Park Paleontology Vo l u m e 7 N u m b e r 3

Winter 2 0 0 3

National Park Service

U.S. Department of the Interior

Table of Contents

Park Paleontology 1

Geologic Resources Division, Paleontology Program

Zion National Park Paleontological Survey .1

The Centennial Site, a Significant Discovery

in Wind Cave National Park ................... 2

Paleontology Internship Report – Wind Cave

National Park and Mammoth Site of Hot

Springs .................................................4

Dinosaur Depot Prepares Dinosaur Bones

from Curecanti National Recreation Area

........................................................... 5

Modern Forests of Mexico: An Analog to

the Ancient Forest at Florissant? ............. 6

Recent Literature on Park Paleontology

Resources ............................................ 8

Zion National Park Paleontological Survey

Donald D. DeBlieux

James I. Kirkland

Utah Geological Survey

POB 146100

Salt Lake City, UT 84114-6100

The spectacular rocks exposed in Zion

National Park, Utah, include many

fossiliferous units ranging in age from

Permian through Holocene. In

cooperation with the Utah Geological

Survey (UGS), National Park Service (NPS)

interns have been inventorying

paleontological resources within the

park. The goal of this work is to identify

new fossil localities and to assess the

distribution of fossils within formations

to establish baseline paleontological

resource data to support the

management and protection of nonrenewable fossils.

This project was initiated in the summer

of 1999 when NPS intern Joshua A.

Smith (now a graduate student at the

University of Utah) began an inventory of

paleontological resources within the park

under the direction of NPS paleontologist

Vince Santucci. Because most of this

work was done during the hot summer

months, the work was concentrated in

the cooler confines of Zion Canyon. In

the summer of 2002, Don DeBlieux of

the UGS joined Josh for several weeks to

continue work in Zion Canyon. In the

spring of 2003, recent Duke University

graduate Jennifer McGuire began a

three-month internship to continue the

inventory work. Don DeBlieux and Jim

Kirkland (UGS) assisted her for several

weeks along with volunteers from the

Utah Friends of Paleontology (UFOP).

Our work in 2003 took advantage of the

cooler spring temperatures to

concentrate on some of the

stratigraphically lower formations, found

at lower elevations within the park.

Fossil-bearing formations within Zion

National Park include the Permian-age

Toroweap Formation and Kaibab

Limestone, the Triassic Moenkopi and

Chinle Formations, the Jurassic Moenave,

Kayenta, Navajo, and Carmel Formations,

the Cretaceous Cedar Mountain and

Dakota Formations, and Quaternary lake

deposits. While the eye of the visitor to

Zion National Park is drawn to the

spectacular cliffs of Navajo Sandstone,

the eye of the paleontologist is drawn to

the strata exposed as slopes and ledges

below the cliffs - those of the Kayenta,

Moenave, and Chinle Formations that are

known to contain significant vertebrate

fossils.

The most common vertebrate fossils

found in Zion National Park are dinosaur

tracks that are concentrated primarily in

the Whitmore Point Member of the

Moenave Formation, at the top of the

Springdale Sandstone Member of the

Moenave Formation, and in the Kayenta

Formation, all of Early Jurassic age. Prior

to Josh’s arrival in Zion, only four track

localities had been documented within

the park; his work led to the discovery of

dozens of new track localities and

allowed us to predict areas having high

potential for track discoveries (Smith and

Santucci, 1999). The most common

tracks found in these formations are

those of large and small three-toed

bipedal dinosaurs. The large tracks are

placed in the ichnogenus (track-genus)

Eubrontes while the smaller tracks are

assigned to Grallator. One site preserves

several Eubrontes trackways with track

spacing and directions suggestive of

possible gregarious behavior (Smith et al.,

2002). In addition to Eubrontes and

Grallator tracks and trackways, we found

other types of tracks including four-toed,

crocodile-like tracks, bird-like tracks, and

swim tracks. In the summer of 2002, we

located the second known tracksite in

the Navajo Sandstone at Zion.

The tracks preserved in Zion are

important not only from a scientific

standpoint but also provide avenues for

interpretation to educate the many

visitors to Zion National Park. Different

modes of track preservation, combined

with erosion, have produced many tracks

that are aesthetically quite appealing and

will be of interest to park visitors. The

track record of Zion National Park is also

pertinent to the investigations underway

at the recently discovered Johnson Farm

tracksite in nearby St. George, Utah. The

Johnson Farm site preserves numerous

trackways on many horizons within the

Whitmore Point Member of the Moenave

Formation and is one of the most

significant tracksites ever discovered in

the western United States. Jenny

McGuire, and St. George paleontologist

Andrew Milner, discovered a significant

tracksite in the Early Triassic Moenkopi

Formation. This site is located

stratigraphically low in the section, below

the Virgin Limestone Member, and

preserves several types of tracks including

those of therapsids (mammal-like

reptiles). In fact, this may be the earliest

known Mesozoic tracksite in North

America. Further research is already

underway to more fully document this

site.

The Late Triassic Chinle Formation in Zion

National Park is composed of two units;

the resistant cap-forming Shinarump

Conglomerate, and the overlying

multicolored mudstones and sandstones

of the Petrified Forest Member. The

Shinarump Conglomerate was deposited

in braided-stream channels and is best

known for preserving abundant fossil

wood and plant material. Bone is

sometimes found preserved in the

Shinarump and a well-preserved reptile

continued on page 7
2 Park Paleontology

The Centennial Site,

a Significant Discovery

in Wind Cave National

Park

Rodney D. Horrocks

Physical Science Specialist

Wind Cave National Park

R.R. 1 Box 190

Hot Spring, South Dakota 57747-9430

Rod_Horrocks@nps.gov

605-745-1158

After a fruitless search in near 100-

degree heat on July 23, we had split up

to cover more ground on the way back

to the truck, when Dr. Greg McDonald

found some large fossil teeth weathering

out of a steep hillside. The previous day,

Greg, the National Paleontological

Coordinator from the Geologic Resource

Division (GRD), helped Wind Cave

National Park inventory the seven

localities of the Klukas Site, an

Oligocene-aged deposit that is part of

the White River Group. During the

inventory process we discovered three

new localities (see “Resurvey of the

White River Group Sites in Wind Cave

National Park” Park Paleontology, Vo. 7,

no. 2, Fall 2003). With an extra day

before Greg headed back to Denver, we

decided to survey some additional White

River exposures in the park.

