Taphonomy, age, and paleoecological implication of a new Pachyrhinosaurus (Dinosauria: Ceratopsidae) bonebed from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Wapiti Formation of Alberta, Canada

2015 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 250-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Federico Fanti ◽  
Philip J. Currie ◽  
Michael E. Burns
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Oxbow Lakes ◽  
Burial History ◽  
Western Interior Seaway ◽  
History Of ◽  
Depositional Setting ◽  
Horseshoe Canyon Formation ◽  
Average Bone ◽  
Upper Campanian

The Grande Prairie region (Alberta, Canada) includes some of the richest Cretaceous fossil sites in North America, including the recently described bonebed of Pachyrhinosaurus lakustai at the Pipestone Creek locality. Here we describe a new multi-taxa, ceratopsian-dominated bonebed from the region, integrating taphonomic, radioisotopic, and paleoecological data. The bonebed can be traced for 107 m and has been excavated over an area of 40 m2 with an average bone density of 30–50 elements/m2. The new bonebed occurs within Unit 4 of the upper Campanian Wapiti Formation, and 40Ar/39Ar dating provides an age of 71.89 ± 0.14 Ma, thus making the site equivalent in age to the upper Drumheller Member of the lower Horseshoe Canyon Formation of central Alberta. About 88% of vertebrate remains are ceratopsian, and dromaeosaurid, hadrosaurid, troodontid, and tyrannosaurid remains have also been identified. Juvenile material, although scarce, indicates an assemblage of individuals of different ages. Specimens showed no strong preferred two-dimensional orientation but are clearly sorted vertically. Taphonomic and sedimentological interpretation support a complex pre-burial history of preserved elements as well as a depositional setting characterized by persistent waterlogged conditions as those typical of large oxbow lakes or marshy/swampy areas, as well as lacustrine settings within an alluvial plain. Being located more than 450 km inland from the paleo-coastline, the new bonebed represents one of the farthest-known inland occurrence of centrosaurines in North America, further supporting the presence of large aggregations of ceratopsian far from the coastal lowlands of the Western Interior Seaway.

Neritoptyx hogansoninew species (Gastropoda, Mollusca) from the Upper Cretaceous Fox Hills Formation on the Dakota Isthmus, western United States

2018 ◽  
Vol 93 (2) ◽  
pp. 278-290
Author(s):  
J. Mark Erickson
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
United States ◽  
New Species ◽  
North America ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Gulf Coast ◽  
Western United States ◽  
Western Interior Seaway ◽  
Decapod Crustaceans ◽  
Upper Maastrichtian

AbstractIn midcontinent North America, the Fox Hills Formation (Upper Cretaceous, upper Maastrichtian) preserves the last marine faunas in the central Western Interior Seaway (WIS).Neritoptyx hogansoninew species, a small littoral snail, exhibited allometric change from smooth to corded ornament and rounded to shouldered shape during growth. Specimens preserve a zig-zag pigment pattern that changes to an axial pattern during growth.Neritoptyx hogansoninew species was preyed on by decapod crustaceans, and spent shells were occupied by pagurid crabs. Dead mollusk shells, particularly those ofCrassostrea subtrigonalis(Evans and Shumard, 1857), provided a hard substrate to which they adhered on the Fox Hills tidal flats. This new neritimorph gastropod establishes a paleogeographic and chronostratigraphic proxy for intertidal conditions on the Dakota Isthmus during the late Maastrichtian. Presence of a neritid extends the marine tropical/temperate boundary in the WIS northward to ~44° late Maastrichtian paleolatitude. Late Maastrichtian closure of the isthmus subsequently altered marine heat transfer by interrupting northward flow of tropical currents from the Gulf Coast by as much as 1 to 1.5 million years before the Cretaceous ended.UUID:http://zoobank.org/3ba56c07-fcca-4925-a2f0-df663fc3a06b

Quantitative diagenetic analyses of Edmontosaurus regalis (Dinosauria: Hadrosauridae) postcranial elements from the Danek Bonebed, Upper Cretaceous Horseshoe Canyon Formation, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada: implications for allometric studies of fossil organisms

