@article{doi105281zenodo3233762, author = "Lambe, Lawrence M.", title = "New genera and species from the Belly River Series (mid-Cretaceous)", year = "1902", journal = "Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)", abstract = "Lambe L. M. (1902): New genera and species from the Belly River Series (mid-Cretaceous). Geological Survey of Canada Contributions to Canadian Palaeontology 3: 25-81, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3233762", url = "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3233762", doi = "10.5281/zenodo.3233762", openalex = "W3208680353" } @misc{doi104095105003, author = "Gilmore, Charles W.", title = "A new Coelurid dinosaur from the Belly River Cretaceous of Alberta", year = "1924", url = "https://doi.org/10.4095/105003", doi = "10.4095/105003", openalex = "W2981620433" } @misc{gilmore1924a, author = "Gilmore, C W", title = "A new species of Hadrosaurian dinosaur from the Edmonton Formation (Cretaceous) of Alberta", year = "1924", url = "https://doi.org/10.4095/105004", doi = "10.4095/105004", openalex = "W2981920345" } @techreport{gilmore1924a1, author = "Gilmore, C. W", title = "A new coelurid dinosaur from the Belly River Cretaceous of Alberta", year = "1924", howpublished = "Bulletin of the Canadian Geological Survey Department of Mines, v. 38, p. 1-12", note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Gilmore, C. W., 1924, A new coelurid dinosaur from the Belly River Cretaceous of Alberta: Bulletin of the Canadian Geological Survey Department of Mines, v. 38, p. 1-12.}" } @article{doi101139e69059, author = "Russell, Dale A.", title = "A new specimen of Stenonychosaurus from the Oldman Formation (Cretaceous) of Alberta", year = "1969", journal = "Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences", abstract = "A fragmentary skeleton of Stenonychosaurus inequalis indicates that this small theropod dinosaur is very closely related to Saurornithoides mongoliensis from the Cretaceous of central Asia. Both forms possessed relatively well developed cerebral hemispheres and large eyes, and were probably fleet bipeds with supple raptorial forelimbs. Their extreme rarity as fossils is attributed to their preference for environments not usually preserved in the stratigraphic record.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1139/e69-059", doi = "10.1139/e69-059", openalex = "W1995328871" } @article{doi101139e72031, author = "Russell, Dale A.", title = "Ostrich Dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous of Western Canada", year = "1972", journal = "Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences", abstract = "The family Ornithomimidae is defined on the basis of the skeletal morphology of the three genera Ornithomimus, Struthiomimus, and Dromiceiomimus known in continental strata in Alberta, which are temporally equivalent to the Upper Campanian substage. At least two genera occur in Canadian Lance (Upper Maestrichtian) equivalent strata, but cannot be identified at present. A group of more primitive ornithomimoid theropods is represented else-where by the late Jurassic Elaphrosaurus and early Cretaceous Archaeornithomimus.Ornithomimid attributes include a general body form which parallels that of the ratites; elongate forelimbs, a kinetic skull, enormous eyes, a relatively highly evolved brain, and possibly a secondary palate and supertemporal fenestrae which were nearly encircled by alae of the squamosal. A reconstruction of the myology of the thigh indicates that ornithomimids were extremely fleet, but lacked the agility characteristic of modern large ground birds. They probably subsisted on small, soft-bodied animals.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1139/e72-031", doi = "10.1139/e72-031", openalex = "W2140641637", references = "doi101002jmor1051140102, doi1010160031018271900447, doi105962bhltitle14474, openalexw1879660213, openalexw3208547338" } @article{doi1015468gcrned, author = "Carpenter, Kenneth", title = "Baby dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous Lance and Hell Creek formations and a description of a new species of theropod", year = "1982", journal = "Global Biodiversity Information Facility", abstract = "Carpenter, Kenneth (1982): Baby dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous Lance and Hell Creek formations and a description of a new species of theropod. Contributions to Geology, University of Wyoming 20: 123-134, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3238510", url = "https://doi.org/10.15468/gcrned", doi = "10.15468/gcrned", openalex = "W2346377510" } @article{doi101139e89118, author = "Goodwin, Mark B. and Deino, Alan L.", title = "The first radiometric ages from the Judith River Formation (Upper Cretaceous), Hill County, Montana", year = "1989", journal = "Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences", abstract = {A new isotopic age of ca. 78 Ma was obtained by the conventional K–Ar method and by laser-fusion 40 Ar/ 39 Ar analysis of biotite and sanidine crystals from two bentonites in the Judith River Formation of Kennedy Coulee, Hill County, Montana. The 40 Ar/ 39 Ar analyses yielded weighted mean ages of 78.2 ± 0.2 Ma (biotite) and 78.2 ± 0.2 Ma (sanidine) for sample 84MG8-3-4, and 79.5 ± 0.2 Ma (biotite) and 78.5 ± 0.2 Ma (sanidine) for sample 85MG7-16-1. These are the first isotopic age determinations from the Judith River Formation. The dated bentonites in Kennedy Coulee bracket two significant Judithian "age" mammal localities, UCMP V77083 and V81234.The radioisotopic age of ca. 78 Ma for the Hill County local faunas and correlations of other Judithian local faunas with marine units suggest that the duration of the Judithian was at least 5 Ma. Judithian local faunas are probably correlative with the late Campanian of the Western Interior. Similarities in the principal Judithian mammalian faunas from Alberta, Montana, and Wyoming can now be interpreted as documenting a low rate of evolutionary change rather than individual or populational variation of approximately contemporaneous local faunas.}, url = "https://doi.org/10.1139/e89-118", doi = "10.1139/e89-118", openalex = "W2032168959" } @article{doi101017cbo9780511608377011, author = "Currie, P. and Rigby, J. and Sloan, R. E.", title = "Dinosaur Systematics: Theropod teeth from the Judith River Formation of southern Alberta, Canada", year = "1990", booktitle = "Dinosaur Systematics", url = "https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/fedead3cc1ae0ec35f3954946391d9906ed25ae7", doi = "10.1017/CBO9780511608377.011", is_oa = "true", pages = "107-126", semanticscholar_citation_count = "246", semanticscholar_id = "fedead3cc1ae0ec35f3954946391d9906ed25ae7" } @article{doi101017s0094837300013956, author = "Abler, William L.", title = "The Serrated Teeth of Tyrannosaurid Dinosaurs, and Biting Structures in Other Animals", year = "1992", journal = "Paleobiology", abstract = "The function of serrated teeth is analyzed by experimental comparison with the action of artificially made steel blades. Serrated blades cut compliant materials with a grip-and-rip mechanism, whereas smooth, sharp blades cut by concentrating a large downward force on a tiny area. Tyrannosaurid teeth from the Cretaceous Judith River Formation bear rows of serrations that have thick, rounded enamel caps, gripping slots between neighboring serrations, thick enamel bodies inside the teeth underneath the gripping slots, and a root beneath each serration. In contrast, the carnivorous dinosaur Troodon has teeth with exposed pointed serrations, thin enamel, and possibly serration roots. Serrations on the teeth of Troodon and the fossil shark Carcharodon, cut compliant materials in the same way as a serrated hacksaw blade. In contrast, the cutting action of tyrannosaurid teeth most closely resembles that of a dull smooth blade. The spaces between the serrations act as minute frictional vises that grip and hold meat fibers; chambers between neighboring serrations receive and retain small fragments of meat, and inevitably would have acted as havens where bacteria could be stored. These spaces may therefore have led to infections in wounds, analogous to those inflicted by the living Komodo dragon or ora. By analogy, the hunting and feeding behavior of tyrannosaurs may have resembled that of the ora. Serrations and slots are widely distributed among cutting devices in the natural world, and many of these deserve further study. For example, the carnassial teeth of mammalian carnivores cut by a combination of static force at the cutting edge, a crushing or scissoring action at the advancing junction between upper and lower teeth, and by lateral gripping and compression in a slot, like that seen on a much smaller scale in tyrannosaurid serrations. Mammalian teeth operate well only when deployed with sophisticated control over jaw movement, however, and the fine neural control necessary to operate them may have formed the basis for the later development of intelligence in mammals. Previously, being interested in mammals was largely a matter of being interested in teeth, whereas being interested in reptiles was largely a matter of being interested in everything but teeth. I suggest that the teeth of at least some reptiles are as rich in information as the teeth of any mammals.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1017/s0094837300013956", doi = "10.1017/s0094837300013956", openalex = "W2281208737", references = "diamond1986animal, doi101007bf00539785, doi1010160031018279901639, doi101126science832157413a, doi101130spe28p1, doi1023071444685, doi1023073223017, doi104095101672, doi1043249780203489369, doi105962bhltitle101537, doi105962bhltitle125523, openalexw2609000594" } @article{doi101139e93016, author = "Eberth, David A. and Hamblin, A P", title = "Tectonic, stratigraphic, and sedimentologic significance of a regional discontinuity in the upper Judith River Group (Belly River wedge) of southern Alberta, Saskatchewan, and northern Montana", year = "1993", journal = "Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences", abstract = "The lithostratigraphic interval between the Taber and Lethbridge coal zones in the upper portion of the nonmarine Judith River Group of southeastern Alberta is divisible into two lithostratigraphic units separated by a regionally extensive and diachronous discontinuity. The lower unit, referred to here as the Oldman Formation, is characterized by very fine grained to fine-grained sandstones that contain fewer than 2\% volcanic rock fragments; sandstone bodies with numerous sets of horizontally stratified sandstone, showing little or no evidence of lateral accretion; siliceous paleosols (ganisters); and a relatively high gamma-ray signal in the upper half of the formation. The Oldman Formation comprises deposits of a low-sinuosity, perhaps ephemeral fluvial system that originated in the southern Cordillera of Canada and northern Montana and flowed northeastward, perpendicular to the axis of the Alberta Basin.The upper unit is assigned to a new formation, the Dinosaur Park Formation, and is characterized by fine- to medium-grained sandstones with up to 10\% volcanic rock fragments; sandstone bodies that exhibit lateral-accretion surfaces in the form of inclined heterolithic stratification; numerous articulated dinosaurs and dinosaur bone beds; and a relatively low gamma-ray signal in the lower half of the formation. The Dinosaur Park Formation comprises deposits of a high-sinuosity, fluvial-to-estuarine system that originated in the north and central Cordillera and flowed southeastward, subparallel to the axis of the Alberta Basin. 40 Ar/ 39 Ar and K–Ar dating of Judith River Group bentonites shows that the contact between the Oldman and Dinosaur Park formations becomes younger toward the south and southeast. These data also demonstrate that the Dinosaur Park Formation clastics migrated southeastward at a rate of approximately 130–140 km/Ma, gradually overstepping the Oldman Formation elastics.The widely recognized north-to-south increase in intensity of overthrust loading along the western margin of the Alberta Basin during the Late Cretaceous is thought to be responsible for (i) differences in accommodation space for the proximal portions of the Oldman and Dinosaur Park formations, and (ii) the establishment of a southerly tilt in the Alberta Basin leading to the southeastward migration of the Dinosaur Park Formation elastics. In the northern portion of the basin, relatively lower rates of subsidence, combined with periods of isostatic rebound in the foredeep, resulted in the southeastward migration of Dinosaur Park Formation elastics as sediment input exceeded accommodation space. In the southern portion of the basin, relatively higher rates of subsidence and little isostatic rebound acted to trap coarse-grained Oldman Formation elastics in the foredeep and may have led to periods of sediment starvation in more distal portions of the basin. An inferred lower depositional slope associated with the Dinosaur Park Formation (relative to the Oldman Formation) is thought to have resulted from gradual loading of the basin as Dinosaur Park Formation elastics migrated southeastward or some form of tectonically induced subsidence.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1139/e93-016", doi = "10.1139/e93-016", openalex = "W2037483301" } @article{doi101139e93187, author = "Russell, Dale A. and Dong, Zhi-Ming", title = "A nearly complete skeleton of a new troodontid dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of the Ordos Basin, Inner Mongolia, People's Republic of China", year = "1993", journal = "Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences", abstract = "An articulated skeleton of a 1 m long theropod from Early Cretaceous strata in Inner Mongolia is clearly referrable to the Troodontidae, representing the most complete specimen known of this group of small carnivorous dinosaurs. The tail and neck of the animal were curled next to its body upon burial; the upper surface of the skeleton was badly damaged by erosion. Previously unknown details of troodont morphology include a quadratic contact with the braincase wall (forming part of a channel leading to the lateral depression), a presacral vertebral count possibly similar to that of most theropods, absence of ossified caudal tendons, presence of a rod-like clavicle, and absence of sternal ossifications. A new genus and species (Sinornithoides youngi n.gen., n.sp.) is established for the specimen on the basis of its short skull, laterally directed orbital rim of the frontal, and elongated hind limb. A reassessment of character distributions in other small theropods and primitive birds must be completed before troodontid affinities can be established with greater precision.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1139/e93-187", doi = "10.1139/e93-187", openalex = "W2005056616" } @article{doi101006cres19941022, author = "Jerzykiewicz, Tomasz and Norris, D K", title = "Stratigraphy, structure and syntectonic sedimentation of the Campanian 'Belly River' clastic wedge in the southern Canadian Cordillera", year = "1994", journal = "Cretaceous Research", url = "https://doi.org/10.1006/cres.1994.1022", doi = "10.1006/cres.1994.1022", openalex = "W2036024900" } @misc{hamblin1994the, author = "Hamblin, A P", title = "The Comrey Sandstone (Oldman Formation) of the Upper Cretaceous Judith River (Belly River) Group, subsurface of southern Alberta", year = "1994", url = "https://doi.org/10.4095/193497", doi = "10.4095/193497" } @article{doi10108002724634199510011259, author = "Sampson, Scott D.", title = "Two new horned dinosaurs from the upper Cretaceous Two Medicine Formation of Montana; with a phylogenetic analysis of the Centrosaurinae (Ornithischia: Ceratopsidae)", year = "1995", journal = "Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology", abstract = "ABSTRACT Two new ceratopsid dinosaurs, Einiosaurus procurvicornis and Achelousaurus horneri, are described from the Two Medicine Formation (Upper Cretaceous) of Montana. E. procurvicornis is known from three skulls and numerous cranial and postcranial elements from two bonebed assemblages. A. horneri is based on three skulls, one with associated postcranial elements. A phylogenetic review of the subfamily Centrosaurinae reveals two clades, one containing Centrosaurus and Styracosaurus and the other Pachyrhinosaurus plus the two new taxa from Montana. Diagnostic traits for resolving within-group relationships are found only in the skull roof in association with what appear to be secondary sexual characters, probably the result of sexual selection. In addition to illuminating the pattern of ceratopsian evolution, these taxa suggest an increased rate of evolution that may correlate with the late Campanian transgression of the Bearpaw Sea.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.1995.10011259", doi = "10.1080/02724634.1995.10011259", openalex = "W1977193143", references = "doi105479si0096380155226097" } @article{doi101126science2725264986, author = "Sereno, Paul C. and Dutheil, Didier B. and Iarochène, Mohamed and Larsson, Hans C. E. and Lyon, Gabrielle H. and Magwene, Paul M. and Sidor, Christian A. and Varricchio, David J. and Wilson, Jeffrey A.", title = "Predatory Dinosaurs from the Sahara and Late Cretaceous Faunal Differentiation", year = "1996", journal = "Science", abstract = "Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) fossils discovered in the Kem Kem region of Morocco include large predatory dinosaurs that inhabited Africa as it drifted into geographic isolation. One, represented by a skull approximately 1.6 meters in length, is an advanced allosauroid referable to the African genus Carcharodontosaurus. Another, represented by a partial skeleton with slender proportions, is a new basal coelurosaur closely resembling the Egyptian genus Bahariasaurus. Comparisons with Cretaceous theropods from other continents reveal a previously unrecognized global radiation of carcharodontosaurid predators. Substantial geographic differentiation of dinosaurian faunas in response to continental drift appears to have arisen abruptly at the beginning of the Late Cretaceous.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1126/science.272.5264.986", doi = "10.1126/science.272.5264.986", openalex = "W2013182835", references = "coria1995a, doi101007bf02987808, doi101016s0016699509900389, doi101038377224a0, doi101126science2665183267, doi102113gssgfbulliv2335, doi1023072421859, doi105281zenodo1040385, doi105962p226819, openalexw1426920053, openalexw2603028126" } @article{doi1023073515235, author = "Chin, Karen and Gill, Bruce D.", title = "Dinosaurs, Dung Beetles, and Conifers: Participants in a Cretaceous Food Web", year = "1996", journal = "Palaios", abstract = "Late Cretaceous trace fossils from the Two Medicine Formation of Montana are interpreted as herbivorous dinosaur feces reworked by scarabaeine dung beetles. These irregular blocks of comminuted plant material occur in isolated patches in fluvial flood plain sediments near dinosaur bone beds and nesting grounds. Numerous burrows in and around the specimens indicate significant invertebrate activity which suggests intense competition for a rich food resource. Some of the burrows are backfilled with organic matter that had been translocated from the organic mass (dung pat) into the adjacent sediment. Paracoprid dung beetles are the only extant organisms known to make similar caches. These unique ichnofossils provide evidence for commensal interactions between dung beetles, herbivorous dinosaurs, and conifers. This find also reveals a pathway through which fecal resources were recycled and suggests that scarabs evolved coprophagy through association with dinosaurs.", url = "https://doi.org/10.2307/3515235", doi = "10.2307/3515235", openalex = "W1966939491", references = "doi101038282296a0, doi101139e78109" } @article{doi1035767gscpgbull444654, author = "Hamblin, A P and Abrahamson, Byron", title = {Stratigraphic architecture of "basal Belly River" cycles, Foremost Formation, Belly River Group, subsurface of southern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan}, year = "1996", journal = "Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology", abstract = "La correlation de la subsurface regionale du gres de Basal Belly River a travers le sud de l'Alberta et de la Saskatchewan, suggere que l'unite peut etre divisee en series d'au moins sept cycles (sous-unites de quatrieme ordre) empiles, composes, principalement regressifs. Chaque cycle possede des depots a l'ouest continentaux/charbonneux, une zone centrale composee de gres empiles connexe au littoral et qui s'amincit vers l'est. Dans les cycles inferieurs, des sediments de lobes horizontalement distincts se rapportent probablement aux points originels de sediment de longue vie autour des marges actives du bassin sedimentaire de l'avant-pays. Les sediments originels provenant de l'ouest et du nord-ouest etaient immanquablement plus dominants que ceux provenant du sud et du sud-ouest. La cartographie revele que les points de depots sableux de chaque cycle successif sont situes a l'est des precedents et qu'ils sont stratigraphiquement plus eleves que ces derniers. Ceci indique le desequilibre entre la reserve de sediments provenant de l'ouest et l'affaissement du bassin sedimentaire de l'avant-pays Campanien sur l'ensemble de la progression, mais non continue, permise vers l'est du coin clastique sur plus de 500 km a travers le sud de l'Alberta et le sud-ouest de la Saskatchewan pendant la sedimentation du Basal Belly River (2-5 m.y.). Des cycles plus prononces d'empilages verticaux, et le developpement de zones houilleres d'arriere-plage, vers l'est refletent une croissance de l'alluvionnement a travers les temps se rapportant a une augmentation du taux de soulevement du niveau du seuil, causee probablement par l'affaissement plus rapide du bassin. Chaque cycle composite, tel que cartographie, comprend de plusieurs a une quantite importante de sous-unites (cinquieme ordre) individuelles limitees par des surfaces regionales transgressives localisees, qui sont a la fois stratigraphiquement et geographiquement limitees. De plus, chaque cycle renferme un ensemble precis de gisements de gaz naturel et represente une tendance d'exploration specifique. Pour chacun, la production est obtenue des facies se rapportant a la fois de zones infratidales et canalises.", url = "https://doi.org/10.35767/gscpgbull.44.4.654", doi = "10.35767/gscpgbull.44.4.654", openalex = "W2307933782" } @article{doi10108002724634199710011018, author = "Sues, Hans‐Dieter", title = "On Chirostenotes, a Late Cretaceous oviraptorosaur (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from western North America", year = "1997", journal = "Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology", abstract = {ABSTRACT A previously unrecognized partial skeleton of Chirostenotes pergracilis Gilmore, 1924 from the Upper Cretaceous Horseshoe Canyon Formation of Alberta (Canada) includes parts of the skull, much of the pelvic girdle, and elements from all regions of the vertebral column. It provides much new information concerning the skeletal structure of this unusual theropod dinosaur. Close structural correspondence between the maxilla of this specimen and the mandible of Caenagnathus collinsi R. M. Sternberg, 1940 indicates that the latter taxon should be considered a subjective junior synonym of Chirostenotes pergracilis. "Ornithomimus" elegans Parks, 1933 is probably also referable to Chirostenotes. The family-level taxon Elmisauridae Osmólska, 1981 is regarded as a subjective junior synonym of Caenagnathidae R. M. Sternberg, 1940. The newly recognized specimen of Chirostenotes pergracilis provides important new evidence for referring Caenagnathidae to Oviraptorosauria. Preliminary phylogenetic analysis indicates a sister-group relationship between Oviraptorosauria and Therizinosauroidea.