40ar 39ar dating and magnetostratigraphic correlation of the terrestrial cretaceous paleogene boundary and puercan mammal age hell creek tullock formations eastern montana the recovery and subsequent prolific radiation of mammals in the northern western interior of north america following the cretaceous paleogene k p boundary is well documented in rocks attributed to the puercan land mammal age the most complete puercan record is that of the tullock formation which crops out widely in garfield and mccone counties eastern montana the tullock formation overlies the dinosaur bearing hell creek formation and consists of a stratigraphic series of channel and overbank deposits from which well preserved puercan faunas have been collected these channel deposits are typically bracketed by widespread coal beds the irz and z coals mark the base of the puercan at the k p boundary as defined by the highest appearing local occurrences of in situ dinosaur fossils the highest stratigraphic occurrence of cretaceous pollen and an anomalously high concentration of the element iridium ir the irz coal is overlain sequentially by the z hfz y w and u coals fossil vertebrates

testing the terrestrial δ13c cretaceous paleogene k pg chemostratigraphic marker abstract multiple 1 13 c isotopic excursions measured across the cretaceous paleogene k pg boundary in an iridium bearing stratigraphic section from mud buttes north dakota usa fail to demonstrate an unambiguous chemostratigraphic signal for the extinction results of two sample kolmogorov smirnov tests using 13 c records for the mud buttes section as well as five other published k pg sections from montana north dakota wyoming and canada all of which report a 1 0 to 2 8 chemostratigraphic marker at or just above the extinction demonstrate that it may not be possible to distinguish a statistically meaningful isotopic shift to lower 13 c values at the boundary in the context of background variations carbon isotopes as terrestrial chemostratigraphic markers of the k pg extinction boundary are thus of limited utility

the cretaceous tertiary boundary stratotype section at el kef tunisia how catastrophic was the mass extinction abstract the cretaceous tertiary k t boundary stratotype section at el kef tunisia represents the most complete and expanded sedimentary record across this important mass extinction horizon presently known high resolution analysis of planktic foraminifera in two outcrops el kef i stratotype and el kef ii along with comparisons between planktic and benthic foraminifera calcareous nannofossils ostracods pollen and spores and dinoflagellates indicate that major changes across the k t boundary are registered only in benthic and planktic foraminifera and calcareous nannofossils biotic changes in benthic foraminifera are unique to el kef and similarly shallow continental shelf sections and appear to be the result of a sea level regression in the latest maastrichtian followed by a sea level rise across the k t boundary that was accompanied by expansion of the local oxygen minimum zone omz biotic changes in planktic foraminifera appear partly related to these conditions also but in general reflect more global oceanographic changes for instance species extinctions are gradual and selective as observed in k t sections worldwide rather than random and abrupt although there is a 69 decline in species richness between 25 cm below and 10 cm above the k t boundary only rare species disappeared their combined relative abundance constitute less than 20 of the total population about 52 of these extinct taxa 8 of the population are large ornate morphologically complex tropical subtropical forms that lived at or below the thermocline no planktic foraminifera from this depth range survived the k t boundary event all survivor taxa were surface dwellers living within the photic zone their relative abundance 80 dominates both cretaceous and early tertiary populations these data indicate that the k t biotic record in the shallow continental shelf section at el kef was significantly influenced by local conditions which combined with the latest maastrichtian sea level regression and subsequent sea level rise resulted in shallowing of the local omz relative to the sea surface shallowing of the local omz lead to the selective disappearance of benthic faunas and may have adversely affected the surviving photic zone dwellers the selective nature of species extinctions however appear to be related partly to long term global oceanographic changes which were accelerated at the k t boundary possibly by a bolide impact

mass mortality and its environmental and evolutionary consequences the latest mesozoic and earliest tertiary sediments at deep sea drilling project site 524 provide an amplified record of environmental and biostratographic changes at the end of cretaceous closely spaced samples representing time intervals as short as 102 or 103 years were analyzed for their bulk carbonate and trace metal compositions and for oxygen and carbon isotopic compositions the data indicate that at the end of cretaceous when a high proportion of the ocean9s planktic organisms were eliminated an associated reduction in productivity led to a partial transfer of dissolved carbon dioxide from the oceans to the atmosphere this resulted in a large increase of the atmospheric carbon dioxide during the next 50 000 years which is believed to have caused a temperature rise revealed by the oxygen isotope data the lowermost tertiary sediments at site 524 include fossils with cretaceous affinities which may include both reworked individuals and some forms that survived for a while after the catastrophe our data indicate that many of the cretaceous pelagic organisms became extinct over a period of a few tens of thousands of years and do not contradict the scenario of cometary impact as a cause of mass mortality in the oceans as suggested by an iridium anomaly at the cretaceous tertiary boundary