Dr. James Martin, from South Dakota

School of Mines and Technology (SDSMT)

had determined through surveys

conducted in 1986 that these soft

claystones and siltstones exposed as

scattered windows in the prairie of the

park represent the Scenic Member of the

Brule Formation. This is the same part of

the White River Group that is extensively

exposed at a much lower elevation to the

east of Wind Cave at Badlands National

Park However, Dr. Martin had never

searched this particular part of the park.

Our initial thoughts were that we had

found a brontothere skull. This would

have meant that the deposits were older

than the Brule. The fact that no

brontothere skull had ever been found in

the Black Hills added further significance

to the find. Looking around, we also

found fragments of tortoisee shell,

vertebrae, and the proximal end of a

humerus, possibly from an oreodont.

Although we found bone fragments

scattered 20 feet downhill from the

discovery, the bone seemed to be

originating from a very small source area.

After some quick pictures of the

specimen (Fig. 1), we immediately

headed into the park headquarters to

talk with the Superintendent, Linda L.

Stoll about this significant discovery.

Sitting in her office, we analyzed the

discovery according to the guidelines

found in NPS 77, in the “Paleontological

Collect/Leave Simplified Flowchart”. The

Superintendent readily supported an

emergency excavation to recover the

threatened fossils. Not only were we

worried about fossil poaching or rapid

weathering of the soft sediment, but we

were also concerned about the proximity

of the fossils to an often-used bison

wallow. In order to protect the site in the

interim, everybody at the meeting

agreed to keep the discovery secret.

After Greg headed back to Denver, it

became obvious that no one had any

budget for this emergency excavation, so

we had to find a way to do some

paleontology on a shoestring. After

completing the environmental screening

form (ESF), we borrowed the necessary

excavation equipment from Badlands

National Park and the Mammoth Site,

and then we secured the return of Dr.

McDonald. We also solicited the help of

Dr. Rachel Benton of Badlands National

Park and Megan Cherry, and Gavin

McCullough, students at the South

Dakota School of Mines, who were

working as seasonal employees at

Badlands National Park and Dr. Larry

Agenbroad and Kris Thompson from the

Mammoth Site. The crew was completed

with the park’s cave management staff,

Rod Horrocks and Marc Ohms and their

summer intern, Kali Pace. As part of our

new joint working relationship with the

nearby Mammoth Site, we just

happened at the time to be sponsoring

an international volunteer from

Cambridge University in Great Britain,

Catherine Burgess. Part of the

agreement was that Catherine would

spend a portion of her time as an intern

preparing Wind Cave specimens. With

the discovery of these fossils, we had the

perfect project for her to work on. The

final detail involved the arrangement for

the park’s law enforcement staff to keep

the site secure once work began on the

recovery operation.

When we returned to the site after one

month, we were surprised at the amount

of weathering that had happened since

our initial discovery (Fig. 1). With a very

competent crew on hand, everybody

started on their pre-assigned duties. Dr.

Benton was able to revise our preliminary

identification of the skull, assigning it to

Subhyracodon (probably occidentalis), a

five-foot high, hornless rhino that lived

approximately 32 million years ago, and

not brontothere (much to Dr. Martin’s

relief). After Megan and Gavin set up a

zero datum and a working point on a

true north/south line, we installed a

metric grid over the site. We then used a

total station GPS to map the location of

the exposed bones and locate the zero

datum.

When Greg started blocking around the

skull, he discovered disarticulated bones

from the rest of the skeleton of the

rhino. As the blocking process

progressed, we also started finding the

disarticulated remains of Mesohippus, a

small horse and Leptomeryx, a deer-like

mammal. The tortoise turned out to be

nearly complete, but badly disarticulated

due to weathering (Fig. 2). The rhino

remains seemed to be concentrated in

the southwest half of the deposit and

Figure 1: The Subhyracodon upper palette, the photo on the left was taken the day it was

discovered and the other one month later, show the weathering that occurred during that

short time period. Photos by Greg McDonald and Rod Horrocks.

Figure 2: Dr. Greg McDonald (on left)works

on blocking the tortoise while Rod Horrocks

works on exposing rhino elements along the

edge of the bone bed. Photo by Marc Ohms.

continued on page 3
Park Paleontology 3

#74

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#66 (Block)

#8 (Block)

(-15,0)

(-14,0) (-14,1)

(-15,1) (-15,2)

(-14,2)

TN 0 20 cm 10/03

The Centennial Site (WICA-11) Wind Cave National Park

Mapped By Rodney D. Horrocks, Rachael Benton, Gavin McCullough, 

& Megan Chaerry (8/25-9/2/03), drawn by Rod 10/29/03

Excavators: Greg McDonald, Rodney D. Horrocks, Catheryn Burgess, 

Kali Pace, Kris Thompson, Gavin McCullough, Megan Chaerry,

& Marc Ohms

Outline of Plaster Block

(-14,0) Coordinates for Metric Grid

Fossil

#64 Specimen Field Number

Legend:

Additional Reading

To learn more about the Centennial Site

visit the park’s web page at

http://www.nps.gov/wica/Rhino/

Paleo_Site-01.htm

Osborn, H.F. 1898. The extinct rhinoceroses. Memoirs of the American Museum

of Natural History 1(3):75-164.