}, url = "https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.1997.10011018", doi = "10.1080/02724634.1997.10011018", openalex = "W2038765394", references = "doi101017cbo9780511608377011, doi101038114085a0, doi101038378774a0, doi101126science2665186779, doi101139e72031, doi101139e96046, doi104095105003, doi105281zenodo16171435, gilmore1924a, openalexw2788234611, openalexw2980052577, openalexw3190253505" } @article{doi1035767gscpgbull452155, author = "Hamblin, A P", title = "Stratigraphic Architecture of the Oldman Formation, Belly River Group, Surface and Subsurface of Southern Alberta", year = "1997", journal = "Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology", abstract = "ABSTRACT Regional surface and subsurface correlation of the middle Belly River Group clastic wedge confirms that the Oldman Formation is present throughout southern and central Alberta. The Oldman generally thins to the north and northeast due to depositional thinning and to truncation by the overlying Dinosaur Park Formation. The Oldman Formation, primarily a transgressive fourth-order subunit, can be informally divided into two mappable units, referred to here as the lower Comrey Member sandstone and the upper siltstone member. The Comrey Member is dominated by light grey, fine to coarse sandstone with a sheet-like geometry over much of the map area. However, variations in thickness suggest that it is arranged in sharp-based linear WSW/ENE-oriented incised valley fill trends, up to 33 m thick, composed of stacked lenticular fining-upward channel units. Based on limited outcrop data from the southern part of the study area, paleoflow within these valleys was likely toward the eastern hemisphere. Corresponding clean sandstone trends (potential reservoir rock) are up to 25 m thick. The overlying upper siltstone member is dominated by pale-coloured, thinly interbedded noncalcareous mudstone and fine sandstone, with abundant rooting, convolute lamination and pedogenic horizons. The sediments of the Oldman Formation were derived from the west and southwest. The regionally consistent upward sequence of facies from erosional base to sandstone-dominated to mudstone-dominated can be interpreted to represent a fundamental reorientation of paleogeography related to an increasing rate of basin subsidence and consequent transgressive pressure in southern Alberta. A rapid and extensive base level fall, interpreted as the result of tectonic quiescence, basinwide rebound and erosion, was followed by deposition of an overall transgressive succession during increasing base level rise related to widespread subsidence during a phase of renewed tectonic thrust loading. The formation encloses known gas pools, but the presence of large areas of thick clean sandstone with no designated pools suggests further exploration possibilities. Included maps are intended as guides; for practical application, more detailed mapping of individual sandstone bodies is necessary. RESUME La correlation de la surface et de la subsurface regionales du coin clastique du Groupe Belly River intermediaire confirme la presence de la Formation Oldman dans les regions sud et centre de l'Alberta. La Formation Oldman s'amincit vers le nord et le nord-est a cause d'amincissement des sediments et de la troncature par la Formation Dinosaur Park susjacente. La Formation Oldman, une sous-unite de quatrieme ordre principalement transgressive, peut etre informellement divisee en deux unites cartographiables, adressees dans le present document comme du gres du Membre Comrey inferieur et du membre de l'aleuronite superieure. Le Membre Comrey est domine principalement par la couleur grispale, le gres s'echelonne de fin a epais avec une geometrie stratiforme couvrant une grande partie de la region cartographiee. Toutefois, les variations d'epaisseurs suggerent les directions OSO/ENE des vallees encaisses, jusqu'a 33 m d'epaisseur, composes d'unites avec des depots de particules lenticulaires fines vers le haut entasses. Selon les donnees limitees sur les affleurements de la partie sud de la region etudiee, le paleocourant dans ces vallees ce dirigeait fort probablement vers l'hemisphere est. Les directions nettes des gres (roches reservoir possibles) correspondant mesurent jusqu'a 25 m d'epaisseur. Le membre sus-jacent de l'aleuronite superieure est domine de minces couches de pelites, couleur pale, non-calcaire et de gres fins, avec une abondance d'enracinements, de laminations contournees et d'horizons pedologiques. Les sediments de la Formation Oldman proviennent de l'ouest et du nord-ouest. 1 Geological Survey of Canada Contribution No. 1996254 End\_Page 155------------------------ La sequence de facies ascendante regionalement uniforme du socle d'erosion, a principalement de gres, a principalement de pelites, peut etre interpretee de facon a representer une nouvelle orientation de la paleogeographie connexe a l'augmentation du taux croissant d'effondrement du bassin et de la pression transgressive qui en resulte dans le sud de l'Alberta. Une chute rapide importante du niveau du socle, interpretee comme etant le resultat d'un repos tectonique, le rebond et l'erosion a l'echelle du bassin, suivi du depot d'une succession en general transgressive pendant une augmentation du socle reliee a l'effondrement etendu pendant une phase de chargement renouvele de poussee tectonique. La formation englobe les gisements de gaz, mais la presence de regions importantes de gres net epais sans gisement designe, suggere des possibilites d'exploration avenir. Les cartes incluses ont pour but d'etre des guides; pour application pratique, des cartes plus detaillees des masses de gres sont necessaires. Traduit par Marie-Louise Tomas", url = "https://doi.org/10.35767/gscpgbull.45.2.155", doi = "10.35767/gscpgbull.45.2.155", openalex = "W1833814073" } @article{doi105860choice353642, title = "Encyclopedia of dinosaurs", year = "1998", journal = "Choice Reviews Online", abstract = "Thematic Table of Contents. Contributors. A Guide to Using the Encyclopedia. Michael Crichton, Foreword. Preface. Dedication. F.E. Novas, Abelisauridae. L.L. Jacobs, African Dinosaurs. G. Erickson, Age Determination. A. Chinsamy, Albany K. Padian and J.R. Hutchinson, Allosauroidea. P. Dodson, American Dinosaurs. L. Dingus, American Museum of Natural History. K. Carpenter, Ankylosauria. J.M. Parrish, Archosauria. J.R. Hutchinson and K. Padain, Arctometatarsalia. R.E. Molnar, Australasian Dinosaurs. L.M. Chiappe, Aves. The Editors, Avetheropoda. K. Padian, Avialae. H. Osmolska, Barun Goyot Formation. J.L. Sanz, Bastus Nesting Site. The Editors, Bavarian State Collection for Paleontology and Historical Geology. P. Currie, Bayan Mandahu. H. Osmolska, Bayn Dzak. J.R. Horner, Behavior. A. Chinsamy, Bernard Price Institute for Paleontological Research. J. Le Loeuff, Biogeography. R.M. Alexander, Biomechanics. R. Chapman, Biometrics. C. Trueman, Biomineralization. S.G. Lucas, Biostratigraphy. K. Padian, Bipedality. K. Padian, Bird Origins. B. Breithaupt, Bone Cabin Quarry. P. Currie, Braincase Anatomy. K. Padain and J.R. Hutchinson, Bullatosauria. M. Lockley, Cabo Espichel. J.S. Moratalla and J.L. Sanz, Cameros Basin Megatracksite. C. Coy, Canadian Dinosaurs. K. Carpenter, Canon City. M. Lockley, Carenque. J.S. McIntosh, Carnegie Museum of Natural History. J.R. Hutchinson and K. Padian, Carnosauria. J. Kirkland, Cedar Mountain Formation. M. Norell, Central Asiatic Expeditions. The Editors, Cerapoda. P. Dodson, Ceratopsia. T. Rowe, R. Tykoski, and J.R. Hutchinson, Ceratosauria. H. Bocherens, Chemical Composition of Dinosaur Fossils. D. Zhiming, Chinese Dinosaurs. J.M. Parrish, Chinle Formation. J.B. Smith, Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry. D. Maxwell, Cloverly Formation. J.R. Hutchinson and K. Padian, Coelurosauria. M.J. Ryan and A.P. Russell, Color. B. Breithaupt, Como Bluff. R.E. Chapman and D.B. Weishampel, Computers and Related Technology. J. Wright, Connecticut River Valley. D.B. Weishampel, Constructional Morphology. K. Chin, Coprolites. L.M. Witmer, Craniofacial Air Sinus Systems. E-B. Koppelhus, Cretaceous Period. J.M. Clark, Crocodylia. W.A.S. Sarjeant, Crystal Palace Dinosaurs. B. Britt and K.L. Stadtman, Dalton Wells Quarry. A. Sahni, Deccan Basalt. The Editors, Deinonychosauria. K. Carpenter, Denver Museum of Natural History. C. Coy, Devil's Coulee Dinosaur Egg Historic Site. M.J. Ryan and M.K. Vickaryous, Diet. K. Padian, Dinosauria: Definition. D. Chure, Dinosaur National Monument. A.B. Arcucci, Dinosauromorpha. C. Coy, Dinosaur Provincial Park. M. Lockley, Dinosaur Ridge. Don Lesson, Dinosaur Society. M. Lockley, Dinosaur Valley. M. Lockley, Dinoturbation. P. Dodson, Distribution and Diversity. T. Jerzykiewicz, Djadokhta Formation. P.A. Murry and R.A. Long, Dockum Group. P. Currie, Dromaeosaridae. B. Britt and B.I. Curtice, Dry Mesa Quarry. M.J. Ryan, Dryosauridae. D.A. Eberth, Edmonton Group. J.R. Horner, Egg Mountain. K.E. Mikhailov, Eggs, Eggshells, and Nests. P. Currie, Elmisauridae. The Editors, Enantiornithes. P. Currie, Erenhot Dinosaur The Editors, Euornithopoda. E. Buffetaut, European Dinosaurs. J.D. Archibald, Evolution. J.D. Archibald, Extinction, Cretaceous. M.J. Benton, Extinction, Triassic. P. Guangzhao, Fabrosauridae. M. Lockley, Fatima. P. Currie, Feathered Dinosaurs. M. Lockley, Footprints and Trackways. Per Christiansen, Forelimbs and Hands. J.I. Kirkland, Fruita Paleontological Area. M.J. Ryan, Fruitland Formation. X-C. Wu, Functional Morphology. L. Claessens, Gastralia. D.D. Gillette, Gastroliths. The Editors, Genasauria. J.M. Parrish, Genetics. C.C. Swisher, Geologic Time. C. Coy, Ghost Ranch. K. Padian, Glen Canyon Group. D.A. Winkler, Glen Rose, Texas. P. Currie, Graduate Studies. D.J. Varricchio, Growth and Embryology. K. Padian, Growth Lines. C.A. Forster, Hadrosauridae. K.R. Johnson, Hell Creek Flora. D.F. Lofgren, Hell Creek Formation. F.E. Novas, Herrerasauridae. J.A. Long and K.J. McNamara, Heterochrony. J.B. Smith, Heterodontosauridae. Per Christiansen, Hind Limbs and Feet. R.E.H. Reid, Histology of Bones and Teeth. W.A.S. Sarjeant, History of Dinosaur Discoveries: Early Discoveries. B. Breithaupt, History of Dinosaur Discoveries: First Golden Period. E. Buffetaut, History of Dinosaur Discoveries: Quiet Times. L. Psihoyos, History of Dinosaur Discoveries: Research Today. B. Breithaupt, Howe Quarry. H-D. Sues, Hypsilophodontidae. C.A. Forster, Iguanodontidae. A. Sahni, Indian Dinosaurs. The Editors, Institute de Paleontologie, Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France. D. Zhiming, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Beijing, China. D.A. Russell, Intelligence. R.R. Rogers, Ischigualasto Formation. Y. Azuma and Y. Tamida, Japanese Dinosaurs. D.A. Eberth, Judith River Wedge. D. Lessem and M. Schweitzer, Jurassic Park. P. Dodson, Jurassic Period. H. Haubold, Keuper Formation. M. Lockley, Khodja-Pil-Ata. M.J. Ryan, Kirtland Formation. A. Sahni, Lameta Formation. B. Breithaupt, Lance Formation. S.G. Lucas, Land-Mammal Ages. B.P. Perez-Moreno and J.L. Sanz, Las Hoyas. V.L. Santucci, Legislation Protecting Dinosaur Fossils. D.B. Weishampel, Life History. M. Lockley, Lommiswil. E. Frey and J. Martin, Long Necks of Sauropods. D. Zhiming, Lufeng. K. Padian, Maniraptora. K. Padian, Maniraptoriformes. The Editors, Marginocephalia. K. Padian, Megalosaurus. M. Lockley, Megatracksites. K. Padian, Mesozoic Era. H-D. Sues, Mesozoic Faunas. J. Basinger, Mesozoic Floras. R. Hernandez-Rivera, Mexican Dinosaurs. J.A. Schiebout, Microvertebrate Sites. M.J. Ryan, Middle Asian Dinosaurs. G.S. Paul, Migration. R. Barsbold, Mongolian Dinosaurs. K. Carpenter, Morrison Formation. J.M. Parrish, Musculature. J. Le Loeuff, Musee des Dinosaures, Esperaza, Aude, France. The Editors, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University. D.K. Smith, Museum of Earth Science, Brigham Young University. M. Schweitzer, Museum of the Rockies. D. Chure, Museums and Displays. A. Chinsamy, National Museum, Bloemfontein, South Africa. P. Davis, Natual History Museum, London. H. Osmolska, Nemegt Formation. P. Dodson, Neoceratopsia. The Editors, Neotetanurae. H-D. Sues, Newark Supergroup. K. Padian, Origin of Dinosaurs. L.B. Tatarinov, Orlov Museum of Paleontology. M.K. Vickaryous and M.J. Ryan, Ornamentation. K. Padian, Ornithischia. K. Padian, Ornithodira. H. Osmolska, Ornithomimosauria. The Editors, Ornithopoda. K. Padian, Ornithosuchia. R. Barsbold, Oviraptorosauria. J.B. Smith, Oxford Clay. H-D. Sues, Pachycephalosauria. H. Haubold, Paleoclimatology. P. Dodson, Paleoecology. J.F. Lerbekmo, Paleomagnetic Correlation. E.A. Buchholtz, Paleoneurology. P.J. Currie, Paleontogical Museum, Ulaan Baatar. P. Davis, Paleontology. D.H. Tanke and B.M. Rothschild, Paleopathology. K. Padian, Pectoral Girdle. D. Rasskin-Gutman, Pelvis, Comparative Anatomy. C. Trueman, Permineralization. J.M. Parrish, Petrified Forest. K. Padian, Phylogenetic System. K. Padian, Phylogeny of Dinosaurs. K. Padian, Physiology. B. Tiffney, Plants and Dinosaurs. E. Hoch, Plate Tectonics. T.H. Rich, R.A. Gangloff, and W.R. Hammer, Polar Dinosaurs. H. Osmolska, Polish-Mongolian Paleontological Expeditions. D.F. Glut, Popular Culture, Literature. P. Makovicky, Postcranial Axial Skeleton. B. Britt, Postcranial Pneumaticity. R.E. Molnar, Problems with the Fossil Record. P. Upchurch, Prosauropoda. P. Davis, Pseudofossils. K. Padian, Pseudosuchia. P. Sereno, Psittacosauridae. K. Padian, Pterosauria. K. Padian, Pterosauromopha. M. Lockney, Purgatoire. K. Padian, Quadrupedality. D.A. Eberth, Radiometric Dating. P. Currie, Raptors. S.J. Czerkas, Reconstruction and Restoration. G.S. Paul, Reproductive Behavior and Rates. M.J. Benton, Reptiles. J. Wright, Rocky Hill Dinosaur Park. H-D. Sues, Royal Ontario B.G. Naylor, Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology. M. Lockley, Samcheonpo. K. Padian, Saurischia. J.S. McIntosh, Sauropoda. P. Upchurch, Sauropodomorpha. P. Currie, Sino-Canadian Dinosaur Project. P. Currie, Sino-Soviet Expeditions. N.J. Mateer, Sino-Swedish Expeditions. E.H. Colbert, Size. R.M. Alexander, Size and Scaling. K. Padian, Skeletal Structures. S.A. Czerkas, Skin. The Editors, Skull, Comparative Anatomy. M.K. Brett-Surman, Smithsonian Institution. H. Haubold, Solnhofen Formation. A. Chinsamy, South African F.E. Novas, South American Dinosaurs. E. Buffetaut, Southeast Asian Dinosaurs. C. Coy, Soviet-Mongolian Paleontological Expeditions. J.D. Archibald, Speciation. J.D. Archibald, Species. A. Milner, Spinosauridae and Baryonychidae. The Editors, State Museum for Natural History, Stuttgart, Germany. K. Padian, Staurikosauridae. P. Galton, Stegosauria. X-C. Wu and A.P. Russell, Systematics. A.R. Fiorillo, Taphonomy. P.M. Sander, Teeth and Jaws. G. Maier, Tendaguru. J.R. Hutchinson and K. Padian, Tetanurae. K. Padian, Thecodontia. D.A. Russell, Therizinosauria. P.J. Currie, Theropoda. K. Carpenter, Thyreophora. A.R. Jacobsen, Tooth Marks. G.M. Erickson, Tooth Replacement Patterns. W.L. Abler, Tooth Serrations in Carnivorous Dinosaurs. A.R. Fiorillo and D.B. Weishampel, Tooth Wear. K. Padian, Trace Fossils. J.M. Parrish, Triassic Period. D.J. Varricchio, Troodontidae. J.O. Farlow, Trophic Groups. D.B. Weishampel, Trossingen. R.R. Rogers, Two Medicine Formation. K. Carpenter, Tyrannosauridae. M. Norell, Ukhaa Tolgod. The Editors, University of California Museum of Paleontology. S.D. Sampson and M.J. Ryan, Variation. M.J. Benton, Vertebrata. P. Davis, Vertebrate Paleontology. G.M. Erickson, Von Ebner Incremental Growth Lines. D. Norman, Wealden Group. J.R. Horner, Willow Creek Anticline. M.A. Turner, Yale Peabody D. Zhiming, Zigong Museum. Resources. Index.", url = "https://doi.org/10.5860/choice.35-3642", doi = "10.5860/choice.35-3642", openalex = "W647458292" } @article{doi1021130250057, author = "Braman, Dennis R.", title = "TERRESTRIAL PALYNOMORPHS OF THE UPPER SANTONIAN-?LOWEST CAMPANIAN MILK RIVER FORMATION, SOUTHERN ALBERTA, CANADA", year = "2001", journal = "Palynology", abstract = "The Milk River Formation, a prograding clastic wedge, outcrops in a limited area of southern Alberta, Canada. The indicated age of the formation is latest Santonian to possibly earliest Campanian; its upper contact with the Pakowki Formation is unconformable. The unit is comprised of three members: Telegraph Creek, Virgelle and Deadhorse Coulee. All three members yielded well-preserved terrestrial palynomorphs. The assemblages characterizing the formation contain an abundance of species, with Accuratipollis lactifluminis sp. nov., Brevimonosulcites corrugatus and Callialasporites dampieri being the more common characteristic types. Eighteen new species are described including: Accuratipollis lactifluminis, Annulispora salsa, Integricorpus scopulensis, Cupanieidites terrestris, Cupuliferoidaepollenites quietus, Diptycha badlandensis, Echinatisporis solaris, Enzonalasporites bojatus, Erdtmanipollis circulifer, Hedlundisporites tricrassus, Leptolepiditescrepitus, Micahoodooensis, Monosulcitesriparius, Periretisyncolpites chinookensis, Perotrilites monstrum, Satishia nigra, Trilobapollis laudabilis and Triquitrites absurdus. Seven new combinations are proposed including: Echinatisporis caudata (Krasnova), Foraminisporis simiscalaris (Paden Phillips \& Felix), Integricorpus kokufuense (Takahashi \& Shimono), Integricorpus protrusum (Takahashi \& Shimono), Integricorpus teretes (Zhou \& Wang), Zlivisporis cenomanianus (Agasie), and Zlivisporis simplex (Cookson \& Dettmann). A new name, Tsugaepollenites stelmakii, is proposed.", url = "https://doi.org/10.2113/0250057", doi = "10.2113/0250057", openalex = "W2035859558", references = "doi1010800072139519759989755, doi103133pp151, doi1035767gscpgbull444654" } @article{doi101139e02080, author = "Brinkman, Donald B.", title = "A review of nonmarine turtles from the Late Cretaceous of Alberta", year = "2003", journal = "Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences", abstract = "The Late Cretaceous of Alberta preserves one of the most complete records of fossil turtles within a single geographic area in North America. The Cenomanian Dunvegan Formation contains the earliest record of the family Trionychidae in North America. The Santonian Milk River Formation contains a minimum of ten taxa with Adocus, a small trionychid, and a member of the Solemydidae being the most abundant. Diversity remains high in the mid-Campanian Judith River Group. The solemyidid last occurs in the basal beds of the Judith River Group. A member of the Macrobaenidae first occurs in the Dinosaur Park Formation, the uppermost formation in the Judith River Group. Turtles diversity is low in the late Campanian lower Horseshoe Canyon Formation, and they are absent in the early Maastrichtian upper Horseshoe Canyon Formation. Diversity increases in the late Maastrichtian Scollard Formation, although it is much less than in the contemporaneous Hell Creek Formation of Montana. Two of the taxa present in the Scollard Formation, Compsemys and Plastomenus, occur in late Campanian or early Maastrichtian formations in more southerly areas of North America. The changes in turtle diversity through the Campanian and Maastrichtian are interpreted as a result of shifts in a latitudinal turtle diversity gradient resulting from changes in climate. Based on this interpretation a decrease in temperature from the mid-Campanian to early Maastrichtian, followed by a rapid increase at the beginning of the late Maastrichtian is supported.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1139/e02-080", doi = "10.1139/e02-080", openalex = "W2077604873", references = "doi1010160031018270900945, doi1035767gscpgbull452155" } @article{doi10130606030302015, author = "Bachu, Stefan and Michael, Karsten", title = "Possible controls of hydrogeological and stress regimes on the producibility of coalbed methane in Upper Cretaceous–Tertiary strata of the Alberta basin, Canada", year = "2003", journal = "AAPG Bulletin", abstract = "Abstract The coalbed methane potential and producibility of any coal-bearing strata are strongly affected by the hydrogeological regime of formation waters and by coal permeability, which in turn depends on the effective stress regime of the coals. Peat that accumulated in the Alberta basin during the Late Cretaceous and early Tertiary led to the formation of coal deposits that may contain significant coalbed methane resources. The flow of formation waters plays an important role in the maintenance and producibility of this resource. The present-day flow is driven by gravity (topography) and erosional rebound and is controlled by rock permeability and the presence of gas-saturated sandstones. The estimated gas in place in the Tertiary–Upper Cretaceous coals decreases significantly with stratigraphic age, ranging between less than 2 bcf/mi2 in the lower coal zones and 12 bcf/mi2 in the uppermost coals. The gas content, especially of the deeper coals, is lower than would be expected for the corresponding coal rank and burial depth, most likely because the underpressuring has caused the release of gas from the coals and accumulation in adjacent sands. The shallow coals, although of low rank, may contain important amounts of late-stage biogenic methane. The salinity of formation water in shallow coal seams, where the flow is driven by topography, is low, generally less than 1500 mg/L, although in places, it reaches 3000–5000 mg/L. The salinity of formation water in the deeper, underpressured strata in the west-central part of the basin is significantly higher, reaching 18,000 mg/L. This affects treatment and/or disposal strategies with regard to the water produced concurrent to coalbed methane. The producibility of this resource depends on coal permeability, which decreases west-southwestward with increasing burial depth, from the order of several darcys in the shallow zones to millidarcys in the deep zones. The minimum effective stress, which affects coal permeability by closing fractures, increases west-southwestward from zero at the erosional edge of these strata to approximately 20 MPa near the Rocky Mountain deformation front. Fractures, including those in coal seams, will generally be vertical and will propagate on a southwest-northeast axis along the direction of the maximum horizontal stress, in a direction generally perpendicular to the Rocky Mountain deformation front. Considering the hydrogeological and stress regimes in conjunction with estimations of the gas content in coals, the region with probably good coalbed methane potential and producibility are the Ardley coal zone in the Scollard Formation and maybe, to a lesser extent, the coal zones of the stratigraphically deeper Edmonton and Belly River groups along their respective subcrop in central and southern Alberta. The deep Edmonton and Belly River strata in western and central Alberta have most likely a reduced coalbed methane potential as a result of lower gas content and of low permeability. These regional considerations need to be applied against local studies of coal thickness, rank, permeability, and gas content to identify the best targets for coalbed methane exploration and production.