Park Paleontology Vo l u m e 7 N u m b e r 2

Fall 2 0 0 3

National Park Service

U.S. Department of the Interior

Table of Contents

Park Paleontology 1

Geologic Resources Division, Paleontology Program

Pleistocene Fossils from Joshua Tree

National Park,California: the 2003 Pinto

Basin Expedition ............................ 1

Exciting New Paleontological Finds at

Petrified Forest National Park ......... .2

The Oregon Caves Fossil Jaguar ...... 3

Hagerman Fossil Beds Helps Kick Off the

Summer Season with Fossil Days Celebration

...................................................4

Resurvey of the White River Group Sites in

Wind Cave National Park ...............6

Paleontological reconnaisance of the

Frederika Formation, Wrangell-St. Elias

National Park and Preserve, southeastern

Alaska..........................................7

outcrop with several complete skeletal

elements from a small juvenile camel.

Camels and horses dominate the

overall assemblage, but a small

carnivore incisor and a fragment of

possible proboscidean tooth ñ both new

records for the area ñ were also

recovered.

Sediments yielding the vertebrate

fossils consist of well-bedded lacustrine

sandstones, siltstones and claystones

exposed as low bluffs in Pinto Basin.

These deposits interfinger with local

basalt flows dating to the Pliocene

Epoch, but the morphology of some of

the more identifiable vertebrate fossils ñ

particularly teeth and tooth portions of

extinct horse, Equus ñ suggest a

Eric Scott

Section of Geological Studies

San Bernardino County Museum

2024 Orange Tree Lane

Redlands, California 92374

In January and early February of 2003,

paleontologists from the San

Bernardino County Museum (SBCM) in

Redlands, California visited the Pinto

Basin in Joshua Tree National Park,

Riverside County, California to survey

for and collect Pleistocene vertebrate

fossils. The study was initially set in

motion by Greg McDonald of the

National Park Service (NPS), who

visited the region in 2001 and noted

vertebrate fossils ñ including a partial

camel metapodial ñ eroding out of a

small arroyo. Thanks to Gregís efforts,

and to the support of the staff of

Joshua Tree National Park (JOTR), the

SBCM soon arranged to have a team in

the field to retrace Gregís steps and

relocate the fossils heíd observed.

The field efforts paid off handsomely,

resulting in the recovery of a veritable

bonanza of vertebrate remains, as well

as the promise of more fossils to be

uncovered. Not only did the SBCM

team relocate and GPS Greg

McDonaldís initial locality, they found

abundant fossils and fossil fragments

scattered over several miles of outcrop.

Many of the recovered specimens were

relatively fragmentary, often exhibiting

spiral fractures indicative of ìgreenî

bone breakage, but some specimens

were relatively complete. Kathleen

Springer, Senior Curator of Geological

Sciences for the SBCM and leader of

the field team, found one localized

Pleistocene Fossils from Joshua Tree National

Park, California: the 2003 Pinto Basin Expedition

Eric Scott, a paleontologist from the San Bernardino County Museum collects fossil

bone fragments from an outcrop of lacustrine sediments in the Pinto Basin, Joshua

Tree National Park, California. Note the GPS receiver used to record positional data

for the locality.

Pleistocene age for the lacustrine

exposures.

continued on page 2
2 Park Paleontology

Exciting New

Paleontological Finds at

Petrified Forest National

Park

Bill Parker

Petrified Forest National Park

P.O. Box 2217

Petrified Forest, Arizona 86028-2217

As the last of the summer monsoons

move away in the distance, and the

cooling winds and rains dissipate leaving

Arizona hot and muggy, it is a good time

to reflect upon the past summer field

season. The interns have gone and now

it is time for the real work to begin,

preparation and curation of fossils,

updating the locality databases, putting

field notes in order, and generally just

preserving the record of all that has been

accomplished over the last few months.

Since initiation of our paleontological

survey in the summer of 2001 we have

made numerous important finds in the

field but never have we has a season as

successful as the summer of 2003, which

could even rival the field seasons of

Charles Camp from the 1920s! Routine

fossil prospecting at PEFO generally turns

up multitudes of scrappy phytosaur and

amphibian material, most of it of minor

importance and undiagnostic.