Prothero, D.R., C. Guérin, and E.

Manning. 1989. The history of the

Rhinocerotoidea. pp. 322-340 in D.R.

Prothero and R.M. Schoch (eds.). The

Evolution of the Perissodactyls.Clarendon

Press-Oxford University Press, New York.

Savage, R.J.G. and M.R. Long. 1986.

Mammal evolution,an ilustrated guide.

Facts On File Publications, New York.

Rhinoceroses pages 192-197.

the horse in the northeast half. We also

found an isolated carnivore tooth next to

the femur of the horse. We noticed that

some of the bones had been broken

prior to fossilization and some were

turned up vertically in the deposit. By the

time we had much of the deposit

exposed, we realized that we were

dealing with a very small bone bed

(about 25 cm thick, by 0.7m wide, and

approximately 2m long) that apparently

followed a paleo surface that had a 25

degree slope. The taphonomy of the site

will certainly prove to be interesting (Fig.

3).

We took a week to stabilize the fossils

and remove two large blocks and five

small ones, before backfilling the

excavation. The blocks are currently

being stored at the nearby Mammoth

Site in Hot Springs, where limited

preparation is being conducted. To date,

we have partially reconstructed the right

jaw from the rhino that had weathered

down the hillside and some of the small

elements that were bagged during the

excavation.

The Interpretation Division suggested

naming it the “Centennial Site” since

2003 is the 100th anniversary of the

creation of the park. This discovery is

significant because it is the first

occurrence of a bone bed of this age

with skeletons and associated skulls that

has been found in the Black Hills. Dr.

Agenbroad, the Principal Investigator at

the Mammoth Site, said, “This is an

exciting discovery which provides for

cooperative ventures in the prehistory of

the southern Black Hills. Within an

approximate 20-mile transect, we have at

least five localities providing

paleontological “windows” to view the

animals that lived in this region around

32 million years ago; 263,000 years ago;

26,000 years ago; and 10,000 years

Figure 3: Preliminary map of the Centennial Site drawn by Rod Horrocks.

When people think of rhinos they

usually think of Africa or perhaps India

or Southeast Asia. Today there are

only five living species of rhino but they

were more diverse in the past and

have a very rich fossil history. Fossil

rhinos first appear in North America in

the Eocene and were very successful

until their extinction here in the late

Miocene. Fossil rhinos are known from

many national parks. One early rhino

called Teletaceras is found in Death

Valley. The rhino, Subhyracodon,

recently found at Wind Cave National

Park is also known from Badlands

National Park and John Day Fossil Beds.

The Subhyracodon from Badlands is

one of the animals found preserved in

an ancient waterhole whose carcasses

were scavenged by the entelodont,

Archaeotherium. Another famous site

rich in rhinos is Agate Fossil Beds

where literally thousands of bones of

the rhino Menoceros have been found.

Subhyracodon like many early rhinos

lacked horns. One of the earliest

horned forms was Menoceros which

had a pair of horns on the tip of the

nose.

Fossil Rhinos

in Parks
4 Park Paleontology

Catherine Burgess piecing

together pieces of the rhino

jaw that had eroded out of the sediments.

Paleontology Internship

Report – Wind Cave

National Park and

Mammoth Site of Hot

Springs

Catherine Burgess

17 Lark Valley Drive

Fornham St Martin

Bury St Edmunds

Suffolk

IP28 6UG

ENGLAND

catherine_burgess99@hotmail.com

I left high school in 1999 with every

intention of becoming a physicist and

started my degree in

Natural Sciences at the

University of Cambridge,

planning to major in physics.

Fortunately in my first year I

also studied chemistry, math

and geology and by the end

of the year I had already

realized that geology was

the subject that fascinated

me, this was further

confirmed by a few weeks

hiking in the beautiful

geology of the Swiss Alps.

So, I returned to Cambridge

for three more years study,

specializing in earth

sciences in general and

paleontology in particular. I

received my Masters of

Science at the end of June

2003, with my master’s

project written on an early

ornithischian dinosaur.

I had wanted to spend the summer working

in vertebrate paleontology before trying to find

funding for graduate studies and since

opportunities in Britain are limited I applied

for the internship program at the Mammoth

Site in Hot Springs – taking a big leap forward

in time from the dinosaurs! When we realized

that getting a visa for me to train in the US

would be a problem, the idea of a collaboration

with nearby Wind Cave National Park was

suggested and an agreement was reached,

the Park Service provided my visa and the

Mammoth Site provided funding and facilities.

As a result I have spent my time working on

two different vertebrate paleontology projects

from two completely different geological

periods.

Wind Cave National Park Project

When I agreed to carry out voluntary work for

Wind Cave we were planning on retrieving

some previously discovered fossils from storage

so that I could prepare them. However, I

arrived at just the right moment to take part

in Wind Cave’s most exciting paleontological

discovery to date, the excavation of an

Oligocene (31 million year old) rhinoceros

called a Subhyracodon and a primitive horse

(Mesohippus) and deer (Leptomeryx). I spent

two days in the field helping Greg McDonald

and Rod Horrocks of the NPS in their

excavation of the fossils and since then I have

been able to prepare some of the material in

the laboratory at the Mammoth Site.

Between the initial discovery of the fossils and

their later excavation and collection, one side

of the jaw of the Subhyracodon had been

eroded, so all the sediment from around and

below the fossils was screened (passed

through a mesh with a <1cm diameter) to

collect the fragments of the jaw. My job so

far has been to take these fragments and

attempt to reconstruct the jaw. My first task

was to clean up the fragments until they were

when we have fitted together all the

fragments that we can, the large plaster

jacketed bocks containing more of the

skeletons will be opened up for preparation

too.

Mammoth Site

The Mammoth Site is much younger that the

fossils from Wind Cave, around 26 thousand

years old and I have a variety of work here. I

earn my keep by giving guided tour around

the site and answering questions from visitors

but I also work in the bonebed and in the lab.