why do the smoking hills smoke in the smoking hills area of the canadian arctic coast active areas of fire baked rock or bocannes occur in cretaceous mudstones along sea cliffs and in areas of recent slumping extinct and active bocannes are marked by bleaching baking and reddening of otherwise dark mudstones active bocannes are characterized by fumes of hot sulfurous gas and high ground temperatures petrographic mineralogical chemical and calorific analyses indicate that the bocannes are fueled by oxidation of pyrite and or organic matter with heating of the strata by oxidation combustible gases are driven off that may burn in restricted areas resulting in localized melting of the strata the zone of active bocannes is restricted to areas of glacially disturbed strata and landslides indicating that disruption rapid exposure and access to atmospheric oxygen are required to generate the high temperatures spontaneous combustion of the exposed strata is facilitated by the very fine particle size and thus large surface

paleoatmospheric pco2 fluctuations across the cretaceous tertiary boundary recorded from paleosol carbonates in ne china abstract a dramatic change in atmospheric composition has been postulated because of global carbon cycle disruption during the cretaceous k tertiary t transition following the chicxulub impact and deccan trap eruptions here pedogenic carbonates were collected from drill core of a borehole sk 1 n straddling the late cretaceous and early paleocene strata in the songliao basin northeast china to reconstruct atmospheric co 2 concentrations using a paleosol paleobarometer our estimates for atmospheric pco 2 from paleosol carbonates range between 277 115 ppmv and 837 164 ppmv between 67 8 ma and 63 1 ma one large 66 65 5 ma and several small co 2 spikes 64 7 64 2 ma during the latest maastrichtian to earliest danian are reported here and incorporated with previously published pco 2 estimates also estimated from paleosol carbonates these co 2 spikes are attributed to one million year long emplacement of the large deccan flood basalts along with the extraterrestrial impact at the k t boundary

the cretaceous tertiary extinction modeling carbon flux and ecological response 1 it is widely recognized that a significant negative excursion in carbon isotopic 13c differences between planktic and benthic foraminiferal tests occurred at the cretaceous tertiary k t boundary we applied parametric and nonparametric breakpoint tests and statistical comparisons of different recovery models to assess the timing and pattern of recovery from this negative excursion at south atlantic deep sea drilling project dsdp site 528 and equatorial pacific dsdp site 577 our results indicate a two stage recovery with an initial recovery to an intermediate state of planktic to benthic 13c differences followed by a discontinuous shift to a final state with planktic to benthic 13c differences similar to preextinction values the final discontinuous shift in both the pacific and atlantic ocean sites occurred several million years after the k t collapse of planktic to benthic 13c differences both the first and second stages of recovery are best described by damped exponential relaxations the pattern and timing of this carbon cycle recovery may have been contingent on the occurrence of key biological events

the relationship between the iridium anomaly and palynological floral events at three cretaceous tertiary boundary localities in western canada profiles illustrating the abundance of iridium and the changes in the relative abundances of major groups within the palynoflora are given for three localities from western canada the peak abundance of iridium ranges from 1 35 to 5 60 ppb and corresponds to the base of a coal and to a floral extinction event at the three localities immediately above the iridium peak anomaly angiosperm pollen is conspicuous in the assemblage in contrast to the fern spore spike described for sections in the mid continental united states and at the morgan creek locality in south central saskatchewan

the cretaceous palaeogene boundary succession at stevns klint denmark foraminifers and stable isotope stratigraphy the cretaceous palaeogene boundary exposed at stevns klint denmark provides an important location for the investigation of the end cretaceous event in this work we have used a number of sections across the boundary including the little described expanded stratigraphic sequence at kulstirenden which is located 7 km north of hojerup where most published work is derived using stratigraphical micropalaeontological and stable isotope 18o and 13c data we have shown that there is clear evidence of shallowing in the latest maastrichtian prior to and across the cretaceous palaeogene boundary there are significant changes in sea water temperature including an important cooling event in the very latest maastrichtian the 13c record in the expanded boundary clay fish clay sequence at kulstirenden indicates a number of significant excursions of decreasing magnitude up section the evidence from the distribution of the foraminifers has been incorporated with previous work to develop a sequence stratigraphical interpretation for the succession that can be compared to other cretaceous palaeogene boundary successions in europe

direct correlation of 4d seismic with well activity for a clarified dynamic reservoir interpretation a method to provide an improved time lapse seismic attribute for dynamic interpretation is presented this is based on the causal link between the time lapse seismic response and well production activity taken over time the resultant image is obtained by computing correlation coefficients between sequences of time lapse seismic changes extracted over different time intervals from multiply repeated seismic and identical time sequences of cumulative fluid volumes produced or injected from the wells maps of these cross correlations show localized spatially contiguous signals surrounding individual wells or a specific well group these may be associated with connected regions around the selected well or well group application firstly to a synthetic data set reveals that hydraulic compartments may be delineated using this method a second application to a field data set provides empirical evidence that a connected well centric fault block and active geobody can be detected it is concluded that uniting well data and time lapse seismic using our proposed method delivers a new attribute for dynamic interpretation and potential updating of the model for the producing reservoir