Occasionally, the rare partial skeleton of

Fieldwork – Interns Michelle Stocker (L)

and Jeff Shuman (R) taking a break from

excavating a metoposaur clavicle.

Pinto Basin has long been known to be

the site of vertebrate fossils. In 1935,

Elizabeth and William Campbell

reported on the archaeological

evidence at the site and briefly

mentioned the presence of mineralized

vertebrate bones ñ mainly horse and

camel, as with the assemblage

recovered by the SBCM. These

authors noted that the fossils appeared

to be derived from somewhat older

sediments than the cultural materials,

but nevertheless proposed that the

artifacts and the vertebrate fossils

might potentially be coincident

temporally as well as geographically. In

1972, paleontologist George Jefferson

conducted detailed field investigations

iin the area, and confirmed that the

fossils were separated by a distinct

depositional hiatus from the younger,

overlying cultural materials. Despite

this promising history, however,

subsequent investigations ñ including

those by archaeologist Adella Schroth

of the SBCM ñ have concentrated upon

the artifacts from the region rather than

the fossils.

The next step will be for the SBCM and

JTNP to develop and implement a plan

to more fully manage and interpret

these paleontologic resources, so that

these rare and significant remains are

not lost to the elements. JTNP has an

excellent track record of preserving

geological, biological, and cultural

resources; including paleontologic

resources in the management plan will

enable a more richly detailed picture of

the evolution of this unique corner of

southern California.

Additional Reading

Trent, D.D. and Richard W. Hazlett,

2002. Joshua Tree National Park

Geology. Twentynine Palms: Joshua Tree

National Park Association: 64 pp.

Close-up of the wearing surface of an exploded horse tooth eroding from lacustrine

deposits in the Pinto Basin. The length and shape of the protocone (indicated) of

this tooth suggest that this is probably a Pleistocene horse; earlier Pliocene horses

has shorter, more rounded protocones.

one of these animals will be discovered

or maybe a small bit of a rarer animal

such as a dinosaur or some of the poorly

known smaller archosauromorph reptiles.

Even more frustrating is the lack of good

phytosaur skulls. It seemed that every

major institution had traveled to this area

in the 1930s and 40s to get a good skull

for their collections and were consistently

never disappointed. Notable

paleontologists such as Charles Camp,

Charles Gilmore, and Ned Colbert came

in, set up camp, and within a few days

had found their prized skull. Amazingly,

a well preserved phytosaur skull had not

been discovered and collected from the

park since 1985. Last season (2002) saw

the discovery of a plethora of aetosaur

material including the partial skeleton of

Stagonolepis wellesi, but as far as for

new taxa and phytosaur skulls, new

discoveries have been wanting.

continued on page 3
Park Paleontology 3

Sacrum – Archosaur sacrum in the field

discovered by PEFO interns

Leptosuchus – View of new skull being

prepared.

This season appeared to be immediately

promising in March when a phytosaur

skull was discovered in the northwestern

portion of the park. This specimen was

excavated by our group of paleontology

interns in May. Preliminary preparation

has shown it to be a complete skull of

the phytosaur Leptosuchus, and just as

important, this specimen represents one

of the highest stratigraphic occurrences

of this taxon. This four foot long skull

was encased in solid sandstone. It was

chiseled out with small hand tools and

then the resultant 200+ pound block

was carried several miles to where we

could pick it up with a four wheel drive

vehicle. Who says paleontology is no

fun?

About the same time the skull was

discovered, an aetosaur plate was

recovered from the southern end of the

park. Subsequent analysis has

determined this to belong to a new

taxon of aetosaur, which will be formally

described in the near future. In addition,

in May, another aetosaur plate was

found belonging to a taxon that was

only described just recently from

northern New Mexico.

In June, our interns discovered jaw

fragments of a very large individual of

the archosauromorph Trilophosaurus.