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1306/06030302015", doi = "10.1306/06030302015", openalex = "W2125838564", references = "doi1035767gscpgbull444654, doi1035767gscpgbull452155" } @article{doi1016690883135120030180286rpoumt20co2, author = "Chin, Karen and Eberth, David A. and Schweitzer, Mary H. and Rando, Thomas A. and SLOBODA, W. J. and Horner, Jack", title = "Remarkable Preservation of Undigested Muscle Tissue Within a Late Cretaceous Tyrannosaurid Coprolite from Alberta, Canada", year = "2003", journal = "Palaios", abstract = "Exceptionally detailed soft tissues have been identified within the fossilized feces of a large Cretaceous tyrannosaurid. Microscopic cord-like structures in the coprolitic ground mass are visible in thin section and with scanning electron microscopy. The morphology, organization, and context of these structures indicate that they are the fossilized remains of undigested muscle tissue. This unusual discovery indicates specific digestive and taphonomic conditions, including a relatively short gut-residence time, rapid lithification, and minimal diagenetic recrystallization. Rapid burial of the feces probably was facilitated by a flood event on the ancient coastal lowland plain on which the fecal mass was deposited.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1669/0883-1351(2003)018<0286:rpoumt>2.0.co;2", doi = "10.1669/0883-1351(2003)018<0286:rpoumt>2.0.co;2", openalex = "W2173652276", references = "briggs1994decay, doi1010029781118697214, doi101007bf00292180, doi101016s0016703799000873, doi101017cbo9780511610561, doi101017s0094837300012082, doi10103832884, doi101126science25951001439, doi101139e93016, doi102527199977193x, doi103998mpub9690664, openalexw2983381470" } @incollection{doi102110pec07520256, author = "Hansen, Cindy Diane and MacEachern, James A.", title = "Application of the Asymmetric Delta Model to Along-Strike Facies Variations in a Mixed Wave- and River-Influenced Delta Lobe, Upper Cretaceous Basal Belly River Formation, Central Alberta", year = "2007", booktitle = "SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology) eBooks", abstract = "This core workshop has been designed for sedimentologists and stratigraphers who utilize cores for interpreting depostional environments, identifying stratigraphic discontinuities, and applying high-resolution sequence stratigraphic (or other genetic stratigraphic frameworks) to the rock record. The workshop focuses on the practical applications of ichnology on sedimentologic, stratigraphic, diagenetic, and reservoir petrophysical characteristics of sedimentary successions.", url = "https://doi.org/10.2110/pec.07.52.0256", doi = "10.2110/pec.07.52.0256", openalex = "W2263190699", references = "doi1035767gscpgbull444654" } @article{doi101111j14754983200800791x, author = "LONGRICH, NICK", title = "A NEW, LARGE ORNITHOMIMID FROM THE CRETACEOUS DINOSAUR PARK FORMATION OF ALBERTA, CANADA: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE STUDY OF DISSOCIATED DINOSAUR REMAINS", year = "2008", journal = "Palaeontology", abstract = "Abstract: Only two ornithomimid genera, Ornithomimus and Struthiomimus, are currently known from the Upper Cretaceous of North America. However, a number of ornithomimid elements from Alberta’s Dinosaur Park Formation (Upper Campanian), cannot be assigned to either Ornithomimus or Struthiomimus. These bones, including a frontal, caudal vertebrae, and unguals of the manus and the pes, come from animals significantly larger than any previously known Judithian ornithomimid. The frontal exhibits several unusual features, including transverse expansion over the prefrontals, and extreme reduction of the supratemporal fossae. Caudal vertebrae are characterized by neural arches that are posteriorly shifted and transversely expanded. Manual unguals possess a highly concave articular surface, a flexor tubercle divided by a sulcus, and a broad claw. Pedal unguals display highly concave articular surfaces, and a ridge‐like flexor tubercle dividing a deep ventral fossa. Although it is difficult to know whether these elements represent a single taxon, this is currently the most parsimonious hypothesis. This study demonstrates how isolated dinosaur bones can extend our knowledge of dinosaur faunas.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4983.2008.00791.x", doi = "10.1111/j.1475-4983.2008.00791.x", openalex = "W1984804423", references = "doi101139e05029" } @article{doi101139e09020, author = "Fanti, Federico and Catuneanu, Octavian", title = "Stratigraphy of the Upper Cretaceous Wapiti Formation, west-central Alberta, Canada", year = "2009", journal = "Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences", abstract = "The lithostratigraphic interval between the marine Puskwaskau Formation (Smoky Group, Santonian–Campanian) and the fluvial Scollard Formation (early Maastrichtian) in west-central Alberta and easternmost British Columbia (Canada) is represented by the nonmarine deposits of the Wapiti Formation. Its subdivision into regionally mappable stratigraphic units and the correlation of such units with the better known successions of central and southern Alberta are the main goals of this study. We present a detailed stratigraphic revision of the Wapiti Formation in the Grande Prairie region, where the entire succession crops out extensively and intensive oil and gas exploration activity provides excellent subsurface control. This study indicates that the Wapiti Formation consists in five stratigraphic units: their description has been based in particular on facies analysis and well-log signatures. In ascending order, units 1 to 5 record major differences in depositional architecture related to variation in accommodation and climatic conditions. Upper and lower contacts of these units are represented by regionally mappable subaerial unconformities or conformable facies contacts. Three major coal zones are identified within the Wapiti Formation, the Basal, Red Willow, and Cutbank: coals referred to these intervals have been documented in both outcrop and subsurface in the entire study area, thus representing a reliable tool for regional correlations. Furthermore, results presented here indicate that the maximum flooding surfaces of the Bearpaw seaway and the Drumheller Marine Tongue, both marine reference units in central and southern Alberta, lie, respectively, within coals of unit 3 and the Red Willow coal zone.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1139/e09-020", doi = "10.1139/e09-020", openalex = "W2134474332", references = "doi101006cres19941022, doi101016jpalaeo200902007, doi1035767gscpgbull444654, doi1035767gscpgbull452155" } @article{doi101371journalpone0007626, author = "Horner, John R. and Goodwin, Mark B.", title = "Extreme Cranial Ontogeny in the Upper Cretaceous Dinosaur Pachycephalosaurus", year = "2009", journal = "PLoS ONE", abstract = {Dracorex hogwartsia (juvenile) and Stygimoloch spinifer (subadult) are reinterpreted as younger growth stages of Pachycephalosaurus wyomingensis (adult). This synonymy reduces the number of pachycephalosaurid taxa from the Upper Cretaceous of North America and demonstrates the importance of cranial ontogeny in evaluating dinosaur diversity and taxonomy. These growth stages reflect a continuum rather than specific developmental steps defined by "known" terminal morphologies.}, url = "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0007626", doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0007626", openalex = "W2094698530", references = "doi10100210970177200099999999aiddvdy107330co2f, doi101002jmor10575, doi1010079781489953919, doi101007978148995740520, doi101029sc005p0175, doi101093sysbio24137, doi101111j109636421997tb00340x, doi101111j174966321940tb57047x, doi1016660094837320040300253chopom20co2, doi1016660094837320050310291teafot20co2, doi10167102724634200828134ooceit20co2, doi1023072532815, openalexw2259418280" } @article{doi101073pnas1006970107, author = "Csiki‐Sava, Zoltán and Vremir, Mátyás and Brusatte, Stephen L. and Norell, Mark A.", title = "An aberrant island-dwelling theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Romania", year = "2010", journal = "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences", abstract = {Islands are noted for the occurrence of aberrant, endemic, and dwarfed taxa (the "island effect"). Late Cretaceous vertebrate assemblages of Romania and elsewhere in Europe are classic examples of island faunas in the fossil record, and are characterized by dwarfed herbivorous dinosaurs and other endemic taxa that are noticeably primitive relative to their mainland contemporaries. Fossils of the predators inhabiting the European paleoislands, however, are exceptionally rare and fragmentary. We describe a new dromaeosaurid theropod, based on an articulated skeleton from the Maastrichtian of Romania, which represents the most complete predatory dinosaur from the middle to Late Cretaceous of Europe. This taxon is characterized by a peculiar body plan, most notably extensive fusion in the hand and distal hindlimb, a highly retroverted pelvis with enlarged femoral muscle attachments, and a pair of hyperextensive pedal claws. However, unlike the island-dwelling herbivorous dinosaurs, its closest relatives are contemporary similar-sized Laurasian taxa, indicating faunal connections between Asia and the European islands late into the Cretaceous. This theropod provides support for the aberrant nature of the Late Cretaceous European island-dwelling dinosaurs, but indicates that predators on these islands were not necessarily small, geographically endemic, or primitive.}, url = "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1006970107", doi = "10.1073/pnas.1006970107", openalex = "W2133928587", references = "doi101016b978012249408650011x, doi101016jpalaeo200402033, doi10108002724634199510011271, doi101111j10960031200800217x, doi101126science1144066, doi101126science27953581915, doi101371journalpbio0040321, doi101525california97805202420980010001, openalexw1534787790" } @article{doi101371journalpone0012292, author = "Sampson, Scott D. and Loewen, Mark A. and Farke, Andrew A. and Roberts, Eric M. and Forster, Catherine A. and Smith, Joshua A. and Titus, Alan L.", title = "New Horned Dinosaurs from Utah Provide Evidence for Intracontinental Dinosaur Endemism", year = "2010", journal = "PLoS ONE", abstract = {BACKGROUND: During much of the Late Cretaceous, a shallow, epeiric sea divided North America into eastern and western landmasses. The western landmass, known as Laramidia, although diminutive in size, witnessed a major evolutionary radiation of dinosaurs. Other than hadrosaurs (duck-billed dinosaurs), the most common dinosaurs were ceratopsids (large-bodied horned dinosaurs), currently known only from Laramidia and Asia. Remarkably, previous studies have postulated the occurrence of latitudinally arrayed dinosaur "provinces," or "biomes," on Laramidia. Yet this hypothesis has been challenged on multiple fronts and has remained poorly tested. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here we describe two new, co-occurring ceratopsids from the Upper Cretaceous Kaiparowits Formation of Utah that provide the strongest support to date for the dinosaur provincialism hypothesis. Both pertain to the clade of ceratopsids known as Chasmosaurinae, dramatically increasing representation of this group from the southern portion of the Western Interior Basin of North America. Utahceratops gettyi gen. et sp. nov.-characterized by short, rounded, laterally projecting supraorbital horncores and an elongate frill with a deep median embayment-is recovered as the sister taxon to Pentaceratops sternbergii from the late Campanian of New Mexico. Kosmoceratops richardsoni gen. et sp. nov.-characterized by elongate, laterally projecting supraorbital horncores and a short, broad frill adorned with ten well developed hooks-has the most ornate skull of any known dinosaur and is closely allied to Chasmosaurus irvinensis from the late Campanian of Alberta. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Considered in unison, the phylogenetic, stratigraphic, and biogeographic evidence documents distinct, co-occurring chasmosaurine taxa north and south on the diminutive landmass of Laramidia. The famous Triceratops and all other, more nested chasmosaurines are postulated as descendants of forms previously restricted to the southern portion of Laramidia. Results further suggest the presence of latitudinally arrayed evolutionary centers of endemism within chasmosaurine ceratopsids during the late Campanian, the first documented occurrence of intracontinental endemism within dinosaurs.}, url = "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0012292", doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0012292", openalex = "W2027103072", references = "crossref1998encyclopedia, doi101007978140206754912413, doi101016jcretres200501002, doi101016jsedgeo200610001, doi101038358059a0, doi101086285558, doi101098rspl18870117, doi101111j10960031200800217x, doi101126science13234331023, doi101126science24348951145, doi101139e93016, doi105860choice353642, doi105860choice435902, lehman1987late, openalexw2611511275, openalexw3206657856, openalexw3215057009" } @article{doi101371journalpone0016574, author = "Horner, John R. and Goodwin, Mark B. and Myhrvold, Nathan", title = "Dinosaur Census Reveals Abundant Tyrannosaurus and Rare Ontogenetic Stages in the Upper Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation (Maastrichtian), Montana, USA", year = "2011", journal = "PLoS ONE", abstract = "BACKGROUND: A dinosaur census recorded during the Hell Creek Project (1999-2009) incorporates multiple lines of evidence from geography, taphohistory, stratigraphy, phylogeny and ontogeny to investigate the relative abundance of large dinosaurs preserved in the Upper Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation of northeastern Montana, USA. Overall, the dinosaur skeletal assemblages in the Hell Creek Formation (excluding lag-influenced records) consist primarily of subadult or small adult size individuals. Small juveniles and large adults are both extremely rare, whereas subadult individuals are relatively common. We propose that mature individuals of at least some dinosaur taxa either lived in a separate geographic locale analogous to younger individuals inhabiting an upland environment where sedimentation rates were relatively less, or these taxa experienced high mortality before reaching terminal size where late stage and often extreme cranial morphology is expressed. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Tyrannosaurus skeletons are as abundant as Edmontosaurus, an herbivore, in the upper Hell Creek Formation and nearly twice as common in the lower third of the formation. Smaller, predatory dinosaurs (e.g., Troodon and dromaeosaurids) are primarily represented by teeth found in microvertebrate localities and their skeletons or identifiable lag specimens were conspicuously absent. This relative abundance suggests Tyrannosaurus was not a typical predator and likely benefited from much wider food choice opportunities than exclusively live prey and/or specific taxa. Tyrannosaurus adults may not have competed with Tyrannosaurus juveniles if the potential for selecting carrion increased with size during ontogeny. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Triceratops is the most common dinosaur and isolated skulls contribute to a significant portion of this census. Associated specimens of Triceratops consisting of both cranial and postcranial elements remain relatively rare. This rarity may be explained by a historical collecting bias influenced by facies and taphonomic factors. The limited discovery of postcranial elements may also depend on how extensive a fossil quarry is expanded after a skull is collected.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0016574", doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0016574", openalex = "W1982210430", references = "carr1999craniofacial, doi101038282296a0, doi101073pnas0708903105, doi101080027246342010483632, doi101098rspb20042829, doi101371journalpone0007626, doi1016660094837320010270039coosea20co2, doi1016710272463420000200115lbhoth20co2, doi1023072404970, openalexw1550433756" } @article{doi101080027246342013746229, author = "Brown, Caleb M. and Evans, David C. and Ryan, Michael J. and Russell, Anthony P.", title = "New data on the diversity and abundance of small-bodied ornithopods (Dinosauria, Ornithischia) from the Belly River Group (Campanian) of Alberta", year = "2013", journal = "Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology", abstract = "ABSTRACT Relative to large-bodied dinosaurs, the diversity of small-bodied dinosaurs from the Campanian of North America is poorly understood due to a lack of well-preserved skeletons. We document the first articulated remains, as well as the first cranial bones, of non-iguanodontian ornithopods from the Belly River Group of Alberta. The geologically oldest specimen consists of the posterior half of an articulated skeleton from the middle unit of the Oldman Formation and shares many anatomical features with the contemporaneous Orodromeus makelai and the older Oryctodromeus cubicularis. A second, younger specimen from the upper Oldman Formation is distinct from other ornithopods in having a reduced distal portion of the fibula that is fused to the anterior surface of the tibia; it is designated as the type of a new taxon, Albertadromeus syntarsus, gen. et sp. nov. Numerous isolated elements from small ornithopods from the Dinosaur Park Formation are also identified, but cannot be assigned to the generic level with confidence. Although small-bodied ornithopod material is rare, their known postcranial material outnumbers those of taphonomically equivalent and contemporaneous pachycephalosaurs, which are known to be abundant and diverse due to their robust and frequently recovered cranial domes. These findings suggest considerable undiscovered diversity of small-bodied ornithopods, and highlight biases against the preservation of small taxa in this system. SUPPLEMENTAL DATA—Supplemental materials are available for this article for free at www.tandfonline.com/UJVP", url = "https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2013.746229", doi = "10.1080/02724634.2013.746229", openalex = "W2110252286", references = "doi101016003101829090202i, doi101016jtree200504005, doi101038114085a0, doi10108002724634199610011283, doi101086273307, doi101098rspl18870117, doi101111j10960031200800217x, doi101126science28454232137, doi101139e05029, doi101139e11017, doi1035767gscpgbull444654, doi105281zenodo3382461, eberth1990stratigraphy, openalexw1535663436, openalexw225597919, openalexw3215057009, openalexw616953834" } @article{doi101371journalpone0079420, author = "Loewen, Mark A. and Irmis, Randall B. and Sertich, Joseph J. W. and Currie, Philip J. and Sampson, Scott D.", title = "Tyrant Dinosaur Evolution Tracks the Rise and Fall of Late Cretaceous Oceans", year = "2013", journal = "PLoS ONE", abstract = "The Late Cretaceous (∼95-66 million years ago) western North American landmass of Laramidia displayed heightened non-marine vertebrate diversity and intracontinental regionalism relative to other latest Cretaceous Laurasian ecosystems. Processes generating these patterns during this interval remain poorly understood despite their presumed role in the diversification of many clades. Tyrannosauridae, a clade of large-bodied theropod dinosaurs restricted to the Late Cretaceous of Laramidia and Asia, represents an ideal group for investigating Laramidian patterns of evolution. We use new tyrannosaurid discoveries from Utah--including a new taxon which represents the geologically oldest member of the clade--to investigate the evolution and biogeography of Tyrannosauridae. These data suggest a Laramidian origin for Tyrannosauridae, and implicate sea-level related controls in the isolation, diversification, and dispersal of this and many other Late Cretaceous vertebrate clades.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0079420", doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0079420", openalex = "W2091933212", references = "doi101080027246342011557116, doi10108010635150701883881, doi101111j10960031200800217x, doi101111j10963642200900591x, doi101111j155856461985tb00420x, doi101126science1116412, doi101126science23547931156, doi101214aos1176344552, doi101371journalpone0021376, doi1015259780520941434, doi1023072408678, doi102475ajss321125417, doi105281zenodo16171435, nesbitt2009a, openalexw2611511275, openalexw3215057009" } @article{doi101016jcretres201406011, author = "Longrich, Nicholas R.", title = "The horned dinosaurs Pentaceratops and Kosmoceratops from the upper Campanian of Alberta and implications for dinosaur biogeography", year = "2014", journal = "Cretaceous Research", url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2014.06.011", doi = "10.1016/j.cretres.2014.06.011", openalex = "W2080652814", references = "doi101139e09050, doi1033740140540102" } @article{doi101371journalpone0092022, author = "Lamanna, Matthew C. and Sues, Hans‐Dieter and Schachner, Emma R. and Lyson, Tyler R.", title = "A New Large-Bodied Oviraptorosaurian Theropod Dinosaur from the Latest Cretaceous of Western North America", year = "2014", journal = "PLoS ONE", abstract = "The oviraptorosaurian theropod dinosaur clade Caenagnathidae has long been enigmatic due to the incomplete nature of nearly all described fossils. Here we describe Anzu wyliei gen. et sp. nov., a new taxon of large-bodied caenagnathid based primarily on three well-preserved partial skeletons. The specimens were recovered from the uppermost Cretaceous (upper Maastrichtian) Hell Creek Formation of North and South Dakota, and are therefore among the stratigraphically youngest known oviraptorosaurian remains. Collectively, the fossils include elements from most regions of the skeleton, providing a wealth of information on the osteology and evolutionary relationships of Caenagnathidae. Phylogenetic analysis reaffirms caenagnathid monophyly, and indicates that Anzu is most closely related to Caenagnathus collinsi, a taxon that is definitively known only from a mandible from the Campanian Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta. The problematic oviraptorosaurs Microvenator and Gigantoraptor are recovered as basal caenagnathids, as has previously been suggested. Anzu and other caenagnathids may have favored well-watered floodplain settings over channel margins, and were probably ecological generalists that fed upon vegetation, small animals, and perhaps eggs.