TY - JOUR
T1 - Taphonomy of the Standing Rock Hadrosaur Site, Corson County, South Dakota
AU - Ullmann, Paul V.
AU - Shaw, Allen
AU - Nellermoe, Ron
AU - Lacovara, Kenneth J.
N1 - Funding Information:
We are indebted to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe for their gracious support of this project. In particular, we thank Bob Demery and Henry Harrison of the Standing Rock Tribal Council and Adrienne Swallow of the Standing Rock Paleontology Committee for their support in developing a multi-institutional collaboration to discern the history of this intriguing site. We also thank Dale Malinzak, Gerald Voegele, Laura Eider, Kristyn Voegele, David Momjian, Zack Boles, Christine Martin, and Derek Jamerson for their assistance in excavations and in managing our field camp. We owe additional gratitude to Gerald Voegele and Jim Steinke for assistance in arranging shipment of fossil specimens loaned to Drexel University, and to the Biology Department of Concordia College for lending field equipment and administrative support while studying specimens under their care. Comments from two anonymous reviewers greatly improved the manuscript. This project was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (DGE Award 1002809) and a Jurassic Foundation Grant to PVU.
PY - 2017/12
Y1 - 2017/12
N2 - We present taphonomic analyses of the Standing Rock Hadrosaur Site (SRHS), a vast Edmontosaurus annectens bonebed in the Maastrichtian Hell Creek Formation of South Dakota, which yields important insights into hadrosaurid paleobiology and environmental settings recorded by basal Hell Creek strata. Though Edmontosaurus bonebeds have been described from other Late Cretaceous formations in the Western Interior, namely the Lance, Prince Creek, and Horseshoe Canyon formations, our study provides the first thorough description of an Edmontosaurus bonebed from the Hell Creek Formation. SRHS is also the first formally described bonebed of E. annectens. Taphonomically, representation of every skeletal element, horizontality of most bones, and rarity of weathering and abrasion suggest brief preburial exposure and transport with minimal sorting bias. Near-universal disarticulation and disassociation, localized orientation of bones, and infrequent preburial breakage indicate moderate flow energy during deposition. Additional fauna, though rare, are indicative of a fluvial-coastal setting, and palynofloral analyses signify deposition in a small, shallow floodplain lake surrounded by cypress forests. Cumulatively, these data indicate that a herd of primarily subadult and adult Edmontosaurus died in a nearby fluvial setting in a mass mortality event and, following brief decay and scavenging by theropods, their bones were buried in a shallow floodplain pond by a flooding event/crevasse splay. Our findings provide supporting evidence for the hypotheses of gregarious herding behavior in hadrosaurids and age structuring of Edmontosaurus herds.
AB - We present taphonomic analyses of the Standing Rock Hadrosaur Site (SRHS), a vast Edmontosaurus annectens bonebed in the Maastrichtian Hell Creek Formation of South Dakota, which yields important insights into hadrosaurid paleobiology and environmental settings recorded by basal Hell Creek strata. Though Edmontosaurus bonebeds have been described from other Late Cretaceous formations in the Western Interior, namely the Lance, Prince Creek, and Horseshoe Canyon formations, our study provides the first thorough description of an Edmontosaurus bonebed from the Hell Creek Formation. SRHS is also the first formally described bonebed of E. annectens. Taphonomically, representation of every skeletal element, horizontality of most bones, and rarity of weathering and abrasion suggest brief preburial exposure and transport with minimal sorting bias. Near-universal disarticulation and disassociation, localized orientation of bones, and infrequent preburial breakage indicate moderate flow energy during deposition. Additional fauna, though rare, are indicative of a fluvial-coastal setting, and palynofloral analyses signify deposition in a small, shallow floodplain lake surrounded by cypress forests. Cumulatively, these data indicate that a herd of primarily subadult and adult Edmontosaurus died in a nearby fluvial setting in a mass mortality event and, following brief decay and scavenging by theropods, their bones were buried in a shallow floodplain pond by a flooding event/crevasse splay. Our findings provide supporting evidence for the hypotheses of gregarious herding behavior in hadrosaurids and age structuring of Edmontosaurus herds.
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U2 - 10.2110/palo.2017.060
DO - 10.2110/palo.2017.060
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85040963491
VL - 32
SP - 779
EP - 796
JO - Palaios
JF - Palaios
SN - 0883-1351
IS - 12
ER -