[dinosaur] Dinosaur tracks from Upper Cretaceous Chignik Formation of Alaska and high-latitude hadrosaur habitats (free pdf)

Ben Creisler
[email protected]

A new paper in open access:


Anthony R. Fiorillo, Yoshitsugu Kobayashi, Paul J. McCarthy, Tomonori
Tanaka, Ronald S. Tykoski, Yuong-Nam Lee, Ryuji Takasaki & Junki Yoshida
(2019)
Dinosaur ichnology and sedimentology of the Chignik Formation (Upper
Cretaceous), Aniakchak National Monument, southwestern Alaska; Further
insights on habitat preferences of high-latitude hadrosaurs.
PLoS ONE 14(10): e0223471.
doi:  https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__doi.org_10.1371_journal.pone.0223471&d=DwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=0GDwwF6nrbQL4z2hfdzmPDlJcHjgMR6YL5zvkyH3y-I&s=2gMJFteHWub6dVg26N_8in-ktQJsXZ-9SX9AHr3KTFY&e= 
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__journals.plos.org_plosone_article-3Fid-3D10.1371_journal.pone.0223471&d=DwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=0GDwwF6nrbQL4z2hfdzmPDlJcHjgMR6YL5zvkyH3y-I&s=Vgo0F1O-ED6YvP8Ap8ZwdIxZoweyMXdi9AoeC__1qh4&e= 

Free pdf:
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__journals.plos.org_plosone_article_file-3Fid-3D10.1371_journal.pone.0223471-26type-3Dprintable&d=DwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=0GDwwF6nrbQL4z2hfdzmPDlJcHjgMR6YL5zvkyH3y-I&s=tDdMAX7AUwD_uHP3Qkzs4V2oHrWneAh66K2p69LafC0&e= 

While there are now numerous records of dinosaurs from Cretaceous rocks
around the state of Alaska, very few fossil records of terrestrial
vertebrates are known from the Mesozoic rocks of the southwestern part of
the state. Here we report the new discovery of extensive occurrences of
dinosaur tracks from Aniakchak National Monument of the Alaska Peninsula.
These tracks are in the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Chignik Formation,
a cyclic sequence of rocks, approximately 500–600 m thick, representing
shallow marine to nearshore marine environments in the lower part and
continental alluvial coastal plain environments in the upper part of the
section. These rocks are part of the Peninsular Terrane and paleomagnetic
reconstructions based on the volcanic rocks of this terrane suggest that
the Chignik Formation was deposited at approximately its current latitude
which is almost 57° N. Recent field work in Aniakchak National Monument has
revealed over 75 new track sites, dramatically increasing the dinosaur
record from the Alaska Peninsula. Most of the combined record of tracks can
be attributed to hadrosaurs, the plant-eating duck-billed dinosaurs. Tracks
range in size from those made by full-grown adults to juveniles. Other
tracks can be attributed to armored dinosaurs, meat-eating dinosaurs, and
two kinds of fossil birds. The track size of the predatory dinosaur
suggests a body approximately 6–7 m long, about the estimated size of the
North Slope tyrannosaurid Nanuqsaurus. The larger bird tracks resemble
Magnoavipes denaliensis previously described from Denali National Park,
while the smaller bird tracks were made by a bird about the size of a
modern Willet. Previous interdisciplinary sedimentologic and paleontologic
work in the correlative and well-known dinosaur bonebeds of the Prince
Creek Formation 1400km-1500km further north in Alaska suggested that
high-latitude hadrosaurs preferred distal coastal plain or lower delta
plain habitats. The ichnological record being uncovered in the Chignik
Formation of southwestern Alaska is showing that the hadrosaur tracks here
were also made in distal coastal and delta plain conditions. This
similarity may corroborate the habitat preference model for Cretaceous
high-latitude dinosaurs proposed for the data gathered from the Prince
Creek Formation, and may indicate that at least Beringian hadrosaurids had
similar habitat preferences regardless of latitude.

News:

Dozens of dinosaur footprints reveal ancient ecosystem of Alaskan Peninsula

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__phys.org_news_2019-2D10-2Ddozens-2Ddinosaur-2Dfootprints-2Dreveal-2Dancient.html&d=DwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=0GDwwF6nrbQL4z2hfdzmPDlJcHjgMR6YL5zvkyH3y-I&s=-yeIMIZ8UJNUMvVU0Vam9Gfg1qG5KZ3Mq6GRxH8fSV8&e= 

***

Duck-billed hadrosaurs 'were the caribou of the Cretaceous'

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.thenorthernecho.co.uk_news_national_18004124.duck-2Dbilled-2Dhadrosaurs-2Dwere-2Dcaribou-2Dcretaceous_&d=DwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=0GDwwF6nrbQL4z2hfdzmPDlJcHjgMR6YL5zvkyH3y-I&s=8KJSHdU41OcIT7IuiN9GPFQrPhyEeual0PRX5VsiaJA&e= 

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