terrestrial carbon isotope records from coastal deposits algarve portugal a tool for chemostratigraphic correlation on an intrabasinal and global scale the carbon isotope signature of terrestrial organic matter om offers a valuable tool to develop stratigraphic correlations for near shore deposits a mid cretaceous coastal succession of the western algarve basin portugal displays a marked negative 13c excursion ranging from 21 2 to 27 8 in the early aptian followed by two shifts towards higher values up to 19 3 during the early and late aptian respectively the dominance of cuticle and leaf debris in the bulk om fraction is confirmed by optical studies rock eval pyrolysis and by comparison with the 13c signature of four different types of fossilized land plant particles correlation of two terrestrial 13cbulk om records from different study sites leads to a significant enhancement of the intrabasinal stratigraphic correlation within the algarve basin three prominent excursions in the portuguese records can be correlated with existing 13c curves from pelagic and terrestrial environments the general carbon isotope pattern is superimposed by small scale fluctuations which can be explained by compositional variations within the om

north american nonmarine climates and vegetation during the late cretaceous abstract analyses of physiognomy of late cretaceous leaf assemblages and of structural adaptations of late cretaceous dicotyledonous woods indicate that megathermal vegetation was an open canopy broad leaved evergreen woodland that existed under low to moderate amounts of rainfall evenly distributed through the year with a moderate increase at about 40 45 n many dicotyledons were probably large massive trees but the tallest trees were evergreen conifers megathermal climate extended up to paleolatitude 45 50 n mesothermal vegetation was at least partially an open broad leaved evergreen woodland perhaps a mosaic of woodland and forest but the evapotranspirational stress was less than in megathermal climate some dicotyledons were large trees but most were shrubs or small trees evergreen conifers were the major tree element some mild seasonality is evidenced in mesothermal woods precipitational levels probably varied markedly from year to year northward of approximately paleolatitude 65 n evergreen vegetation was replaced by predominantly deciduous vegetation this replacement is presumably related primarily to seasonality of light the southern part of the deciduous vegetation probably existed under mesothermal climate comparisons to leaf and wood assemblages from other continents are generally consistent with the vegetational climatic patterns suggested from north american data limited data from equatorial regions suggest low rainfall late cretaceous climates except probably those of the cenomanian had only moderate change through time temperatures generally appear to have warmed into the santonian cooled slightly into the campanian and more markedly into the maastrichtian and then returned to santonian values by the late maastrichtian the early eocene was probably warmer than any period of the late cretaceous latitudinal temperature gradients were lower than at present for the campanian and maastrichtian a gradient of about 0 3 c 1 latitude is inferred equability was high a mean annual range of temperature of about 8 c is inferred for paleolatitude 51 56 n during the campanian most late cretaceous plants evolved in a climate characterized by absence of freezing and low to moderate amounts of precipitation a brief low temperature excursion and a major long lasting increase in precipitation occurred at the cretaceous tertiary boundary in megathermal climates these events selected for plants that could exist in rainforest environments in mesothermal climates deciduousness and contamitant structural adaptations were selected the events at the cretaceous tertiary boundary had a major and long lasting impact on the evolution of land plants and their ecosystems low precipitation at low to middle late cretaceous latitudes is suggested to be the result of high levels of atmospheric co2 which in turn are probably related to inability of warm saline oceans to store large amounts of carbon conditions appear to have rapidly changed at the cretaceous tertiary boundary when oceanic circulation and stratification may have been fundamentally altered after the boundary the oceans were apparently able to store much greater amounts of carbon and the oceans withdrew large amounts of co2 from the atmosphere in turn more precipitation fell at low to middle latitudes the resulting high biomass vegetation formed a second major carbon reservoir to keep atmospheric co2 low relative to the late cretaceous changes in oceanic and atmospheric circulation probably resulted from some factor external to the ocean atmosphere system

rapid 10 yr recovery of terrestrial productivity in a simulation study of the terminal cretaceous impact event abstract investigations of short term up to 103 yr environmental change across the cretaceous tertiary boundary provide evidence for reduced temperatures consistent with the injection of debris and sulphate aerosols into the upper atmosphere by a large impact event concomitant with this was a postulated massive addition of co2 to the atmospheric carbon reservoir by impact vaporisation of the chicxulub carbonate platform taken together a high co2 but low irradiance environment would have created unusual conditions for the operation of the terrestrial biosphere here we have evaluated this environmental influence on terrestrial ecosystems using a process based dynamic global vegetation model forced with post impact global climates derived by modification of the genesis atmospheric climate model simulation for the latest cretaceous our results suggest that terrestrial primary productivity initially collapsed and then recovered to pre impact levels within a decade global terrestrial carbon storage in vegetation biomass exhibited a similar collapse but complete recovery took place on a 60 80 yr timescale the recovery of both terrestrial net primary productivity and vegetation biomass was largely mediated by the high co2 concentration stimulating ecosystem photosynthetic productivity in the warm low latitudes an apparently rapid recovery of terrestrial ecosystem function stands in marked contrast to the situation for the marine realm where the organic carbon flux to the deep ocean was suppressed for up to 3 million years