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0092022", doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0092022", openalex = "W2135294759", references = "doi10103831635, doi101038nature08322, doi101038nature10288, doi101111j10960031200800217x, doi101111j146979981985tb04915x, doi101126science2665186779, doi102475ajss31695411, doi102475ajss3179786, doi102475ajss319111253, doi104095105003, doi105860choice393984, doi105860choice435902" } @article{doi101038srep11490, author = "Lü, Junchang and Pu, Hanyong and Kobayashi, Yoshitsugu and Xu, Li and Chang, Huali and Shang, Yuhua and Liu, Di and Lee, Yuong-Nam and Kundrát, Martin and Shen, Caizhi", title = "A New Oviraptorid Dinosaur (Dinosauria: Oviraptorosauria) from the Late Cretaceous of Southern China and Its Paleobiogeographical Implications", year = "2015", journal = "Scientific Reports", abstract = "The Ganzhou area of Jiangxi Province, southern China is becoming one of the most productive oviraptorosaurian localities in the world. A new oviraptorid dinosaur was unearthed from the uppermost Upper Cretaceous Nanxiong Formation of Ganzhou area. It is characterized by an anterodorsally sloping occiput and quadrate (a feature shared with Citipati), a circular supratemporal fenestra that is much smaller than the lower temporal fenestra, and a dentary in which the dorsal margin above the external mandibular fenestra is strongly concave ventrally. The position of the anteroventral corner of the external naris in relation to the posterodorsal corner of the antorbital fenestra provides new insight into the craniofacial evolution of oviraptorosaurid dinosaurs. A phylogenetic analysis recovers the new taxon as closely related to the Mongolian Citipati. Six oviraptorid dinosaurs from the Nanxiong Formation (Ganzhou and Nanxiong) are distributed within three clades of the family. Each of the three clades from the Nanxiong Formation has close relatives in Inner Mongolia and Mongolia, and in both places each clade may have had a specific diet or occupied a different ecological niche. Oviraptorid dinosaurs were geographically widespread across Asia in the latest Cretaceous and were an important component of terrestrial ecosystems during this time.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/srep11490", doi = "10.1038/srep11490", openalex = "W868148008", references = "doi101371journalpone0080557, doi1033740140540102" } @article{doi101139cjes20140200, author = "Eberth, David A.", title = "Origins of dinosaur bonebeds in the Cretaceous of Alberta, Canada", year = "2015", journal = "Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences", abstract = "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.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2014-0200", doi = "10.1139/cjes-2014-0200", openalex = "W1805219736", references = "doi101016jpalaeo200902007, doi101016jpalaeo200906004, doi102110palo2014084, doi1035767gscpgbull444654, doi1035767gscpgbull452155" } @article{doi102110palo2014084, author = "Chiba, Kentaro and Ryan, Michael J. and Braman, Dennis R. and Eberth, David A. and Scott, Evan E. and Brown, Caleb M. and Kobayashi, Yoshitsugu and Evans, David C.", title = "TAPHONOMY OF A MONODOMINANT CENTROSAURUS APERTUS (DINOSAURIA: CERATOPSIA) BONEBED FROM THE UPPER OLDMAN FORMATION OF SOUTHEASTERN ALBERTA", year = "2015", journal = "Palaios", abstract = "Abstract The horned dinosaur Centrosaurus apertus from the Belly River Group (Campanian) is represented by multiple articulated skulls and skeletons, and is particularly notable for its occurrence in dozens of large-scale monodominant bonebeds, which have been found in the Dinosaur Park Formation across southern Alberta and Saskatchewan. Here we present a detailed taphonomic analysis of the first large-scale Centrosaurus apertus bonebed (McPheeters bonebed) from the Oldman Formation of southeastern Alberta. The McPheeters bonebed rivals the richest bonebeds in the Dinosaur Park Formation in terms of bone density and size, and the complete disarticulation of elements. The bonebed occurs in an overbank facies and is dominated by small bone clasts, suggesting that only low energy water current contributed to the formation of the bonebed before its final burial event. Patterns of taphonomic modification suggest that bones experienced little weathering, breakage, or scavenging. In turn, these conclusions are c...", url = "https://doi.org/10.2110/palo.2014.084", doi = "10.2110/palo.2014.084", openalex = "W2133228090", references = "doi10100797814899503456, doi101017s0094837300005820, doi101017s0094837300006941, doi101038319768a0, doi101038379441a0, doi101038ncomms4585, doi1023072802289, doi105860choice435902, doi105962bhlpart22969, openalexw1996683265, openalexw2561546966" } @article{therrien2015dinosaur, author = "Therrien, François and Zelenitsky, Darla K. and Quinney, Annie and Tanaka, Kohei", title = "Dinosaur trackways from the Upper Cretaceous Oldman and Dinosaur Park formations (Belly River Group) of southern Alberta, Canada, reveal novel ichnofossil preservation style", year = "2015", journal = "Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences", abstract = "Dinosaur tracksites recently discovered in exposures of the Belly River Group in the Milk River Natural Area (MRNA) and Dinosaur Provincial Park (DPP) of southern Alberta represent a novel type of ichnofossils. The tracks, all referable to hadrosaurs, occur as sideritic or calcareous concretions protruding above fine-grained deposits and are here termed concretionary tracks. Detailed sedimentological, petrographic, and geochemical analyses reveal that, although the MRNA and DPP tracks are of different mineralogical compositions (calcium carbonate versus siderite, respectively), they display similar internal structures (microscopic convoluted laminations) and occur in depositional settings indicative of wet paleoenvironments, where the ground was soft and water saturated. These characteristics suggest that concretionary tracks are footprint casts that formed as groundwater rich in dissolved carbonates flooded depressions left in the soft substrate. As the ponded water evaporated, minerals began to precipitate and mix with clastic material transported into the depressions, settling as finely laminated mud within the tracks and filling them either completely or partially. The geochemical composition of the precipitate would depend on the prevalent groundwater conditions (e.g., pH, dissolved carbonate and sulphate concrentrations). Cementation of the tracks occurred relatively soon after burial (", url = "https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2014-0168", doi = "10.1139/cjes-2014-0168", number = "8", openalex = "W2158251849", pages = "630-641", volume = "52", references = "doi1010079789400904095, doi101038261129a0, doi101111j136530911990tb00962x, doi1011300016760619941061377apatlc23co2, doi101139e93016, doi101371journalpone0103613, doi105860choice332752, doi105860choice435902, doi107312lock90868, openalexw603337959" } @inproceedings{andeberth2016new, author = "Eberth, David A. and Ramezani, J. and Roberts, Eric M. and Bowring, Sam", title = "NEW CA-TIMS U-PB GEOCHRONOLOGY FROM THE BELLY RIVER GROUP (UPPER CRETACEOUS) AT DINOSAUR PROVINCIAL PARK, ALBERTA, CANADA, AND IMPLICATIONS FOR DINOSAUR BIOSTRATIGRAPHY OF THE WESTERN INTERIOR BASIN", year = "2016", booktitle = "Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs", url = "https://doi.org/10.1130/abs/2016am-281038", doi = "10.1130/abs/2016am-281038", openalex = "W2538213421" } @article{doi101038srep35780, author = "Lü, Junchang and Chen, Rongjun and Brusatte, Stephen L. and Zhu, Yangxiao and Shen, Caizhi", title = "A Late Cretaceous diversification of Asian oviraptorid dinosaurs: evidence from a new species preserved in an unusual posture", year = "2016", journal = "Scientific Reports", abstract = "Oviraptorosaurs are a bizarre group of bird-like theropod dinosaurs, the derived forms of which have shortened, toothless skulls, and which diverged from close relatives by developing peculiar feeding adaptations. Although once among the most mysterious of dinosaurs, oviraptorosaurs are becoming better understood with the discovery of many new fossils in Asia and North America. The Ganzhou area of southern China is emerging as a hotspot of oviraptorosaur discoveries, as over the past half decade five new monotypic genera have been found in the latest Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) deposits of this region. We here report a sixth diagnostic oviraptorosaur from Ganzhou, Tongtianlong limosus gen. et sp. nov., represented by a remarkably well-preserved specimen in an unusual splayed-limb and raised-head posture. Tongtianlong is a derived oviraptorid oviraptorosaur, differentiated from other species by its unique dome-like skull roof, highly convex premaxilla, and other features of the skull. The large number of oviraptorosaurs from Ganzhou, which often differ in cranial morphologies related to feeding, document an evolutionary radiation of these dinosaurs during the very latest Cretaceous of Asia, which helped establish one of the last diverse dinosaur faunas before the end-Cretaceous extinction.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/srep35780", doi = "10.1038/srep35780", openalex = "W2554744165", references = "doi101371journalpone0080557" } @article{doi101086684289, author = "Rogers, Raymond R. and Kidwell, Susan M. and Deino, Alan L. and Mitchell, James P. and Nelson, Kenneth and Thole, Jeffrey T.", title = "Age, Correlation, and Lithostratigraphic Revision of the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Judith River Formation in Its Type Area (North-Central Montana), with a Comparison of Low- and High-Accommodation Alluvial Records", year = "2016", journal = "The Journal of Geology", abstract = "Despite long-standing significance in the annals of North American stratigraphy and paleontology, key aspects of the Upper Cretaceous Judith River Formation remain poorly understood. We re-evaluate Judith River stratigraphy and propose new reference sections that both document the range of lithologies present in the type area in north-central Montana and reveal dramatic changes in facies architecture, fossil content, and rock accumulation rates that can be mapped throughout the type area and into the plains of southern Alberta and Saskatchewan. One section spans the basal contact of the Judith River Formation with marine shales of the underlying Claggett Formation. This contact, which lies along the base of the Parkman Sandstone Member of the Judith River Formation, is erosional and consistent with an episode of forced regression, contrary to previous descriptions. A second reference section spans the entire Judith River Formation. This complete section hosts a lithologic discontinuity, herein referred to as the mid-Judith discontinuity, that reflects a regional reorganization of terrestrial and marine depositional systems associated with a turnaround from regressive to transgressive deposition. The mid-Judith discontinuity correlates with the base of three backstepping marine sequences in the eastern sector of the type area and is thus interpreted as the terrestrial expression of a maximum regressive surface. This mid-Judith discontinuity defines the boundary between the new McClelland Ferry and overlying Coal Ridge Members of the Judith River Formation. The shallow marine sandstones that form the backstepping sequences represent the leading edge of the Bearpaw transgression in this region and are formalized as the new Woodhawk Member of the Judith River Formation in a third reference section. New 40Ar/39Ar ages indicate (1) that the mid-Judith discontinuity formed ∼76.2 Ma, coincident with the onset of the Bearpaw transgression in central Montana; and (2) that the Bearpaw Sea had advanced westward beyond the Judith River type area by ∼75.2 Ma, on the basis of the dating of a bentonite bed at the base of the Bearpaw Formation. These new ages also provide more confident age control for important vertebrate fossil occurrences in the Judith River Formation. Facies analysis across the mid-Judith discontinuity reveals how alluvial systems respond to regional base-level rise, which is implicit with the increase in rock accumulation rates and marine transgression. With the increase in accommodation signaled by the mid-Judith discontinuity, the alluvial system shifted in dominance from fluvial channel to overbank deposits, with greater tidal influence in channel sands, more hydromorphic and carbonaceous overbank deposits, and a higher frequency of bentonites and skeletal concentrations, suggesting higher preservation rates. These features, along with the appearance of extraformational pebbles above the discontinuity, are consistent with an upstream tectonic explanation for the addition of accommodation.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1086/684289", doi = "10.1086/684289", openalex = "W2274198338", references = "doi101006cres19941022, doi1010079783642859168, doi1010160031018288900855, doi101016003101829090202i, doi1010160037073891901395, doi101016003707389390022w, doi101016jgca2006061563, doi101016s0016703799002045, doi101016s0195667105800308, doi101111j136530911979tb00935x, doi101126science1154339, doi1011270078042120110011, doi101139cjes20120185, doi1016660094837336180, doi101666080251, doi1018814epiiugs2013v36i3002, doi1023071005355, eberth1990stratigraphy" } @article{doi101186s1289801601068, author = "Cullen, Thomas M. and Evans, David C.", title = "Palaeoenvironmental drivers of vertebrate community composition in the Belly River Group (Campanian) of Alberta, Canada, with implications for dinosaur biogeography", year = "2016", journal = "BMC Ecology", abstract = "BACKGROUND: The Belly River Group of southern Alberta is one of the best-sampled Late Cretaceous terrestrial faunal assemblages in the world. This system provides a high-resolution biostratigraphic record of terrestrial vertebrate diversity and faunal turnover, and it has considerable potential to be a model system for testing hypotheses of dinosaur palaeoecological dynamics, including important aspects of palaeoecommunity structure, trophic interactions, and responses to environmental change. Vertebrate fossil microsites (assemblages of small bones and teeth concentrated together over a relatively short time and thought to be representative of community composition) offer an unparalleled dataset to better test these hypotheses by ameliorating problems of sample size, geography, and chronostratigraphic control that hamper other palaeoecological analyses. Here, we assembled a comprehensive relative abundance dataset of microsites sampled from the entire Belly River Group and performed a series of analyses to test the influence of environmental factors on site and taxon clustering, and assess the stability of faunal assemblages both temporally and spatially. We also test the long-held idea that populations of large dinosaur taxa were particularly sensitive to small-scale environmental gradients, such as the paralic (coastal) to alluvial (inland) regimes present within the time-equivalent depositional basin of the upper Oldman and lower Dinosaur Park Formations. RESULTS: Palaeoenvironment (i.e. reconstructed environmental conditions, related to relative amount of alluvial, fluvial, and coastal influence in associated sedimentary strata) was found to be strongly associated with clustering of sites by relative-abundance faunal assemblages, particularly in relation to changes in faunal assemblage composition and marine-terrestrial environmental transitions. Palaeogeography/palaeolandscape were moderately associated to site relative abundance assemblage clustering, with depositional setting and time (i.e. vertical position within stratigraphic unit) more weakly associated. Interestingly, while vertebrate relative abundance assemblages as a whole were strongly correlated with these marine-terrestrial transitions, the dinosaur fauna does not appear to be particularly sensitive to them. CONCLUSIONS: This analysis confirms that depositional setting (i.e. the sediment type/sorting and associated characteristics) has little effect on faunal assemblage composition, in contrast to the effect of changes in the broader palaeoenvironment (e.g. upper vs. lower coastal plain, etc.), with marine-terrestrial transitions driving temporal faunal dynamics within the Belly River Group. The similarity of the dinosaur faunal assemblages between the time-equivalent portions of the Dinosaur Park Formation and Oldman Formation suggests that either these palaeoenvironments are more similar than characterized in the literature, or that the dinosaurs are less sensitive to variation in palaeoenvironment than has often been suggested. A lack of sensitivity to subtle environmental gradients casts doubt on these forces acting as a driver of putative endemism of dinosaur populations in the Late Cretaceous of North America.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1186/s12898-016-0106-8", doi = "10.1186/s12898-016-0106-8", openalex = "W2549529320", references = "doi1010079780387981413, doi101023a1008959721342, doi101038282296a0, doi101139e93016, doi101371journalpone0012292, doi105860choice260307, doi105860choice393984, doi105860choice435902, openalexw2187850523" } @article{doi101371journalpone0154218, author = "Mallon, Jordan C. and Ott, Christopher J. and Larson, Peter L. and Iuliano, Edward M. and Evans, David C.", title = "Spiclypeus shipporum gen. et sp. nov., a Boldly Audacious New Chasmosaurine Ceratopsid (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the Judith River Formation (Upper Cretaceous: Campanian) of Montana, USA", year = "2016", journal = "PLoS ONE", abstract = "This study reports on a new ceratopsid, Spiclypeus shipporum gen et sp. nov., from the lower Coal Ridge Member of the Judith River Formation in Montana, USA, which dates to \textasciitilde 76 Ma (upper Campanian). The species is distinguished by rugose dorsal contacts on the premaxillae for the nasals, laterally projecting postorbital horncores, fully fused and anteriorly curled P1 and P2 epiparietals, and a posterodorsally projecting P3 epiparietal. The holotype specimen is also notable for its pathological left squamosal and humerus, which show varied signs of osteomyelitis and osteoarthritis. Although the postorbital horncores of Spiclypeus closely resemble those of the contemporaneous 'Ceratops', the horncores of both genera are nevertheless indistinguishable from those of some other horned dinosaurs, including Albertaceratops and Kosmoceratops; 'Ceratops' is therefore maintained as a nomen dubium. Cladistic analysis recovers Spiclypeus as the sister taxon to the clade Vagaceratops + Kosmoceratops, and appears transitional in the morphology of its epiparietals. The discovery of Spiclypeus adds to the poorly known dinosaur fauna of the Judith River Formation, and suggests faunal turnover within the formation.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0154218", doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0154218", openalex = "W2402671157", references = "doi101016jpalaeo200906004, doi101086684289, doi105281zenodo1048846" } @misc{doi107287peerj2059v01reviews1, author = "Lallensack, Jens N. and van Heteren, Anneke H. and Wings, Oliver and Alexander, R and Baird, D and Belvedere, M and Farlow, J and Belvedere, M and Mallison, H and Bennett, M and Reynolds, S and Morse, S and Budka, M and Bertling, M and Braddy, S and Bromley, R and Demathieu, G and Genise, J and Mikul, R and Nielsen, J and Nielsen, K and Rindsberg, A and Schlirf, M and Uchman, A and Castanera, D and Colmenar, J and Sauqu, V and Canudo, J and Castanera, D and Pascual, C and Razzolini, N and Vila, B and Barco, J and Canudo, J and Citton, P and Nicosia, U and Nicolosi, I and Carluccio, R and Romano, M and Clark, N and Brett-Surman, M and Currie, P and Nadon, G and Lockley, M and Day, J and Norman, D and Gale, A and Upchurch, P and Powell, H and Demathieu, G and Demathieu, G and Daz-Martnez, I and Pereda-Suberbiola, X and Prez-Lorente, F and Canudo, J and Falkingham, P and Falkingham, P and Falkingham, P and Gatesy, S and Farlow, J and Farlow, J and Gatesy, S and Holtz, T and Hutchinson, J and Robinson, J and Fischer, R and Foster, J and Gangloff, R and May, K and Storer, J and Gatesy, S and Middleton, K and Jr, F and Shubin, N and Gierlinski, G and Ploch, I and Gawor-Biedowa, E and Niedzwiedzki, G and Grabbe, H and Hammer, O and Harper, D and Ryan, P and Henderson, D and Henderson, D and Hendricks, A and Hornung, J and Bhme, A and Lubbe, T and Reich, M and Richter, A and Hbner, T and Ishigaki, S and Fujisaki, T and Kim, B and Huh, M and Klingenberg, C and Kuban, G and Lallensack, J and Lallensack, J and Sander, P", title = {Peer Review \#1 of "Geometric morphometric analysis of intratrackway variability: a case study on theropod and ornithopod dinosaur trackways from Münchehagen (Lower Cretaceous, Germany) (v0.1)"}, year = "2016", abstract = "A profound understanding of the influence of trackmaker anatomy, foot movements and substrate properties is crucial for any interpretation of fossil tracks.In this case study we analyze variability of footprint shape within one large theropod (T3), one medium-sized theropod (T2) and one ornithopod (I1) trackway from the Lower Cretaceous of Münchehagen (Lower Saxony, Germany) in order to determine the informativeness of individual features and measurements for ichnotaxonomy, trackmaker identification, and the discrimination between left and right footprints.Landmark analysis is employed based on interpretative outline drawings derived from photogrammetric data, allowing for the location of variability within the footprint and the assessment of covariation of separate footprint parts.Objective methods to define the margins of a footprint are tested and shown to be sufficiently accurate to reproduce the most important results.", url = "https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.2059v0.1/reviews/1", doi = "10.7287/peerj.2059v0.1/reviews/1", openalex = "W4255748988", references = "therrien2015dinosaur" } @misc{doi107287peerj2059v01reviews2, author = "Belvedere, M", title = {Peer Review \#2 of "Geometric morphometric analysis of intratrackway variability: a case study on theropod and ornithopod dinosaur trackways from Münchehagen (Lower Cretaceous, Germany) (v0.1)"}, year = "2016", abstract = "A profound understanding of the influence of trackmaker anatomy, foot movements and substrate properties is crucial for any interpretation of fossil tracks.In this case study we analyze variability of footprint shape within one large theropod (T3), one medium-sized theropod (T2) and one ornithopod (I1) trackway from the Lower Cretaceous of Münchehagen (Lower