Taphonomy and palaeoecology of mixed invertebrate-vertebrate fossil assemblage in the Foremost Formation (cretaceous, campanian), Milk River Valley, Alberta
Date
2006
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Abstract
The Pinhorn Ranch North site is a mixed invertebrate-vertebrate fossil assemblage deposited in the Foremost Formation (Campanian, Cretaceous), a marginal marine environment dominated by nearshore marine, barrier island and lagoonal deposits. The assemblage was deposited in a restricted brackish water environment that developed during a marine regression. This regression brought an influx of coarse sand and disarticulated skeletal elements of terrestrial to freshwater taxa. The regression occurred in an overall trangressive system, from which marine taxa were contributed to the assemblage. The brackish water environment is therefore the environment of deposition, with brackish water fauna contributed directly to the assemblage through natural mortality. Myledaphus psilatus, n.sp. was a major disturbing force in the assemblage, using it as a food source. Myledaphus is a durophagous predator and scavenger, crushing hard-shelled bivalves and gastropods, mixing up the deposited material and adding extensive shell hash to the deposit.
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Bibliography: p. 266-294
Some pages are in colour.
Some pages are oversized.
Some pages are in colour.
Some pages are oversized.
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Citation
Frampton, E. K. (2006). Taphonomy and palaeoecology of mixed invertebrate-vertebrate fossil assemblage in the Foremost Formation (cretaceous, campanian), Milk River Valley, Alberta (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/1148