the terminal cretaceous iridium anomaly in the red deer valley alberta canada neutron activation analysis following fire assay preconcentration in a nickel sulphide button allows processing of relatively large samples 25 g for precision analysis of platinum group elements using this method an iridium anomaly with maximum concentration of 3 36 0 04 ppb has been located at the cretaceous tertiary boundary at the base of the nevis coal seam in the red deer valley of alberta the iridium anomaly coincides with the disappearance of diagnostic late cretaceous palynomorphs including all but one species of aquilapollenites

evidence for the recovery of terrestrial ecosystems ahead of marine primary production following a biotic crisis at the cretaceous tertiary boundary the fossil record demonstrates that mass extinction across the cretaceous tertiary k t boundary is more severe in the marine than the terrestrial realm we hypothesize that terrestrial ecosystems were able to recover faster than their marine counterparts to test this hypothesis we measured sedimentary 13 c as a tracer for global carbon cycle changes and compared it with palaeovegetational changes reconstructed from palynomorphs and cuticles across the k t boundary at sugarite new mexico usa different patterns of perturbation and timescales of recovery of isotopic and palaeobotanical records indicate that the 13 c excursion reflects the longer recovery time of marine versus terrestrial ecosystems

erratum microscopic planar features in quartz from scollard canyon alberta and the cretaceous tertiary boundary event quartz grains separated from the cretaceous tertiary k t boundary clay at scollard canyon alberta have prominent microscopic planar features these occur in 15 30 of the grains from the lower

sequential palynological changes across the composite cretaceous tertiary k t boundary claystone and contiguous strata western canada and montana u s a the boundary claystone in the western canada basin is composed of three intimately associated layers with a regional distribution a basal brownish grey hackly claystone a middle brownish black sa

cretaceous tertiary palynofloral perturbations and extinctions within the aquilapollenites phytogeographic province a combination of detailed intermediate and large scale stratigraphic perspectives is necessary to understand the driving mechanisms for floral change across the cretaceous tertiary k t boundary because short term physical and biotic events occur within longer term trends most maastrichtian palynofloral extinctions have been identified within the northern circumpolar supra continental aquilapollenites province in mid continental north america the presence of a physically defined k t boundary provides opportunities to examine contemporaneous terrestrial palynofloras over a latitudinal also approximately paleolatitudinal distance of 3200 km seventy five percent of last appearances occur before the k t boundary at high latitudes and must have been caused by ongoing terrestrial processes palynofloral events directly associated with the k t boundary include both local last appearances and inferred extinctions and synchronous and diachronous changes in relative abundances two different styles of factors are reflected in these events the first possibly attributable to chemical or other profound atmospheric perturbations associated with the worldwide distribution of the fireball layer of the k t claystone resulted in extinctions of angiosperm with a zoophilous pollination strategy the second factor possibly reflecting energy released during the deposition of ballistically transported impact debris or hackly ejecta layer of the boundary claystone resulted in the selective northward attenuating removal of the canopy vegetation best documented for southwestern canada which was succeeded by a fern dominated vegetation in mid continental north america these consequences of the boundary event were mediated by independent preexisting circumstances climate regional and through time local depositional environment and ongoing background extinctions and origins

spike of pyrosynthetic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons associated with an abrupt decrease in δ13c of a terrestrial biomarker at the cretaceous tertiary boundary at caravaca spain the first vertical high resolution record of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons pahs of pyrosynthetic origin and the corresponding 13 c profile of a terrestrial biomarker across the cretaceous tertiary k t boundary at caravaca spain reveals the following in comparison with adjacent cretaceous marlstones the first thin horizon 0 to 0 5 cm 0 the k t boundary of the boundary clay layer is 1 enriched as much as 112 to 154 fold in typical pyrosynthetic pahs such as coronene benzo g h i perylene and benzo e pyrene and 2 shows an abrupt 13 c decrease of 1 4 1 8 in terrestrial higher plant derived n c 29 alkane the spike of pyrosynthetic pahs associated with an abrupt decrease in 13 c value of a terrestrial biomarker is interpreted to reflect the prevalence of extensive fires with subsequent 13 c decrease in atmospheric co 2 it is estimated that the geologically instantaneous combustion of 18 24 of the terrestrial above ground biomass would be necessary to account for the measured negative isotopic shift at the k t boundary on the basis of carbon mass balance between terrestrial above ground biomass and atmosphere