Most of the fossils at the mammoth site have

been left in situ in the bonebed and a building

has been built around this site – the remains

of an ancient sinkhole. This means preparation

work is carried out in the bonebed as well as

the lab. In the bonebed I have been primarily

working on cleaning the fossils, removing a

thick layer of preservative applied to the bones

around 20 years ago that is now turning brown

with age and replacing it with

a thinner clear layer to restore

the bones to closer to their

natural state. Down in the

laboratory I have been trained

to prepare the fossils from the

site using hand preparation

tools such as dental picks and

paintbrushes and mechanical

tools powered by compressed

air to remove sediment from

around the bones. I have also

been trained in the use of a

variety of consolidents and glues

to help protect the fossils and

prevent them cracking and

flaking apart. I have worked on

cleaning and consolidating two

mammoth caudal vertebrae

Inset - the partially reassembled rhino jaw.

Partially reconstructed rhino jaw and skull of

Subhyracodon.

recognizable, this was done largely using

water and a toothbrush but in a few cases a

weak solution of hydrogen peroxide or

mechanical preparation using an air scribe

were required. I then tried to identify the bone

fragments as far as possible, they belonged

to both the Mesohippus and the Leptomeryx

as well as the Subhyracodon and included ribs,

vertebrate and parts of limbs besides the jaw.

As I pieced together the fragments of the

Subhyracodon teeth I was able to eventually

build up the tooth row and the bone in which

they were embedded, discovering in the

process that there was still an unerupted tooth

inside the jaw – so our animal is still not fully

mature (probably around 5 years old). I am

now working on the back part of the jaw and

realizing that while this may be a subadult it

is still a pretty large animal! This work will be

continued by Rod Horrocks on a volunteer

basis once I return to England and hopefully

and a broken mammoth bone that remains

unidentified.

The work I have carried out on both these

projects has been excellent training and

experience for me and I hope it has also proved

useful to both the National Park Service and

the Mammoth Site.
What is an

Apatosaurus?

Dinosaur Depot

Prepares Dinosaur

Bones from Curecanti

National Recreation

Area

Donna J. Engard

Curator

Garden Park Paleontology Society

Dinosaur Depot Museum

330 Royal Gorge Blvd., #A

Cañon City, CO 81212

(719)269-7150

dengard@dinosaurdepot.com

On February 2nd, 2002, personnel from

the Curecanti National Recreation Area

at Blue Mesa Reservoir, delivered a field

jacket to us for preparation. The jacket is

part of a specimen excavated in 1995

and 1996 through a partnership

between the Park Service, Dallas Museum

of Natural History, the Forest Service and

the Academy of Natural Sciences in

Philadelphia. Part of the specimen was

prepared at the Academy to confirm its

identification. Those parts and the rest

of the specimen were returned to

Colorado to the Museum of Western

Colorado, the nearest preparation center

to Curecanti. The number of jackets is

more than that museum can handle

alone, so we at the Dinosaur Depot

Museum in Cañon City, volunteered our

lab to help.

The six by four by 3 foot high jacket

contains a few vertebrae from a large

Apatosaurus and looks very impressive in

the lab window. One of our volunteers

working on the bones in the jacket is

Dennis Dilley of Cañon City, pictured

working on the centrum of one of the

vertebra. He has been a volunteer for a

number of years and this is the third

major specimen he has worked on.

Another newer volunteer, Bruce Wheeler

of Pueblo is working on his first project

and enjoying the work more than he

dreamed. He has been joined recently by

his son Mathew and together they are

learning how to work on a large

specimen; especially how to keep all of

the pieces straight. It is fun for these

volunteers to help visitors visualize the

size of the animal that had these huge

vertebrae. They also enjoy talking with

more interested visitors about the

process this specimen has gone, is going,

and will go through as it is readied for

its’ ultimate destination as an exhibit at

the visitor center at the Recreation Area.

We at Dinosaur Depot Museum are

delighted to be a part of this project.

The excavation and preparation of the

specimen are just the first stages of a

project of this size. The specimen will still

go through a research stage before its

final destination is reached. The

information it can add to our knowledge

of Apatosaurus dinosaurs is its most

important value. The next most

important value is being shared with the

visitors of three museums as it is worked

on, and ultimately the visitors of the

Recreation Area where it was found. A

bonus value is that folks from other

walks of life, like Dennis, Bruce and

Mathew, get to do some of the technical

work on the specimen. We will enjoy

staying in touch with it on all the stages

it will go through and look forward to

seeing it on exhibit in its final home.

Additional Reading

Dennis Dilley preparing a vertebrae of

Apatosaurus from Curecanti.

Closeup of one of the prepared Apatosaurus

vertebrae showing the pneumatic sinuses

characteristic of the group.

Delivery Day at the Dinosaur Depot. A

forklift was needed to move the field jacket

containing the dinosaur bones into the

preparation lab at the Dinosaur Depot in

Cañon City.

Fiorillo, A.R., R.L. Harris and C.L. May.

1996. Late Jurassic dinosaur remains from

Curecanti National Recreation Area. Park

Science 16(4):14-15.

Fiorillo, A.R. and C.L. May. 1995.

Depositional environment of the first

dinosaur remains from the Morrison

Formation (Upper Jurassic) of Curecanti

National Recreation Area (Southwest

Colorado). Geological Society of America

Abstracts with Programs 27(4):11.

