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Grünbach Formation
Stratigraphic range: Early Campanian 83–80 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Vertebrate fauna of the Grünbach Formation
Type	Geological formation
Unit of	Gosau Group (Grünbach Syncline)
Sub-units	Dreistetten conglomerate
Underlies	Piesting Formation
Overlies	Maiersdorf Formation
Area	Lower Austria
Thickness	over 150 m (490 ft)
Lithology
Primary	Siltstone, sandstone, clay & marl
Other	Conglomerate & coal
Location
Region	Central Europe
Country	Austria
Extent	Grünbach Syncline
Type section
Named for	Grünbach am Schneeberg

The Grünbach Formation is an Austrian geological formation that dates to the early Campanian age of the Late Cretaceous. it forms part of the Gosau Group, and represents a marine regression event, representing a coastal/brackish environment, being underlain by the marine carbonate Maiersdorf Formation and overlain by the deep marine siliciclastic Piesting Formation. The main lithology is clay, marl, siltstone and sandstone, with a minor conglomerate component. Coal seams have also been noted. It is notable for its fossils including those of dinosaurs and plants.

Vertebrate paleofauna

All remains have been found at a single locality, which is a thin marl seam in the Konstantin mining tunnel, within the Felbering Mine in the Neue Welt area north west of Muthmannsdorf in Lower Austria. The initial remains were discovered in 1859 after an ornithopod tooth was found in a piece of coal in a dump outside the mine by Professor Ferdinand Stoliczka, and the productive seam discovered thereafter. The first material was described by Emanuel Bunzel in 1871 and then additional material was described by Harry Seeley in 1881. Due to mining activity in the area ceasing at the end of the 19th century, no additional remains have been recovered since.

Squamates

Crocodyliformes

Choristoderes

Turtles

Pterosaurs

Non-avian dinosaurs

Flora

Most of these specimens were recovered from mining dumps near Grünbach am Schneeberg in lower Austria. The flora of the formation is considered to represent that of a high humidity subtropical climate, typical of the Euro-Sinian phytogeographical region.

Bryophytes

Lycopodiophyta

Pteridophytes

Gymnosperms

Angiosperms

Monocots

Dicots

References

1. Draganits, Erich; Wagreich, Michael; Hofer, Gerald; Hofmann, Christa-Charlotte; Reischenbacher, Doris; Grundtner, Marie-Louise; Neuhuber, Stephanie; Bottig, Magda (2011). "Stratigraphy and geochemical characterisation of Upper Cretaceous non-marine - marine cycles (Grünbach Formation, Gosau Group, Austria". Austrian Journal of Earth Sciences. 104 (2): 90–107.
2. Grundtner, Marie-Louise (2011). Sedimentologie und Sedimentpetrographie der Gosau-Gruppe bei Dreistetten-Muthmannsdorf (Niederösterreichische Kalkalpen) (Master's thesis). University of Vienna. pp. 21–35, 51–57, 71. doi:10.25365/thesis.17461.
3. Sachs, Sven; Hornung, Jahn J. (May 2006). "Juvenile ornithopod (Dinosauria: Rhabdodontidae) remains from the Upper Cretaceous (Lower Campanian, Gosau Group) of Muthmannsdorf (Lower Austria)". Geobios. 39 (3): 415–425. doi:10.1016/j.geobios.2005.01.003. ISSN 0016-6995.
4. Bunzel, Emanuel (1871). "Die Reptilfauna der Gosau-Formation in der Neuen Welt bei Wiener-Neustadt". Abhandlungen der Kaiserlich-königlichen Geologischen Reichsanstalt. 5: 1–18.
5. ^ Seeley, H. G. (1881-02-01). "The Reptile Fauna of the Gosau Formation preserved in the Geological Museum of the University of Vienna: With a Note on the Geological Horizon of the Fossils at Neue Welt, west of Wiener Neustadt, by Edw. Suess, Ph.D., F.M.G.S., &c., Professor of Geology in the University of Vienna, &c". Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society. 37 (1–4): 620–706. doi:10.1144/GSL.JGS.1881.037.01-04.49. ISSN 0370-291X. S2CID 219235284.
6. Buffetaut, Eric (1979). "Revision der Crocodylia (Reptilia) aus den Gosau-Schichten (Ober-Kreide) von Österreich". Beiträge zur Paläontologie von Österreich. 6: 89–105.
7. Buffetaut, Eric (1989). "Erster nachweis von Choristodera (Reptilia, Diapsida) in der Oberkreide Europas: Champsosaurierwirbel aus den Gosau-Schichten (Campan) Niederösterreichs". Sitzungsberichten der Österreichs Akademis der Wissenschaften Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Klasse, Abteilung. 197: 389–394.
8. Rabi, Márton; Vremir, Mátyás; Tong, Haiyan (2012-09-01), "Preliminary Overview of Late Cretaceous Turtle Diversity in Eastern Central Europe (Austria, Hungary, and Romania)", Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology, Springer Netherlands, pp. 307–336, doi:10.1007/978-94-007-4309-0_19, ISBN 9789400743083
9. Buffetaut, Eric; Ősi, Attila; Prondvai, Edina (March 2011). "The pterosaurian remains from the Grünbach Formation (Campanian, Gosau Group) of Austria: a reappraisal of 'Ornithocheirus buenzeli'". Geological Magazine. 148 (2): 334–339. Bibcode:2011GeoM..148..334B. doi:10.1017/S0016756810000981. ISSN 1469-5081. S2CID 131376979.
10. Csiki-Sava, Zoltan; Buffetaut, Eric; Ősi, Attila; Pereda-Suberbiola, Xabier; Brusatte, Stephen L. (2015-01-08). "Island life in the Cretaceous - faunal composition, biogeography, evolution, and extinction of land-living vertebrates on the Late Cretaceous European archipelago". ZooKeys (469): 1–161. doi:10.3897/zookeys.469.8439. ISSN 1313-2970. PMC 4296572. PMID 25610343.
11. Herman, Alexei B.; KVAČEK, JIŘÍ (2007). "Early Campanian Grünbach flora of Austria: systematic composition and palaeoclimatic interpretations". Acta Palaeobotanica. 47 (1): 37–55.
12. KVACEK, JIRÍ; HERMAN, ALEXEI (2004). "The Campanian Grünbach Flora of Lower Austria: palaeoecological interpretations". Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien. 106 A.
13. B., Herman, Alexei (2010). Late Cretaceous Grünbach Flora of Austria. Kvaček, Jiří. Wien: Naturhistorisches Museum. ISBN 9783902421432. OCLC 517260675.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

• Upper Cretaceous Series of Europe
• Campanian Stage
• Cretaceous Austria
• Paleontology in Austria