A revised stratigraphy and depositional history for the Horseshoe Canyon Formation (Upper Cretaceous), southern Alberta plains

2012 ◽  
Vol 49 (9) ◽  
pp. 1053-1086 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Eberth ◽  
Dennis R. Braman
Keyword(s):  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Foreland Basin ◽  
Soil Formation ◽  
Sediment Supply ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Sequence Stratigraphic ◽  
Resource Distributions ◽  
Stratigraphic Model ◽  
Southern Alberta ◽  
Horseshoe Canyon Formation

The Upper Cretaceous paralic to nonmarine Horseshoe Canyon Formation (HCFm) of southern Alberta is divided into seven mappable members: Strathmore, Drumheller, Horsethief, Morrin, Tolman, Carbon, and Whitemud (bottom to top). This subdivision, based on combined outcrop and subsurface analyses, reflects lithostratigraphic variations related to changes in sea level (previously recognized) and newly documented changes in climate, volcanism, and orogenesis in an evolving foreland basin. Million-year-scale cycles of orogenesis resulted in changes in sediment supply and rates of subsidence in the basin and are interpreted in the context of a simple, two-phase foreland-basin sequence stratigraphic model: (i) overthrust loading resulting in reduced rates of sediment supply and subsidence in the most distal portions of the Alberta foredeep (our field area); (ii) tectonic quiescence leading to increased rates of sediment supply and subsidence during proximal-foredeep rebound. During the first ∼2.5 Ma of its history (Strathmore and Drumheller members), the HCFm was tectonically and climatically “stable”, and depositional style and stratigraphic architecture were influenced by vertical aggradation and modest progradation of shorelines. During the remaining ∼4.5 Ma (Horsethief, Morrin, Tolman, Carbon, and Whitemud members), there were more complex and frequent changes in climate, volcanism, orogenesis, landscape weathering, and soil formation. Understanding this previously unrecognized complexity is critical for correctly assessing hydrocarbon resource distributions and biostratigraphic and taphonomic patterns.

Two-phase stratigraphic model of foreland-basin sequences

Geology ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul L. Heller ◽  
Charles L. Angevine ◽  
Nancy S. Winslow ◽  
Christopher Paola
Keyword(s):  
Foreland Basin ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Stratigraphic Model

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.

scholarly journals Reply to ‘Comment on The geometry and stratigraphic position of the Maassluis Formation (western Netherlands and south-eastern North Sea)’

2005 ◽  
Vol 84 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-53
Author(s):  
H.S.M. Jansen
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Sediment Supply ◽  
Coastal Sediments ◽  
The West ◽  
Sequence Stratigraphic ◽  
Normal Transition ◽  
Stratigraphic Model ◽  
Stratigraphic Position ◽  
Age Estimates

In their comment, Wesselingh et al. say that pronounced glacioeustacy renders the detailed discussions about age intervals obsolete and that they fail to see the application of the Haq curves for age estimates in the Maassluis Formation can make much sense. We would argue the following: - Eustacy and sediment supply are the driving forces behind sequence formation and configuration. As our model shows, the overall picture of the Pliocene/Pleistocene along our transect is one of an outbuilding system, going from open marine to terrestrial deposits, which is a classic sequence stratigraphic configuration.- The lower part of the Maassluis Formation in the Noordwijk borehole lies below an unconformity and consists of open marine sediments as opposed to the coastal sediments of the upper part. Since it is the normal transition over a sequence boundary, there is reason to speculate about which sequences we are looking at here and what their age is. There is a large sedimentary wedge to the west of Noordwijk that is missing in the Noordwijk borehole.- The glacial-interglacial cycles Meijer et al. (in press) refer to are likely to be better expressed in the coastal part of the formation, i.e. from ca. 2.55 Ma. This is also the part of the formation where micro-vertebrates will be found, not the (older) marine part. These cycles do not alter the overall sequence stratigraphic model, they add a climatic overprint of smaller sedimentary cycles.

