	Cap-aux-Os Member, north side of Gaspé Bay.^[6]	Fin spines.^[6]	Also known from the Campbellton and York River formations.^[6]
Forillonaspis	F. lehmani	Cap-aux-Os locality		An arthrodire placoderm
Gaspestria	G. genselorum^[7]	Locality W, Cap-aux-Os member	Four partial specimens	Recorded earlier as an undescribed juliform millipede.^[8]

Plants
Genus	Species	Presence	Material	Notes	Images
Adelocladoxis	A. praecox	^[9]		A cladoxylopsid^[9]
Drepanophycus	D. spinaeformis^[10]	North shore of Gaspé Bay		A basal lycopod
Eddianna	E. gaspiana	In the vicinity of Douglastown.^[11]		A rhyniopsid^[11]
Franhueberia	F. gerriennei	South shore of Gaspé Bay, in the vicinity of Douglastown, Quebec.^[12]	A fossil preserved anatomically by cellular permineralization.^[12]	A euphyllophyte.^[12]
Gmujij	G. tetraxylopteroides	South shore of Gaspé Bay, near Douglastown, Québec	Two axis fragments^[13]	A euphyllophyte
Jowingeria	J. triloba	South shore of Gaspé Bay, near Douglastown	An axis fragment	A euphyllophyte^[14]
Kenrickia	K. bivena	South shore of Gaspé Bay, near Douglastown	Ten separate axes and branches	One of the basalmost radiatopsids^[15]
Leptocentroxyla	L. tetrarcha	South shore of Gaspé Bay, near Douglastown	One axis fragment	A euphyllophyte^[14]
Nebuloxyla	N. mikmaqiana	South shore of Gaspé Bay, near Douglastown	One axis	A euphyllophyte^[16]
Paracladoxylon	P. kespekianum	South shore of Gaspé Bay, east of Douglastown^[17]	Nine axis fragments	A cladoxylopsid
Perplexa	P. praestigians	South shore of Gaspé Bay, in the vicinity of Douglastown	One axis fragment	A euphyllophyte^[18]
Psilophyton	P. diakanthon, P. princeps^[19]	South shore of Gaspé Bay, in the vicinity of Douglastown		A trimerophyte
Renalia	R. hueberi	^[20]		A vascular plant.^[20]
Sawdonia	S. ornata	North shore of Gaspé Bay, which is part of the Cap-aux-Os Member.^[21]		A zosterophyll.^[21]
Stenoloboxyla	S. ambigua	South shore of Gaspé Bay, near Douglastown	Two axis fragments	A euphyllophyte^[14]
Tainioxyla	T. quebecana	South shore of Gaspé Bay, near Douglastown	Two axis fragments	A euphyllophyte^[14]
Wilhowia	W. phocarum	North Shore of Gaspé Bay, Quebec, Canada.^[22]	Partially permineralized adpressions of remains.^[22]	A basal euphyllophyte.^[22]

Fungi
Genus	Species	Presence	Material	Notes	Images
Glomites	G. oqoti	In the vicinity of Douglastown, south shore of Gaspé Bay (Quebec, Canada).^[23]	Glomoid spores in trimerophyte axes.^[23]