2014 ◽  
Vol 51 (11) ◽  
pp. 1007-1016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mackenzie Baert ◽  
Michael E. Burns ◽  
Philip J. Currie
Keyword(s):  
Cross Section ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
Major Axis ◽  
Minor Axis ◽  
Morphological Features ◽  
Fossil Assemblages ◽  
Fossil Vertebrate ◽  
Horseshoe Canyon Formation ◽  
Upper Campanian

For fossil assemblages, quantitative size and shape studies are often complicated by diagenetic distortion. Different vertebrate elements, although subjected to similar burial stresses, exhibit deformations based upon their original shapes; this hypothesis is tested here by quantitatively comparing deformed humeri and femora from the Danek Bonebed (a monodominant Edmontosaurus regalis bonebed from the upper Campanian Horseshoe Canyon Formation in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) with samples of undeformed humeri and femora from modern and fossil assemblages. Analyses suggest that at the Danek Bonebed a strong relationship exists between element length and circumference despite being distorted by crushing deformation. Major and minor axes of the midshaft cross section, however, were not uniformly distorted. Although their anatomical position did not change, the major axis became longer relative to the minor axis in distorted specimens. A regression based on the undeformed humeri was not able to accurately predict circumference in the Danek humeri. Further study might quantify the deformation of other bones in the Danek Bonebed and could be extended to other assemblages and genera. Caution should be taken when conducting studies in which diagenetic crushing may have altered morphological features of fossil vertebrate remains.

Histologic growth dynamic study of Edmontosaurus regalis (Dinosauria: Hadrosauridae) from a bonebed assemblage of the Upper Cretaceous Horseshoe Canyon Formation, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

2014 ◽  
Vol 51 (11) ◽  
pp. 1023-1033 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evan Vanderven ◽  
Michael E. Burns ◽  
Philip J. Currie
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Growth Dynamics ◽  
Growth Dynamic ◽  
History Data ◽  
Life History Data ◽  
Fundamental Systems ◽  
Horseshoe Canyon Formation ◽  
Upper Campanian

The Danek Bonebed (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) is a monodominant Edmontosaurus regalis assemblage of the upper Campanian (Upper Cretaceous) Horseshoe Canyon Formation. Bone histology of humeri and femora are used in this paper to test hypotheses about the growth dynamics and palaeobiology of Edmontosaurus. The high number of elements collected from the Danek Bonebed allow for an expansion of the multi-element histological record for hadrosaurs. Results indicate that Edmontosaurus had a growth trajectory similar to other large-bodied dinosaurs and reached the onset of somatic maturity at about 10–15 years of age; however, even the largest elements to preserve lines of arrested growth do not have external fundamental systems. This timing of the onset of somatic maturity agrees with the estimated body size of Edmontosaurus relative to other dinosaurs for which life-history data are available. Vascularity patterns support the hypothesis that edmontosaurs preserved at the Danek Bonebed were not subject to the same extreme seasonal environmental shifts as congenerics preserved at higher latitudes, further supporting overwintering behaviour in the latter.

High-precision U–Pb CA–ID–TIMS dating and chronostratigraphy of the dinosaur-rich Horseshoe Canyon Formation (Upper Cretaceous, Campanian–Maastrichtian), Red Deer River valley, Alberta, Canada

2020 ◽  
Vol 57 (10) ◽  
pp. 1220-1237 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Eberth ◽  
Sandra L. Kamo
Keyword(s):  
High Precision ◽  
Coastal Plain ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Red Deer ◽  
Alluvial Plain ◽  
Type Area ◽  
Southern Alberta ◽  
Dinosaur Evolution ◽  
Horseshoe Canyon Formation ◽  
Upper Campanian

