DOI: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2015.07.024
论文题名: A multi-disciplinary perspective on habitat preferences among dinosaurs in a Cretaceous Arctic greenhouse world, North Slope, Alaska (Prince Creek Formation: Lower Maastrichtian)
作者: Fiorillo A.R. ; McCarthy P.J. ; Flaig P.P.
刊名: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
ISSN: 0031-0182
出版年: 2016
卷: 441 起始页码: 377
结束页码: 389
语种: 英语
英文关键词: Ancient Arctic
; Ceratopsidae
; Hadrosauridae, paleosols
; High-latitude ecosystems
; Theropoda
英文摘要: The Prince Creek Formation of northern Alaska is the most abundant source of polar dinosaur remains in the world, and now, corroborating data from this well-studied rock unit allow for making inferences about the paleoecological preferences for these extinct polar animals. The rock unit records high-latitude, alluvial sedimentation and soil formation on a low-gradient, muddy coastal plain. Compound and cumulative andic Entisols and Inceptisols formed on levees, point bars, crevasse splays, and along the margins of floodplain lakes, ponds, and swamps. Abundant organic matter, carbonaceous root traces, Fe-oxide depletion coatings, and zoned peds indicate periodic waterlogging, anoxia, and gleying, consistent with a high water table. In contrast, Fe-oxide mottles, ferruginous and manganiferous segregations, bioturbation, and less common illuvial clay coatings indicate recurring oxidation and periodic drying out of some soils. An integrated reconstruction of pedogenic processes and biota suggests that this ancient Arctic coastal plain was influenced by seasonally fluctuating water table levels and floods, and in distal areas, marine waters. Four of the five bonebeds in this study are from more distal areas, represented by lower delta plain facies, while the fifth bonebed is from a more proximal part of the basin, represented by a somewhat better drained coastal plain facies.Bonebeds in the distal areas are dominated by Edmontosaurus sp. while the more proximal bonebed is dominated by the remains of the ceratopsian Pachyrhinosaurus perotorum. The distribution of these bonebeds, sedimentological facies, paleosols, and biota suggests that Pachyrhinosaurus may have preferred more upland environments while Edmontosaurus preferred lowland, deltaic environments. This distribution may be the result of physiological adaptation to the pronounced seasonality provided by polar terrestrial ecosystems. In contrast to a preferred habitat distribution of these large herbivores, the large predatory dinosaur Nanuqsaurus hoglundi seems to have had a more ubiquitous distribution across the landscape. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. Citation statistics:
资源类型: 期刊论文
标识符: http://119.78.100.158/handle/2HF3EXSE/68645
Appears in Collections: 过去全球变化的重建
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作者单位: Perot Museum of Nature and Science, 2201 N. Field St., Dallas, TX, United States; Department of Geosciences, and Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK, United States; The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geosciences, Austin, TX, United States
Recommended Citation:
Fiorillo A.R.,McCarthy P.J.,Flaig P.P.. A multi-disciplinary perspective on habitat preferences among dinosaurs in a Cretaceous Arctic greenhouse world, North Slope, Alaska (Prince Creek Formation: Lower Maastrichtian)[J]. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology,2016-01-01,441