Paleoecology of an Estuarine, Incised-Valley Fill in the Dinosaur Park Formation (Judith River Group, Upper Cretaceous) of Southern Alberta, Canada

Palaios ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Eberth ◽  
Donald B. Brinkman
Keyword(s):  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Incised Valley ◽  
Valley Fill ◽  
Southern Alberta ◽  
Dinosaur Park Formation

The first record of spiral coprolites from the Dinosaur Park Formation (Judith River Group, Upper Cretaceous) southern Alberta, Canada

1995 ◽  
Vol 69 (6) ◽  
pp. 1191-1194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clive E. Coy
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
First Record ◽  
Niobrara Formation ◽  
Southern Alberta ◽  
Dinosaur Park Formation

Spiral coprolites from the Upper Cretaceous of North America are poorly known. Enterospirae (fossilized intestines) reported from the Upper Cretaceous Niobrara Formation of western Kansas (Stewart, 1978) were disputed by McAllister (1985), who felt they represented spiral coprolites similar to those described from the Permian by Neumayer (1904). Previously described coprolites from the Upper Cretaceous of Alberta are small, unstructured, ellipsoidal forms thought to derive from a crocodilian or terrestrial, carnivorous reptile of necrophagic or piscivorous habits (Waldman, 1970; Waldman and Hopkins, 1970).

scholarly journals New insights into chasmosaurine (Dinosauria: Ceratopsidae) skulls from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) of Alberta, and an update on the distribution of accessory frill fenestrae in Chasmosaurinae

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e5194
Author(s):  
James A. Campbell ◽  
Michael J. Ryan ◽  
Claudia J. Schröder-Adams ◽  
David C. Evans ◽  
Robert B. Holmes
Keyword(s):  
Morphological Variation ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Western Canada ◽  
Size And Shape ◽  
Southern Alberta ◽  
Position And Orientation ◽  
Dinosaur Park Formation

Chasmosaurine ceratopsids are well documented from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Dinosaur Park Formation (DPF) of southern Alberta and Saskatchewan, and includeChasmosaurus belli,Chasmosaurus russelli,Mercuriceratops gemini,Vagaceratops irvinensis, and material possibly referable toSpiclypeus shipporum.In this study, we describe three recently prepared chasmosaurine skulls (CMN 8802, CMN 34829, and TMP 2011.053.0046) from the DPF, and age-equivalent sediments, of Alberta. CMN 8802 and CMN 34829 are both referred toChasmosaurussp. based on the size and shape of the preserved parietal fenestrae. TMP 2011.053.0046 is referred toVagaceratopssp. based on the position and orientation of its preserved epiparietals. Each skull is characterized by the presence of an accessory fenestra in either the squamosal (CMN 8802 and TMP 2011.053.0046) or parietal (CMN 34829). Such fenestrae are common occurrences in chasmosaurine squamosals, but are rare in the parietal portion of the frill. The origin of the fenestrae in these three specimens is unknown, but they do not appear to exhibit evidence of pathology, as has been previously interpreted for the accessory fenestrae in most other chasmosaurine frills. These three skulls contribute to a better understanding of the morphological variation, and geographic and stratigraphic distribution, of chasmosaurines within the DPF and age-equivalent sediments in Western Canada.

Origins of dinosaur bonebeds in the Cretaceous of Alberta, Canada

2015 ◽  
Vol 52 (8) ◽  
pp. 655-681 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Eberth
Keyword(s):  
Coastal Plain ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Southern Alberta ◽  
Seasonal Basis ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Scientific Attention ◽  
Flooding Events ◽  
Dinosaur Park Formation ◽  
Warm Temperate ◽  
Provincial Park

Upper Cretaceous dinosaur bonebeds are common in Alberta, Canada, and have attracted continuous scientific attention since the 1960s. Since its inception, the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology has documented the presence of hundreds of these sites and has been involved directly in the scientific study of many tens. Because many of these bonebeds have been used to address questions about the paleobiology and paleoecology of dinosaurs, questions have arisen about bonebed origins and preservation in the Cretaceous of Alberta. This study of 260 bonebeds delineates broad paleoenvironmental settings and associations, and taphonomic signatures of assemblages as a first step in assessing patterns of dinosaur bonebed origins in the Upper Cretaceous of Alberta. Bonebeds are known predominantly from the Belly River Group and the Horseshoe Canyon, lower St. Mary River, Wapiti, and Scollard formations. In these units, bonebeds are mostly associated with river channel and alluvial wetland settings that were influenced by a subtropical to warm-temperate, monsoonal climate. Most bonebeds formed in response to flooding events capable of killing dinosaurs, reworking and modifying skeletal remains, and burying taphocoenoses. The “coastal-plain-flooding hypothesis,” proposed in 2005, suggested that many bonebeds in the Dinosaur Park Formation formed in response to the effects of recurring coastal-plain floods that submerged vast areas of ancient southern Alberta on a seasonal basis. It remains the best mechanism to explain how many of the bonebeds were formed and preserved at Dinosaur Provincial Park, and here, is proposed as the mechanism that best explains bonebed origins in other Upper Cretaceous formations across central and southern Alberta.

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.

