Jurassic dinosaurs on the move: Gastrolith provenance and long‐distance migration

Here, we present the detrital zircon age spectra for five (n = 36, 68, 66, 41, 29) red quartzite gastroliths collected from the top of the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation in the eastern Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, USA. The detrital zircon age spectra reveal geon 17 maximum depositional ages, and age p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Terra nova (Oxford, England) England), 2021-08, Vol.33 (4), p.375-382
Main Authors: Malone, Joshua R., Strasser, Jeffrey C., Malone, David H., D’Emic, Michael D., Brown, Lauren, Craddock, John P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Colour
Dinosaurs
Distance
Drainage systems
Isotopes
Jurassic
Quartzite
Spectra
Zircon
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Summary:Here, we present the detrital zircon age spectra for five (n = 36, 68, 66, 41, 29) red quartzite gastroliths collected from the top of the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation in the eastern Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, USA. The detrital zircon age spectra reveal geon 17 maximum depositional ages, and age peaks that are Yavapai (geon 17), Penokean (geon 18) and Archean (>geon 25). The colour, texture, composition and zircon age spectra of these exoliths are indistinguishable from those of geon 16 (i.e. Baraboo interval) quartzites present in the Laurentian midcontinent more than 1,000 km to the east. We interpret that these gastroliths were ingested by dinosaurs, most likely sauropods, in the Laurentian midcontinent and then transported in their digestive tracts to the site of deposition. These data support the hypothesis of long‐distance dinosaur migration, perhaps following low energy, continental‐scale drainage systems that flowed from the Appalachian highlands to the Morrison Formation depositional basin.
ISSN:0954-4879
1365-3121
DOI:10.1111/ter.12522