References

^ ^a ^b Rust, Brian R.; Lawrence, David A.; Zaitlin, Brian A. (1989-04-01). "The sedimentology and tectonic significance of Devonian and Carboniferous terrestrial successions in Gaspé, Quebec". Atlantic Geology. 25 (1). doi:10.4138/1666. ISSN 1718-7885.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Cant, Douglas J. (1973). "Devonian Braided Stream Deposits in the Battery Point Formation, Gaspe Est, Quebec". Atlantic Geology. 9 (1). doi:10.4138/1423. ISSN 1718-7885.
^ Cant, Douglas J.; Walker, Roger G. (2011-02-08). "Development of a braided-fluvial facies model for the Devonian Battery Point Sandstone, Québec". Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 13: 102–119. doi:10.1139/e76-010.
^ Lawrence, David A.; Williams, Brian P. J. (1984). "Evolution of Fluvial Style--Lower Devonian Battery Point Formation, Gaspe Peninsula, Quebec, Canada: ABSTRACT". AAPG Bulletin. 68 (4): 499. ISSN 0149-1423.
^ ^a ^b ^c Burrow, Carole J.; Turner, Susan; Desbiens, Sylvain; Miller, Randall F. (2008-08). "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. doi:10.1139/e08-033. ISSN 0008-4077.
^ ^a ^b ^c 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. doi:10.1139/cjes-2017-0059. hdl:1807/78890. ISSN 0008-4077.
^ Wilson, Heather M. (2006). "Juliformian Millipedes from the Lower Devonian of Euramerica: Implications for the Timing of Millipede Cladogenesis in the Paleozoic" (PDF). Journal of Paleontology. 80 (4): 638–649. ISSN 0022-3360.
^ Shear, William A.; Gensel, Patricia G.; Jeram, Andrew J. (December 1996). "Fossils of large terrestrial arthropods from the Lower Devonian of Canada". Nature. 384 (6609): 555–557. doi:10.1038/384555a0.
^ ^a ^b Durieux, Thibault; Lopez, Madeleine A.; Bronson, Allison W.; Tomescu, Alexandru M. F. (October 2021). "A new phylogeny of the cladoxylopsid plexus: contribution of an early cladoxylopsid from the Lower Devonian (Emsian) of Quebec". American Journal of Botany. 108 (10): 2066–2095. doi:10.1002/ajb2.1752. ISSN 0002-9122. PMID 34664712. S2CID 239028044.
^ Hartman, Christine M. (March 1981). "The effect of pyrite on the tracheid structure of Drepanophycus spinaeformis, a long-ranging devonian lycopod". Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. 32 (2–3): 239–255. doi:10.1016/0034-6667(81)90006-3.
^ ^a ^b Pfeiler, Kelly C.; Tomescu, Alexandru M.F. (2017-10-09). "An Early Devonian permineralized rhyniopsid from the Battery Point Formation of Gaspé (Canada)". Retrieved 2022-08-23.
^ ^a ^b ^c Hoffman, Laurel A.; Tomescu, Alexandru M. F. (2013). "An early origin of secondary growth:Franhueberia gerrienneigen. et sp. nov. from the Lower Devonian of Gaspé (Quebec, Canada)". American Journal of Botany. 100 (4): 754–763. doi:10.3732/ajb.1300024. ISSN 0002-9122. PMID 23535772.
^ Pfeiler, Kelly C.; Tomescu, Alexandru M. F. (May 2021). "An Early Devonian actinostelic euphyllophyte with secondary growth from the Emsian of Gaspé (Canada) and the importance of tracheid wall thickening patterns in early euphyllophyte systematics". Papers in Palaeontology. 7 (2): 1081–1095. doi:10.1002/spp2.1335.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Bickner, Maya A.; Tomescu, Alexandru M. F. (January 2019). "Structurally complex, yet anatomically plesiomorphic: permineralized plants from the Emsian of Gaspé (Quebec, Canada) expand the diversity of Early Devonian euphyllophytes". IAWA Journal. 40 (3): 421–445. doi:10.1163/22941932-40190234.
^ Toledo, Selin; Bippus, Alexander C.; Atkinson, Brian A.; Bronson, Allison W.; Tomescu, Alexandru M. F. (October 2021). "Taxon sampling and alternative hypotheses of relationships in the euphyllophyte plexus that gave rise to seed plants: insights from an Early Devonian radiatopsid". New Phytologist. 232 (2): 914–927. doi:10.1111/nph.17511.
^ Lalica, Madison A. K.; Tomescu, Alexandru M. F. (July 2023). "Complex wound response mechanisms and phellogen evolution – insights from Early Devonian euphyllophytes". New Phytologist. 239 (1): 388–398. doi:10.1111/nph.18926.
^ Chu, Jessica; Durieux, Thibault; Tomescu, Alexandru M. F. (October 2024). "An early cladoxylopsid with complex vascular architecture: Paracladoxylon kespekianum gen. et sp. nov. from the Lower Devonian (Emsian) of Quebec, Canada". American Journal of Botany. 111 (10). doi:10.1002/ajb2.16418.
^ Pfeiler, Kelly C.; Tomescu, Alexandru M. F. (October 2023). "Mosaic assembly of regulatory programs for vascular cambial growth: a view from the Early Devonian". New Phytologist. 240 (2): 529–541. doi:10.1111/nph.19146.
^ Colston, Courtney M.; Landaw, Kevin; Tomescu, Alexandru M. F. (January 2023). "An early snapshot of plant–herbivore interactions: Psilophyton diakanthon sp. nov. from the Early Devonian of Gaspé (Quebec, Canada)". American Journal of Botany. 110 (1). doi:10.1002/ajb2.16082.
^ ^a ^b Gensel, Patricia G. (1976-07-01). "Renalia hueberi, a new plant from the lower Devonian of Gaspé". Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. 22 (1): 19–37. doi:10.1016/0034-6667(76)90009-9. ISSN 0034-6667.
^ ^a ^b Gensel, Patricia G.; Andrews, Henry N.; Forbes, William H. (March 1975). "A New Species of Sawdonia with Notes on the Origin of Microphylls and Lateral Sporangia". Botanical Gazette. 136 (1): 50–62. doi:10.1086/336782. ISSN 0006-8071. S2CID 84204867.
^ ^a ^b ^c Gensel, Patricia G. (2022-08-05). "Partially Permineralized Adpressions of Wilhowia phocarum Gensel gen. et sp. nov., a New Basal Euphyllophyte from the Lower Devonian Battery Point Formation, North Shore of Gaspé Bay, Quebec, Canada". International Journal of Plant Sciences. 183 (7): 604–629. doi:10.1086/721263. ISSN 1058-5893. S2CID 251377842.
^ ^a ^b Lalica, Madison A. K.; Tomescu, Alexandru M. F. (2022-03-01). "The early fossil record of glomeromycete fungi: New data on spores associated with early tracheophytes in the Lower Devonian (Emsian; c. 400 Ma) of Gaspé (Quebec, Canada)". Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. 298: 104590. doi:10.1016/j.revpalbo.2021.104590. ISSN 0034-6667.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: article number as page number (link)

Various Contributors to the Paleobiology Database. "Fossilworks: Gateway to the Paleobiology Database". Archived from the original on 25 March 2022. Retrieved 17 December 2021.