Evidence for an unconformity at the Scollard–Battle contact, Upper Cretaceous strata, Alberta

1983 ◽  
Vol 20 (8) ◽  
pp. 1219-1231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loris S. Russell
Keyword(s):  
Coal Seam ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Red Deer ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Marked Contrast ◽  
Volcanic Origin ◽  
Lower Member ◽  
Horseshoe Canyon Formation

The Scollard Formation is the uppermost division of the Edmonton Group in the Red Deer River valley of central Alberta. It dates from the close of Cretaceous and the beginning of Tertiary time. It rests on a very distinctive clay sequence consisting in descending order of the Battle and Whitemud formations, which overlie in turn the Horseshoe Canyon Formation, the lowest division of the Edmonton Group. Near the top of the Battle Formation is a distinctive and widespread bed of volcanic origin (Kneehills Tuff). The contact of the Battle clay above this bed with the Scollard Formation varies in level within single exposures. A widespread coal seam (Ardley or No. 14) divides the Scollard Formation into lower and upper members. The thickness of the lower member decreases markedly from south to north, as does the level of the highest recognized dinosaur remains. There is a marked contrast between the dinosaur fauna of the lower Scollard Member and that of the Horseshoe Canyon Formation. A similar break has been observed in the floral succession. These physical and biological discordances at the Scollard–Battle contact are taken to indicate an interval of non-deposition, with or without erosion. Evidence for an analogous break occurs in southwestern and southeastern Alberta and in southern Saskatchewan.

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.

Palynostratigraphic zonation of Paleocene strata in the central and south-central Alberta Plains

1990 ◽  
Vol 27 (10) ◽  
pp. 1263-1269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas D. Demchuk
Keyword(s):  
Coal Seam ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Red Deer ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Lower Portion ◽  
Wind River Basin ◽  
South Central

Paleocene strata of the Scollard and Paskapoo formations in the central and south-central Alberta Plains can be subdivided into five formal biostratigraphic zones, based in part on a Momipites–Caryapollenites palynofloral lineage. A similar zonation previously identified from strata of the Wind River basin in Wyoming displays similar palynomorph occurrences. However, differences that are present are likely a result of latitudinal climatic zonation between Alberta and Wyoming during Paleocene time.Lowermost Paleocene strata of Alberta (Wodehouseia fimbriata Zone) are barren of Momipites species, which subsequently first appear in the Momipites wyomingensis Zone. These two zones include strata from the Cretaceous–Tertiary boundary (Nevis coal seam) to the top of the Scollard Formation. A diverse assemblage of Momipites spp. plus Aquilapollenites spinulosus, Caryapollenites prodromus, and Tiliaepollenites danei are present in the Aquilapollenites spinulosus Zone within the lowermost Paskapoo Formation. Two more species of Caryapollenites appear in the Caryapollenites wodehousei Zone. The Pistillipollenites mcgregorii Zone is characterized by the presence of Pistillipollenites mcgregorii, Insulapollenites rugulatus, and Caryapollenites inelegans. Momipites leffingwellii is absent from the lower portion of this zone, with Momipites waltmanensis, Momipites actinus, and Momipites triorbicularis absent from the upper portion. Lower P. mcgregorii Zone strata are the youngest strata encountered in the vicinity of the Red Deer River valley. Upper P. mcgregorii Zone strata include strata of the Obed–Marsh coal zone within the uppermost part of the Paskapoo Formation adjacent to the Alberta Foothills.

First high-precision U–Pb CA–ID–TIMS age for the Battle Formation (Upper Cretaceous), Red Deer River valley, Alberta, Canada: implications for ages, correlations, and dinosaur biostratigraphy of the Scollard, Frenchman, and Hell Creek formations

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (10) ◽  
pp. 1041-1051 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Eberth ◽  
Sandra L. Kamo
Keyword(s):  
High Precision ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Red Deer ◽  
Sediment Accumulation ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Hell Creek Formation ◽  
Type Area ◽  
Minimum Age ◽  
Land Vertebrate ◽  
Age Range

The Battle Formation (BFm) is a widespread Upper Cretaceous marker horizon in western Canada that records a time of low sediment input and marks the boundary between the Edmontonian and Lancian land-vertebrate ages. Here, we present the first high-precision U–Pb CA–ID–TIMS age of 66.936 ± 0.047/0.060/0.140 Ma for the Battle bentonite, an altered vitric ash in the upper portion of the BFm at Knudsen’s Farm in the Red Deer River valley of Alberta. This age supersedes those previously reported, confirms that rates of sediment accumulation for the formation were very low (∼1.40 cm/ka), and allows us to interpolate an age range of ∼66.88–67.20 Ma for the BFm. Our data also provide a maximum age of ∼66.88 Ma for the base of the overlying Scollard Formation, a dinosaur-rich unit. We combine our age data with calibrated magneto- and palynostratigraphic data to assess chronostratigraphic correlations among the Scollard Formation of Alberta, the Frenchman Formation of Saskatchewan, and the Hell Creek Formation in eastern Montana. Whereas the combined data support previous interpretations that equate the age ranges of the Scollard Formation, Frenchman Formation, and the upper one third of the Hell Creek Formation in eastern Montana, they also indicate that all of the lower one third (L3) and part of the middle one third (M3) of the Hell Creek Formation in Montana are chronostratigraphically equivalent to all or part of the sub-BFm unconformity and the BFm in Alberta. Accordingly, a minimum age of ∼67.20 Ma is assessed for the base of the Hell Creek Formation in its type area.

The Hoe Complex of the Connecticut Valley

1946 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
William S. Fowler
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Development ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Connecticut River ◽  
Volcanic Origin ◽  
Trade Routes ◽  
Occupied Territory ◽  
Connecticut River Valley ◽  
Connecticut Valley

The aboriginal agriculturists discussed here lived in a somewhat secluded environment, the Connecticut River Valley from Bellows Falls to the Connecticut line. In this long-occupied territory, surrounded by high ridges of volcanic origin, heavily wooded, and watered by innumerable spring-fed streams, the cultural development of the inhabitants was apparently of a homogeneous nature. As late as 1636, when the English began to establish plantations throughout the valley, the natives were found united in a well-defined River Confederacy, with frequent intercourse maintained through river travel. While trade routes probably connected this section with many other parts of the country, cultural contacts had apparently persisted among the river tribes in spite of occasional raids of warlike groups from other regions.

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.

scholarly journals The first record of dinosaur eggshell from the Horseshoe Canyon Formation (Maastrichtian) of Alberta, Canada

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory Funston ◽  
Philip J. Currie
Keyword(s):  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
First Record ◽  
External Layer ◽  
A Site ◽  
Horseshoe Canyon Formation

Eggs and eggshell are generally rare in the Upper Cretaceous rocks of Alberta, despite being relatively abundant nearby in Montana. Palaeontologists and other people have been prospecting the Horseshoe Canyon Formation for more than a 130 years, but eggshell fragments have only just been recovered. The fragments are unornamented with angusticanaliculate pores and three structural layers. Numerous features support their referral to Prismatoolithus levis, and they confirm the presence of a bird-like external layer in this ootaxon. The fragments, which likely belonged to Albertavenator curriei, are from a site with abundant troodontid teeth and perinate material from hadrosaurs, ceratopsians, and theropods. The discovery of eggshell challenges the notion that the Horseshoe Canyon Formation is too heavily sideritized to preserve eggshell.

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