Saxony, Germany) in order to determine the informativeness of individual features and measurements for ichnotaxonomy, trackmaker identification, and the discrimination between left and right footprints.Landmark analysis is employed based on interpretative outline drawings derived from photogrammetric data, allowing for the location of variability within the footprint and the assessment of covariation of separate footprint parts.Objective methods to define the margins of a footprint are tested and shown to be sufficiently accurate to reproduce the most important results.", url = "https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.2059v0.1/reviews/2", doi = "10.7287/peerj.2059v0.1/reviews/2", openalex = "W4238334557", references = "therrien2015dinosaur" } @article{doi107717peerj2059, author = "Lallensack, Jens N. and van Heteren, Anneke H. and Wings, Oliver", title = "Geometric morphometric analysis of intratrackway variability: a case study on theropod and ornithopod dinosaur trackways from Münchehagen (Lower Cretaceous, Germany)", year = "2016", journal = "PeerJ", abstract = "A profound understanding of the influence of trackmaker anatomy, foot movements and substrate properties is crucial for any interpretation of fossil tracks. In this case study we analyze variability of footprint shape within one large theropod (T3), one medium-sized theropod (T2) and one ornithopod (I1) trackway from the Lower Cretaceous of Münchehagen (Lower Saxony, Germany) in order to determine the informativeness of individual features and measurements for ichnotaxonomy, trackmaker identification, and the discrimination between left and right footprints. Landmark analysis is employed based on interpretative outline drawings derived from photogrammetric data, allowing for the location of variability within the footprint and the assessment of covariation of separate footprint parts. Objective methods to define the margins of a footprint are tested and shown to be sufficiently accurate to reproduce the most important results. The lateral hypex and the heel are the most variable regions in the two theropod trackways. As indicated by principal component analysis, a posterior shift of the lateral hypex is correlated with an anterior shift of the margin of the heel. This pattern is less pronounced in the ornithopod trackway, indicating that variation patterns can differ in separate trackways. In all trackways, hypices vary independently from each other, suggesting that their relative position a questionable feature for ichnotaxonomic purposes. Most criteria commonly employed to differentiate between left and right footprints assigned to theropods are found to be reasonably reliable. The described ornithopod footprints are asymmetrical, again allowing for a left-right differentiation. Strikingly, 12 out of 19 measured footprints of the T2 trackway are stepped over the trackway midline, rendering the trackway pattern a misleading left-right criterion for this trackway. Traditional measurements were unable to differentiate between the theropod and the ornithopod trackways. Geometric morphometric analysis reveals potential for improvement of existing discriminant methods.", url = "https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2059", doi = "10.7717/peerj.2059", openalex = "W2343618448", references = "doi1010079789400904095, doi101016jcretres201403027, doi10103820167, doi101038261129a0, doi101073pnas1416252111, doi10108000241160600787890, doi10108002724634199810011086, doi101111j17550998201002924x, doi101111jzo12110, doi101371journalpone0103613, doi1023073514816, doi1026879529, doi105860choice393984, openalexw2149387945, openalexw2183707334, openalexw2593733766, openalexw2619609965, therrien2015dinosaur" } @article{doi101016jcub201706071, author = "Brown, Caleb M. and Henderson, Donald M. and Vinther, Jakob and Fletcher, Ian and Sistiaga, Ainara and Bethencourt, Jorsua Herrera and Summons, Roger E.", title = "An Exceptionally Preserved Three-Dimensional Armored Dinosaur Reveals Insights into Coloration and Cretaceous Predator-Prey Dynamics", year = "2017", journal = "Current Biology", abstract = "Predator-prey dynamics are an important evolutionary driver of escalating predation mode and efficiency, and commensurate responses of prey [1-3]. Among these strategies, camouflage is important for visual concealment, with countershading the most universally observed [4-6]. Extant terrestrial herbivores free of significant predation pressure, due to large size or isolation, do not exhibit countershading. Modern predator-prey dynamics may not be directly applicable to those of the Mesozoic due to the dominance of very large, visually oriented theropod dinosaurs [7]. Despite thyreophoran dinosaurs' possessing extensive dermal armor, some of the most extreme examples of anti-predator structures [8, 9], little direct evidence of predation on these and other dinosaur megaherbivores has been documented. Here we describe a new, exquisitely three-dimensionally preserved nodosaurid ankylosaur, Borealopelta markmitchelli gen. et sp. nov., from the Early Cretaceous of Alberta, which preserves integumentary structures as organic layers, including continuous fields of epidermal scales and intact horn sheaths capping the body armor. We identify melanin in the organic residues through mass spectroscopic analyses and observe lighter pigmentation of the large parascapular spines, consistent with display, and a pattern of countershading across the body. With an estimated body mass exceeding 1,300 kg, B. markmitchelli was much larger than modern terrestrial mammals that either are countershaded or experience significant predation pressure as adults. Presence of countershading suggests predation pressure strong enough to select for concealment in this megaherbivore despite possession of massive dorsal and lateral armor, illustrating a significant dichotomy between Mesozoic predator-prey dynamics and those of modern terrestrial systems.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.06.071", doi = "10.1016/j.cub.2017.06.071", openalex = "W2741141745", references = "doi101007s003590050286, doi101016jcub201606065, doi101016jpalaeo201602033, doi101016s0065345408601059, doi101017s0094837300005352, doi101017s0952836905007508, doi101038ncomms3827, doi101086668011, doi101111j10960031200800217x, doi101111j1469185x1993tb00738x, doi101371journalpbio1001853, doi101371journalpone0017932, doi101371journalpone0051925, doi105860choice273305, druckenmiller2010a, openalexw1528487914, openalexw3215057009, stevens2006binocular" } @article{doi101017pab201637, author = "Rogers, Raymond R. and Carrano, Matthew T. and Rogers, Kristina A. Curry and Perez, Magaly and Regan, Anik", title = "Isotaphonomy in concept and practice: an exploration of vertebrate microfossil bonebeds in the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Judith River Formation, north-central Montana", year = "2017", journal = "Paleobiology", abstract = "Abstract Vertebrate microfossil bonebeds (VMBs)—localized concentrations of small resilient vertebrate hard parts—are commonly studied to recover otherwise rarely found small-bodied taxa, and to document relative taxonomic abundance and species richness in ancient vertebrate communities. Analyses of taphonomic comparability among VMBs have often found significant differences in size and shape distributions, and thus considered them to be non-isotaphonomic. Such outcomes of “strict” statistical tests of isotaphonomy suggest discouraging limits on the potential for broad, comparative paleoecological reconstruction using VMBs. Yet it is not surprising that sensitive statistical tests highlight variations among VMB sites, especially given the general lack of clarity with regard to the definition of “strict” isotaphonomic comparability. We rigorously sampled and compared six VMB localities representing two distinct paleoenvironments (channel and pond/lake) of the Upper Cretaceous Judith River Formation to evaluate biases related to sampling strategies and depositional context. Few defining distinctions in bioclast size and shape are evident in surface collections, and most site-to-site comparisons of sieved collections are indistinguishable (p ≤0.003). These results provide a strong case for taphonomic equivalence among the majority of Judith River VMBs, and bode well for future studies of paleoecology, particularly in relation to investigations of faunal membership and community structure in Late Cretaceous wetland ecosystems. The taphonomic comparability of pond/lake and channel-hosted VMBs in the Judith River Formation is also consistent with a formative model that contends that channel-hosted VMBs were reworked from pre-existing pond/lake assemblages, and thus share taphonomic history.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1017/pab.2016.37", doi = "10.1017/pab.2016.37", openalex = "W2589812560", references = "carrano2016vertebrate, doi101006cres19941022, doi10100797814899503456, doi101016003101829190016k, doi101017s0094837300004929, doi101038142234b0, doi10108001621459196110482090, doi101086684289, doi101111j13652745200901566x, doi10166600948373200026103tap20co2, doi1023072800758, doi105281zenodo1048846, doi105860choice300309, openalexw2294506137, openalexw2474977981" } @article{doi101038ncomms14952, author = "Pu, Hanyong and Zelenitsky, Darla K. and Lü, Junchang and Currie, Philip J. and Carpenter, Kenneth and Xu, Li and Koppelhus, Eva B. and Jia, Songhai and Le, Xiao and Chuang, Huali and Li, Tianran and Kundrát, Martin and Shen, Caizhi", title = "Perinate and eggs of a giant caenagnathid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of central China", year = "2017", journal = "Nature Communications", abstract = "The abundance of dinosaur eggs in Upper Cretaceous strata of Henan Province, China led to the collection and export of countless such fossils. One of these specimens, recently repatriated to China, is a partial clutch of large dinosaur eggs (Macroelongatoolithus) with a closely associated small theropod skeleton. Here we identify the specimen as an embryo and eggs of a new, large caenagnathid oviraptorosaur, Beibeilong sinensis. This specimen is the first known association between skeletal remains and eggs of caenagnathids. Caenagnathids and oviraptorids share similarities in their eggs and clutches, although the eggs of Beibeilong are significantly larger than those of oviraptorids and indicate an adult body size comparable to a gigantic caenagnathid. An abundance of Macroelongatoolithus eggs reported from Asia and North America contrasts with the dearth of giant caenagnathid skeletal remains. Regardless, the large caenagnathid-Macroelongatoolithus association revealed here suggests these dinosaurs were relatively common during the early Late Cretaceous.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms14952", doi = "10.1038/ncomms14952", openalex = "W2612566706", references = "doi101371journalpone0080557" } @article{doi1010800191612220171311958, author = "Braman, Dennis R.", title = "Terrestrial palynostratigraphy of the Upper Cretaceous (Santonian) to lowermost Paleocene of southern Alberta, Canada", year = "2017", journal = "Palynology", abstract = "A large amount of palynological research has been undertaken on the Late Cretaceous–Paleocene strata of the plains area of southern Alberta. The present study is a summary of the palynoflora encountered in individual rock units across the region. Previous palynological research has been summarized and a brief summary of the geology of the region provided. A large number of taxa have been identified with many not as yet described. Important palynomorph taxa are illustrated along with a tabulation of all the species identified to date for each stratigraphic unit. A biostratigraphic scheme is proposed with 19 biozones described. Not all of these biozones are present in Alberta and information has been taken from materials in Saskatchewan, Canada, and Montana, United States.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1080/01916122.2017.1311958", doi = "10.1080/01916122.2017.1311958", openalex = "W2626001145", references = "doi101006cres19941022, doi101080019161222012673288, doi102110palo2014084, doi1035767gscpgbull452155" } @article{doi101098rsos161086, author = "Arbour, Victoria M. and Evans, David C.", title = "A new ankylosaurine dinosaur from the Judith River Formation of Montana, USA, based on an exceptional skeleton with soft tissue preservation", year = "2017", journal = "Royal Society Open Science", abstract = "from the upper Judith River Formation fills a gap in the ankylosaurine stratigraphic and geographical record in North America, and further highlights that Campanian ankylosaurines were undergoing rapid evolution and stratigraphic succession of taxa as observed for Laramidian ceratopsids, hadrosaurids, pachycephalosaurids and tyrannosaurids.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.161086", doi = "10.1098/rsos.161086", openalex = "W2613812864", references = "crossref1998encyclopedia, doi101007s125490110068y, doi101016jpalaeo200902007, doi101038378774a0, doi101086684289, doi101098rspl18870117, doi101111cla12160, doi101111j10960031200800217x, doi101111j10963642200900617x, doi101139e93016, doi101186s1289801601068, doi101371journalpone0108804, doi102110palo2014084, doi105860choice353642, doi105860choice393984, doi105860choice435902, openalexw3215057009" } @article{doi101371journalpone0188426, author = "Fowler, Denver Warwick", title = "Revised geochronology, correlation, and dinosaur stratigraphic ranges of the Santonian-Maastrichtian (Late Cretaceous) formations of the Western Interior of North America.", year = "2017", journal = "PloS one", abstract = "Interbasinal stratigraphic correlation provides the foundation for all consequent continental-scale geological and paleontological analyses. Correlation requires synthesis of lithostratigraphic, biostratigraphic and geochronologic data, and must be periodically updated to accord with advances in dating techniques, changing standards for radiometric dates, new stratigraphic concepts, hypotheses, fossil specimens, and field data. Outdated or incorrect correlation exposes geological and paleontological analyses to potential error. The current work presents a high-resolution stratigraphic chart for terrestrial Late Cretaceous units of North America, combining published chronostratigraphic, lithostratigraphic, and biostratigraphic data. 40Ar / 39Ar radiometric dates are newly recalibrated to both current standard and decay constant pairings. Revisions to the stratigraphic placement of most units are slight, but important changes are made to the proposed correlations of the Aguja and Javelina formations, Texas, and recalibration corrections in particular affect the relative age positions of the Belly River Group, Alberta; Judith River Formation, Montana; Kaiparowits Formation, Utah; and Fruitland and Kirtland formations, New Mexico. The stratigraphic ranges of selected clades of dinosaur species are plotted on the chronostratigraphic framework, with some clades comprising short-duration species that do not overlap stratigraphically with preceding or succeeding forms. This is the expected pattern that is produced by an anagenetic mode of evolution, suggesting that true branching (speciation) events were rare and may have geographic significance. The recent hypothesis of intracontinental latitudinal provinciality of dinosaurs is shown to be affected by previous stratigraphic miscorrelation. Rapid stepwise acquisition of display characters in many dinosaur clades, in particular chasmosaurine ceratopsids, suggests that they may be useful for high resolution biostratigraphy.", url = "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5699823/", doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0188426", openalex = "W2544476050", pmcid = "PMC5699823", pmid = "29166406", references = "doi1010160012821x77900607, doi101016016896228790025x, doi101016037594749090598g, doi101016jgca201006017, doi101016jgca201106021, doi101016jsedgeo200610001, doi101016s0009254197001599, doi101016s0016703799002045, doi101016s0375947497006131, doi101126science1154339, doi101130001676061952631011cotcfo20co2, doi101130b310761, doi101139e93016, doi101371journalpone0012292, doi101371journalpone0024487, doi101371journalpone0025186, doi101371journalpone0141304, doi10167102724634200727373aarolm20co2, doi105860choice514447, lehman1987late, openalexw2025327988" } @article{doi101002ar24241, author = "Currie, Philip J. and Evans, David C.", title = "Cranial Anatomy of New Specimens of Saurornitholestes langstoni (Dinosauria, Theropoda, Dromaeosauridae) from the Dinosaur Park Formation (Campanian) of Alberta", year = "2019", journal = "The Anatomical Record", abstract = "The holotype of the dromaeosaurid Saurornitholestes langstoni was described in 1978 on the basis of fewer than 30 associated cranial and postcranial bones of a single individual from Dinosaur Provincial Park. Four additional partial skeletons of Saurornitholestes were recovered from Campanian (Upper Cretaceous) beds of Alberta and Montana over the next 25 years, although reasonably complete skeletons remained elusive, and virtually nothing was known about the skull. The lack of truly diagnostic material has been problematic, and the relationships of Saurornitholestes to other dromaeosaurids have been difficult to resolve because of the incomplete knowledge of its anatomy. In 2014, an almost complete skeleton, including the skull, was collected less than a kilometer from where the holotype had been found. Although similar in body size to Velociraptor, the facial region of the skull is relatively shorter, taller, and wider. The nasals are pneumatic. The premaxillary teeth are distinctive, and teeth previously identified in the Dinosaur Park Formation as Zapsalis abradens can now be identified as the second premaxillary tooth of S. langstoni. Morphology and wear patterns suggest that these may have been specialized for preening feathers. Many traits define a Campanian North American clade, Saurornitholestinae, that is distinct from an Asian clade that includes Velociraptor (Velociraptorinae). This new information on the skull allows a more complete evaluation of its systematic position within the Dromaeosauridae and supports the suggestion of at least two major faunal interchanges between Asia and North America during the Cretaceous. Anat Rec, 303:691-715, 2020. © 2019 American Association for Anatomy.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.24241", doi = "10.1002/ar.24241", openalex = "W2972619786", references = "doi101016jcub201408034, doi101017cbo9780511608377011, doi10103831635, doi101038nature13467, doi101080027246342015982797, doi101086684289, doi101098rspl18870117, doi101111cla12160, doi1012067481, doi101671027246342003231apfast20co2, doi1021741874453201003010041, doi107717peerj1032, sues1977dentaries" } @article{doi101016jcretres201812017, author = "Gilbert, Meagan M. and Buatois, Luís A. and Renaut, Robin W.", title = "Ichnology and depositional environments of the Upper Cretaceous Dinosaur Park – Bearpaw formation transition in the Cypress Hills region of Southwestern Saskatchewan, Canada", year = "2019", journal = "Cretaceous Research", url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2018.12.017", doi = "10.1016/j.cretres.2018.12.017", openalex = "W2907174316", references = "doi101086684289" } @article{doi101038s41467019089972, author = "Chiarenza, Alfio Alessandro and Mannion, Philip D. and Lunt, Daniel J. and Farnsworth, Alex and Jones, Lewis A. and Kelland, Sarah-Jane and Allison, Peter A.", title = "Ecological niche modelling does not support climatically-driven dinosaur diversity decline before the Cretaceous/Paleogene mass extinction", year = "2019", journal = "Nature Communications", abstract = "In the lead-up to the Cretaceous/Paleogene mass extinction, dinosaur diversity is argued to have been either in long-term decline, or thriving until their sudden demise. The latest Cretaceous (Campanian-Maastrichtian [83-66 Ma]) of North America provides the best record to address this debate, but even here diversity reconstructions are biased by uneven sampling. Here we combine fossil occurrences with climatic and environmental modelling to quantify latest Cretaceous North American dinosaur habitat. Ecological niche modelling shows a Campanian-to-Maastrichtian habitability decrease in areas with present-day rock-outcrop. However, a continent-wide projection demonstrates habitat stability, or even a Campanian-to-Maastrichtian increase, that is not preserved. This reduction of the spatial sampling window resulted from formation of the proto-Rocky Mountains and sea-level regression. We suggest that Maastrichtian North American dinosaur diversity is therefore likely to be underestimated, with the apparent decline a product of sampling bias, and not due to a climatically-driven decrease in habitability as previously hypothesised.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-08997-2", doi = "10.1038/s41467-019-08997-2", openalex = "W2919866498", references = "doi101016jecolmodel201312012, doi101016jpalaeo201602033, doi101038nature15697, doi101038ncomms1815, doi101073pnas0901637106, doi101073pnas1521478113, doi10108008912969009386535, doi101111ecog03049, doi101111j13652664200601214x, doi101111j14724642201000725x, doi101111pala12329, doi101126science3287615, doi1012019781315140919, doi101371journalpone0079420, doi1018900721531, doi1023071931034, doi103897zookeys4698439, lehman1987late" } @article{doi101038s41598019517095, author = "Mallon, Jordan C.", title = "Competition structured a Late Cretaceous megaherbivorous dinosaur assemblage", year = "2019", journal = "Scientific Reports", abstract = "Modern megaherbivore community richness is limited by bottom-up controls, such as resource limitation and resultant dietary competition. However, the extent to which these same controls impacted the richness of fossil megaherbivore communities is poorly understood. The present study investigates the matter with reference to the megaherbivorous dinosaur assemblage from the middle to upper Campanian Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta, Canada. Using a meta-analysis of 21 ecomorphological variables measured across 14 genera, contemporaneous taxa are demonstrably well-separated in ecomorphospace at the family/subfamily level. Moreover, this pattern is persistent through the approximately 1.5 Myr timespan of the formation, despite continual species turnover, indicative of underlying structural principles imposed by long-term ecological competition. After considering the implications of ecomorphology for megaherbivorous dinosaur diet, it is concluded that competition structured comparable megaherbivorous dinosaur communities throughout the Late Cretaceous of western North America.