Lateral and vertical facies sequences in the Upper Cretaceous Chungo Member, Wapiabi Formation, southern Alberta

1987 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 771-783 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorne R. P. Rosenthal ◽  
Roger G. Walker
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Fluvial Deposits ◽  
Southern Alberta ◽  
Surface Marking ◽  
Shoreline Progradation ◽  
Erosion Surface

The Chungo Member of the Wapiabi Formation (Campanian) shales out northward and (or) eastward from Lundbreck to the Bow Valley, southern Alberta. At Lundbreck, basinal mudstones are overlain by turbidite and hummocky cross-stratified sandstones in an overall coarsening-upward sequence. The marine part of the sequence is capped by dominantly swaley cross-stratified sandstones, interpreted as storm-dominated shoreface deposits. Nonmarine fluvial deposits overlie the shoreface. Essentially the same sequence persists northward to the area of the Highwood River, but in the Highwood River – Sheep River – Longview area, the swaley cross-stratified shoreface sandstones are progressively cut out by a north- and (or) east-ward-dipping erosion surface with up to 40 m of relief. The erosion surface is overlain by a lag of chert pebbles and then by a marine coarsening-upward sequence of offshore to shoreface deposits (the lower tongue of the Nomad Member). Nonmarine Chungo deposits then prograded north- and (or) eastward to overlie this marine tongue in the Highwood area. They are in turn abruptly overlain by a gravel-coated transgressive surface marking the upper marine tongue of the Nomad Member. Finally, marine shales of the Nomad Member are abruptly overlain by dominantly fluvial rocks of the Belly River Formation.We suggest that the main Chungo shoreface, stratigraphically equivalent to the Milk River sandstone of southeastern Alberta, prograded north- and (or) eastward to at least the Highwood River area. A rapid relative lowering of sea level followed by stillstand resulted in the formation of the erosion surface and the supply of gravel to the basin. The overlying coarsening-upward sequence indicates the resumption of shoreline progradation, but this appears to have been relatively short-lived; it was terminated by the transgression of the upper Nomad tongue.

Anatomical, morphometric, and stratigraphic analyses of theropod biodiversity in the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Dinosaur Park Formation

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Thomas M. Cullen ◽  
Lindsay Zanno ◽  
Derek W. Larson ◽  
Erinn Todd ◽  
Philip J. Currie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
North America ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Morphometric Analyses ◽  
Variable Distribution ◽  
Taxic Diversity ◽  
Dinosaur Park Formation ◽  
Broad Scale

The Dinosaur Park Formation (DPF) of Alberta, Canada, has produced one of the most diverse dinosaur faunas, with the record favouring large-bodied taxa, in terms of number and completeness of skeletons. Although small theropods are well documented in the assemblage, taxonomic assessments are frequently based on isolated, fragmentary skeletal elements. Here we reassess DPF theropod biodiversity using morphological comparisons, high-resolution biostratigraphy, and morphometric analyses, with a focus on specimens/taxa originally described from isolated material. In addition to clarifying taxic diversity, we test whether DPF theropods preserve faunal zonation/turnover patterns similar to those previously documented for megaherbivores. Frontal bones referred to a therizinosaur (cf. Erlikosaurus), representing among the only skeletal record of the group from the Campanian–Maastrichtian (83–66 Ma) fossil record of North America, plot most closely to troodontids in morphospace, distinct from non-DPF therizinosaurs, a placement supported by a suite of troodontid anatomical frontal characters. Postcranial material referred to cf. Erlikosaurus in North America is also reviewed and found most similar in morphology to caenagnathids, rather than therizinosaurs. Among troodontids, we document considerable morphospace and biostratigraphic overlap between Stenonychosaurus and the recently described Latenivenatrix, as well as a variable distribution of putatively autapomorphic characters, calling the validity of the latter taxon into question. Biostratigraphically, there are no broad-scale patterns of faunal zonation similar to those previously documented in ornithischians from the DPF, with many theropods ranging throughout much of the formation and overlapping extensively, possibly reflecting a lack of sensitivity to environmental changes, or other cryptic ecological or evolutionary factors.

Applying modern interpretation techniques to old hydrocarbon fields to find new reserves: A case study in the onshore Gulf of Mexico, USA

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. T637-T655
Author(s):  
Josiah Hulsey ◽  
M. Royhan Gani
Keyword(s):  
Salt Dome ◽  
Late Oligocene ◽  
Incised Valley ◽  
Valley Fill ◽  
Upper Oligocene ◽  
Hydrocarbon Fields ◽  
Investigative Techniques ◽  
Areas Of Interest ◽  
South Louisiana

This study shows how the use of current geological investigative techniques, such as sequence stratigraphy and modern seismic interpretation methods, can potentially discover additional hydrocarbons in old fields that were previously considered depleted. Specifically, we examine the White Castle Field in South Louisiana, which has produced over 84.1 million barrels of oil and 63.1 billion cubic feet of gas but retains additional recoverable hydrocarbons. The field has pay sections ranging from late Oligocene to late Miocene. The upper Oligocene to early Miocene package, which was underexploited and understudied during the previous exploitation phase, contains three primary reservoirs (Cib Haz, MW, and MR). During most of the late Oligocene, the White Castle Salt Dome was located in a minibasin on the continental slope. The Cib Haz and MW reservoirs were deposited in this minibasin and offer great exploitation potential. The Cib Haz interval is an amalgamation of slumped shelfal limestones, sandstones, and shales interpreted to represent a lowstand systems tract (LST). The MW comprises a shelf-edge delta deposit that is also interpreted as part of a LST. The MR reservoir is interpreted as an incised valley fill located in the continental shelf that was deposited during a lowstand of sea level after the minibasin was filled. Finally, it appears that the minibasin acted as a self-contained hydrocarbon system during the late Oligocene, suggesting the possibility of a shale play. In this study, several new areas of interest are revealed that could contain economical amounts of hydrocarbons.

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