Search USGS⌕ Search
Home/Archive/USGS

USGS · 70037438

Using laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) to explore geochemical taphonomy of vertebrate fossils in the upper cretaceous two medicine and Judith River formations of Montana

R.R. Rogers·H.C. Fricke·V. Addona·R.R. Canavan·C.N. Dwyer·C.L. Harwood·A.E. Koenig·R. Murray·J.T. Thole·J. Williams
View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) was used to determine rare earth element (REE) content of 76 fossil bones collected from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Two Medicine (TMF) and Judith River (JRF) Formations of Montana. REE content is distinctive at the formation scale, with TMF samples exhibiting generally higher overall REE content and greater variability in REE enrichment than JRF samples. Moreover, JRF bones exhibit relative enrichment in heavy REE, whereas TMF bones span heavy and light enrichment fields in roughly equal proportions. TMF bones are also characterized by more negative Ce anomalies and greater U enrichment than JRF bones, which is consistent with more oxidizing diagenetic conditions in the TMF. Bonebeds in both formations show general consistency in REE content, with no indication of spatial or temporal mixing within sites. Previous studies, however, suggest that the bonebeds in question are attritional assemblages that accumulated over considerable time spans. The absence of geochemical evidence for mixing is consistent with diagenesis transpiring in settings that remained chemically and hydrologically stable during recrystallization. Lithology-related patterns in REE content were also compared, and TMF bones recovered from fluvial sandstones show relative enrichment in heavy REE when compared with bones recovered from fine-grained floodplain deposits. In contrast, JRF bones, regardless of lithologic context (sandstone versus mudstone), exhibit similar patterns of REE uptake. This result is consistent with previous reconstructions that suggest that channel-hosted microfossil bonebeds of the JRF developed via the reworking of preexisting concentrations embedded in the interfluve. Geochemical data further indicate that reworked elements were potentially delivered to channels in a recrystallized condition, which is consistent with rapid adsorption of REE postmortem. Copyright ?? 2010, SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology).

Explore related subjects

PalaiosArticle

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

R.R. Rogers, H.C. Fricke, V. Addona, R.R. Canavan, C.N. Dwyer, C.L. Harwood, A.E. Koenig, R. Murray, J.T. Thole, J. Williams. 2010-03-10. Using laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) to explore geochemical taphonomy of vertebrate fossils in the upper cretaceous two medicine and Judith River formations of Montana. https://doi.org/10.2110/palo.2009.p09-084r

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related USGS reports

USGS2021

Miocene neritic benthic foraminiferal community dynamics, Calvert Cliffs, Maryland, USA: Species pool, patterns and processes

The presence/absence and abundance of benthic foraminifera in successive discrete beds (Shattuck “zones”) of the Miocene Calvert and Choptank formations, exposed at the Calvert Cliffs, Maryland, USA, allows for investigation of community dynamics over space and time. The stratigraphic distribution of benthic foraminifera is documented and interpreted in the context of sea-level change, sequence stratigraphy, and the previously published distribution of mollusks. Neritic benthic foraminiferal communities of four sea-level cycles over ∼4 million years of the middle Miocene, encompassing the Miocene Climatic Optimum and the succeeding middle Miocene Climate Transition, are dominated by the same abundant species. They differ in the varying abundance of common species that occur throughout most of the studied section and in the different rare species that appear and disappear. Transgressive systems tracts (TSTs) have higher species diversity than highstand systems tracts (HSTs) but much lower density of specimens. In contrast to some previous research, all beds in the studied section are interpreted as being from the inner part of a broad, low gradient shelf and were deposited at water depths of less than ∼50 m. It is suggested that species are recruited from a regional species pool of propagules throughout the duration of TSTs. Recruitment is curtailed during highstands leading to lower diversity in the HSTs.

Maryland↗
USGS2015

A new record of the late Pleistocene coral Pocillopora palmata from the Dry Tortugas, Florida reef tract, USA

Pocilloporid corals dominated shallow-water environments in the Caribbean during much of the Cenozoic; however, the regional diversity of this family declined over the last 15 My, culminating with the extinction of its final member, Pocillopora palmata , during the latest Pleistocene. Here we present a new record of P. palmata from Dry Tortugas National Park in the Florida Keys and infer its likely age. Although most existing records of P. palmata are from the sub-aerial reef deposits of MIS5e (∼ 125 ka), the presently submerged reef in the Dry Tortugas was too deep (> 18 m) during this period to support significant reef growth. In contrast, the maximum water depth during MIS5a (∼ 82 ka) was only ∼ 5.6 m, which would have been ideal for P. palmata . Diagenetic alteration prevented direct dating of the samples; however, the similarity between the depths of the Pleistocene bedrock in the Dry Tortugas and other reefs in the Florida Keys, which have been previously dated to MIS5a, support the conclusion that P. palmata likely grew in the Dry Tortugas during this period. Our study provides important new information on the history of P. palmata , but it also highlights the vital need for more comprehensive studies of the Quaternary history of Caribbean reef development. With modern reef degradation already driving yet another restructuring of Caribbean coral assemblages, insights from past extinctions may prove critical in determining the prognosis of Caribbean reefs in the future.

Florida↗
USGS2014

New ichnological, paleobotanical and detrital zircon data from an unnamed rock unit in Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve (Cretaceous: Alaska): Stratigraphic implications for the region

A paleontological reconnaissance survey on Cretaceous and Paleogene terrestrial units along the Yukon River drainage through much of east-central Alaska has provided new chronostratigraphic constraints, paleoclimatological data, and the first information on local biodiversity within an ancient, high-latitude ecosystem. The studied unnamed rock unit is most notable for its historic economic gold placer deposits, but our survey documents its relevance as a source rock for Mesozoic terrestrial vertebrates, invertebrates, and associated flora. Specifically, new U-Pb ages from detrital zircons combined with ichnological data are indicative of a Late Cretaceous age for at least the lower section of the studied rock unit, previously considered to be representative of nearly exclusively Paleogene deposition. Further, the results of our survey show that this sedimentary rock unit preserves the first record of dinosaurs in the vast east-central Alaska region. Lastly, paleobotanical data, when compared to correlative rock units, support previous interpretations that the Late Cretaceous continental ecosystem of Alaska was heterogeneous in nature and seasonal.

Palaios↗