Cretaceous Dinosaurs across Alaska Show the Role of Paleoclimate in Structuring Ancient Large-Herbivore Populations

The partially correlative Alaskan dinosaur-bearing Prince Creek Formation (PCF), North Slope, lower Cantwell Formation (LCF), Denali National Park, and Chignik Formation (CF), Aniakchak National Monument, form an N–S transect that, together, provides an unparalleled opportunity to examine an ancient...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geosciences (Basel) 2022-04, Vol.12 (4), p.161
Main Authors: Fiorillo, Anthony R., McCarthy, Paul J., Kobayashi, Yoshitsugu, Suarez, Marina B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ancient Arctic
Annual precipitation
Annual temperatures
Arctic
ceratopsians
Climate change
Coastal inlets
Cretaceous
Dinosaurs
Earth science
Ecology
ecosystem reconstruction
hadrosaurs
Herbivores
Mean annual precipitation
National parks
Paleoclimate
Paleolatitude
Precipitation
Proxies
Reproducibility
Temperature
Terrestrial ecosystems
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The partially correlative Alaskan dinosaur-bearing Prince Creek Formation (PCF), North Slope, lower Cantwell Formation (LCF), Denali National Park, and Chignik Formation (CF), Aniakchak National Monument, form an N–S transect that, together, provides an unparalleled opportunity to examine an ancient high-latitude terrestrial ecosystem. The PCF, 75–85° N paleolatitude, had a Mean Annual Temperature (MAT) of ~5–7 °C and a Mean Annual Precipitation (MAP) of ~1250 mm/year. The LCF, ~71° N paleolatitude, had a MAT of ~7.4 °C and MAP of ~661 mm/year. The CF, ~57° N paleolatitude, had a MAT of ~13 °C and MAP of ~1090 mm/year. The relative abundances of the large-bodied herbivorous dinosaurs, hadrosaurids and ceratopsids, vary along this transect, suggesting that these climatic differences (temperature and precipitation) played a role in the ecology of these large-bodied herbivores of the ancient north. MAP played a more direct role in their distribution than MAT, and the seasonal temperature range may have played a secondary role.
ISSN:2076-3263
2076-3263
DOI:10.3390/geosciences12040161