When you mention dinosaurs most people

immediately have a mental image of a huge

animal with a long neck and tail. This

group of dinosaurs is known as the

sauropods. Sauropods lived during the

Jurassic and Cretaceous and are known

from every continent except Antarctica. In

North America our best records of this group

come from the Jurassic Morrison Formation

which is exposed in many of our western

parks such as Dinosaur, Arches, Colorado,

Glen Canyon, Hovenweep, and Curecanti to

name a few. Many different types of

sauropods have been found in the Morrison

Formation but perhaps the best known is

Brontosaurus, the thunder lizard. While

sauropod bones are common, complete

skeletons are rare since often dinosaur

carcass were scavenged and the bones

scattered before they were buried. Many of

the dinosaurs found in the 1800’s were

based on single bones or rarely a partial

skeleton, so the first paleontologists to study

these animals often gave different names to

the same animal based on different parts of

the skeleton. Later, as more complete

skeletons were found, it was often

discovered that these different parts were

from the same animal, in which case the

earliest name given had priority and was the

appropriate name to call the animal. This is

what happened to Brontosaurus. While the

name became very popular with the general

public, continued research showed that the

animal called Brontosaurus was the same as

an animal that was described earlier as

Apatosaurus or beautiful lizard. Since

Apatosaurus has priority it is the appropriate

name to use for the best known of the

Jurassic sauropod dinosaurs.

Fiorillo, A.R. and C.L. May. 1996.

Preliminary report on the taphonomy and

depositional setting of a new dinosaur

locality in the Morrison Formation (Brushy

Basin member) of Curecanti National

Recreation Area, Colorado. Pp. 555-561 in

M. Morales (ed.). The Continental Triassic.

Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin 60.

Park Paleontology 5
6 Park Paleontology

Modern Forests of

Mexico: An Analog to

the Ancient Forest at

Florissant?

Herb Meyer

Florissant Fossil Beds National

Monument

P.O. Box 185

15807 Teller County 1

Florissant, Colorado 80816-0185

New research sponsored by Florissant

Fossil Beds National Monument is

examining the modern vegetation and

flora from El Cielo Biosphere Reserve in

the Sierra Madre Orientale, Tamaulipas,

Mexico. These forests have been cited in

previous literature as being one of the

modern analogs to the fossil forest at

Florissant. The project’s objective is to

compare the modern vegetation of this

region with the fossil plants known from

Florissant in order to gain a better

understanding of the paleoenvironment

at Florissant during the late Eocene, as

well as the paleobiogeography of New

World temperate and tropical forests.

The research plan was initiated by

Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument,

and the field work is being done under

permits from the Mexican agencies

Secretaria de Medio Ambiente y Recursos

Naturales (SEMARNAT) and Secretaría de

Relaciones Exteriores (SRE), and the

Tamaulipas Comisión Estatal de Vida

Silvestre. The project leader is the

Monument’s paleontologist Herb Meyer,

and other participants include

paleobotanist Steve Manchester from the

University of Florida, palynologist Estella

Leopold from the University of

Washington, and a group of five plant

ecologists from the University of Arizona

who were funded by the Monument

under a CESU agreement. Project

funding is being supported as an 80%

Fee Demonstration Project.

The eight person research party worked

on-site at El Cielo from October 15 to

25, 2003. The field research consisted of

collecting and identifying plants for a

random census along four elevation

transects of 1000 m2 each on the eastern

face of the Sierra Madre Oriental at 750

meters, 1250 meters, 1750 meters, and

2000 meters. The plant communities

along this elevation gradient range from

tropical forest in the lowlands, through

the northernmost cloud forest at midelevations, and into pine-oak forests at

higher elevations. Preliminary analysis

indicates that the flora of this region

shares many taxa in common with the

fossil plants from Florissant, although

many more unshared taxa are also

present. The greatest similarity is with

the cloud forest and the humid pine-oak

forest. Unusual co-occurrences in these

modern forests, such as that of fir and

palm growing together, represent taxa

that are also known in the fossil record

at Florissant. It should be emphasized,

however, that the Eocene forest at

Florissant also contains taxa that are

endemic to Asia or western North

America today, and the forests of Mexico

provide only one of several important

floristic regions for comparison.

Working conditions during our field

excursion were primitive and at some

localities challenging. The local limestone

terrain has many small but treacherous

sink holes and sharp ridges, many of

which were crossed by the random

transect lines. For several nights, the

group stayed at field station

accommodations in the remote

mountainous village of San Jose. Meals

were prepared by a local family, and

transport in the field was by local drivers

with 4X4 vehicles, traveling along some

very rough mountain roads.

The specimens that were collected are

currently drying in the herbarium at

Universidad Autonoma Tamaulipas in

Ciudad Victoria, and will be brought into

the U.S. within several weeks. Duplicates

of the herbarium specimens will

distributed among several institutions,

including the University of Arizona, the

Missouri Botanical Garden, Florissant

Fossil Beds National Monument, and the

National Herbarium in Mexico City. As the

research progresses, we also plan to

make physiognomic comparisons of the

modern and Eocene plants based on an

analysis of leaf morphometrics. The

information obtained by the project will

be of use in interpreting the

paleoenvironment at Florissant, and will

also benefit the managers of El Cielo

Biosphere Reserve, which is a

participant in the NPS-CONANP sister

parks program.

In this transect through the cloud forest,

researchers from the University of Arizona

are making a census of all plants within one

meter of a randomly placed line.

Palynologist Estella Leopold collects an

epiphyte in which the local pollen rain has

become trapped, providing information to

show how the pollen rain reflects the actual

abundance of plants in the forest. Dr.

Leopold is the daughter of renowned

conservationist Aldo Leopold, and was one

of the most influential advocates for the

establishment of Florissant Fossil Beds

National Monument. She has long thought

that the flora of the Sierra Madre Oriental

shows a strong similarity to the Eocene flora

at Florissant.

Field work in rural Mexico has some nice

delights, such as the local family who

prepared our meals, including copious

servings of delicious hand-crafted tortillas

prepared on an open fire stove.

Additional Reading

Hernández X., E., H. Crum, W.B. Fox, and

A.J. Sharp, 1951. A unique vegetational

area in Tamaulipas. Bulletin of the Torrey

Botanical Club 78:458-463.

