The Late Triassic and Early Jurassic fissures around Bristol and South Wales are famous as sources of excellent fossils of early mammals, dinosaurs, sphenodontians, and other tetrapods. However, the ways in which these fissures filled with sediment have not often been documented. Moreover, systematic faunal sampling up a working face exposure has rarely been attempted for the UK Triassic fissures. Here we show in detail how a complex fissure in Tytherington Quarry, north-east of Bristol, filled in multiple steps, and document both sedimentary facies and faunas. Tytherington Quarry is a key Late Triassic Bristol sauropsid fissure site, having previously yielded abundant Thecodontosaurus remains and a new genus of sphenodontian, Diphydontosaurus. Our findings comprise specimens of terrestrial reptiles, including sphenodontians and archosaurs. However, abundant remains of fishes and marine invertebrates were also recovered, indicating a significant marine influence during parts of the fissure-filling process. Comparisons of our results with those of previous studies on Tytherington and other Late Triassic SW UK fissure sites indicate some consistent patterns of faunal association and provide further evidence of a Rhaetian age for the Late Triassic palaeo-island fissures north of Bristol. Our analysis supports a model of fissure formation and filling entailing punctuated episodes of sedimentation through a relatively short time.

布里斯托尔和南威尔士周围的三叠纪晚期和侏罗纪早期裂隙以早期哺乳动物，恐龙，齿骨和其他四足动物的优良化石而闻名。但是，这些裂缝充满沉积物的方式的文献很少。此外，对于英国三叠纪裂缝，很少尝试对工作面暴露进行系统的动物采样。在这里，我们详细显示了布里斯托尔东北部的泰瑟林顿采石场的复杂裂缝如何分多个步骤填充，并记录了沉积相和动物区系。泰瑟顿采石场是晚三叠世布里斯托尔蜥脚类动物的一个重要裂隙部位，以前曾产生丰富的Thecodontosaurus残骸和一个新的蝶齿类Diphydontosaurus。我们的发现包括陆生爬行动物的标本，包括剑齿龙和始祖龙。但是，还回收了大量鱼类和海洋无脊椎动物的遗骸，这表明在部分裂缝填充过程中，海洋产生了重大影响。将我们的结果与先前在Tytherington和其他晚三叠纪西南英国裂隙遗址上进行的研究结果进行比较，表明了动物群联系的某些一致模式，并为布里斯托尔以北的晚三叠纪古岛裂隙的Rhaetian年龄提供了进一步的证据。我们的分析支持裂缝形成和填充的模型，该模型会在相对较短的时间内造成沉积的点状发作。