Sequence stratigraphic model for repeated “butter shale” Lagerstätten in the Ordovician (Katian) of the Cincinnati, Ohio region, USA

2016 ◽  
Vol 53 (8) ◽  
pp. 763-773 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher D. Aucoin ◽  
Carlton E. Brett ◽  
Benjamin F. Dattilo ◽  
James R. Thomka
Keyword(s):  
Sediment Supply ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Third Order ◽  
Sequence Stratigraphic ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Episodic Events ◽  
Fine Grain ◽  
Stratigraphic Model ◽  
Repetitive Motif ◽  
Lower Background

The “butter shale” Lagerstätten of the Cincinnati Arch have produced an abundance of articulated trilobites, along with assorted bivalves and cephalopods. These bluish gray shales are rich in clay, poorly calcified, and show vague internal bedding in outcrop. Butter shales form a repetitive motif with similar lithological and paleontological characteristics, suggesting conditions existed that can be explained by the interference between different orders of sequence stratigraphic cyclicity. The characteristics that define butter shales include rarity of coarser interbeds, homogenous, fine grain size, and abundance of burial horizons. The overriding control is siliciclastic sediment supply. During third-order transgressions, sediment supply to the basin is too low to produce thick shale-prone intervals. Conversely, during third-order falling stages, sediment supply is generally too high to favor butter shale deposition. Butter shales formed preferentially during a third-order highstand systems tract, and two subtly different variants resulted from the superimposed effects of higher order cycles. Highstands moderated by small-scale transgressions are characterized by lower background sedimentation and fewer, thinner mud deposition events. Superposition of small-scale sea-level fall on highstands produced increased background sedimentation, higher silt, and patchy fossil occurrences. Juxtaposition of various scaled highstand systems tracts provided the optimal butter shale conditions, characterized by elevated mud influx and frequent episodic burial events, leading to abundant, articulated trilobites and associated fauna. In these scenarios, episodic events provide sufficient mud to smother local faunas and create a soft, fine-grained substrate that prohibited recolonization by taxa adapted to firm substrates. Each scenario differs from the others with respect to sedimentology and faunal composition.

Stratigraphy of the Danek Bonebed (Upper Cretaceous Horseshoe Canyon Formation, central Alberta) and correlations with strata in the Drumheller and Grande Prairie regions

2014 ◽  
Vol 51 (11) ◽  
pp. 975-981 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Eberth ◽  
Phil R. Bell
Keyword(s):  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Faunal Assemblage ◽  
The North ◽  
Southern Alberta ◽  
North Slope Of Alaska ◽  
Stratigraphic Position ◽  
Geologic Time Scale ◽  
Assemblage Zone ◽  
Considerable Work ◽  
Horseshoe Canyon Formation

Although considerable work has been conducted on the stratigraphy and dinosaur assemblages of the Horseshoe Canyon Formation of southern Alberta, equivalent strata and assemblages in central Alberta remain poorly understood. Data from the Danek Bonebed (Edmonton, Alberta) are beginning to fill this gap. The bonebed occurs 4 m above the #9 Big Island Coal Seam. This stratigraphic position lies just below the middle of the Horseshoe Canyon Formation in the Edmonton region, and also lies below a thick, stratigraphically significant non-coaly interval that is expressed throughout central and southern Alberta. The stratigraphic position of the Danek Bonebed equates best with the uppermost Horsethief Member of the Horseshoe Canyon Formation in the Drumheller region and the upper part of Unit 4 of the Wapiti Formation in the Grande Prairie region. In both Drumheller and Grande Prairie, the correlated position of the bonebed underlies a zone of marine transgression (Drumheller Marine Tongue), which, in turn, includes the Campanian–Maastrichtian boundary. In the context of Geologic Time Scale 2004, we infer a late Campanian age of 71.0–71.3 Ma for the bonebed. The Danek’s dinosaurian assemblage is limited taxonomically, but compares well with the Edmontosaurus regalis – Pachyrhinosaurus canadensis fossil assemblage zone in the Drumheller region. We propose that a mega-herbivore faunal assemblage, characterized by Edmontosaurus and Pachyrhinosaurus, extended continuously across the climatically wet coastal plain of latest Campanian southern and central Alberta, and likely extended northwest into the North Slope of Alaska, where it persisted into the early Maastrichtian.

