Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 July 2015
The woodbridge Clay Member of the Raritan Formation of New Jersey yields the oldest marine fauna known from the Upper Cretaceous of the United States Atlantic seaboard. This fauna is dominated by bivalves and gastropods (Richards, 1943; Stephenson, 1954), which have sufficient elements in common with the Cenomanian Woodbine Formation of Texas to suggest a Cenomanian age (Stephenson, 1954, p. 26), and this has been supported by data from megascopic plant remains and pollen (see review in Christopher, 1977; Doyle and Robbins, 1977, and references therein). The discovery, by N. F. Sohl, of two ammonite fragments in the Woodbridge Clay Member provides the first evidence for the assignment of the member within the Cenomanian Stage. The specimens came from sideritic concretions in the Woodbridge Member at the claypit of the Sayreville-Fisher Brick Company at Sayreville, Middlesex County, New Jersey (USGS Mesozoic locality 29584). General descriptions of the Raritan succession are given in Owens and Sohl (1969), Owens et al. (1977), and Owens (1983).