Additional photographs of this project

are online at

http://eeb37.biosci.arizona.edu/~brian/

Mexico_Web_Pics/Mexico_Web_Pics.html
Name the Fossil Park

This fossil byrozoan is being etched from the limestone that is critical for

the formation of the primary feature for which this park was established.

Located in the Black Hills of South Dakota this park is best known for having

the best examples of a geological formation known as boxwork. Answer on

bottom of page 8.

Park Paleontology 7

vertebra was found during our survey.

The Petrified Forest Member is, as its

name suggests, famous for preserving

fossil wood and trees. Several areas

within Zion are well known for their

petrified “forests.” We took care in

trying to record these sites, as they are

among the most sensitive of the

paleontological resources within Zion,

being vulnerable to theft and vandalism.

The Petrified Forest Member is also an

important bone-bearing member and is

the rock unit having the most potential

for significant vertebrate body fossils.

Our survey located fragmentary remains

of phytosaurs, aetosaurs, and

metoposaurs. The most significant find

was an isolated ornithischian dinosaur

tooth. Ornithischian dinosaurs are rare

in Triassic rocks worldwide and this tooth

represents the oldest herbivorous

dinosaur recovered from Utah. In

general, the paleontology of the Chinle

Formation in southwestern Utah is poorly

known compared with other

southwestern states, such as Arizona and

New Mexico. Our baseline work is bound

to increase research interest in the Chinle

of this region and the excellent exposures

in Zion National Park can be an

important focus of this work.

While we investigated all the fossilbearing strata located within the park,

we focused our field survey primarily on

the vertebrate fossil-bearing strata. Sites

were recorded using hand-held Global

Positioning Satellite (GPS) units that were

unavailable to previous researchers. We

have used the information gained from

these surveys, and similar surveys done in

correlative strata in neighboring regions,

to create Paleontological Sensitivity Maps

(DeBlieux et al., 2003). We used of 7.5

minute geologic quadrangle maps,

recently completed by UGS geologists, to

create these sensitivity maps using

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

software. On these maps we rank the

formations based on the potential for

scientifically important paleontological

discoveries. These maps are intended as

tools to provide park managers with a

framework with which to make

informed decisions regarding the

management and protection of fossil

resources. Our ability to create these

fine-resolution sensitivity maps was made

possible by the existence of the new

geologic quadrangle maps and

demonstrates the importance of detailed

geologic mapping in the National Parks

Through our efforts, with assistance

from NPS hydrologist Dave Sharrow, NPS

paleontologist Vince Santucci, and staff

of Zion National Park, over 120 new

fossil localities have been located within

the park. These sites provide avenues for

further scientific work and visitor

education and enable us to make

informed predictions about the

distribution of fossils in the sedimentary

rocks of the park.

References and additional

reading:

Biek, R.F., G.C. Willis, M.D. Hylland, and H.H.

Doelling. 2000. Geology of Zion National Park,

Utah. pp. 107-135 in D.A. Sprinkel, T.C.

Chidsey Jr., and P.B. Anderson (eds.). Geology of

Utah’s Parks and Monuments. Utah Geological

Association Publication 28.

DeBlieux, D.D., J.A. Smith, J.L, McGuire, V.L.,

Santucci, J.I. Kirkland, J.I., and M. Butler. 2003.

A paleontological inventory of Zion National

Park, Utah, and the use of GIS technology to

create paleontological sensitivity maps for use

in resource management [abs]: Journal of

Vertebrate Paleontology 23(3): 45A.

Hamilton, W.L. 1995. The sculpturing of Zion:

Springdale, Utah, Zion Natural History

Association, 132 p.

Kirkland, J.I., M. Lockley, and A.R. Milner. 2002.

The St. George Dinosaur Tracksite: Utah

Geological Survey, Survey Notes 343): 4-5.

[http://geology.utah.gov/surveynotes/snt34-

3.pdf]

Smith, J., and V.L. Santucci. 1999. An inventory

of vertebrate ichnofossils from Zion National

Park, Utah [abs]: Journal of Vertebrate

Paleontology 19(3):77A.

Smith, J.A., S. Sampson, M. Loewen, and V.

Santucci. 2002. Trackway evidence of possible

gregarious behavior in large theropods from

the Loser Jurassic Moenave Formation of Zion

National Park [abs.]. Journal of Vertebrate

Paleontology 22(3):108A.

Zion National Park Paleontological

Survey continued from page 1

A sampling of dinosaur tracks found in the

Whitmore Point Member of the Moenave

Formation and the Kayenta Formation of

Zion National Park. Scale bar is in

centimeters.
8 Park Paleontology

Recent Literature on Park Paleontology Resources

Agenbroad, L. D. 2003. New absolute

dates and comparisons for California’s

Mammuthus exilis. pp. 1-16 in J.W.F.

Reumer, J. de Vos and D. Mol (eds.).

Advances in Mammoth Research,

Proceedings of the Second International

Mammoth Conference. DEINSEA 9.

Benton, R. 2003. The Big Pig Dig:

Integrating paleontological research and

visitor educations at Badlands National

Park, South Dakota. Journal of

Geoscience Education 51(3):313-316.

Cavin, J.L., C.L. Herbel, D.B. Lien, S.E.

Foss, and R.C. Benton. 2003. Ten years

of accomplishment at the Big Pig Dig: an

important Oligocene site, Badlands

National Park, South Dakota. Journal of

Vertebrate Paleontology 23(3)

Supplement: 39A.

Coats, L. 2003. Middle to Late

Wisconsinan vegetation change at Little

Nankoweap, Grand Canyon National

Park, Arizona. Cave Research Foundation

Annual Reports – 1998-2000:37-38.

Colburn, M.L., R.S. Toomey III, R. Olsen,

and J. Dorale. 2003. An important

interglacial fauna from sediments of the

Frozen Niagara Entrance, Mammoth

Cave National Park, a preliminary report.