environmental and vegetational changes recorded in sedimentary leaf wax n alkanes across the cretaceous paleogene boundary at loma capiro central cuba abstract the stable carbon isotopic compositions 13c and chain length distribution acl and n c31 n c29 n c31 of sedimentary leaf wax n alkanes were investigated across the cretaceous paleogene k pg boundary at loma capiro central cuba to reconstruct paleoenvironmental changes that are recorded in terrestrial higher plants the stratigraphic profiles of the n alkane 13c values show a negative excursion in the lowermost paleocene although its magnitude is much smaller 0 3 than the global signals 1 5 to 2 0 in the surface ocean atmospheric carbon reservoir relations between the n alkane 13c values and the c31 c29 c31 ratios exhibit two different trends suggesting that our 13c records are likely affected by two types of paleoenvironmental factors in addition to the 13c variations in the exogenous carbon reservoir rare occurrence of terrigenous organic matter that is usually transported by rivers suggests that the n alkanes at loma capiro are likely to have been transported by trade winds which recorded paleoenvironmental conditions of the northwestern part of the african continent the n alkane 13c values show a parallel decrease with the acl and c31 c29 c31 values in the first 37 000 yr following the k pg boundary such decreases are consistent with plant physiological responses to reduced net evaporation suggesting a possible influence of the impact induced warm humid condition in the early paleocene in contrast the n alkane 13c values are negatively correlated with the c31 c29 c31 ratios from 40 000 to 67 000 yr after the k pg boundary this time period matches well with that required for the recovery of terrestrial floras from the k pg mass extinction to those with diversity equivalent to the late cretaceous suggesting that the n alkane signals are also likely affected by the plant diversification process after the mass extinction

stable carbon isotope record of terrestrial organic materials for the last 450 ma yr abstract the timing and magnitude of carbon isotope excursions is essential for understanding the global transfer of carbon among the oceansland and atmosphere numerous studies have focused on data collection of stable carbon isotopes 13c from marine sediments and by extension to the atmosphere but many fewer systematic studies have been conducted on land plants over long time intervals we pursued three approaches to determining stable carbon isotope trends for the past 450 ma yr from c3 plants 13cp in 5 ma yr time steps first a compilation of 6888 13cp values from ten carbon sources from the literature average 24 6 1 7 isoorg data base the second approach assumes the 13cp is controlled primarily by the 13c of atmospheric co2 13ca and subsequent isotopic fractionation from diffusion and carboxylation during photosynthesis mod1 the third approach assumes changes in atmospheric co2 concentration pco2 causes physiological driven isotopic fractionation during photosynthesis when pco2 is greater than average holocene conditions mod2 compared to isoorg and mod1 mod2 reveals lower 13cp by up to 6 during periods when pco2 is elevated as secular governors of 13cp the 13ca and pco2 are most influential when they are directional and amplify the isotopic signal despite potential influences from local and regional environmental conditions and averaging the 13cp of multiple plant sources in many of the 5 ma yr age bins ten positive carbon isotopic excursions pcies are identified in isoorg of this study most of the excursions occurred during cool to glacial conditions or ocean anoxic events one prominent negative isotopic excursion ensued from 260 to 240 ma yr which may have been a response to oxidation of light c methane outbursts volcanic eruptions or bolide impact

magnetostratigraphic and biostratigraphic correlation of late campanian and maastrichtian marine and continental strata from the red deer valley to the cypress hills alberta canada two stratigraphic sequences red deer valley and cypress hills sections in alberta spanning the late campanian to paleocene are magnetostratigraphically and biostratigraphically characterized the red deer valley section had previously been studied but additional material has allowed the extension of the magnetozonation downwards into the bearpaw formation higher sample resolution has allowed the identification of a number of magnetosubzones in 32n 32r and 33n four reversed magnetosubzones have been identified in magnetozone 32n in addition to the one presently recognized in geomagnetic polarity time scales one normal subzone in 32r and one reversed subzone in 33n have also been recorded the 32r 33n boundary is shown to occur in the baculites cuneatus zone the campanian maastrichtian boundary is indicated to be at or near the baculites eliasi baculites baculus boundary at the top of 32n comparisons of the biostratigraphy between the two areas indicate that palynomorph ranges differ from data p