Although somewhat common in the

Triassic of the American southwest, this

find represented the first skull material

collected from this animal in Petrified

Forest National Park. Previous to this, its

occurrence in the park had only been

documented by a few caudal vertebrae.

Spurred on by this sensational find we

revisited the area where these vertebrae

had been found in the 1980s and within

a few minutes had discovered another

partial Trilophosaurus skeleton. As if this

was not enough to keep us busy for a

time, a couple of days later the crew

discovered a partial skeleton of the

enigmatic diapsid reptile Vancleavea.

This material will certainly add to our

knowledge of this animal and hopefully

corroborate some recent hypothesis

about the morphology of this animal.

Thank goodness we have our new

preparation lab up and running.

As the summer started to wind down

and the departure date for the interns

crept closer we decided to take one

more trek into the northwestern portion

of the park where the phytosaur skull

had been discovered the previous March.

Happily, I’d like to report that another

potential skull was discovered. It has yet

to be collected but will certainly extend

my “summer” through the Fall. Of

course I have the Winter and Spring to

finish preparation of thess specimens,

write up new interpretive materials,

present these finds in the paleontological

literature, and of course, gear up for the

next field season. Anyone free next

summer?

The Oregon Caves Fossil

 Jaguar

Kevin Seymour

Department of Paleobiology

Royal Ontario Museum

Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 2C6

The jaguar (Panthera onca), the largest new

world cat, was once part of the native fauna

of the USA, with historical records from

Arizona, New Mexico, California and Texas,

and possibly a few other states. Other than

some recent records of probable releases of

captive animals, this species is extirpated

from the USA, although it is still on the

Endangered Species list (check). Few

people know, however, that during the last

Ice Ages, the jaguar was much more

widespread. Fossil material documents this

species as being present throughout much of

the USA, from West Virginia and

Pennsylvania to Florida in the east, through

Nebraska, Nevada and California in the

west. It is much more common in the east,

especially from Florida where there are

almost 40 known localities, with few records

from west. The most northerly material

recorded so far consists of a few scraps of

bone from Oregon (Lake Co. and Malheur

Co.), which are barely enough to document

the presence of this species. During my

research I have re-identified the one record

from the state of Washington as being from

another fossil cat species.

So it was with great interest that I heard of

a skeleton of a jaguar from Oregon Caves

National Monument. The specimen was

found by Physical Science Technician Steve

Knutson. The difficult access to the

specimen made it hard to see for a positive

identification and initially it was thought to

be a bear because of its large size and bear

bones have been commonly found in other

parts of the cave. Natural Resources

Specialist John Roth contacted Greg

McDonald, then at Hagerman Fossil Beds,

continued on page 4

Maxilla of the skull of the jaguar from

Oregon Caves National Monument with

skull of modern mountain lion for

comparison.

and requested that he work with the park to

determine what animal the partial skeleton

represented. The recovery of the skull and

jaws allowed an immediate identification

that the skeleton was of a large cat. The

skull and jaw along with other

representative bones were collected and

Greg showed me these specimens at the

annual meetings of the Society of

Vertebrate Paleontology where I was able to

confirm his initial identification that they

were from a jaguar.

Fossil jaguar skeletons are exceedingly rare.

Only five localities so far have produced
4 Park Paleontology

Hagerman Fossil Beds

Helps Kick Off the

Summer Season with

Fossil Days Celebration

Every Memorial Day weekend the town of

Hagerman Idaho starts off the summer

with their traditonal Fossil Days Celebration. Activites include a parade and a

activites in the city park including live

bands. Hagerman Fossils Beds is an active

participant and provides tours of the

monument and educational activites for

children in the city park as part of the

festivities.

Hagerman Fossil Beds superintendent,

Neil King, and Lonnie Johnson, unit

manager of Malad Gorge State Park,

keeping “track” of visitors at a booth

where children made plaster copies of

animal tracks.

Visitor looking for horse bones in the

sand box at the monument visitor center

.

