Javelina Formation

Javelina Formation
Javelina Formation as it appears in the first segment of North America
Location
Supercontinent	Laurasia
Continent	North America
Country	USA
Unit of	Tornillo Group
Region	Texas
Underlies	Black Peaks Formation
Overlies	Aguja Formation
Temporal Range	70 - 66 million years ago, Maastrichtian Stage, Late Cretaceous Period
Episodes	North America (Segment 1)
Filmed In	Wharariki Beach, Cape Farewell, South Island, New Zealand
Characteristics
Climate	Semi-arid
Environment	Coastal, Woodland

“ The coast of the vast, inland sea that almost splits North America in half. Here in the south, as the tide falls, giants are drawn to the shoreline. ”

― David Attenborough, North America

The Javelina Formation is a geological formation in Texas that is approximately 70 - 66 million years old.

Paleoenvironment

The Javelina Formation is believed to be a land of semi-arid inland plains dominated by Alamosaurus and Quetzalcoatlus, though the region is also known to harbor woodland environments (low-density forests) composed of woody dicotyledon trees and angiosperms (flowering plants). It also serves as part of the southern extent of the range of Tyrannosaurus rex, which descended from Tyrannosaurus mcraeensis, an older species that roamed southern USA approximately 3 - 5 million years before T. rex first appeared (it should be noted, however, that the validity of T. mcraeensis is still a subject of debate). While all three animals likely coexisted in other areas, the Javelina Formation is the only area so far to actually contain fossil evidence of Alamosaurus, Quetzalcoatlus, and T. rex. The Javelina Formation is also home to chasmosaurine ceratopsids (e.g. Bravoceratops and Torosaurus utahensis), saurolophine hadrosaurs (e.g. Gryposaurus, Kritosaurus, and an indeterminate saurolophine similar to Saurolophus), Saurornitholestes, an indeterminate troodontid (considered a species of the now-dubious wastebasket taxon Troodon), and two azhdarchid pterosaurs half the size of Quetzalcoatlus northropi, Quetzalcoatlus lawsoni and Wellnhopterus, which was previously classified as a thalassodromine tapejarid (or thalassodromine azhdarchoid).

Just as how the Hell Creek Formation is linked with the Lance and Scollard Formations, the Javelina Formation appears to be linked with the Ojo Alamo Formation, which is found in the San Juan Basin of New Mexico.

Appearance

The Javelina Formation serves as the setting of the first segment of North America.

Paleofauna

Alamosaurus sanjuanensis

Pectinodon bakkeri (substitute for "Troodon sp.")

Quetzalcoatlus northropi

Tyrannosaurus rex

Trivia

While the Javelina Formation was only featured once on Prehistoric Planet, its sole segment took 600 days to animate.