The non-marine Horseshoe Canyon Formation (HCFm, southern Alberta) yields taxonomically diverse, late Campanian to middle Maastrichtian dinosaur assemblages that play a central role in documenting dinosaur evolution, paleoecology, and paleobiogeography leading up to the end-Cretaceous extinction. Here, we present high-precision U–Pb CA–ID–TIMS ages and the first calibrated chronostratigraphy for the HCFm using zircon grains from (1) four HCFm bentonites distributed through 129 m of section, (2) one bentonite from the underlying Bearpaw Formation, and (3) a bentonite from the overlying Battle Formation that we dated previously. In its type area, the HCFm ranges in age from 73.1–68.0 Ma. Significant paleoenvironmental and climatic changes are recorded in the formation, including (1) a transition from a warm-and-wet deltaic setting to a cooler, seasonally wet-dry coastal plain at 71.5 Ma, (2) maximum transgression of the Drumheller Marine Tongue at 70.896 ± 0.048 Ma, and (3) transition to a warm-wet alluvial plain at 69.6 Ma. The HCFm’s three mega-herbivore dinosaur assemblage zones track these changes and are calibrated as follows: Edmontosaurus regalis – Pachyrhinosaurus canadensis zone, 73.1–71.5 Ma; Hypacrosaurus altispinus – Saurolophus osborni zone, 71.5–69.6 Ma; and Eotriceratops xerinsularis zone, 69.6–68.2 Ma. The Albertosaurus Bonebed — a monodominant assemblage of tyrannosaurids in the Tolman Member — is assessed an age of 70.1 Ma. The unusual triceratopsin, Eotriceratops xerinsularis, from the Carbon Member, is assessed an age of 68.8 Ma. This chronostratigraphy is useful for refining correlations with dinosaur-bearing upper Campanian–middle Maastrichtian units in Alberta and elsewhere in North America.

Remains of Clidastes Cope, 1868, an unexpected mosasaur in the upper Campanian of NW Germany

2005 ◽  
Vol 84 (3) ◽  
pp. 213-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.W. Caldwell ◽  
C.G. Diedrich
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Vertebral Column ◽  
Gulf Coast ◽  
Anterior Part ◽  
Western Interior Seaway ◽  
Southern Sweden ◽  
Nw Germany ◽  
The Village ◽  
Upper Campanian

AbstractThe mosasaurine Clidastes sp. is recognised from cranial and post-cranial remains collected at four localities in NW Germany. Cranial material was found in pelagic turbiditic marls which crop out near the village of Beckum, while post-cranial skeletal elements were collected from sandy limestones exposed near the villages of Schöppingen, Coesfeld and Billerbeck. In stratigraphic order, the units producing these specimens of Clidastes are the Coesfeld, Baumberge and Beckum formations of late Campanian (Late Cretaceous) age. The cranial material comprises the anterior part of a skull and a single isolated tooth, while post-cranial bones comprise a few isolated vertebrae and a partial skeleton including forelimb bones and an articulated vertebral column. Clidastes is known to date from the western North Sea Basin (England), southern Sweden, as well as from North America (Western Interior Seaway and Gulf Coast).

Lakotacrinus brezinain. gen. n. sp., a new stalked crinoid from cold methane seeps in the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Pierre Shale, South Dakota, United States

2016 ◽  
Vol 90 (3) ◽  
pp. 506-524 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron W. Hunter ◽  
Neal L. Larson ◽  
Neil H. Landman ◽  
Tatsuo Oji
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
North America ◽  
Great Plains ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
The United States ◽  
Northern Great Plains ◽  
Western Interior Seaway ◽  
Methane Seeps ◽  
Hydrocarbon Seep ◽  
Stalked Crinoids

AbstractDespite a rich and varied record, Mesozoic stalked crinoids are relatively rare in the Western Interior Seaway of North America compared to those found in Northern Europe. A unique example of Mesozoic stalked crinoid is described from cold methane seeps (hydrocarbon seep mounds also called “tepee buttes”) from the Upper Cretaceous (upper Campanian) of the Northern Great Plains of the United States; the first crinoids to be described from such an environment. The Late Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway has never before yielded any identifiable stalked crinoid remains. Nevertheless, there have been significant studies on both free living and stalked crinoids from other locations in the Upper Cretaceous of North America that provide a good basis for comparison.Lakotacrinus brezinain. gen. n. sp. is characterized by a tapering homeomorphic column with through-going tubuli, lacking any attachment disc. The arms are unbranched and pinnulate, with muscular and syzygial articulations. The unique morphology of the column justifies the establishment of Lakotacrinidae new family. A new suborder Lakotacrinina n. subord., is also proposed as there exists no corresponding taxon within the Articulata that can accommodate all the characteristics of this new genus. This new crinoid shares many features with other members of the articulates, including bathycrinids, bourgueticrinids and guillecrinids within the Order Comatulida, as currently defined in the revised Treatise of Invertebrate Paleontology. Reconstructing the entire crinoid using hundreds of semi-articulated and disarticulated (well preserved) fossils, reveals a unique paleoecology and functional morphology specifically adapted to living within this hydrocarbon seep environment.