Monument paleontologist, Phil Gensler,

giving a tour of the Smithsonian Horse

Quarry to visitors.

partial skeletons, and all are from eastern

USA or Texas; as yet no complete

specimen has been found. To date, only

part of the Oregon Cave specimen has

been removed from the cave so it is not

possible to say how complete it is,

although the individual bones are well

preserved. While the skull was removed in

pieces, both of the maxillae (upper jaw

bones) and the braincase were recovered

and can be measured and compared with

other fossil jaguars as part of its study.

None of the jaguar fossils previously found

have been carbon dated yet, so the age of

these specimens have to be determined by

their associated fossils. Based on our

current knowledge, none of the North

American jaguars appear to be older than

about 1 million years old, so all are from

the Pleistocene time period.

I have studied recent jaguar museum

specimens from throughout their range and

have discerned several patterns. On

average, males are larger than females

and depending on the particular

measurement, female jaguars are on the

average between 10% and 20% smaller

than males. This difference in size is called

sexual dimorphism. Jaguars are most

dimorphic in their eyeteeth, or canines.

Also, the largest living jaguars exist in the

most southerly portions of the present

range of this species, in southern Brazil and

northern Argentina.

Fossil jaguars in North America tend to be

larger than most living jaguars although

there is some overlap with the largest race

from southern Brazil. Geologically

speaking, the older specimens tend to be

larger than the younger ones. This speaks

of a size change through time for this

species. However, the whole animal did

not change at the same rate. The limb

bones shrunk proportionately more than did

the teeth or skull, leaving the living species

relatively larger headed and shorter limbed

Fossils and Caves

The National Park Service manages over

3,600 caves in 79 units. Caves and karst

related features include sinkholes, solution

caves as well as other features associated

with karst and lava tubes. A servicewide

survey and inventory of paleontological

resources in caves documented fossils

preserved in 35 park areas. Cave related

paleontolgical resources fall into two

categories - fossils preserved in the cave

forming bedrock like limestone and fossils that

accumulated in the cave after it was formed.

Copies of the study:

An Inventory of Paleontological Resources

Associated with National Park Service Caves

by V.L. Santucci, J. Kenworthy and R. Kerbo is

available through the Geologic Resoruces

Division of the National Park Service

Distribution of fossil jaguars in North

America. Red dot is Oregon Cave and

green area is the modern jaguar

distribution. Map modified from

FAUNMAP, 1994.

compared to their oldest Ice Age ancestors.

The Oregon Caves individual appears to best

compare with the youngest fossil material, in

that its limb and foot bones are relatively

short, although its teeth are not that small.

This suggests to me it might have been a

male. Although there are some older faunal

elements found in this cave, the proportions

of this skeleton suggest that it may not

belong with these. In other words, this

animal could have come into the cave and

died there at a later time than the rest of the

material preserved there. Parts of the

skeleton were covered with travertine but

attempts to obtain a uranium date from the

travertine were inconclusive. Given the size

and proportions of the animal it is possible

that it is young enough to permit carbon 14

dating (it may be less than 50,000 years).

Research on this important specimen

continues.

Additional Reading

Hoogesteijn, R. and E. Mondolfi. 1993. The

jaguar. Armitano Editores, Caracas,

Venezuela. 183 pp.

de Oliveira, T.G. 1994. Neotropical Cats,

Ecology and Conservation. Edufma, Sao Luis,

Brazil. 220 pp.

Rabinowitz, A. 1986. Jaguar: One Man’s

Struggle to Establish the World’s First Jaguar

Preserve. Arbor House, 368 pp.

Seymour, K.L. 1989. Panthera onca.

Mammalian Species 340:1-9.

Seymour,K.L. 1993. Size change in North

American Quaternary jaguars. pp. 343-372

in R.A. Martin and A.D. Barnosky (eds.).

Morphological Change in Quaternary

Mammals of North America. Cambridge

University Press.
Park Paleontology 5

Closeup of coquina from the Anastasia

Formation used in the construction of

Castillo de San Marcos showng the

fragments of fossil shells.

