| An explorer of the Mesozoic Era searches for paleontological specimens in the Lower Jurassic beds of the upper Triassic-lower Jurassic Gabbs Formation, Ammonite Canyon, Nevada; strata here were deposited during the Hettangian Stage of the Jurassic Period, approximately 198 to 197 million years ago; Many species of ammonites, along with solitary corals, brachiopods, gastropods, and pelecypods--plus, such microfossils as radiolarians, foraminifers, ostracodes (a minute bivalved crustacean), microgastropods, micropelecypods, and even the last known conodonts in the geologic record--can be found in late Triassic through early Jurassic strata exposed throughout the canyon's corridor. |