Dinosaur biostratigraphy of the Edmonton Group (Upper Cretaceous), Alberta, Canada: evidence for climate influence

2013 ◽  
Vol 50 (7) ◽  
pp. 701-726 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Eberth ◽  
David C. Evans ◽  
Donald B. Brinkman ◽  
François Therrien ◽  
Darren H. Tanke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Mean Annual Temperature ◽  
Middle Zone ◽  
Faunal Change ◽  
Morphological Stasis ◽  
Southern Alberta ◽  
Bottom To Top ◽  
Dinosaur Park Formation ◽  
Horseshoe Canyon Formation

A high-resolution biostratigraphic analysis of 287 dinosaurian macrofossils and 138 bonebeds in the Edmonton Group (Upper Cretaceous) of southern Alberta provides evidence for at least three dinosaurian assemblage zones in the Horseshoe Canyon Formation (HCFm). From bottom to top the zones comprise unique assemblages of ornithischians and are named as follows: (1) Edmontosaurus regalis – Pachyrhinosaurus canadensis (lower zone); (2) Hypacrosaurus altispinus – Saurolophus osborni (middle zone); and (3) Eotriceratops xerinsularis (upper zone). Whereas the lower and middle zones are well defined and based on abundant specimens, the validity of the uppermost zone (E. xerinsularis) is tentative because it is based on a single specimen and the absence of dinosaur taxa from lower in section. The transition from the lower to the middle zone coincides with the replacement of a warm-and-wet saturated deltaic setting by a cooler, coastal-plain landscape, characterized by seasonal rainfall and better-drained substrates. Whereas changes in rainfall and substrate drainage appear to have influenced the faunal change, changes in mean annual temperature and proximity to shoreline appear to have had little influence on faunal change. We speculate that the faunal change between the middle and upper zones also resulted from a change in climate, with ornithischian dinosaurs responding to the re-establishment of wetter-and-warmer climates and poorly-drained substrates. Compared with the shorter-duration and climatically-consistent dinosaurian assemblage zones in the older Dinosaur Park Formation of southern Alberta, HCFm assemblage zones record long-term morphological stasis in dinosaurs. Furthermore, the coincidence of faunal and paleoenvironmental changes in the HCFm suggest climate-change-driven dinosaur migrations into and out of the region.

A history of Albertosaurus discoveries in Alberta, CanadaThis article is one of a series of papers published in this Special Issue on the theme Albertosaurus.

2010 ◽  
Vol 47 (9) ◽  
pp. 1197-1211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darren H. Tanke ◽  
Philip J. Currie
Keyword(s):  
New Genus ◽  
Geographic Range ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Southern Alberta ◽  
Considerable Confusion ◽  
Taxonomic Uncertainty ◽  
History Of ◽  
Information Politics ◽  
Horseshoe Canyon Formation

After many years of taxonomic uncertainty, Albertosaurus was established as a new genus in 1905, the year Alberta became a province of Canada. Gorgosaurus is a closely related tyrannosaurid from the Judithian beds of southern Alberta that was subsequently synonymized with Albertosaurus. Although most researchers consider the genera as distinct, there has been considerable confusion over the temporal and geographic range of Albertosaurus. Albertosaurus sarcophagus is only known from 13 skulls and (or) skeletons of varying completeness, and one (possibly two) bonebeds, all from the Horseshoe Canyon Formation (Campanian–Maastrichtian) of Alberta. Many of the major Albertosaurus specimens are scientifically compromised due to poor collection techniques, incomplete locality and stratigraphic information, politics, vandalism, accidents, gunplay, and landowner issues. The background of each specimen is discussed to eliminate some of the sources of confusion and to document how much of each specimen is preserved.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document