Cave Research Foundation Annual

Reports – 1998-2000:106-107.

Deblieux, D.D., J.A. Smith, J.L. McGuire,

V.L. Santucci, J.L. Kirkland, and M. Butler.

2003. A paleontological inventory of

Zion National Park, Utah, and the use of

GIS technology to create paleontological

sensitivity maps for use in resource

management. Journal of Vertebrate

Paleontology 23(3) Supplement: 45A.

Feranec, R. 2003. Determination of

resource partitioning in a predominantly

C3 environment by the analysis of stable

isotope values from herbivores in

Yellowstone National Park. Journal of

Vertebrate Paleontology23(3)

Supplement: 49A.

Gensler, P.A. 2003. Preliminary report of

a nearly complete skeleton of Clemmys

owyheensis (Reptilia: Emydidae) from the

Upper Blancan (Pliocene) Glenns Ferry

Formation, Hagerman Fossil Beds

National Monument, Idaho. Journal of

Vertebrate Paleontology 23(3)

Supplement: 54A.

Kenworthy, J. and V. L. Santucci, 2003.

Paleontological Resource Inventory and

Monitoring, Northeast Coastal and

Barrier Network: National Park Service,

TIC# D-340.

Kenworthy, J. and V. L. Santucci, 2003.

Paleontological Resource Inventory and

Monitoring, Southwest Alaska Network:

National Park Service, TIC# D-93.

Koch, A. L. and V. L. Santucci, 2003.

Paleontological Resource Inventory and

Monitoring, Mediterranean Coast

Network: National Park Service, TIC# D177.

Koch, A. L. and V. L. Santucci, 2003.

Paleontological Resource Inventory and

Monitoring, Greater Yellowstone

Network: National Park Service, TIC# D1025.

Lien, D., G. McCullough, C. Herbel, J.

Cavin, J. Strauss, and K. Van Daele.

2003. 3-D analyst and Arcview

applications for spatial analysis of the Big

Pig Dig fossil quarry, Badlands National

Park, South Dakota. Journal of

Vertebrate Paleontology 23(3)

Supplement: 71A.

McAfee, R. 2003. Confirmation of the

sloth genus Megalonyx (Xenarthra:

Mammalia) from the John Day Region

and its implications. Journal of

Vertebrate Paleontology23 (3)

Supplement: 77A.

McCullough, G. M. Knell, J. Roberts, and

C. Herbel. 2003. Using synthetic

mapping data to analyze a hypothesized

Orellan carnivore den in Badlands

National Park, South Dakota. Journal of

Vertebrate Paleontology 23(3)

Supplement: 77A.

Metz, R. 2003. Lower Devonian Trace

Fossils from Shallow Marine Deposits,

Shawnee Island Member of the

Coeymans Formation, Northwestern New

Jersey. Northeastern Geology and

Environmental Sciences 25(3):206-214.

Metz, R. 2003. Ichnology of the Upper

Silurian Wallpack Center Member (Decker

Formation), Northwestern New Jersey.

Northeastern Geology and Environmental

Sciences 25(2):116-125.

Morgan, G. S. 2003. The extinct

Pleistocene molossid bat Tadarida

constantinei from Slaughter Canyon

Cave, Carlsbad Caverns National Park,

New Mexico. 33rd Annual North

American Symposium on Bat Research,

Programs and Abstracts, p. 59.

Parker, W. 2003. Revised taxonomy of

the Late Triassic aetosaur Desmatosuchus

(Archosauria: Crurotarsi) from the

southwestern United States. Journal of

Vertebrate Paleontology 23(3)

Supplement: 85A.

Porder, S., A. Paytan and E.A. Hadly.

2003. Mapping the origin of faunal

assemblages using strontium isotopes.

Paleobiology 29(2):197-204.

Rohr, D.M., R.B. Blodgett, and J. Frýda.

2003. New Silurian Murchisoniid

gastropods from Alaska and a review of

the genus Coelocaulus. Short Notes on

Alaska Geology 2003:87-93.

Ruez, D. 2003. Relevance of modern

ecosystems to Plio-Pleistocene

mammalian paleoecology. Journal of

Vertebrate Paleontology 23(3)

Supplement: 91A.

Santucci, V. L. and A. L. Koch, 2003. NPS

Paleontological Resource Inventory and

Monitoring Strategies: George Wright

Society Biennial Conference, Abstracts

with Programs.

Santucci, V. L. and A. L. Koch, 2003.

Paleontological Resource Monitoring

Strategies for the National Park Service:

Park Science, 22(1): 22-25.

Smith, M., T. Fremd, and S.E. Foss. 2003.

Furnishing a new paleontological

curation and research facility at John Day

Fossil Beds National Monument, Oregon.

Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 23(3)

Supplement: 99A.

Spaeth, P., C.J. Conroy, and E.A. Hadly.

2003. Biogeographic and genetic origins

of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

mammalian fauna. Journal of Vertebrate

Paleontology 23(3) Supplement: 100A.

Steele, T., and E.A. Hadly. 2003.

Paleoecology of small mammals from

Waterfall locality, Yellowstone National

Park, Wyoming. Journal of Vertebrate

Paleontology 23 (3) Supplement: 100A.

Taylor, W., and A. Mead. 2003.

Cenogram analysis of the mammalian

faunas from the White River Group

within Badlands National Park, South

Dakota. Journal of Vertebrate

Paleontology23(3) Supplement: 103A.
Answer to Name the Fossil Park

Wind Cave National Park

Toomey, R. 2003. Paleontology at

Mammoth Cave. Cave Research

Foundation Annual Reports – 1998-

2000:79-80.