Aerial view of Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine Florida. Built by Spain from

1672 to 1695 the present fort is constructed of blocks of coquina and replaced nine

successive wooden forts which had protected the city since its founding in 1565.

Photo courtesy of Castillo de San Marcos National Monument.

Fossils and Forts

The fort at St. Augustine, Florida, Castillo

de San Marcos was built in 1695 using a

local rock called coquina. Coquina is a

term used to describe a sedimentary rock

that is composed primarily of water-worn

shell fragments, which in some localities

are cemented to form a firm rock, but

elsewhere may be slightly or not at all

cemented. The most common shell is of

a small clam of the genus Donax but

oyster fragments are present as are

pieces of a large snail, Busycon. Some

sand is frequently included in this

formation and the cementing material is

calcite. This particular shell deposit is

called the Anastasia Formation and is

found along the east coast of Florida.

The thickness of the deposit varies and

near St. Augustine the coquina is over 30

feet thick. The deposit formed during

the Pleistocene and has been dated at

110 ka in the Cape Kennedy area.

While coquina was used to build many

houses and other structures by the

Spanish its use in the construction of the

fort was particularly advantageous. The

rock is rather flexible and not brittle so

did not readily crack during shelling by

enemy ships, so cannon balls would

bounce off the castle walls without

causing major damage. Who would

have thought that fossil shells from the

Ice Age would be just the right material

to stand up to heavy shelling.

Name the Fossil Park

Fossils are found in many parks that we don’t think of as being a “fossil” park. Can

you name this park that has extensive formations of marine rocks from the

Cretaceous? Hint: It’s named after a Portuguese explorer.

Answer on page 7

Do you have a photo of a fossil in a national park or monument you would like to submit?

Contact the editor of Park Paleontology Newsletter.

Inset: An example of one of the

fossil shells found in the Cretaceous

sediments in this park. Photos

courtesy of Bruce Nash.
6 Park Paleontology

Resurvey of the White

River Group Sites in

Wind Cave National

Park

Rodney D. Horrocks

Cave Management Specialist

Wind Cave National Park

R.R. 1, Box 190

Hot Springs, South Dakota 57747-9430

Rod_Horrocks@nps.gov

605-745-1158

In July, the National Park Service’s

Paleontological coordinator, Dr. Greg

McDonald, was invited to Wind Cave

National Park to help resurvey and

further document a group of

Paleontological sites found in the White

River Group of deposits known as the

Klukas sites. Fossils in these Oligoceneaged sites were first discovered in 1985

by a Park biologist named Rich Klukas,

and then investigated by Dr. James

Martin from the South Dakota School of

Mines and Technology the following year.

Dr. Martin identified seven sites in the

soft siltstones and claystones. He found

that these deposits also contain minor

sandstone channel deposits as well as

freshwater lake deposits. He determined

that these sediments represent the Scenic

Member of the Brule Formation, part of

the White River Group that is extensively

exposed in the Big Badlands to the east.

What makes these sites significant is their

elevation, as they are nearly 1,500 feet

higher than the same aged deposits in

Badlands National Park. Researchers were

very interested in determining if this

elevation difference was due to recent

uplift or if the sediments were essentially

in situ. In an attempt to answer this

question, Dr. Martin analyzed the fauna

from these seven sites to determine if

elevation was reflected in the faunal

distribution. His analysis revealed

numerous gastropods in the white, ashy

siltstones of these sites. He also found

evidence of plant, turtle, lizard, snake,

insectivore, rabbit, rodent, canid, and

ungulates. This preliminary assessment

found that the Wind Cave National Park

fauna is identical to the Big Badlands and

that elevation had no apparent effect.

He announced these discoveries in a

paper presented at the 1994 Geological

Society of America titled, “Oligocene

Fossils from Higher Elevations in the Black

Hills, Wind Cave National Park, South

Dakota”.

A field crew from Wind Cave National Park and the Mammoth Site of Hot

Springs, resurvey the Klukas Paleo Sites in Wind Cave National Park. These

Oligocene-aged sites probably represent the Brule Formation, with a fauna

similar to that found in Badlands National Park.