Enhancing bonebed mapping with GIS technology using the Danek Bonebed (Upper Cretaceous Horseshoe Canyon Formation, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) as a case study

2014 ◽  
Vol 51 (11) ◽  
pp. 987-991 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Bramble ◽  
Michael E. Burns ◽  
Philip J. Currie
Keyword(s):  
Information System ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Gis Technology ◽  
Digital Map ◽  
Anatomical Information ◽  
The City ◽  
Horseshoe Canyon Formation ◽  
Specimen Identification ◽  
Upper Campanian

The Danek Bonebed is a monodominant Edmontosaurus bonebed preserving predominantly disarticulated material from the Upper Campanian Horseshoe Canyon Formation within the city limits of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. To date, at least six dinosaur taxa have been identified at the site: Albertosaurus sarcophagus, Chasmosaurinae indet., Dromaeosauridae indet., Edmontosaurus regalis, Ornithomimidae indet., and Troodontidae indet. This bonebed has been used as a case study for creating a digital, searchable bonebed map using a geographic information system (GIS) platform. The original quarry maps produced on site are refined when digitized with new anatomical information gathered during preparation of collected specimens. Each specimen is labeled with the known specimen identification, quarry coordinates, and catalogue number. Creating a digital map of the bonebed allows easier interpretation of data and the ability to share maps to compare specific elements within the bonebed.

Probable deinonychosaur tracks from the Upper Cretaceous Wapiti Formation (upper Campanian) of Alberta, Canada

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Nathan J. Enriquez ◽  
Nicolás E. Campione ◽  
Corwin Sullivan ◽  
Matthew Vavrek ◽  
Robin L. Sissons ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Early Cretaceous ◽  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
North American ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Temporal Window ◽  
Track Record ◽  
Important Addition ◽  
Additional Support ◽  
Upper Campanian

Abstract Late Cretaceous tracks attributable to deinonychosaurs in North America are rare, with only one occurrence of Menglongipus from Alaska and two possible, but indeterminate, occurrences reported from Mexico. Here we describe the first probable deinonychosaur tracks from Canada: a possible trackway and one isolated track on a single horizon from the Upper Cretaceous Wapiti Formation (upper Campanian) near Grande Prairie in Alberta. The presence of a relatively short digit IV differentiates these from argued dromaeosaurid tracks, suggesting the trackmaker was more likely a troodontid. Other noted characteristics of the Wapiti specimens include a rounded heel margin, the absence of a digit II proximal pad impression, and a broad, elliptical digit III. Monodactyl tracks occur in association with the didactyl tracks, mirroring similar discoveries from the Early Cretaceous Epoch of China, providing additional support for their interpretation as deinonychosaurian traces. Although we refrain from assigning the new Wapiti specimens to any ichnotaxon because of their relatively poor undertrack preservation, this discovery is an important addition to the deinonychosaur track record; it helps to fill a poorly represented geographic and temporal window in their known distribution, and demonstrates the presence of a greater North American deinonychosaur ichnodiversity than has previously been recognized.

scholarly journals The first reported ceratopsid dinosaur from eastern North America (Owl Creek Formation, Upper Cretaceous, Mississippi, USA)

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew A. Farke ◽  
George E. Phillips
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Depositional Environment ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Western North America ◽  
Western Interior Seaway ◽  
Double Root ◽  
Union County ◽  
Dentary Tooth

Ceratopsids (“horned dinosaurs”) are known from western North America and Asia, a distribution reflecting an inferred subaerial link between the two landmasses during the Late Cretaceous. However, this clade was previously unknown from eastern North America, presumably due to limited outcrop of the appropriate age and depositional environment as well as the separation of eastern and western North America by the Western Interior Seaway during much of the Late Cretaceous. A dentary tooth from the Owl Creek Formation (late Maastrichtian) of Union County, Mississippi, represents the first reported occurrence of Ceratopsidae from eastern North America. This tooth shows a combination of features typical of Ceratopsidae, including a double root and a prominent, blade-like carina. Based on the age of the fossil, we hypothesize that it is consistent with a dispersal of ceratopsids into eastern North America during the very latest Cretaceous, presumably after the two halves of North America were reunited following the retreat of the Western Interior Seaway.

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