introduction to the special issue commemorating the 30th anniversary of the royal tyrrell museum of palaeontology with a summary of the museum s early history and its research contributions located just west of drumheller in southern alberta canada the royal tyrrell museum of palaeontology rtmp is nestled among outcrops of the upper cretaceous horseshoe canyon formation exposed along the red deer river valley fig 1 since it officially opened on 25 september 19851 the museum has become one of alberta s must see tourist attractions a significant contributor to the local economy and earned an international reputation for the quality of its palaeontological collections and the research conducted by its scientists the rtmp is unique within canada in being the only government supported museum dedicated to palaeontology and it is one of the few such institutions in the world fig 1 the royal tyrrell museum of palaeontology a front of museum and main entrance circa 2010 looking westwards and with horizontal beds of the upper cretaceous horseshoe canyon formation exposed in the walls of the red deer river valley in the distance b aerial photograph oblique angle and looking to the north northeast the museum sits on top of the number 7 coal seam sensu gibson 1977 and at the base of the horsethief member of the horseshoe canyon formation d a eberth pers comm 2015 that stratigraphic position correlates with an age of about 71 5 ma i e late campanian and lies within the upper part of the edmontosaurus regalis pachyrhinosaurus canadensis dinosaur assemblage zone see eberth et al 2013 fig 6 c the iconic running theropod logo that until recently graced the exterior of the museum below a life sized tyrannosaurid sculpture by brian cooley one of many such sculptures by cooley that have been featured at the museum since its opening in 1985 and with the education wing opened in 2003 as the atco tyrrell learning centre in the background d the cretaceous alberta life sized diorama opened in 2007 an example of a rtmp exhibit that relies heavily on discoveries and interpretations by museum researchers in this case work done in the albertosaurus bonebed and at other localities throughout the horseshoe canyon formation all photographs courtesy of the royal tyrrell museum of palaeontology this special issue of the canadian journal of earth sciences presents a collection of papers commemorating the rtmp s 30th or pearl anniversary our rationale for doing a 30th anniversary volume was two fold first it is an opportunity to showcase the breadth of research conducted by current and former museum scientists as well as by some colleagues having a history of collaboration with the rtmp the 13 invited papers included in this volume are a mix of review and original research papers all thematically focused on the geology and palaeontology of alberta to varying degrees each contribution is the result of work supported by the rtmp and relies on specimens housed in the museum s collections second the 30th anniversary is an opportunity to reflect on the rtmp s history and its research program as is typical for most institutions the rtmp has done little to formally document its own history this year likely will be the last major milestone for which the original generation of museum staff are still working and available to share their recollections about the museum fieldwork and research already deaths and departures have winnowed away part of the original

high resolution organic carbon isotope record across the cretaceous tertiary boundary in south central alberta implications for the post impact recovery rate of terrestrial ecosystems and use of δ13c as a boundary marker a high resolution study identified a 13 c excursion of 1 8 to 2 3 in terrestrial organic matter across the cretaceous tertiary k t boundary at two localities in the scollard formation of south central alberta one of the northernmost occurrences of the k t boundary in terrestrial settings 13 c values are at their lowest within 6 cm above the k t boundary claystone and return to pre boundary levels within 10 cm above the boundary claystone statistical analyses reveal that the k t isotopic shift in alberta is related to the nature of floral changes that occurred across the k t boundary a radiometrically dated bentonite resting on the boundary hosting nevis coal at one of the localities permits us to estimate that the terrestrial carbon cycle recovered 100 000 years after the k t boundary event a value that supports an existing hypothesis that terrestrial ecosystems recovered more rapidly than marine ecosystems the organic carbon isotope record of the entire scollard formation demonstrates that the 13 c excursion across the k t boundary did not reach anomalously low values by late maastrichtian standards in alberta furthermore the occurrence of the k t carbon isotope shift within a restricted stratigraphic interval 10 cm greatly limits the probability of its preservation in the context of terrestrial sedimentary environments these observations suggest that on their own 13 c profiles may be unreliable for locating the k t boundary and possibly other geologically instantaneous events and that they should be used in combination with other approaches e g palynology to identify the k t boundary in sections lacking the boundary claystone and iridium anomaly resume une etude de haute resolution a identifie une excursion isotopique 13 c varient entre 1 8 et 2 3 dans