Tykoski, R.S., Rowe, T.B., Ketcham, R.A.,

and Colbert, M.W. 2002. Calsoyasuchus

valliceps: a new crocodyliform from the

Early Jurassic Kayenta Formation of

Arizona. Journal of Vertebrate

Paleontology 22(3): 593-611.

Wheatley, P.V. and D.R. Ruez. 2003.

Pliocene Odocoileus from Hagerman

Fossil Beds National Monument, Idaho,

and comments on the taxonomic status

of Odocoileus brachyodontus. Journal of

Vertebrate Paleontology 23 (3)

Supplement: 109A.

Woody, D. and W. Parker. 2003. A new

skeleton of the aetosaur, Stagnolepis

wellesi (Archosauria: Crurotarsi) from

Petrified Forest National Park and

preliminary results from a significant new

bonebed from the lower Chinle

Formation (Late Triassic) of Arizona.

Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 23 (3)

Supplement: 112A.

Papers presented at the Annual

Meetings of the Geological

Society of America

Beuhler, H., A.P. Hunt, J. Wright, S.G.

Lucas, and K.E. Zeigler. 2003. Late

Triassic dinosaur localities of Late

Revueltian (R2) age (Norian), Petrified

Forest National Park, Arizona. Geological

Society of America, Abstracts with

Programs 204-11:496

Crow, C.J. 2003. G.L. Bell Jr. and J.K.

Rigby. 2003. Paleoecology of a new

Gigantospongia species, Guadalupe

Mountains National Park, Texas USA.

Geological Society of America, Abstracts

with Programs 204-39:500.

Fitzke, J.A. and E. Hale. 2003.

Paleontologic inventory of Mount Holmes

and Trilobite Point, Yellowstone National

Park. Geological Society of America,

Abstracts with Programs 204-42:501

Fremd, T., R.E. Dunn, S.K. Rickabaugh,

D.B. Graham and D. Rosenkrans. 2003.

Paleontological reconnaissance of the

Frederika Formation, Wrangell-St. Elias

National Park and Preserve, southeastern

Alaska. Geological Society of America,

Abstracts with Programs 204-34:500.

Kinchloe, A.E. 2003. A taxonomic study

of the Eocene spiders from Florissant,

Colorado. Geological Society of America,

Abstracts with Programs 220-2:537.

Nyborg, T. and H.G. McDonald. 2003.

Development and implementation of

paleontological resource monitoring

strategies for the lake deposits of Copper

Canyon, Death Valley National Park USA:

The first effort to establish the critical

elements for monitoring in situ

paleontological resources in National Park

Service areas. Geological Society of

America, Abstracts with Programs 204-

41:501.

Puchalski, S.S. 2003. Taphonomy of

Mopalia muscosa and Katharina tunicate

(Phylum Mollusca, Class Polyplacophora)

from Cattle Point and False Bay, San Juan

Island, Washington USA. Geological

Society of America, Abstracts with

Programs 204-7:496

Santucci, V.L. 2003. Stratigraphic

distribution of tetrapod and invertebrate

ichnofossils in the Permian Coconino

Sandstone of Grand Canyon National

Park and adjacent areas, northern

Arizona. Geological Society of America,

Abstracts with Programs 204-27:498.

Other papers by NPS

paleontologists

Chure, D. 2003. Bullets, bombs, and

bones: the impact of 20th century

warfare on fossil vertebrate collections.

Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 23 (3)

Supplement: 40A.

Fremd, T., G. McDonald, I. Szarvas, and S.

Rickabaugh. 2003. Observations on the

Miocene terrestrial and marine localities

of the Ipolytarnoc region, northern

Hungary. Journal of Vertebrate

Paleontology 23(3) Supplement: 52A.

Muizon, C. de, H.G. McDonald, R. Salas

and M. Urbina. 2003. A new early

species of the aquatic sloth Thalassocnus

(Mammalia, Xenarthra) from the Late

Miocene of Peru. Journal of Vertebrate

Paleontology 23(4):886-894.

McDonald, H.G. 2003. Sloth remains

from North American caves and

associated karst features. pp. 1-16 in

B.W. Schubert, J.I. Mead and R.W.

Graham (eds.). Ice Age Cave Faunas of

North America. Indiana University Press

and Denver Museum of Nature and

Science.

Hofreiter, M., J.L. Betancourt, A. Pelliza

de Sbriller, V. Markgraf and H.G.

McDonald. 2003. Phylogeny, diet and

habitat of an extinct ground sloth from

Cuchillo Curá, Neuquén Province,

southwest Argentina. Quaternary

Research 59(2):364-378.

Kirkland, J., Ludvigson, G., Gonzalez, L.,

Joeckel, R., Madsen, S. 2003.

Correlating Early Cretaceous dinosaur site

using stratigraphic trends In 13C from

pedogenic carbonates: An example from

the Cedar Mountain Formation in Utah.

Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology,

23(3):67A.

Ludvigson, G., Gonzalez, L., Kirkland, J.,

Joeckel, R., Carpenter, S., Madsen, S.,

Maxson, J. 2003. Terrestrial carbonate

records of the carbon isotope excursions

associated with Mid-Cretaceous (AptianAlbian) oceanic anoxic events.Geological

Society of America, Abstracts with

Programs

Poinar, H., M. Kuch, H.G. McDonald, P.

Martin, and S. Pääbo. 2003. Nuclear

gene sequences from a Late Pleistocene

sloth coprolite. Current Biology

13(13):1150-1152.

Park Paleontology 9
The Park Paleontology Newsletter 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

Contributors

 Catherine Burgess

 Donald D. DeBlieux

 Donna J. Engard

 Rod Horrocks

 James I. Kirkland

 Herb Meyer

Comments? Write to:

Greg McDonald

Geologic Resources Division

National Park Service

P.O. Box 25287

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

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EXPERIENCE YOUR AMERICA

Reconstruction of the skeleton of Subhyracodon. From Osborn 1898

10 Park Paleontology