ERTH 2104 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Chinle Formation, Bioerosion, Paleosol
14 Dec 2019
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Prospecting: how to make sure you know what you"re looking for when you"re looking for dinosaurs. Finding dinosaurs: a combination of luck and fulfilling criteria for success. Must be able to distinguish terrestrial and marine sediments via fossils. Hard to reach places, may need to climb or rock climb. Stratigraphic horizons: noticeable horizontal color patterns/differences in rock. Late triassic/ chinle formation, colorado: non-marine fluvial channels, floodplains, paleosols, marshes, and small lakes. Bentonites : ancient ashbeds that often have minerals that can be dated and used to hang fossil ranges into the absolute time framework. There could have been a lack of oxygen. Relative degree and type of abrasion, bioerosion. Presence of mineralogy of fillings and coatings - tells us about the environment of the dinosaur. Special feature and preservation (enrolled trilobites, encrusting epibionts) Very important site in the united states that has an abundance of deinonychus dinosaurs. This dinosaur was especially important because it was quadrupedal and had claws.