maastrichtian paleocene foreland basin stratigraphies western canada a reciprocal sequence architecture palynological and magnetostratigraphic chronostratigraphic correlations of lower maastrichtian to paleocene strata along an east west western canada basin transect allow for the recognition of a reciprocal sequence architecture in nonmarine strata reference sections include three canadian continental drilling program cretaceous tertiary boundary project core holes and outcrops in alberta southern saskatchewan and north central montana the spatial and temporal position of the third order sequences provides evidence for the correlation of proximal sector regional disconformities and sedimentary wedges with distal sector sedimentary wedges and regional disconformities respectively the boundary between the two sectors is represented by a hingeline which separates the foreland basin syncline from the peripheral bulge the stratigraphies defined by reciprocal third order sequences are complicated by fourth order boundaries developed within proximal sedimentary wedges and with no correlative distal strata these results support tectonic control on foreland basin sedimentation a model for interpreting the various types of sequences in terms of foreland basin evolution vertical tectonics and orogenic cycles is provided it is argued that nonmarine sequence boundaries times of maximum uplift in the foreland region may be expressed as disconformities incised valleys top of mature paleosol levels or base of fluvial channels whereas nonmarine equivalents of marine maximum flooding surfaces times of maximum basinal subsidence may be indicated by extensive coal seams and or lacustrine sediments resume les correlations palynologiques magnetostratigraphiques et chronostratigraphiques des strates echelonnees du maastrichtien inferieur au paleocene le long du transect est ouest du bassin de la cordillere occidentale au canada permettent la reconnaissance d une ordonnance architecturale de sequences reciproques dans les strates continentales les coupes de reference incluent trois trous de forage carottes du canadian continental drilling program cretaceous tertiary boundary project et des affleurements localises en alberta dans le sud de la saskatchewan et dans le centre nord du montana la position spatiale et temporelle des sequences de troisieme ordre plaide pour la mise en correlation des discordances regionales et des depots sedimentaires en coin dans le secteur proximal avec les depots sedimentaires en coin et les discordances regionales dans le secteur distal respectivement une ligne de jonction represente la limite entre les deux secteurs qui separe le bassin d avant pays en forme de cuvette du bombement peripherique les stratigraphies definies par les sequences de troisieme ordre reciproques sont embrouillees par les limites de quatrieme ordre developpees au sein des depots sedimentaires en coin proximaux sans la presence de strates distales correlatives ces resultats appuient la these d un controle tectonique sur le bassin sedimentaire d avant pays on presente ici un modele interpretant les divers types de sequences en termes d evolution d un bassin d avant pays de tectonique verticale et de cycles orogeniques nous tentons de demontrer que les discordances les vallees entaillees les horizons sommitaux de paleosols matures ou la base des chenaux fluviaux peuvent aider a definir les limites des sequences continentales periodes de soulevement maximum dans la region de l avant pays tandis que les couches de charbon etendues et ou les sediments lacustres representent plutot les equivalents continentaux des aires d inondation maximale periodes de subsidence maximum du bassin traduit par la redaction catuneanu and sweet 703

a paleoclimatic and paleoatmospheric record from peatlands accumulating during the cretaceous paleogene boundary event western interior basin canada petrological and 13 c analyses were undertaken on contiguous specimens of coal and intercalated minor organic rich clastic sediments collected from coal seams spanning the cretaceous paleogene boundary in the alberta and saskatchewan portions of the western interior basin the generally high smectite content of the coal suggests that the original mires were largely small disconnected and rheotrophic readily receiving abundant waterborne detrital clastic material of largely volcanic origin nevertheless using the distinctive claystone that marks the cretaceous paleogene boundary as a regional datum it is possible to correlate cycles in the vitrinite and inertinite composition of the coals over 500 km estimates of peat accumulation rates suggest that the cycles in vitrinite and inertinite composition represent regional cyclic fluctuations in wildfire and oxidation of the peatlands and overlying canopy at a frequency of hundreds to thousands of years the likely causes of these fluctuations were cyclic regional scale changes in temperature the cretaceous paleogene boundary event occurred early during a phase of gradually increasing temperature and or decreasing rainfall but peak wildfire and desiccation of peat occurred up to 14 000 yr later than the cretaceous paleogene boundary and the mires did not experience significant water stress in the immediate aftermath of the extinction event a persistent 1 5 3 0 negative 13 c excursion occurs across the cretaceous paleogene boundary but it cannot be readily separated from four further negative excursions later in the earliest danian the negative carbon isotope excursion linked to the cretaceous paleogene boundary began a few hundred years before the event itself and recovery occurred within 21 k y and possibly in as little as just a few thousand years consistent with recently calibrated shallow marine 13 c records hence the atmospheric and surface ocean carbon pools were coupled at this time the absence of evidence for catastrophic change in the climatic regime at the time of the cretaceous paleogene extinction in these mires supports the notion that the negative shift in atmospheric 13 c was brought about by changes in the 13 c composition of the surface ocean this is consistent with the greater magnitude of extinction experienced by marine fauna relative to the terrestrial realm

towards quantitative evaluation of gas injection using time lapse seismic data of particular concern in the monitoring of gas injection for the purposes of storage disposal or improved oil recovery is the exact spatial distribution of the gas volumes in the subsurface in principle this requirement is addressed by the use of 4d seismic data although it is recognized that the seismic response still largely provides a qualitative estimate of moved subsurface fluids exact quantitative evaluation of fluid distributions and associated saturations remains a challenge to be solved here an attempt has been made to produce mapped quantitative estimates of the gas volume injected into a clastic reservoir despite good results using three accurately repeated seismic surveys time delay and amplitude attributes reveal fine scale differences though large scale agreement in the estimated fluid movement these differences indicate disparities in the nature of the two attributes themselves which can be explained by several possible causes of most impact are the effects of processing and migration wave interference effects and noise from non repeatability of the seismic surveys this subject highlights the need for a more careful consideration in 4d acquisition amplitude processing and use of true amplitude preserving attributes in quantitative interpretation