Because it has been 17 years since Dr.

Martin had checked on the condition of

these sites, this resurvey was organized to

determine if any new material was being

weathered out of these easily eroded

hillsides. Although Dr. Martin was out of

the country and unavailable, the

Geologic Resource Division allowed Dr.

Greg McDonald to participate in our

survey. In addition, as part of a

continuing working relationship

developed over the previous six months

with the Mammoth Site in nearby Hot

Springs, two of their employees were

invited to join us for this project. This

included their geologist, Kris Thompson,

and their Curator, Olga Patopova.

In addition to a visual resurvey of each

site, we identified several other tasks that

needed to be completed to finish

documenting these important sites. For

each site, this included completing a

Paleontological Locality Form – Exhibit 2

from NPS 77, photographic

documentation, GPS location, and

evaluation of the sites condition. The

evaluation portion would help us reach

our GPRA goal for the year, which calls

for us to see that one of the park’s paleo

sites is in good condition. Finally, we gave

our GIS specialist, Bill Konserak, an

opportunity to get out of the office by

joining our survey and helping us with

the GIS & GPS portion of the project.

We were able to quickly locate each of

the seven sites and in the process

documented three additional sites.

Because prairie grasslands obscure most

of the White River deposits in the park,

fossil observations are limited to

sediment exposed by small slump scarps,

buffalo wallows, road cuts, or burrows.

Although the extensive grasslands found

in the park certainly obscure some paleo

resources, they also probably prevent

illicit collecting. This is due to three

factors: 1) there are very limited numbers

of exposures available 2) all of these

exposures have been thoroughly

collected and 3) all of these sites are now

part of a periodic resurvey project

intended to catch any new material that

might weather out.

Although our presence at these sites was

recorded by significant footprints in the

soft siltstones and claystones, a rain event

a couple of days after our survey

completely erased any evidence of our

passing. This would seem to indicate that

fossils can erode out of these sediments

in a relatively short time period, the rapid

weathering of the claystone indicates

that paleo surveys will have to be

conducted more often than a 17 year

interval. The park will work with Dr.

McDonald to establish a timeline for

these periodic resurveys.

In looking at the geology of the area, we

determined that several of the

freshwater limestone lenses that Dr.

Martin used as marker beds could

probably be tied together and a

stratigraphic column created for the

whole sequence of Orellan-aged

deposits. We identified this as a research

topic that we would like to pursue,
Park Paleontology 7

possibly with a student from the South

Dakota School of Mines and Technology.

After completing the site evaluations, we

noticed that all the sites scored between

50 and 90 points on the “Paleontology

Locality Condition Evaluation Form”.

This indicates that these sites are

considered to be in marginal condition,

with some management actions needed

to improve their condition. These actions

will probably include some emergency

collecting of weathered out specimens

and additional periodic surveys.

This resurvey project was very successful.

Not only did we better document the

White River Group of sites in the park,

but we also strengthened our working

relationship with the nearby Mammoth

Site, and we developed management

actions that will better protect these sites

in the future.

Additional Reading

Chronic, H. 1984. Pages of Stone,

Geology of Western National Parks and

Monuments 1: Rocky Mountains and

Western Great Plains. The Mountaineers,

Seattle, 168 pp.

O’Harra, C.C. 1920. The White River

Badlands. South Dakota School of Mines

Bulletin 13:181 pp.

Answer to Name the Fossil Park.

Cabrillo National Monument in

California.

PALEONTOLOGICAL

RECONNAISANCE OF

THE FREDERIKA

FORMATION,

WRANGELL-ST. ELIAS

NATIONAL PARK AND

PRESERVE,

SOUTHEASTERN

ALASKA

Regan Dunn

John Day Fossil Beds National

Monument

HCR 82, Box 126

Kimberly,Oregon 97848-0126

In late July and early August, NPS

paleontologists Ted Fremd and Regan

Dunn of John Day Fossil Beds National

Monument (JODA) along with two JODA

volunteers, Skylar Rickabaugh and Dr.

David Graham, traveled to Wrangell-St.