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-51709-5", doi = "10.1038/s41598-019-51709-5", openalex = "W2981425882", references = "doi101007978146124018114, doi101017cbo9780511565441, doi101017cbo9780511608551, doi101017cbo9780511735011, doi101086653688, doi101093biomet301281, doi101098rsos161086, doi101111j15023931200900187x, doi101139cjes20120185, doi101139e10005, doi101139e78109, doi101186147267851314, doi1012060003008220023660001aitrou20co2, doi101371journalpone0098605, doi101371journalpone0175253, doi101371journalpone0188426, doi1023073545850, doi1023075663, doi102475ajs2628975, openalexw2183707334" } @article{doi101139cjes20190019, author = "Eberth, David A. and Kamo, Sandra L.", title = "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", year = "2019", journal = "Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences", abstract = "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.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2019-0019", doi = "10.1139/cjes-2019-0019", openalex = "W2979872101", references = "andeberth2016new, doi101007springerreference4923, doi1010160016703773902135, doi101016jchemgeo200503011, doi101016jgca200509007, doi101016jgca201006017, doi101016s0009254196000332, doi101016s0195667105800308, doi101073pnas1313334111, doi101103physrevc41889, doi101126science1154339, doi101126science1230492, doi101139cjes20120185, doi101371journalpone0188426, doi104202app20110033, doi105860choice435902, openalexw2989049194" } @article{doi101073pnas2006087117, author = "Chiarenza, Alfio Alessandro and Farnsworth, Alexander and Mannion, Philip D. and Lunt, Daniel J. and Valdes, Paul J. and Morgan, Joanna and Allison, Peter A.", title = "Asteroid impact, not volcanism, caused the end-Cretaceous dinosaur extinction", year = "2020", journal = "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences", abstract = "The Cretaceous/Paleogene mass extinction, 66 Ma, included the demise of non-avian dinosaurs. Intense debate has focused on the relative roles of Deccan volcanism and the Chicxulub asteroid impact as kill mechanisms for this event. Here, we combine fossil-occurrence data with paleoclimate and habitat suitability models to evaluate dinosaur habitability in the wake of various asteroid impact and Deccan volcanism scenarios. Asteroid impact models generate a prolonged cold winter that suppresses potential global dinosaur habitats. Conversely, long-term forcing from Deccan volcanism (carbon dioxide [CO 2]-induced warming) leads to increased habitat suitability. Short-term (aerosol cooling) volcanism still allows equatorial habitability. These results support the asteroid impact as the main driver of the non-avian dinosaur extinction. By contrast, induced warming from volcanism mitigated the most extreme effects of asteroid impact, potentially reducing the extinction severity.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2006087117", doi = "10.1073/pnas.2006087117", openalex = "W3038551147", references = "alvarez1980extraterrestrial, doi101007s1091400569434, doi101016jcub201804062, doi101016s0012825200000374, doi10102993jd02553, doi101038s41467019089972, doi101073pnas1211526110, doi101073pnas1319253111, doi101111brv12128, doi101111ecog03049, doi101111j14724642201000725x, doi101111j16000587200805742x, doi101126sciadvaat4858, doi101126science1177265, doi101126science1229237, doi101126science20844481095, doi101126science21545391501, doi101126scienceaau2422, doi101126scienceaay2268, doi1011302014250315, doi1011302014250502, doi101130spe247, doi101144sp35813" } @article{doi101098rsbl20190930, author = "Terrill, David and Henderson, Charles M. and Anderson, Jason S.", title = "New application of strontium isotopes reveals evidence of limited migratory behaviour in Late Cretaceous hadrosaurs", year = "2020", journal = "Biology Letters", abstract = "Dinosaur migration patterns are very difficult to determine, often relying solely on the geographical distribution of fossils. Unfortunately, it is generally not possible to determine if a fossil taxon's geographical distribution is the result of migration or simply a wide distribution. Whereas some attempts have been made to use isotopic systems to determine migratory patterns in dinosaurs, these methods have yet to achieve wider usage in the study of dinosaur ecology. Here, we have used strontium isotope ratios from fossil enamel to reconstruct the movements of an individual hadrosaur from Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta, Canada. Results from this study are consistent with a range or migratory pattern between Dinosaur Provincial Park and a contemporaneous locality in the South Saskatchewan River area, Alberta, Canada. This represents a minimum distance of approximately 80 km, which is consistent with migrations seen in modern elephants. These results suggest the continent-wide distribution of some hadrosaur species in the Late Cretaceous of North America is not the result of extremely long-range migratory behaviours.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0930", doi = "10.1098/rsbl.2019.0930", openalex = "W3010293965", references = "doi102110palo2014084" } @article{doi101111pala12492, author = "Dean, Christopher D. and Chiarenza, Alfio Alessandro and Maidment, Susannah C. R.", title = "Formation binning: a new method for increased temporal resolution in regional studies, applied to the Late Cretaceous dinosaur fossil record of North America", year = "2020", journal = "Palaeontology", abstract = "Abstract The advent of palaeontological occurrence databases has allowed for detailed reconstruction and analyses of species richness through deep time. While a substantial literature has evolved ensuring that taxa are fairly counted within and between different time periods, how time itself is divided has received less attention. Stage‐level or equal‐interval age bins have frequently been used for regional and global studies in vertebrate palaeontology. However, when assessing diversity at a regional scale, these resolutions can prove inappropriate with the available data. Herein, we propose a new method of binning geological time for regional studies that intrinsically incorporates the chronostratigraphic heterogeneity of different rock formations to generate unique stratigraphic bins. We use this method to investigate the diversity dynamics of dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous of the Western Interior of North America prior to the Cretaceous–Palaeogene mass extinction. Increased resolution through formation binning pinpoints the Maastrichtian diversity decline to between 68 and 66 Ma, coinciding with the retreat of the Western Interior Seaway. Diversity curves are shown to exhibit volatile patterns using different binning methods, supporting claims that heterogeneous biases in this time‐frame affect the pre‐extinction palaeobiological record. We also show that the apparent high endemicity of dinosaurs in the Campanian is a result of non‐contemporaneous geological units within large time bins. This study helps to illustrate the utility of high‐resolution, regional studies to supplement our understanding of factors governing global diversity in deep time and ultimately how geology is inherently tied to our understanding of past changes in species richness.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12492", doi = "10.1111/pala.12492", openalex = "W3034624876", references = "doi101038s41598019517095, doi1011112041210x12666" } @article{doi101130g473991, author = "Cullen, Thomas M. and Longstaffe, Fred J. and Wortmann, Ulrich G. and Huang, L. and Fanti, Federico and Goodwin, Mark B. and Ryan, Michael J. and Evans, David C.", title = "Large-scale stable isotope characterization of a Late Cretaceous dinosaur-dominated ecosystem", year = "2020", journal = "Geology", abstract = "Abstract In the Cretaceous of North America, environmental sensitivity and habitat specialization have been hypothesized to explain the surprisingly restricted geographic ranges of many large-bodied dinosaurs. Understanding the drivers behind this are key to determining broader trends of dinosaur species and community response to climate change under greenhouse conditions. However, previous studies of this question have commonly examined only small components of the paleo-ecosystem or operated without comparison to similar modern systems from which to constrain interpretations. Here we perform a high-resolution multi-taxic δ13C and δ18O study of a Cretaceous coastal floodplain ecosystem, focusing on species interactions and paleotemperature estimation, and compare with similar data from extant systems. Bioapatite δ13C preserves predator-prey offsets between tyrannosaurs and ornithischians (large herbivorous dinosaurs), and between aquatic reptiles and fish. Large ornithischians had broadly overlapping stable isotope ranges, contrary to hypothesized niche partitioning driven by specialization on coastal or inland subhabitat use. Comparisons to a modern analogue coastal floodplain show similar patterns of ecological guild structure and aquatic-terrestrial resource interchange. Multi-taxic oxygen isotope temperature estimations yield results for the Campanian of Alberta (Canada) consistent with the few other paleotemperature proxies available, and are validated when applied for extant species from a modern coastal floodplain, suggesting that this approach is a simple and effective avenue for paleoenvironmental reconstruction. Together, these new data suggest that dinosaur niche partitioning was more complex than previously hypothesized, and provide a framework for future research on dinosaur-dominated Mesozoic floodplain communities.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1130/g47399.1", doi = "10.1130/g47399.1", openalex = "W3011136744", references = "doi101007b110345, doi101016003101828790040x, doi101016jepsl200407015, doi101016jpalaeo201206027, doi101016s0016703796002402, doi101038s41598019517095, doi101073pnas1004933107, doi101073pnas1521478113, doi101098rsos161086, doi101186147267851314, doi101186s1289801601068, doi101371journalpone0012292, doi1016660094837336180, doi1018901540929520075429anfie20co2, doi102475ajs3047612" } @article{doi1018435vamp29362, author = "Funston, Gregory F.", title = "Caenagnathids of the Dinosaur Park Formation (Campanian) of Alberta, Canada: anatomy, osteohistology, taxonomy, and evolution", year = "2020", journal = "Vertebrate Anatomy Morphology Palaeontology", abstract = "Our understanding of caenagnathid anatomy, diversity, and ecology has improved considerably in the past twenty years, but numerous issues still remain. Among these, the diversity and taxonomy of caenagnathids from the Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta, Canada, have remained problematic. Whereas some authors recognize three genera, others suggest only two were present, and there is considerable disagreement about which specimens are referable to which genus. This study aims to resolve this issue by reviewing the known specimens and using osteohistology, to establish a testable taxonomic framework of Dinosaur Park Formation caenagnathids. Numerous new specimens from all regions of the skeleton provide insight into morphological variation in caenagnathids, and three morphotypes are recognized based on a combination of morphological features and body size. Osteohistology shows that representatives in each body size class are at skeletal maturity, and therefore supports the delineation of three taxa: the smaller Citipes elegans gen. nov., the intermediate Chirostenotes pergracilis, and the larger Caenagnathus collinsi, new material of which shows it rivalled Anzu wyliei in size. However, these analyses also raise concerns about the referral of isolated material to each taxon in the absence of skeletal overlap between specimens or osteohistological analysis. Caenagnathids are consistently recovered throughout the Dinosaur Park Formation interval, and two geographic clusters of increased abundance probably reflect collection and taphonomic biases. The coexistence of three taxa was apparently facilitated by differences in both adult body size and functional morphology of the dentary and pes, which suggests that caenagnathids minimized niche overlap rather than subdividing niche space. Regardless, little is known of the exact roles caenagnathids played in Late Cretaceous ecosystems. Incorporation of the new material and taxonomic framework into a phylogenetic analysis drastically improves our understanding of the relationships between caenagnathines, and sheds light on the evolution of body size in caenagnathids and its role in their diversification.", url = "https://doi.org/10.18435/vamp29362", doi = "10.18435/vamp29362", openalex = "W3045553219", references = "doi101007978148995740520, doi101016jcretres2020104521, doi101016s1631069102014294, doi101038nature11264, doi101073pnas0708903105, doi101073pnas1602683113, doi10108002724634199910011161, doi101126science1161833, doi101139e72031, doi1016660094837320080340247ositlb20co2, doi105860choice435902" } @article{doi101098rsos210127, author = "Brownstein, Chase Doran", title = "Dinosaurs from the Santonian–Campanian Atlantic coastline substantiate phylogenetic signatures of vicariance in Cretaceous North America", year = "2021", journal = "Royal Society Open Science", abstract = "During the Cretaceous, diversifications and turnovers affected terrestrial vertebrates experiencing the effects of global geographical change. However, the poor fossil record from the early Late Cretaceous has concealed how dinosaurs and other terrestrial vertebrates responded to these events. I describe two dinosaurs from the Santonian to Early Campanian of the obscure North American paleolandmass Appalachia. A revised look at a large, potentially novel theropod shows that it likely belongs to a new clade of tyrannosauroids solely from Appalachia. Another partial skeleton belongs to an early member of the Hadrosauridae, a highly successful clade of herbivorous dinosaurs. This skeleton is associated with the first small juvenile dinosaur specimens from the Atlantic Coastal Plain. The tyrannosauroid and hadrosaurid substantiate one of the only Late Santonian dinosaur faunas and help pinpoint the timing of important anatomical innovations in two widespread dinosaur lineages. The phylogenetic positions of the tyrannosauroid and hadrosaurid show Santonian Appalachian dinosaur faunas are comparable to coeval Eurasian ones, and the presence of clades formed only by Appalachian dinosaur taxa establishes a degree of endemism in Appalachian dinosaur assemblages attributable to episodes of vicariance.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.210127", doi = "10.1098/rsos.210127", openalex = "W3194085865", references = "doi101002ar24199, doi101038381226a0, doi101038nature15697, doi101038nature19417, doi101038s41598017052726, doi101038s41598019568474, doi101098rsos210127, doi101098rspb19790086, doi101111cla12160, doi101111j2041210x201200223x, doi101126science1211028, doi101126science1253451, doi1018435vamp29362, doi1023071005355, doi1026879847, doi107717peerj5749" } @article{doi101139cjes20200145, author = "Cullen, Thomas M. and Zanno, Lindsay E. and Larson, Derek W. and Todd, Erinn and Currie, Philip J. and Evans, David C.", title = "Anatomical, morphometric, and stratigraphic analyses of theropod biodiversity in the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Dinosaur Park Formation 1", year = "2021", journal = "Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences", abstract = "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.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2020-0145", doi = "10.1139/cjes-2020-0145", openalex = "W3183001791", references = "béland1979ectothermy, crossref1998encyclopedia, doi101002ar24241, doi1010079780387981413, doi10100797833192427749, doi101016jcub201803042, doi101016jpalaeo201206027, doi1011112041210x12035, doi101111j2041210x201100153x, doi101130g473991, doi101139cjes20170034, doi101139e09050, doi101139e72031, doi101139e93016, doi101186s1289801601068, doi1018435vamp29362, doi1023072669711, doi105860choice353642, doi105860choice435902, openalexw2561546966" } @article{doi101139cjes20200174, author = "Holtz, Thomas R.", title = "Theropod guild structure and the tyrannosaurid niche assimilation hypothesis: implications for predatory dinosaur macroecology and ontogeny in later Late Cretaceous Asiamerica 1", year = "2021", journal = "Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences", abstract = "Well-sampled dinosaur communities from the Jurassic through the early Late Cretaceous show greater taxonomic diversity among larger (>50 kg) theropod taxa than communities of the Campano-Maastrichtian, particularly to those of eastern/central Asia and Laramidia. The large carnivore guilds in Asiamerican assemblages are monopolized by tyrannosaurids, with adult medium-sized (50–500 kg) predators rare or absent. In contrast, various clades of theropods are found to occupy these body sizes in earlier faunas, including early tyrannosauroids. Assemblages with “missing middle-sized” predators are not found to have correspondingly sparser diversity of potential prey species recorded in these same faunas. The “missing middle-sized” niches in the theropod guilds of Late Cretaceous Laramidia and Asia may have been assimilated by juvenile and subadults of tyrannosaurid species, functionally distinct from their adult ecomorphologies. It is speculated that if tyrannosaurids assimilated the niches previously occupied by mid-sized theropod predators, we would expect the evolution of distinct transitions in morphology and possibly the delay of the achievement of somatic maturity in species of this taxon.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2020-0174", doi = "10.1139/cjes-2020-0174", openalex = "W3168560974", references = "doi101016jcub201803042, doi101017pab201519, doi101017s0094837300011891, doi10103846266, doi101038nature02699, doi101038ncomms3827, doi101038s4155901908880, doi101038s41598019517095, doi101038srep20252, doi101073pnas1600140113, doi101093nsrnwu055, doi101098rspb20202258, doi101111brv12638, doi101111j1469185x201000137x, doi101111j15023931200900187x, doi101126sciadvaax6250, doi101126science1065522, doi101126science1161833, doi101126science28454232137, doi101139cjes20120185, doi101139cjes20170031, doi101139cjes20190019, doi101371journalpone0054329, doi101371journalpone0188426, doi1017161paleo180818764, doi1023071942327, doi1023072411924, doi1029920070860302, doi103897zookeys92847517, doi107717peerj9192, openalexw2183707334, openalexw2971401580" } @article{doi101002ar25097, author = "Takasaki, Ryuji and Chiba, Kentaro and Fiorillo, Anthony R. and Brink, Kirstin S. and Evans, David C. and Fanti, Federico and Saneyoshi, Mototaka and Maltese, Anthony and Ishigaki, Shinobu", title = "Description of the first definitive Corythosaurus (Dinosauria, Hadrosauridae) specimens from the Judith River Formation in Montana, USA and their paleobiogeographical significance", year = "2022", journal = "The Anatomical Record", abstract = "Despite the long history of research in the late Campanian Judith River Formation in northern Montana, most of the vertebrate fossils are represented by fragmentary remains, making precise taxonomic identifications difficult. Contrary to this, the partially contemporaneous Dinosaur Park Formation, Alberta, Canada is known for its tremendous fossil preservation, permitting rigorous studies of dinosaur diversity, evolution, and biostratigraphy. Hadrosaurids comprise one of the most abundant dinosaur clades in the Dinosaur Park Formation, but taxonomic affinities of hadrosaurid specimens remain poorly understood in the Judith River Formation. Corythosaurus is the most common hadrosaurid in the Dinosaur Park Formation and, to date, has been restricted to this formation. This study reports the first definitive Corythosaurus specimens from the Judith River Formation, which were discovered on two private ranches in northern Montana. The attribution of the most complete skeleton to Corythosaurus is indicated by: wide crest-snout angle, presence of premaxilla-nasal fontanelle, dorsoventrally expanded nasal, laterally exposed ophthalmic canal of the laterosphenoid, and tall neural spines. A second specimen preserves a large ilium that can be positively identified as Corythosaurus based on its associated skull, which is now in private hands. The specimens were recovered from the Coal Ridge Member of the Judith River Formation, which is approximately time equivalent to the Dinosaur Park Formation. Thus, the discovery of Corythosaurus in the Judith River Formation extends the biogeographic range of this genus and establishes a framework for future interformational biostratigraphic studies of Late Cretaceous dinosaur faunas in North America.