Fluvial processes and vertebrate taphonomy: the upper cretaceous Judith River formation, South-Central dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada

Wood, James M.; Thomas, Richard; Visser, John

doi:10.1016/0031-0182(88)90085-5

Cited by 81 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…The Tuştea locality can be classified as a succession of high diversity, multitaxic (multidominant) microfossil bonebeds, because it has yielded remains of 21 vertebrate taxa (Table 1), a figure that accounts for 60% of the known formational palaeobiodiversity (Therrien et al, 2005;Benton et al, 2010;Csiki-Sava et al, 2016), and because 80% of the identifiable specimens (NISP) are smaller than 5 cm in maximum dimension (Wood et al, 1988;Eberth et al, 2007). Furthermore, according to the definition given by Behrensmeyer et al (1979), about 50% of the specimens identified in the Tuştea assemblage (cumulative NISP of amphibians, squamates, Telmatosaurus hatchlings, and kogaionids) can be interpreted as microvertebrates, because their estimated body weight was less than 1 kg.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Testing the hypothesis: It was already suggested that floating carcasses can be transported even by wind-driven ripples across the water surface (Sander, 1987;Wood et al, 1988;Weigelt, 1989), without the involvement of true fluvial processes, and therefore the perceived lack of hydraulic equivalence between sediment particles and hatchling bones becomes irrelevant in such cases. During peak flooding events, even the distal reaches of the floodplain can be covered by water, and the small-sized Telmatosaurus hatchling carcasses could have been easily transported by weak ripple currents across the surface of such extended water bodies into a different location than that where they lived and eventually died.…”

Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Taphonomical and palaeoecological investigation of the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Tuştea vertebrate assemblage (Romania; Haţeg Basin) - insights into a unique dinosaur nesting locality

Botfalvai

Csiki-Sava

Grigorescu

et al. 2017

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

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The Tuştea vertebrate locality, at Oltoane Hill (northwestern part of the Hațeg Basin, Romania), has provided a rich and diverse assemblage of Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) continental vertebrates. More than 800 vertebrate fossils were recovered from this locality; the isolated and associated remains represent 21 different taxa including amphibians, turtles, lizards, snakes, crocodyliforms, pterosaurs, dinosaurs and mammals. The local assemblage is overwhelmingly dominated by dinosaurs, with the rhabdodontid Zalmoxes as the most abundant taxon. The bonebeds that yielded this fossil material occur in a stacked series of mudstone/calcrete units belonging to the middle member of the Densuş-Ciula Formation. The taphonomical investigations suggest that the Tuştea assemblage is made up of attritionally accumulated politaxic remains and that it is a parautochthonous assemblage with no evidence for significant bone transport or reworking.According to the synthesis of all available field data two outstanding fossiliferous levels can be identified within the Tuştea locality, where Megaloolithus eggs and hadrosauroid hatchling material are preserved together, recognized here as two superposed nesting grounds. Such co-occurrence was considered controversial, since there is a longstanding and quasi-general consensus that eggs of the Megaloolithus oogenus were laid by titanosaurian sauropods. We present several alternative scenarios to account for the cooccurrence of Telmatosaurus hatchling remains and megaloolithid eggs in the nesting horizons and explore these alternative hypotheses by weighing the arguments supporting or contradicting them. The burden of evidence derived from our sedimentological, taphonomical and palaeoecological investigations at Tuştea is still in favor of the autochthony of the hatchlings, preserved within their own nesting grounds, whereas there is no such support for a titanosaurian origin of the Tuștea megaloolithid eggs.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Taphonomical and palaeoecological investigation of the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Tuştea vertebrate assemblage (Romania; Haţeg Basin) - insights into a unique dinosaur nesting locality

Botfalvai

Csiki-Sava

Grigorescu

et al. 2017

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

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“…Bonebeds are particularly abundant in the Dinosaur Park Formation (Wood et al 1988;Eberth and Currie 2005; Appendix A) and include both microfossil and macrofossil assemblages (Wood et al 1988;Brinkman 1990;Eberth 1990;Eberth and Brinkman 1997;Beavan and Russell 1999;Brinkman et al 2005aBrinkman et al , 2005bEberth and Currie 2005). Monodominant macrofossil bonebeds are especially common in the Dinosaur Park Formation and consist of those dominated by ceratopsians (Ryan et al 2001;Eberth and Getty 2005;Eberth and Currie 2005;) and hadrosaurs .…”

Section: Dinosaur Park Formationmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Some of these terms are employed to describe Alberta's macrofossil dinosaur bonebeds, particularly where paleobehavioral and ontogenetic inferences are being made (e.g., Wood et al 1988;Sampson et al 1997;Ryan et al 2001;Eberth and Getty 2005;Fanti and Currie 2007;Currie et al 2008;Currie 2010, Eberth et al 2014;Evans et al 2015).…”

Section: Kinds Of Bonebeds In Albertamentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Monodominant macrofossil bonebeds are especially common in the Dinosaur Park Formation and consist of those dominated by ceratopsians (Ryan et al 2001;Eberth and Getty 2005;Eberth and Currie 2005;) and hadrosaurs . Multitaxic macrofossil bonebeds in the Dinosaur Park Formation are most frequently associated with paleochannel lag deposits (Wood et al 1988;Eberth and Currie 2005), whereas monodominant macrofossil bonebeds are associated subequally with overbank and paleochannel deposits (Eberth and Getty 2005). Similar to the Oldman Formation, vertebrate microfossil bonebeds are associated with deposits of transgressive lags, splays, ponds, and paleochannels (Wood et al 1988;Eberth 1990;Eberth and Currie 2005).…”

Section: Dinosaur Park Formationmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Origins of dinosaur bonebeds in the Cretaceous of Alberta, Canada

Eberth

2015

Can. J. Earth Sci.

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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.Résumé : Les lits à ossements de dinosaures du Crétacé supérieur sont répandus en Alberta (Canada) et suscitent une attention scientifique soutenue depuis les années 1960. Depuis sa fondation, le Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology a documenté la présence de centaines de ces sites et a directement participé à l'étude scientifique de dizaines d'entre eux. Parce que bon nombre de ces lits à ossements ont été utilisés pour aborder des questions concernant la paléobiologie et la paléoécologie des dinosaures, des questions ont été soulevées quant aux origines et à la préservation de ces formations durant le Crétacé en Alberta. La présente étude de 260 lits à ossements délimite les grands milieux et associations paléoenvironnementaux, ainsi que les signatures taphonomiques d'assemblages comme première étape de l'évaluation des origines de lits à ossements de dinosaures dans le Crétacé supérieur de l'Alberta. Les lits à ossements sont connus en majorité du Groupe de Belly River et des Formations de Horseshoe Canyon, St. Mary River inférieure, Wapiti et Scollard. Dans ces unités, les lits à ossements sont principalement associés à des milieux de chenal ou de zones humides alluviales qui étaient influencés par un climat de moussons subtropical à chaud tempéré. La plupart des lits se sont formés...

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Johnston

Holbrook

2018

Fluvial Meanders and Their Sedimentary Products in the Rock Record

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Fluvial processes and vertebrate taphonomy: the upper cretaceous Judith River formation, South-Central dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada

Cited by 81 publications

References 20 publications

Taphonomical and palaeoecological investigation of the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Tuştea vertebrate assemblage (Romania; Haţeg Basin) - insights into a unique dinosaur nesting locality

Taphonomical and palaeoecological investigation of the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Tuştea vertebrate assemblage (Romania; Haţeg Basin) - insights into a unique dinosaur nesting locality

Origins of dinosaur bonebeds in the Cretaceous of Alberta, Canada

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