Elias National Park and Preserve (WRST)

with funds provided through a grant

from the GRD. The main objective of the

expedition was to perform a

paleontological reconnaissance (botanical

and vertebrate) of a small portion of the

Frederika Formation within the park’s

boundaries. Besides early publication of

a geologic map of the area, relatively

little is known about the Frederika

Formation. Early radiometric dating of

volcanic units within the Frederika

suggested that the formation was

deposited during the middle Miocene.

Also noted on the geological map is the

occurrence of Miocene-aged plant

localities. Jack A. Wolfe, a paleobotanist

with the USGS, provided a list of fossil

plant taxa collected during the 1960’s

mapping effort which included

Metasequoia, Alnus, Betula, and Acer to

name a few. To more thoroughly

understand the potential paleontological

resources contained within the Frederika

Formation and other rock units in WRST

we investigated a set of exposures near

McCarthy, Alaska.

What we found is both exciting and

daunting. Logistically, getting to outcrop

exposures in WRST, the nations largest

national park at nearly 14 million,

roadless acres was in itself daunting. On

a previous exploratory trip to WRST in

2001, Ted Fremd and Skylar Rickabaugh

identified excellent outcrop from aerial

flights over the park. On the most

recent expedition we were flown via

bush plane to an area called Contact

Gulch where we set up camp some 2.5

miles from our destined outcrop. We

were pleased to find that what looked

like potentially good fossil plant localities

from the air were indeed rich with

excellently preserved leaves and plant

reproductive structures that were

deposited in a lacustrine setting. From

one newly identified locality called

Wolverine Mountain (WR3), we collected

specimens of foliar remains of Alnus,

Acer, Salix, Carya, Ulmus, Equisetum and

taxodiaceous conifer Sequoia affinis. We

also collected specimens of plant

reproductive structures including winged

seeds and catkins. Another locality

yielded abundant monocotyledons and

fern specimens, and we were able to

collect samples for palynological analysis

from several stratified coal beds.

Perhaps what surprised us most, were

not the Neogene rocks that we went

there to study at all. The Frederika

Formation lies in an angular

unconformity atop the Moonshine Creek

Formation, a Cenomanian marine shale.

Within this shale we found an

abundance of ammonites, gastropods,

and bivalves preserved with fossil wood

and even dicotyledonous leaf

impressions. This finding alone will

undoubtedly produce interesting

taphonomic and paleontological studies

in the future.

What we concluded from our expedition

was that like Alaska itself with its

untouched splendor and extreme

vastness, the potential fossil resources in

WRST indeed live up to those standards.

Of the park’s 14 million acres, those

which are not covered in ice have the

potential to yield fossils from all eras of

the geologic timescale. We are lucky to

have such an area already protected as a

National Park, and we look forward with

great anticipation to the new scientific

discoveries that have yet to be made

within its boundaries.

One of the fossiliferous outcrops of

the Frederika Formation on Wolverine Mountain in Wrangell-St. Ellias

National Park

Block of lacustrine shale showing

examples of Sequoia and Alnus

foliage collected from WRST
Park Paleontology is published intermittently

each year by the Geologic Resources Division.

It is available as a PDF file on the Internet at

http:www2.nature.nps.gov/grd/geology/

paleo/news/newsletter.htm

Copies may be printed from the internet for

free distribution.

Editor

Greg McDonald

Greg_McDonald@nps.gov

Contributors

Regan Dunn

Rodney D. Horrocks

Bruce Nash

Bill Parker

Eric Scott

Kevin Seymour

Comments? Write to:

Greg McDonald

Geologic Resources Division

National Park Service

National Park Service

U.S. Department of the Interior

Natural Resource Program Center

Geologic Resources Division

Paleontology Program

P.O. Box 25287

Denver, Colorado 80225

303 969-2821

First Class Mail

Postage and Fees

P A I D

City, State

Permit number

EXPERIENCE YOUR AMERICA

8 Park Paleontology

Baculites rex from the Upper Cretaceous

Point Loma Formation of Cabrillo

National Monument