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.25097", doi = "10.1002/ar.25097", openalex = "W4307114985", references = "doi101111joa13363, doi101139cjes20200145" } @article{doi101016jcretres2022105369, author = "Sues, Hans‐Dieter and Evans, David C. and Galton, Peter M. and Brown, Caleb M.", title = "Anatomy of the neornithischian dinosaur Parksosaurus warreni (Parks, 1926) from the Upper Cretaceous (lower Maastrichtian) Horseshoe Canyon Formation of Alberta, Canada", year = "2022", journal = "Cretaceous Research", url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2022.105369", doi = "10.1016/j.cretres.2022.105369", openalex = "W4296639386", references = "doi101139cjes20190019" } @article{doi101038s4159802219896w, author = "Ramezani, Jahandar and Beveridge, Tegan L and Rogers, Raymond R and Eberth, David A and Roberts, Eric M", title = "Calibrating the zenith of dinosaur diversity in the Campanian of the Western Interior Basin by CA-ID-TIMS U-Pb geochronology.", year = "2022", journal = "Scientific reports", abstract = "The spectacular fossil fauna and flora preserved in the Upper Cretaceous terrestrial strata of North America's Western Interior Basin record an exceptional peak in the diversification of fossil vertebrates in the Campanian, which has been termed the 'zenith of dinosaur diversity'. The wide latitudinal distribution of rocks and fossils that represent this episode, spanning from northern Mexico to the northern slopes of Alaska, provides a unique opportunity to gain insights into dinosaur paleoecology and to address outstanding questions regarding faunal provinciality in connection to paleogeography and climate. Whereas reliable basin-wide correlations are fundamental to investigations of this sort, three decades of radioisotope geochronology of various vintages and limited compatibility has complicated correlation of distant fossil-bearing successions and given rise to contradictory paleobiogeographic and evolutionary hypotheses. Here we present new U-Pb geochronology by the CA-ID-TIMS method for 16 stratigraphically well constrained bentonite beds, ranging in age from 82.419 ± 0.074 Ma to 73.496 ± 0.039 Ma (2σ internal uncertainties), and the resulting Bayesian age models for six key fossil-bearing formations over a 1600 km latitudinal distance from northwest New Mexico, USA to southern Alberta, Canada. Our high-resolution chronostratigraphic framework for the upper Campanian of the Western Interior Basin reveals that despite their contrasting depositional settings and basin evolution histories, significant age overlap exists between the main fossil-bearing intervals of the Kaiparowits Formation (southern Utah), Judith River Formation (central Montana), Two Medicine Formation (western Montana) and Dinosaur Park Formation (southern Alberta). Pending more extensive paleontologic collecting that would allow more rigorous faunal analyses, our results support a first-order connection between paleoecologic and fossil diversities and help overcome the chronostratigraphic ambiguities that have impeded the testing of proposed models of latitudinal provinciality of dinosaur taxa during the Campanian.", url = "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9512893/", doi = "10.1038/s41598-022-19896-w", pmcid = "PMC9512893", pmid = "36163377" } @article{doi1010800272463420222133610, author = "Augustin, Felix J. and Bastiaans, Dylan and Dumbravă, Mihai D. and Csiki‐Sava, Zoltán", title = "A new ornithopod dinosaur, Transylvanosaurus platycephalus gen. et sp. nov. (Dinosauria: Ornithischia), from the Upper Cretaceous of the Haţeg Basin, Romania", year = "2022", journal = "Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology", abstract = "Rhabdodontid dinosaurs were a group of medium-sized iguanodontian ornithopods from the Late Cretaceous of Europe. The uppermost Cretaceous continental deposits from the Haţeg Basin of western Romania yielded a very rich assemblage of vertebrates including abundant rhabdodontid remains, which have been exclusively referred to the genus Zalmoxes thus far. Here we describe a new rhabdodontid dinosaur, Transylvanosaurus platycephalus gen. et sp. nov., from the uppermost Cretaceous of the Haţeg Basin. The holotype of the new taxon was discovered in early–late Maastrichtian strata near Pui in the eastern part of the basin and comprises the articulated basicranium and both frontals. Transylvanosaurus differs from all previously reported rhabdodontids in having particularly wide and crested frontals, elongated and straight paroccipital processes that make only a gentle lateral curve and project mostly posterolaterally, prominent and massive prootic processes that extend mainly anterolaterally and ventrally, wide and crest-like basal tubera that meet the long axis of the braincase at a very flat angle, widely splayed basipterygoid processes that extend mainly ventrolaterally and slightly anteriorly, as well as a well-developed notch on the lateral side of the basicranium that is continuous, straight, and inclined anteroventrally. Phylogenetic analyses employing two different datasets consistently recovered the new taxon within the Rhabdodontidae, at the base of the iguanodontian radiation. Based on the morphological comparisons presented herein, we propose a particularly close relationship between Transylvanosaurus and Rhabdodon from southern France, which in turn provides evidence for a more complex biogeographic history of the Rhabdodontidae than previously thought.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2022.2133610", doi = "10.1080/02724634.2022.2133610", openalex = "W4309859469", references = "doi101016jcretres201509003, doi101080027246342013746229, doi1010800891296320201793979, doi1010801477201920171371258, doi101111j10963642201000620x, doi107717peerj12362" } @article{doi1010801477201920222137441, author = "Riguetti, Facundo and Suberbiola, Xabier Pereda and Ponce, Denis and Salgado, Leonardo and Apesteguı́a, Sebastián and Rozadilla, Sebastián and Arbour, Victoria M.", title = "A new small-bodied ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of North Patagonia (Río Negro Province, Argentina)", year = "2022", journal = "Journal of Systematic Palaeontology", abstract = "The most representative ankylosaurian remains from Argentina have been found in sediments of the Allen Formation (Campanian–Maastrichtian) in Salitral Moreno, Río Negro Province. Several authors have discussed the identity and history of these remains. In this study, we review all published material along with some new remains in order to summarize all the knowledge about these ankylosaurs. Previously published material includes a tooth, dorsal and anterior caudal vertebrae, a femur and several osteoderms. The new remains include synsacral and caudal elements, a partial femur and osteoderms. The anatomy of the tooth, the synsacrum, the mid-caudal vertebra, the femur and the osteoderms, and the histology of the post-cervical osteoderms, support a nodosaurid identification, as proposed in previous descriptions of the Salitral Moreno material. Patagopelta cristata gen. et sp. nov. is a new nodosaurid ankylosaur characterized by the presence of unique cervical half-ring and femoral anatomies, including high-crested lateral osteoderms in the half rings and a strongly developed muscular crest in the anterior surface of the femur. The ∼2 m body length estimated for Patagopelta is very small for an ankylosaur, comparable with the dwarf nodosaurid Struthiosaurus. We recovered Patagopelta within Nodosaurinae, related to nodosaurids from the ‘mid’-Cretaceous of North America, contrasting the previous topologies that related this material with Panoplosaurini (Late Cretaceous North American nodosaurids). These results support a palaeobiogeographical context in which the nodosaurids from Salitral Moreno, Argentina, are part of the allochthonous fauna that migrated into South America during the late Campanian as part of the First American Biotic Interchange.https://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:FBA24443-F365-49FD-A959-10D2848C2400", url = "https://doi.org/10.1080/14772019.2022.2137441", doi = "10.1080/14772019.2022.2137441", openalex = "W4313214134", references = "doi107717peerj12362" } @article{doi101130b362221, author = "Martin, Jeremy E. and Hassler, Auguste and Montagnac, Gilles and Therrien, François and Balter, Vincent", title = "The stability of dinosaur communities before the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) boundary: A perspective from southern Alberta using calcium isotopes as a dietary proxy", year = "2022", journal = "Geological Society of America Bulletin", abstract = "Abstract Reconstructing dinosaur trophic structure prior to the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) boundary may provide information about ecosystem organization and evolution. Using calcium isotopes, we investigate preserved biogenic isotope compositions in a set of dinosaur teeth from three continental formations from Alberta, Canada, to assess latest Cretaceous food web structure. Tooth enamel δ44/42Ca values are presented for tyrannosaurids (n = 34) and potential large herbivorous prey (n = 42) in the upper Campanian Dinosaur Provincial Park Formation, upper-most Campanian–Maastrichtian Horseshoe Canyon Formation, and upper Maastrichtian–lower Paleocene Scollard Formation, spanning the last \textasciitilde 10 m.y. of the Cretaceous. The influence of diagenesis is assessed in a subset sample through major and trace elemental concentrations and ultraviolet (UV) Raman spectra, which provides a framework for interpreting calcium isotope values. In the Dinosaur Park Formation, hadrosaurid δ44/42Ca values are systematically heavier than ceratopsid values, a difference that is interpreted to reflect niche partitioning among megaherbivores. Tyrannosaurid δ44/42Ca values are scattered but on average, they are 44Ca-depleted relative to herbivorous dinosaurs in all three formations. As interpreted from the Dinosaur Park data set, tyrannosaurids may have preferentially fed on hadrosaurids. These analyses offer possibilities for testing whether trophic structure among non-avian dinosaur ecosystems changed several millions of years prior to the K–Pg boundary.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1130/b36222.1", doi = "10.1130/b36222.1", openalex = "W4211074789", references = "doi101130g473991, doi101139cjes20190019" } @article{doi101371journalpone0262824, author = "Enriquez, Nathan J. and Campione, Nicolás E. and White, Matt A. and Fanti, Federico and Sissons, Robin L. and Sullivan, Corwin and Vavrek, Matthew J. and Bell, Phil R.", title = "The dinosaur tracks of Tyrants Aisle: An Upper Cretaceous ichnofauna from Unit 4 of the Wapiti Formation (upper Campanian), Alberta, Canada", year = "2022", journal = "PLoS ONE", abstract = "The Wapiti Formation of northwest Alberta and northeast British Columbia, Canada, preserves an Upper Cretaceous terrestrial vertebrate fauna that is latitudinally situated between those documented further north in Alaska and those from southern Alberta and the contiguous U.S.A. Therefore, the Wapiti Formation is important for identifying broad patterns in vertebrate ecology, diversity, and distribution across Laramidia during the latest Cretaceous. Tracksites are especially useful as they provide a range of palaeoecological, palaeoenvironmental, and behavioural data that are complementary to the skeletal record. Here, we describe the Tyrants Aisle locality, the largest in-situ tracksite known from the Wapiti Formation. The site occurs in the lower part of Unit 4 of the formation (\textasciitilde 72.5 Ma, upper Campanian), exposed along the southern bank of the Redwillow River. More than 100 tracks are documented across at least three distinct track-bearing layers, which were deposited on an alluvial floodplain. Hadrosaurid tracks are most abundant, and are referable to Hadrosauropodus based on track width exceeding track length, broad digits, and rounded or bilobed heel margins. We suggest the hadrosaurid trackmaker was Edmontosaurus regalis based on stratigraphic context. Tyrannosaurids, probable troodontids, possible ornithomimids, and possible azhdarchid pterosaurs represent minor but notable elements of the ichnofauna, as the latter is unknown from skeletal remains within the Wapiti Formation, and all others are poorly represented. Possible social behaviour is inferred for some of the hadrosaurid and small theropod-like trackmakers based on trackway alignment, suitable spacing and consistent preservation. On a broad taxonomic level (i.e., family or above), ichnofaunal compositions indicate that hadrosaurids were palaeoecologically dominant across Laramidia during the late Campanian within both high-and low-latitude deposits, although the role of depositional environment requires further testing.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0262824", doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0262824", openalex = "W4210394626", references = "doi107717peerj11290, therrien2015dinosaur" } @article{doi1010800272463420242316668, author = "Whitebone, S. Amber and Funston, Gregory F. and Currie, Philip J.", title = "An unusual microsite from the Upper Cretaceous Horseshoe Canyon Formation of Alberta, Canada", year = "2023", journal = "Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology", abstract = "The Upper Cretaceous Horseshoe Canyon Formation of Alberta, Canada, is among the best-studied paleoecosystems in North America. However, its microvertebrate paleocommunity structure is relatively poorly known, partly because it lacks the abundant microsites of other Upper Cretaceous deposits of Alberta. An unusual microsite (FTS-2) from the Horsethief Member of the Horseshoe Canyon Formation is described that produces abundant anuran and troodontid material, alongside perinatal material from ornithischians and tyrannosaurs. Anuran specimens representing a minimum of two separate taxa and a metatherian molar suggest that these components of the fauna were more diverse than currently recognized. The assemblage is similar to three other North American sites that produce abundant troodontid teeth alongside perinatal dinosaurs. However, environmental and taphonomic conditions of these sites vary, supporting the notion of mixed biotic and abiotic factors driving the association of troodontids alongside perinates. In part, this may stem from similar nesting preferences between troodontids and other dinosaurs, as material collected from all three sites suggests proximity to troodontid nesting sites. Sites such as FTS-2 are important for revealing the rare and small components of paleoecosystems, and hold promise for revealing interactions between these parts of the fauna.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2024.2316668", doi = "10.1080/02724634.2024.2316668", openalex = "W4393150755", references = "doi101002ar24199, doi101017pab201637, doi101073pnas1011924108, doi10108002724634199510011271, doi101098rspl18870117, doi101126science28253972241, doi101139cjes20170034, doi101139cjes20200145, doi101139cjes20200169, doi1023071005355, doi1023071374076, doi105281zenodo1040383, doi105281zenodo16171435, doi105281zenodo16435343, doi105962bhltitle106965, openalexw3215057009" } @article{doi1010800891296320232184692, author = "Panascí, Giulio and Varricchio, David J. and Martin, Anthony J. and Dyman, T.S.", title = "Dinosaur tracks from the Frontier Formation, Montana: preservation, distribution and palaeoecological significance for the middle Cretaceous terrestrial ecosystems of North America", year = "2023", journal = "Historical Biology", abstract = "The Coniacian-Santonian stages in western North America are characterized by a sparse fossil record. We present here the first account of dinosaur tracks from nine sites in the Frontier Formation (Coniacian-Santonian) of southwestern Montana. Tracks are largely preserved in distal alluvial facies as sandstone casts, with a single example of shallow epirelief impression interpreted as undertrack. Sandstone casts show significant relief, kinematic features (i.e., scale marks), and variable morphologies, arguing for a strong substrate control on their preservation. Putative producers are assigned to ornithopod, ankylosaurian, and theropod dinosaurs in decreasing order of abundance. This record reflects a composition similar to those of other middle Cretaceous formations in North America. Moreover, ankylosaurian tracks of the Frontier Formation represent the first known from Coniacian strata in North America. The incorporation of body and trace fossils yielded by the Frontier Formation indicates the presence of a fauna with North American endemic elements. The establishment of Coniacian-Santonian dinosaurian palaeocommunities akin to those observed in Campanian and Maastrichtian formations may reflect the trend towards provincialism attested for the end of the Mesozoic in North America.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2023.2184692", doi = "10.1080/08912963.2023.2184692", openalex = "W4353064105", references = "therrien2015dinosaur" } @article{doi101111pala12681, author = "Kubo, Tai and Kubo, Mugino O. and Sakamoto, Manabu and Winkler, Daniela and Shibata, Masateru and Zheng, Wenjie and Jin, Xingsheng and You, Hai‐Lu", title = "Dental microwear texture analysis reveals a likely dietary shift within Late Cretaceous ornithopod dinosaurs", year = "2023", journal = "Palaeontology", abstract = "Abstract Dinosaurs were the dominant megaherbivores during the Cretaceous when angiosperms, the flowering plants, emerged and diversified. How herbivorous dinosaurs responded to the increasing diversity of angiosperms is largely unknown due to the lack of methods that can reconstruct diet directly from body fossils. We applied dental microwear texture analysis (DMTA), an approach that quantifies microtopography of diet‐induced wear marks on tooth surfaces, to ornithopods, the dinosaur clade that includes taxa with the most sophisticated masticatory system. We found that Late Cretaceous ornithopods have significantly rougher dental microwear texture (DMT) compared to pre‐Late Cretaceous ornithopods, and DMT variation increased in hadrosaurids, a derived Late Cretaceous ornithopod clade. These changes indicate a likely temporal dietary shift towards more abrasive foodstuffs within ornithopods, probably due to the increased ingestion of phytoliths (amorphous silica bodies in plants). Phytoliths are a main source of rough DMT in modern herbivores, along with exogenous dust and grit, and were generally more concentrated in Late Cretaceous angiosperms than in other major plant groups. Our results show that DMTA of the occlusal enamel surface can be used to reconstruct the diets of herbivorous dinosaurs, with a resolution superior to conventional methods.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12681", doi = "10.1111/pala.12681", openalex = "W4389249235", references = "doi101130g473991, doi107717peerj12362" } @article{doi101139cjes20230037, author = "Eberth, David A. and Evans, David C. and Ramezani, Jahandar and Kamo, Sandra L. and Brown, Caleb M. and Currie, Philip J. and Braman, Dennis R.", title = "Calibrating geologic strata, dinosaurs, and other fossils at Dinosaur Provincial Park (Alberta, Canada) using a new CA-ID-TIMS U–Pb geochronology", year = "2023", journal = "Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences", abstract = "The 100 m thick stratigraphic section exposed at Dinosaur Provincial Park (DPP; southern Alberta) contains bentonites that have been used for more than 30 years to date DPP’s rocks and fossils using the K–Ar decay scheme. Limited reproducibility among different vintages of K–Ar and 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages inhibited the development of a high-resolution chronostratigraphy. Here, we employ and further test a recently completed U–Pb geochronology and associated age-stratigraphy model to update temporal constraints on the Park’s bentonites, formational contacts, and other markers. In turn, we document rock accumulation rates and calibrate ages and durations of informal megaherbivore dinosaur assemblage zones and other biozones. Weighted mean 206 Pb/ 238 U ages from five bentonites range from 76.718 ± 0.020 to 74.289 ± 0.014 Ma (2σ internal uncertainties) through an interval of 88.75 m, indicating a duration of ∼2.43 Myr and an overall rock accumulation rate of 3.65 ± 0.04 cm/ka. An increase in rate above the Oldman–Dinosaur Park formational contact conforms to a regionally expressed pattern of increased accommodation at ∼76.3 Ma across Alberta and Montana. Palynological biozone data suggest a condensed section/hiatus in the uppermost portion of the Oldman Formation. Dinosaur assemblage zones exhibit durations of ∼700–600 kyr and are significantly shorter than those in the overlying Horseshoe Canyon Formation. A decreased rate in dinosaur assemblage turnovers in the last eight million years of the Mesozoic in western Canada may be explained by withdrawal of the Western Interior Seaway and the expansion of ecologically homogenous lowlands in its wake.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2023-0037", doi = "10.1139/cjes-2023-0037", openalex = "W4383217081", references = "doi101006cres19941022, doi101016jcretres2019104308, doi101016jgca201006017, doi101016jgca201106021, doi101016jquascirev200807009, doi101038s4159802219896w, doi101046j13653091200000008x, doi101086684289, doi101126science1154339, doi101126science1215507, doi101139cjes20190019, doi101139cjes20200145, doi101139e09050, doi101186s1289801601068, doi101525california97805202420980010001, doi1018435vamp29362, doi102110palo2014084, doi105860choice393984, doi105860choice435902, openalexw1654781408, openalexw2561546966" } @article{farlow2023dragons, author = "Farlow, James O. and Coroian, Dan and Currie, Philip J. and Foster, John R. and Mallon, Jordan C. and Therrien, François", title = "“Dragons” on the landscape: Modeling the abundance of large carnivorous dinosaurs of the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation (USA) and the Upper Cretaceous Dinosaur Park Formation (Canada)", year = "2023", journal = "The Anatomical Record", abstract = "Counts of the number of skeletal specimens of “adult” megaherbivores and large theropods from the Morrison and Dinosaur Park formations—if not biased by taphonomic artifacts—suggest that the big meat‐eaters were more abundant, relative to the number of big plant‐eaters, than one would expect on the basis of the relative abundance of large carnivores and herbivores in modern mammalian faunas. Models of megaherbivore population density (number of individuals per square kilometer) that attempt to take into account ecosystem productivity, the size structure of megaherbivore populations, and individual megaherbivore energy requirements, when combined with values of the large theropod/megaherbivore abundance ratio, suggest that large theropods may have been more abundant on the landscape than estimates extrapolated from the population density versus body mass relationship of mammalian carnivores. Models of the meat production of megaherbivore populations and the meat requirements of “adult” large theropods suggest that herbivore productivity would have been insufficient to support the associated number of individuals of “adult” large theropods, unless the herbivore production/biomass ratio was substantially higher, and/or the large theropod meat requirement markedly lower, than expectations based on modern mammals. Alternatively, or in addition to one or both of these other factors, large theropods likely included dinosaurs other than megaherbivores as significant components of their diet.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.25024", doi = "10.1002/ar.25024", number = "7", openalex = "W4285035310", pages = "1669-1696", volume = "306", references = "cubo2021bone, doi101038365748a0, doi1010800891296320181563784, doi101111j17447429200700272x, doi101126scienceaac6284, doi101139cjes20200174, doi101146annurevnutr191247, doi101186174170071060, doi101242jeb01553, doi1023072937256, doi105860choice435902, doi105860choice490282, openalexw1558456135, pahl2021carnosaurs" } @article{doi101130b374981, author = "Rogers, Raymond R. and Horner, John R. and Ramezani, Jahandar and Roberts, Eric M. and Varricchio, David J.", title = "Updating the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Two Medicine Formation of Montana: Lithostratigraphic revisions, new CA-ID-TIMS U-Pb ages, and a calibrated framework for dinosaur occurrences", year = "2024", journal = "Geological Society of America Bulletin", abstract = "Abstract The Campanian Two Medicine Formation of northwestern Montana, USA, is richly fossiliferous, and discoveries made within the unit over the past century have greatly advanced our appreciation of dinosaur paleobiology and evolution. Previously undifferentiated from a lithostratigraphic perspective, the formation is now subdivided into four new members that include (from base to top) (1) the Rock City Member, (2) the Shields Crossing Member, (3) the Hagans Crossing Member, and (4) the Flag Butte Member. These new formal units and their associated fossil occurrences are also now included in an age model founded on eight high-resolution chemical abrasion–isotope dilution–thermal ionization mass spectrometry (CA-ID-TIMS) U-Pb ages. New age data confirm that the Two Medicine Formation accumulated during much of the Campanian, with deposition spanning ca. 82.4 Ma to 74.4 Ma. New age data further indicate that a major reorganization of depositional systems, marked by a shift from predominantly lacustrine to alluvial facies and accompanied by a dramatic increase in accommodation, transpired near the base of the new Flag Butte Member at ca. 76.3 Ma. This change in depositional regime correlates in age with the Judith River–Belly River discontinuity, which marks the contact between the McClelland Ferry and Coal Ridge Members in the Judith River Formation and coincides with the onset of the Bearpaw transgression in north-central Montana. The new lithostratigraphic and chronostratigraphic framework for the Two Medicine Formation serves to contextualize and calibrate the formation’s rich dinosaur fossil record, which can now be interrogated with increased clarity and precision. These results also provide ground truth for numerical models that explore the structure of the fossil record in relation to alluvial architecture and terrestrial sequence stratigraphy.