DEPOSITIONAL CONSTRAINTS ON THE LOWER CRETACEOUS STIKES QUARRY DINOSAUR SITE: UPPER YELLOW CAT MEMBER, CEDAR MOUNTAIN FORMATION, UTAH

A new mass death assemblage in Lower Cretaceous strata of east-central Utah contains well-preserved skeletons representing an ontogenetic series of individuals of Utahraptor, and at minimum two iguanodont grade ornithischian skeletons. The dinosaurs were entombed in ovoid-lensoidal, fine-grained san...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Palaios 2016-09, Vol.31 (9), p.421-439
Main Authors: KIRKLAND, JAMES I, SIMPSON, EDWARD L, DeBLIEUX, DONALD D, MADSEN, SCOTT K, BOGNER, EMILY, TIBERT, NEIL E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Archosauria
artesian waters
bone beds
Cedar Mountain Formation
Chordata
Coelurosauria
Cretaceous
Diapsida
dinosaurs
Dromaeosauridae
Grand County Utah
lithofacies
lithostratigraphy
Lower Cretaceous
Mesozoic
Ornithischia
paleoenvironment
Paleontology
preservation
Reptilia
Research Article
Saurischia
sedimentary rocks
Stikes Quarry
terrestrial environment
Tetrapoda
Theropoda
United States
Utah
Utahraptor ostrommaysorum
Vertebrata
vertebrate
Yellow Cat Member
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Description
Summary:A new mass death assemblage in Lower Cretaceous strata of east-central Utah contains well-preserved skeletons representing an ontogenetic series of individuals of Utahraptor, and at minimum two iguanodont grade ornithischian skeletons. The dinosaurs were entombed in ovoid-lensoidal, fine-grained sandstone sills linked by sandstone pipes and/or dikes and another basal lensoidal mass with scattered and broken iguanodont and sauropod bones and to an underlying gravelly sandstone bed. Exposed in the excavation high-walls are syndepositional normal-faults bounding graded ripple strata. Multiphased fluid over-pressurization in an artesian setting creating the structures. Trapping, killing, and subsequent burial mechanism was generated by variations of pressure in a localized artesian spring system that breached the surface and is the first such mechanism documented with numerous dinosaur victims.
ISSN:0883-1351
1938-5323
DOI:10.2110/palo.2016.041