geological setting of vertebrate microfossil localities across the cretaceous paleogene boundary in southwestern saskatchewan canada the frenchman and ravenscrag formations of southwestern saskatchewan canada record an apparently continuous sequence of nonmarine clastic sediments across the cretaceous paleogene k pg boundary extensive exposures of these fossil rich sediments occur in the frenchman river valley near the towns of ravenscrag eastend and shaunavon and have been a focus of study since the 1970s despite this long history of investigation a comprehensive account of the geographic and stratigraphic positions of many of the significant fossil localities has yet to be published given this state of affairs the goals of this paper are to i document the geographic locations stratigraphic positions and lithologies of 11 key vertebrate microfossil localities including several new localities that have been recently discovered and ii provide an update on the status of these fossil localities the majority of which have not been sampled in the last 20 years four fossil localities are known from the lower paleocene

new constraints on early tertiary palaeoproductivity from carbon isotopes in foraminifera one of the most pronounced features of marine sections at the cretaceous tertiary k t boundary is the negative excursion in biogenic carbonate 13c in the early tertiary carbon isotope record1 9 the coincidence of this excursion with the elimination of many marine plankton species supports predictions that large scale reduction of primary productivity in the oceans would disrupt the biological carbon pump resulting in a diminished surf ace to deep 13c gradient10 13c carbonate accumulation rates and other geochemical indices support the idea that the oceans were less productive in the early palaeocene9 here we present carbon isotope analyses of individual species of benthic and planktonic foraminifera spanning the k t boundary in oop hole 690c weddell sea antarctica which demonstrate that primary productivity following the k t extinctions may not have diminished to the extent or for the duration indicated by previous isotope studies the magnitude of the 13c gradient change is dependent on the species analysed reflecting differing depths of calcification seasonal contrasts and or disequilibrium effects the lack of any change in benthic 13c at the k t boundary indicates that the antarctic may not have been a significant source of deep water during the early palaeocene contrary to previous suggestion11 13

elemental and stable isotope variations of organic matter from a terrestrial sequence containing the cretaceous tertiary boundary at york canyon new mexico abstract elemental and isotopic composition of organic matter from a terrestrial sequence including the palynological cretaceous tertiary k t boundary together with an ir anomaly at york canyon new mexico record information about paleoclimatological and environmental conditions six layers of coal carbonaceous shale and mudstone with high contents of organic material were selected for analysis a late cretaceous coal bed 10 m below the k t boundary and an early tertiary coal bed containing the k t iridium anomaly at its base were sampled intensively in the lower bed the isotopic ratios 13 c 12 c 15 n 14 n andd h and the elemental ratios c n andn h all varied sympathetically with one another over depth in contrast in the upper coal layer only the d h c n andn h ratios showed some coupling immediately above the k t boundary the 13 c values displayed a long term shift of 1 8 to more negative values while the hydrogen isotope ratios in these samples did not change significantly we interpret the covariations in both coal layers as sympathetic responses of the isotopic and elemental ratios to climatic and environmental changes as have been observed for younger sedimentary organic matter the long term 13 c shift during the early tertiary is similar to the trend observed for 13 c values of marine carbonates our data thus support the proposal that the carbon cycle was perturbed globally by the effects of a drastically decreased marine bioproductivity along the k t transition the uncoupling of variations in the climatically sensitive isotopic and elemental ratios seen in the early tertiary coal bed provides evidence for major geochemical and environmental changes in the york canyon area at the end of the mesozoic on the other hand the constancy of d values in the organic matter deposited at and above the k t boundary gives no indication of significant changes in the hydrologic climatic regimes as recorded in the d h ratios at the site for several thousand years following the event which produced the high ir concentrations our results provide constraints on models that have been advanced to explain that event and its consequences

late cretaceous to early tertiary magnetostratigraphy of a continental sequence red deer valley alberta canada the red deer valley exposes a conformable 350 m thick late campanian to early paleocene fluvial deltaic coal bearing sequence named the edmonton group systematic sampling and paleomagnetic analysis of the dominant lithologies mudstones sandstones and shales were carried out over five sections correlated by coal seams to provide some 500 sites stratigraphic levels primary detrital remanent magnetization directions after alternating field cleaning produce a polarity reversal pattern correlatable to sea floor magnetic anomalies 29 33 the campanian maastrichtian boundary based upon the first appearance of wodehouseia and the maastrichtian paleocene cretaceous tertiary boundary based upon an ir anomaly associated with dinosaur and cretaceous palynofloral extinctions correlate closely magnetostratigraphically with the marine foraminiferal section at gubbio italy radiometric dating of bentonites has indicated the ages of these boundaries to be approximately 71 and 64 ma respectively