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1130/b37498.1", doi = "10.1130/b37498.1", openalex = "W4400724459", references = "doi101139cjes20200169, doi101139cjes20230037" } @article{doi101139cjes20230125, author = "Demers‐Potvin, Alexandre V. and Larsson, Hans C. E.", title = "Occurrence of Centrosaurus apertus (Ceratopsidae: Centrosaurinae) in Saskatchewan, Canada, and expanded dinosaur diversity in the easternmost exposure of the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) Dinosaur Park Formation", year = "2024", journal = "Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences", abstract = "Late Campanian terrestrial communities of western Canada are best known from the fluvial–paralic deposits of the Dinosaur Park Formation (DPF) in Dinosaur Provincial Park (DPP), Alberta. However, a growing list of localities from isolated DPF outcrops, outside of the DPP area, offers a glimpse into palaeocommunities that evolved isochronously with DPP biotas in greater proximity to the Western Interior Seaway. Over the past decade, one such locality was explored along Lake Diefenbaker in Saskatchewan Landing Provincial Park. The initial palaeoecological analysis of this marginal marine community was based on palynomorph and vertebrate microfossil diversity and has laid a foundation for the current study of its monodominant ceratopsian bonebed. The latter has resulted in new occurrences of Centrosaurus apertus and of the elmisaurine Citipes elegans for Saskatchewan based on incomplete yet diagnostic specimens. Centrosaurus apertus is unequivocally identified by a parietal bar bearing two prominent P1 and P2 hooks, which expands the geographical and habitat range of this species to the most coastal environment known from the DPF. Furthermore, the presence of Centrosaurus apertus suggests that the DPF in this region of Saskatchewan is closer in age to the lower DPF than to the uppermost DPF in DPP, which is at odds with a previous palynostratigraphic interpretation. The faunal composition of this bonebed also supports the presence of a widely distributed metacommunity across these deposits. This contribution demonstrates how evidence from multiple localities in the DPF along a spatial gradient, beyond the temporal gradient available within DPP alone, expands the picture of this metacommunity as a potential model system for biotic turnover in response to sea level rise at a geological temporal scale.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2023-0125", doi = "10.1139/cjes-2023-0125", openalex = "W4403830095", references = "doi1010800272463420232211637, doi101371journalpone0292318, doi105962bhltitle52089" } @article{doi101371journalpone0292318, author = "Eberth, David A", title = "Stratigraphic architecture of the Belly River Group (Campanian, Cretaceous) in the plains of southern Alberta: Revisions and updates to an existing model and implications for correlating dinosaur-rich strata.", year = "2024", journal = "PloS one", abstract = "The Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Belly River Group (BRG) of southern Alberta has a complex internal stratigraphic architecture derived from differential geometries of its component formations that resulted from regionalized tectonic influences and shifting source areas. A full understanding of BRG architecture has been compromised heretofore by a limited understanding of subsurface data in southwestern- and southeastern-most Alberta. In this study outcrop exposures throughout southern Alberta are tied to reference well logs and subsurface cross-sections allowing a more precise understanding of BRG architecture and how it relates to well-known vertebrate fossil producing areas. Modifications to an existing stratigraphic model of the BRG show that the Oldman and the Dinosaur Park formations have reciprocal north-to-south wedge-shaped geometries and a diachronous contact that become prominently expressed south of Twp 12. The updated model also demonstrates that the Oldman Formation thickens stratigraphically up-section to the south, and that the Foremost-Oldman contact is, essentially, a datum across much of southern Alberta. Identification of the Oldman Formation in the subsurface remains based on its relatively high gamma-ray response in mudstone successions, but it is also recognized that many of its sandstones exhibit relatively low gamma-ray responses like those in underlying and overlying formations. Nomenclature and subdivisions of the Oldman Formation are revised to accommodate this updated understanding, and modifications are also made to the definition of the Judith River-Belly River discontinuity, a newly recognized surface that marks the onset of accommodation and eustatic rise in sea-level in the northern Western Interior Basin at \textasciitilde 76.3 Ma.", url = "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10810474/", doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0292318", openalex = "W4391215830", pmcid = "PMC10810474", pmid = "38271406", references = "doi101006cres19941022, doi101016jpalaeo201512015, doi101038s4159802219896w, doi101086684289, doi101139cjes20230037, doi101139e05029, doi101139e93016, doi102110palo2014084, doi1035767gscpgbull444654, doi1035767gscpgbull452155" } @article{doi102110palo2022061, author = "Thompson, Mira G.W. and Cullen, Thomas M. and Evans, David C. and Schröder-Adams, Claudia J. and Ryan, Michael J.", title = "MULTI-PROXY PALEOENVIRONMENTAL AND PALEOECOLOGICAL RECONSTRUCTION OF THE FOREMOST FORMATION (UPPER CRETACEOUS, CAMPANIAN) OF ALBERTA", year = "2024", journal = "Palaios", abstract = "Abstract The Foremost Formation of southern Alberta, Canada, is the basal member of the Cretaceous (Campanian) Belly River Group and has been understudied relative to the overlying Oldman and Dinosaur Park formations of this group. Here we describe and analyze the sedimentology, foraminiferal micropaleontology, vertebrate microsite paleoecology, and paleoenvironmental conditions of the Foremost Formation. Outcrop of the Foremost Formation is characterized by estuarine and shallow marine facies that transition upward into coastal/fluvial facies that accumulated during the Claggett marine regression of the Western Interior Seaway (WIS). This is consistent with at least two rapid transgressive events driven by local subsidence interrupting the overall regressive phase of the Claggett marine cycle, creating the aggrading profile in the lower portion of the sections measured here, and suggesting that orogenic buildup in the Rocky Mountains and its associated basin subsidence were a controlling factor of local deposition in the WIS. A low abundance, low diversity agglutinated benthic foraminiferal fauna suggests frequently stressed oxygen and salinity conditions in marginal marine environments. Vertebrate microsite faunas display a mixed freshwater to brackish water environmental influence, with an increase in diversity upsection in conjunction with increased freshwater influence. Among dinosaurs, ceratopsids and ankylosaurs experience notable relative abundance decreases through the Foremost Formation and into the lower Oldman Formation, potentially reflecting preference for coastal habitats and/or plant resources relative to other terrestrial herbivores.", url = "https://doi.org/10.2110/palo.2022.061", doi = "10.2110/palo.2022.061", openalex = "W4405519139", references = "doi101371journalpone0292318" } @article{doi107717peerj17224, author = "Loewen, Mark A. and Sertich, Joseph J. W. and Sampson, Scott D. and O’Connor, Jingmai K. and Carpenter, Savhannah and Sisson, Brock and Øhlenschlæger, Anna and Farke, Andrew A. and Makovicky, Peter J. and Longrich, Nick and Evans, David C.", title = "Lokiceratops rangiformis gen. et sp. nov. (Ceratopsidae: Centrosaurinae) from the Campanian Judith River Formation of Montana reveals rapid regional radiations and extreme endemism within centrosaurine dinosaurs", year = "2024", journal = "PeerJ", abstract = ", was part of a clade restricted to a small portion of northern Laramidia approximately 78 million years ago. This group, Albertaceratopsini, was one of multiple centrosaurine clades to undergo geographically restricted radiations, with Nasutuceratopsini restricted to the south and Centrosaurini and Pachyrostra restricted to the north. High regional endemism in centrosaurs is associated with, and may have been driven by, high speciation rates and diversity, with competition between dinosaurs limiting their geographic range. High speciation rates may in turn have been driven in part by sexual selection or latitudinally uneven climatic and floral gradients. The high endemism seen in centrosaurines and other dinosaurs implies that dinosaur diversity is underestimated and contrasts with the large geographic ranges seen in most extant mammalian megafauna.", url = "https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.17224", doi = "10.7717/peerj.17224", openalex = "W4399859744", references = "doi101007s1254202100555w, doi101016jcretres2019104308, doi101016jgca201006017, doi101016jpalaeo201512015, doi101111cla12160, doi101111j10960031200800217x, doi101126science1154339, doi101126science23547931156, doi101146annurevecolsys271597, doi101146annureven10010165000525, doi101371journalpone0292318, doi10230730135049, doi102475ajs3042105, doi107717peerj4265, openalexw3215057009" } @article{doi101016jcoal2025104768, author = "Goonetilleke, Muditha and Silva, Ricardo and Filho, João Graciano Mendonça and Durkin, Paul R.", title = "A lithofacies-coupled palynofacies model for meandering river floodplains in the Late Cretaceous: Insights from the Dinosaur Park Formation, Alberta, Canada", year = "2025", journal = "International Journal of Coal Geology", url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coal.2025.104768", doi = "10.1016/j.coal.2025.104768", openalex = "W4409174164", references = "doi101139cjes20230037" } @article{doi101016jgca202505006, author = "Michailow, Mateusz M. and Lugli, Federico and Cipriani, Anna and Giustina, Francesco Della and Ferretti, Annalisa and Malferrari, Daniele and Fowler, Denver W. and Fowler, Elizabeth and Weber, Michael and Tütken, Thomas", title = "Combined Ca, Sr isotope and trace element analyses of Late Cretaceous dinosaur teeth: assessing diet versus diagenesis", year = "2025", journal = "Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta", abstract = "The Sr and Ca isotope composition, along with trace element content in fossil teeth, provides valuable insights into biogenic and diagenetic processes. Identifying pristine biological signals is crucial for reconstructing the diet and trophic levels of extinct taxa. We present novel geochemical data from Tyrannosauridae and Ceratopsidae teeth of the Late Cretaceous, using radiogenic Sr (87 Sr/ 86 Sr), stable Sr (δ 88/86 Sr), and Ca (δ 44/42 Ca) isotopes, along with trace elements abundances to differentiate biogenic signals from diagenetic alteration. Our results reveal potential taxon-specific diagenetic effects, likely influenced by enamel microstructure. Tyrannosaurid enamel contains lower concentrations of rare earth elements (REE) and uranium (U) than dentine, whereas ceratopsid teeth typically exhibit higher REE and U compared to both the enamel and dentine of tyrannosaurids. Enamel δ 44/42 Ca values differ significantly between herbivorous ceratopsids and carnivorous tyrannosaurids, reflecting trophic level effects seen in modern mammals and reptiles. A positive correlation between δ 44/42 Ca and δ 88/86 Sr suggests partial preservation of biological fractionation along the trophic chain. Yet, the lack of negative δ 88/86 Sr values in our dataset – typically expected in biologic tissues – suggests alteration by diagenetic processes of both stable and radiogenic Sr. While δ 44/42 Ca in enamel likely remains a reliable dietary proxy, Sr isotope composition of our samples appears then to be significantly altered. The presence of high δ 88/86 Sr in terrestrial fossil teeth could serve as a novel diagenetic proxy to assess habitat related 87 Sr/ 86 Sr values, aiding provenance and mobility studies in fossil ecosystems.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2025.05.006", doi = "10.1016/j.gca.2025.05.006", openalex = "W4410109052", references = "doi101007s108160069009x, doi1010160016703784902047, doi101016001670379090432k, doi101016s0047248485800294, doi101016s1095643398010162, doi101039ja9961100899, doi101086319243, doi101111j17487692200900354x, doi101111pala12591, doi101371journalpone0292318, doi102138rmg20024812, doi107717peerj5748, openalexw2280361956" } @article{doi101111joa14262, author = "Garros, Christiana and Powers, Mark J. and Dyer, Aaron D. and Currie, Philip J.", title = "Osteohistological analysis of metatarsals reveals new information on pathology and life history of troodontids from the Campanian Dinosaur Park Formation, Alberta, Canada", year = "2025", journal = "Journal of Anatomy", abstract = "Troodontidae is a family of small-bodied theropods known predominantly from Asia but are comparatively scarce in North America. In the Dinosaur Park Formation (DPF) of Alberta, Canada, they are known predominantly from isolated material, precluding taxonomic and ontogenetic precision for this clade. Previously never sampled histologically within the DPF, here we attempt to fill in gaps in our knowledge about the life histories of the clade in this formation by histologically surveying metatarsals, which are among the most abundant and identifiable troodontid elements in the DPF. We sampled 11 metatarsals (three metatarsal IIs, three metatarsal IIIs and five metatarsal IVs) of varying sizes and included three pathological individuals to describe the microanatomy of both healthy and pathological metatarsals, determine the ontogenetic status of each element and graph their pattern of growth. Osteohistology reveals that troodontid metatarsals grew and remodelled asymmetrically within the cortex, ceasing growth and remodelling primarily along articular surfaces and entheses. Pathological individuals ranged from displaying features of response to localised stress (chronic callus formation and avulsion/chip fracture) to extreme modification in response to trauma and inflammation at the distal joint. Only the latter appeared to be related to overall growth, suggesting the condition either developed early and stunted growth or another underlying cause was responsible for both the stunted growth and the resulting pathological features observed. Overall, tracking the growth of the specimens reveals that there are at least two growth trajectories within the DPF differentiated by the timing of major growth spurts and growth plateaus. Whether this represents sexual dimorphism, taxonomic diversity, or another form of variation warrants further investigation.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1111/joa.14262", doi = "10.1111/joa.14262", openalex = "W4409599580", references = "doi101038s41598021837455, doi101111joa14053, doi101139cjes20170034, doi101139cjes20200145, doi107717peerj10855" } @article{doi101371journalpone0335973, author = "Esperante, Raúl and McLarty, Jeremy A. and Nick, Kevin E. and Pompe, Lance and Biaggi, Roberto E. and Medina, Helen D. Baltazar and Llempen, Nelson A. and Silvestri, Arturo and Quispe, Lourdes Lidia Mamani and Cano, Antonio Joaquín Garre and Saavedra, Wilson Quiroga and Rodríguez, Germán Santos Flor", title = "Morphotypes, preservation, and taphonomy of dinosaur footprints, tail traces, and swim tracks in the largest tracksite in the world: Carreras Pampa (Upper Cretaceous), Torotoro National Park, Bolivia", year = "2025", journal = "PLoS ONE", abstract = "The Carreras Pampa tracksite in the Torotoro National Park, Bolivia, records a wealth of dinosaur tracks, tail traces, and swim tracks. In this study, we report 1321 trackways and 289 solitary tracks, totaling 16,600 theropod tracks, 280 swim trackways, totaling 1,378 swim tracks, and several trackways with tail traces. Numerous avian tracks occur locally and are associated with the theropod tracks. These tracks and trackways are located within nine study sites of the same exposed tracking surface with a total area of approximately 7485 m2. We describe eight preservation styles and 11 morphotypes for walking tracks, and three morphotypes for swim tracks. Tracks range in size from miniature to large. The range of track sizes and the diversity of morphotypes suggest that the Carreras Pampa tracksite represents a diverse group of trackmakers. Track depths vary from very shallow to very deep both within and among trackways, suggesting that the rheological conditions of the sites changed in time and space. We present estimates of the speeds, gaits, and sizes of trackmakers and propose diverse behaviors indicated by the trackways. Notably, trackways at the Carreras Pampa tracksite indicate that a significantly higher proportion of trackmakers had relative stride lengths above 2.0 compared to other sites. The trackways show a strong, bimodal orientation, probably moving along the paleocoastline. Other forms of bioturbation and fossils were found in association with the tracks. We compare our findings at the Carreras Pampa track site to those from other sites in various locations. The quality of preservation, the exceptionally high number of tracks, and the diversity of behaviors recorded make the Carreras Pampa tracksite one of the premier dinosaur track sites in the world.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0335973", doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0335973", openalex = "W4416965703", references = "doi101016jpalaeo2021110589, doi105710amghv48i4341, therrien2015dinosaur" } @article{doi101038s4158602509897w, author = "Maidment, Susannah C. R. and Butler, Richard J. and Brusatte, Stephen L. and Meade, Luke E. and Augustin, Felix J. and Csiki-Sava, Zoltán. and Ősi, Attila", title = "A hidden diversity of ceratopsian dinosaurs in Late Cretaceous Europe", year = "2026", journal = "Nature", abstract = ". Here we describe new material of Ajkaceratops and conduct phylogenetic analyses that support its ceratopsian affinities. Our results unexpectedly demonstrate that some 'rhabdodontid' taxa are not, in fact, iguanodontians but actually ceratopsians. This suggests a substantial but previously hidden diversity and evolutionary history of European horned dinosaurs, and co-occurrence of iguanodontians and ceratopsians indicates greater similarity than previously appreciated to other Laurasian ecosystems. Our results challenge conventional understanding of ornithischian dinosaur evolution and indicate the need for a fundamental re-evaluation of the Late Cretaceous herbivorous dinosaur assemblages of Europe.", url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09897-w", doi = "10.1038/s41586-025-09897-w", openalex = "W7119146319", references = "doi1010800272463420181509866, doi107717peerj17224, longrich2016a" } @article{doi102110jsr2025107, author = "Thompson, Mira G.W. and Durkin, Paul R. and Brown, Caleb M. and Camacho, A and Brink, Kirstin S.", title = "Geochemical fingerprints of dated bentonites to constrain correlations in Cretaceous fluvial strata, Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada", year = "2026", journal = "Journal of Sedimentary Research", abstract = "ABSTRACT Correlation of meandering fluvial strata is difficult because of the highly variable lateral extent and vertical thickness caused by the erosion of the surrounding floodplain from channel downcutting and meander migration. This variability often results in a lack of confidently traceable marker beds leading to errors with stratigraphic correlation, determination of sedimentation rates, and quantification of stratigraphic completeness in fluvial strata. Bentonites are ideal marker beds for resolving fluvial issues of stratigraphic correlation because they preserve either a single or multiple short volcanic events deposited over widespread areas and can be radiometrically dated. Additionally, they preserve other signals that can be used to construct geochemical fingerprints for individual beds, allowing correlation of fluvial strata despite fragmentary preservation. To test the utility of geochemically fingerprinted bentonites as fluvial marker beds, we examined the Campanian-aged meandering fluvial strata of the Dinosaur Park Formation (DPF), which crops out mainly as badlands in the UNESCO World Heritage Site Dinosaur Provincial Park (DPP), Alberta. The DPF lacks a well resolved stratigraphic framework; this is problematic because the DPF in DPP preserves some of the world’s most abundant and diverse dinosaur fossil assemblages, which have been used as a basis for many hypotheses related to evolution of dinosaurs and other terrestrial vertebrates. A poorly resolved stratigraphic framework for the DPF in DPP leads to substantial uncertainty regarding stratigraphic placement of dinosaur fossil sites, and therefore potential errors with any evolutionary hypotheses supported by that biostratigraphic data. We sampled 14 bentonite deposits from DPP, five of which have been dated previously and nine of which were previously unsampled. Stratigraphic sections were measured at bentonite collection sites, and elevation of all bentonite beds was recorded to ±0.1 m. Geochemical data for sampled bentonites was obtained using electron-probe micro-analysis on preserved biotite, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase phenocrysts. Our results show that bentonites in DPP have unique geochemical fingerprints and physical traits that can be used for their identification and correlation, without the need to be dated. We identify three previously unrecognized and currently undated bentonites in the DPF that will increase geochronological resolution in DPP. We demonstrate that the Plateau Tuff bentonite can be correlated over a 12 km distance across DPP, demonstrating the potential utility of bentonites for both local- and regional-scale fluvial stratigraphic correlation. These results offer a promising first step for resolving stratigraphic correlation issues for the DPF in DPP and provide a correlation framework model that can be applied to other fluvial stratigraphic systems that preserve bentonites.", url = "https://doi.org/10.2110/jsr.2025.107", doi = "10.2110/jsr.2025.107", openalex = "W7155714066", references = "doi101371journalpone0292318" }