The early Paleogene stratigraphic evolution of the Huerfano Basin, Colorado

ABSTRACT Sedimentary basins throughout the North American Western Interior contain a record of Late Cretaceous through Eocene deposition related to the Laramide orogeny. The typical stratigraphic progression includes an uppermost Cretaceous fluvio-deltaic geologic formation that is unconformably overlain by an alluvial or paludal Paleocene geologic formation. The Paleocene unit is usually characterized by drab overbank facies, and overlain by an interval of amalgamated fluvial sand bodies. The overlying Eocene geologic units are characterized by red bed overbank facies. These major stratigraphic changes have been variably linked to long-wavelength dynamic subsidence, local uplift, and climatic shifts. Herein, we evaluate the depositional history of the Huerfano Basin of south-central Colorado in this overarching context. Our study presents a detailed lithofacies analysis of the Poison Canyon, Cuchara, and Huerfano Formations integrated with a new bulk (1) organic carbon isotope record, n = 299 measurements (Data Supplement 1A); and (2) magnetic record, n = 247 measurements (Data Supplement 1B). We interpret that the Paleocene Poison Canyon Formation was deposited by a braided or coarse-grained meandering river system with relatively poorly drained floodplains. The Eocene Huerfano Formation was likely deposited by a coarse-grained meandering river system with a comparatively well-drained floodplain. This pattern mirrors other Laramide basins, and is likely related to a regional drying pattern linked to long-term warming during the early Paleogene. Age of the intervening Cuchara Formation is poorly resolved, but is an anomalously thick and coarse-grained fluvial unit, with evidence for extensive reworking of floodplain deposits and a moderate coarsening-upward pattern. The Cuchara Formation is associated with magnetic trends that suggest greater oxidation and weathering, and greater variability in rainfall patterns, as well as a subtle negative shift in carbon isotope values. This pattern indicates a period of widespread progradation within the basin, potentially related to a major Laramide uplift event that affected Colorado’s Wet Mountains, Front Range, and Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

Plant and insect herbivore community variation across the Paleocene–Eocene boundary in the Hanna Basin, southeastern Wyoming

Ecosystem function and stability are highly affected by internal and external stressors. Utilizing paleobotanical data gives insight into the evolutionary processes an ecosystem undergoes across long periods of time, allowing for a more complete understanding of how plant and insect herbivore communities are affected by ecosystem imbalance. To study how plant and insect herbivore communities change during times of disturbance, we quantified community turnover across the Paleocene­–Eocene boundary in the Hanna Basin, southeastern Wyoming. This particular location is unlike other nearby Laramide basins because it has an abundance of late Paleocene and Eocene coal and carbonaceous shales and paucity of well-developed paleosols, suggesting perpetually high water availability. We sampled approximately 800 semi-intact dicot leaves from five stratigraphic levels, one of which occurs late in the Paleocene–Eocene thermal maximum (PETM). Field collections were supplemented with specimens at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. Fossil leaves were classified into morphospecies and herbivore damage was documented for each leaf. We tested for changes in plant and insect herbivore damage diversity using rarefaction and community composition using non-metric multidimensional scaling ordinations. We also documented changes in depositional environment at each stratigraphic level to better contextualize the environment of the basin. Plant diversity was highest during the mid-late Paleocene and decreased into the Eocene, whereas damage diversity was highest at the sites with low plant diversity. Plant communities significantly changed during the late PETM and do not return to pre-PETM composition. Insect herbivore communities also changed during the PETM, but, unlike plant communities, rebound to their pre-PETM structure. These results suggest that insect herbivore communities responded more strongly to plant community composition than to the diversity of species present.

Vertebrate faunal changes through Lancian and Puercan time in southern Wyoming

We summarize faunal changes through the thickest and one of the most complete records of terrestrial vertebrates spanning Lancian (∼latest Cretaceous) and Puercan (∼earliest Paleocene) ages, the type Ferris Formation in the Hanna Basin, southern Wyoming. Observed faunal changes predate tectonic definition of local Laramide basins. Nonmammalian vertebrates exhibit no major changes in taxonomic composition below the Lancian-Puercan boundary; diversity of non-avian dinosaurs remains high within uppermost levels of the Lancian section. Nevertheless, dinosaurian extinction was not necessarily “catastrophic” within a biologically relevant interval. Primitive condylarths appear locally above the highest known dinosaurs, probably as immigrants. At least in this part of the North American western interior, the first evolutionary radiation of condylarths was subsequent to the last appearance of dinosaurs, not synchronous with or prior to it. Niche-partitioning among condylarths is first recorded near the boundary between Puercan Interval-zones Pu1 and Pu2 (early and middle Puercan time, respectively), by which time the first great mammalian diversification of the Cenozoic had begun. Major experimentations in dental morphology and increasing ranges of body sizes had developed within 400,000 years of the Lancian-Puercan boundary. We recognize no evidence suggesting that placental mammals were “recovering” from events that led to demise of the dinosaurs. The true diversity of marsupials and condylarths precisely at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary, throughout the western interior, remains unknown. We cannot, therefore, evaluate extensiveness of competition, if any, at that time among members of the two groups.