Geology of Badlands National Park: A preliminary report

Abstract

DeGrey facies…………………………………………………………. 15 Verendrye facies………………………………………………………. The Campanian-Maestrichtian boundary unconformity………….. Virgin Creek facies…………………………………………………… Mobridge facies………………………………………………………. Elk Butte facies ………………………………………………………. Fox Hills Formation……………………………………………………………. The Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary in Badlands National Park………………………………. A historical perspective on the Interior Zone ………………………………….. The Disturbed Zone……………………………………………………………………… Conata Creek locality…………………………………………………………. Grassy Tables Overlook locality………………………………………………. Wilderness Access Trailhead locality………………………………………. Buffalo Gap National Grasslands locality…………………………………… Dry Creek locality………………………………………………………………. Unnamed marine facies (upper Fox Hills Formation)………………………………. Tertiary Geology of Badlands National Park…………………………………………………… Historical overview of the White River Group………………………………………… The Yellow Mounds and Interior paleosols……………………………………………. Chamberlain Pass Formation……………………………………………………………49 Chadron Formation………………………………………………………………………. Brule Formation……………………………………………………………………………51 The Pig Dig site………………………………………………………………… Sharps Formation………………………………………………………………………… The Quaternary Landscape………………………………………………………………………. Three rivers over time…………………………………………………………………….54 Stream terraces: can they tell us about past climatic conditions?………………….. Quaternary and late Tertiary time scale (stages and stades)………………………..55 Weathering, mass wasting, and erosion………………………………………………. Castles, monuments, sod tables, and hoodoos………………………………………. Acknowledgments…………………………………………………………………………………. Selected Internet links…………………………………………………………………………….. Selected references………………………………………………………………………………..

Relict Endemism of Extant Rhineuridae (Amphisbaenia): Testing for Phylogenetic Niche Conservatism in the Fossil Record

“…However, its position within Rhineuridae and even Amphisbaenia is still ambiguous, as it possesses features unique among either group (Berman, 1973). Macdonald, 1970 Oligocene drying trend continues, stream channel sand and floodplain mud (paleosols) typical of steppe or even desert-like conditions (Stoffer, 2003), open grassland with annual rainfall of 350-450 mm (Prothero, 1994) Oligocene (Arikareean) (Stoffer, 2003), annual rainfall 450-500 mm (Retallack, 1992) Early Oligocene (Stoffer, 2003), wooded grassland with about 500-900 mm of annual rainfall (Prothero, 1994) Early Oligocene (Orellan) Fig. 1d Variables without units are dimensionless indices.…”

Scaphites of the “Nodosus Group” from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) of the Western Interior of North America

“…cuneatus zones are well exposed in the western two-thirds of the state. They have been reported from the Pierre Shale in Butte, Pennington, Custer, Shannon, Meade, Haakon, Ziebach, Mellette, Jones, Stanley, Dewy, Hughes, Lyman, Buffalo, and Brule counties (Searight, 1937;Crandell, 1958;Robinson et al, 1959;Cobban, 1962a, b;Cobban and Larson, 1997;Black, 1964;Stoffer, 1998Stoffer, , 2003Fox, 2007;Hanczaryk and Gallagher, 2007;Martin et al, 2007). The combined thickness of the two zones is approximately 30 m at AMNH locs.…”

Impacts of Material Engineering Properties on Slope Wash and Stability in Fine-Grained Bedrock Slopes at Fossil-Bearing Sites, Badlands National Park, South Dakota, USA

“…Cretaceous-Paleocene rocks span a timeframe from 74 to 55.5 Ma. Cretaceous rocks have been divided into several facies members [17] of Campanian and Maestricthian age. Sediments consisted of marine facies deposited in the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway and were ~110 m thick in the Park.…”

“…The lower Scenic consisted of yellowish gray to buff arenaceous claystones, paleosols and limestone beds near the top. The upper Poleslide consisted of gray to creamy-colored clay, dominated by light gray massive cliff forming sandstone that contained carbonate nodules near the top [17,22]. Overbank fines have been weathered into the bright red Interior paleosol immediately overlying and providing color contrast to the Yellow Mounds paleosol.…”

“…Uniformly applying this rate over the study period, slope retreat was determined to be 0.75 cm/year to 1.5 cm/year. Later, Stoffer [17] estimated an average erosion rate in BNP of ~2.5 cm/year. These minimal efforts expended at BNP led to a Park-wide study to determine erosion rates at fossil-bearing sites.…”