What Happened to the Dinosaurs?...•It is widely acknowledged that dinosaurs and many other forms...

What Happened to the Dinosaurs?

What we have learned

2017

Edmontosaurus annectens

What Dinosaurs?

Anzu Wyliei

Aublysodon sp.

Nanotyrannus

Dromaeosaurus

Saurornitholestes

Nodosaurus

Nodosaurus

Pachycephalosaurus sp.

Struthiomimus sp.

Thescelosaurus sp.

Triceratops horridus

Troodon sp.

Troodon sp.

Tyrannosaurus rex

What are we trying to learn?

• A Taphonomic approach to

understanding this remarkable deposit,

one of the largest dinosaur bonebeds in

the world.

• Taphonomy is the study of everything

that happens from the time an organism

is alive until it is excavated.

• Taphonomy includes cause of death,

post-mortem history, and any changes

that have occurred subsequent to burial.

What killed the dinosaurs?

Theories of Demise

Temperature changes (too hot or cold)

Moisture changes (too wet or dry)

Food changes (starved, poisoned, etc…)

Tectonic activity, volcanism

Asteroid impact

Global catastrophe

Too Hot

Too Cold

Too Dry

Too Wet

Too Little Food

Too Much Food

Poison Food

Constipated

Wait, what?!

Tectonism, Volcanism

Global Flood

Our Project

A Taphonomic Study

Our Project

Initiated in 1996

Cooperative project sponsored by

Earth History Research Center

Southwestern Adventist University

Hanson Research Station

Current operations at Hanson Research

Station in Wyoming in June and from July

to June in Texas at Southwestern

Adventist University where preparation,

curation and analysis take place.

Hanson Research Station

from 1000 feet

91 of 133 participants

June 2015

Art Chadwick,

Ph.D.

Geology

Larry Turner,

Ph.D.

Geophysics

Justin Woods,

Technical

Director

Staff

Amy Teague

Quarry Leader

12 Years

Tyke Connell

Quarry Leader

13 Yrs

Kathleen Wilson

Quarry Leader

16 Yrs

Staff

Keith Snyder,

Ph.D., Quarry

Leader 7 Yrs

Zury Franco, MD

Fossil Expert

9 Yrs

Stefan Gray

Quarry Leader

7 Yrs

Rose Weeks

Sedimentology

6 Yrs

Michael Harriss

Chief Technician

7 Yrs

Erin Maloney,

Ph.D.

Quarry Leader

8 Yrs

Our Work Site

Reaching the Site

New Site Opened Last Year l

Our Bone Bed

In the quarry…

GPS-GIS Technology

• New technology for mapping bones

in the quarry using high resolution

GPS equipment.

• GPS data is combined with digital

photos of bones in the computer.

• The bones can then be seen in the

computer just as they looked in the

ground , but with the dirt removed.

NORTH QUARRY 1999

NORTH QUARRY 2000

NORTH QUARRY 2001

NORTH QUARRY 2002

NORTH QUARRY 2003

NORTH QUARRY 2004

NORTH QUARRY 2005

NORTH QUARRY 2006

NORTH QUARRY 2007

NORTH QUARRY 2008

NORTH QUARRY 2009

NORTH QUARRY 2010

NORTH QUARRY 2011

NORTH QUARRY 2012

NORTH QUARRY 2013

NORTH QUARRY 2014

NORTH QUARRY 2015

NORTH QUARRY 2016

SOUTH QUARRY 2015

SOUTHEAST AND TEAGUE QUARRIES 2015

Nanotyrannus bones

STAIR QUARRY 2011

“Jane”- Nanotyrannus or

juvenile T. rex?

Nanotyrannus maxillary

Nanotyrannus dentary

Standard Taphonomic Model

for Major Dinosaur Bonebed

• Dinosaurs crossing river at flood stage

• Some drowned and were swept

downstream to a bend in the river where

their carcasses came to rest

• Year after year this happened, perhaps

during annual migrations, resulting in

accumulation of a massive bonebed with

tens of thousands of animals.

Nature of the Bonebed

• Bones lack current orientation

• Most are disarticulated

• Horizontal distribution is random

• Bones occur in normally graded bed

• Some sorting by bone type

• Bones are very well preserved with little

evidence of weathering or abrasion.

• Conservative estimate 15,000 animals

buried in bone bed.

Orientation of Bones

Site 1

Site 2

Site 4

N

h










buried in bone bed.

Site 2 - ribs

Horizontal Distribution










buried in bone bed.

0.0-0.2 meters

Vertical Distribution

Quarry 2

0.2-0.4 meters

Quarry 2


0.4-0.6 meters

Quarry 2


0.6-0.8 meters

Quarry 2











buried in bone bed.

Pristine Bones










buried in bone bed.

Not yet excavated

Dinosaurs in 165m2

Number Number Min. animals

Bone in skeleton catalogued represented

Scapulae 2 25 13

Humeri 2 29 15

Radii 2 17 9

Ulnae 2 14 7

Femora 2 28 14

Tibiae 2 19 10

Fibulae 2 25 13

Ilia 2 12 6

Ischia 2 42 21

Pubices 2 26 13

Sacra 1 6 6

Metatarsals 6 31 6

Metacarpals 6 30 5

Phalanges 12+18 36+40 3

Unguals 6+6 16+12 3

Ribs 40 552 14

Chevrons 30 296 10

Vertebrae 120 762 7

Number of animals in deposit

• Mean value from skeletal remains of

0.05 - 0.10 Edmontosaurus per m2

• Original extent of bone bed in

excess of 50 hectares

• May have been as few as 10,000 to

as many as 25,000 animals in

original deposit.

Microvertebrates

Paleobotany

• Leaf imprints, coalified wood and

petrified wood are fairly common in

the Lance.

• Amber is also found associated

with coal stringers in the bone bed.

• Have imprints of palm trunk and

palm fronds from sediments nearby

to quarry sites.

Invertebrates

• Numerous Unio bivalves are found

associated with the bone deposit

but not generally seen elsewhere.

This would be consistent with a

freshwater or brackish

environment.

• Gastropods are also common in

sediments containing the bones.

Explanation for Bone Beds in

Standard Model

•If standard model is true, what observations would support it?

•Bone beds with animals at various levels representing successive

events. No; a single graded bed means a single rapid event was

involved.

•Carcasses in various states of disarticulation but bones of

individuals generally still associated. No; only exceptionally are

bones still associated.

•Bones should show evidence of weathering (weather checking)

and surface oxidation. No; bones are generally pristine.

•Bones should be buried in relatively coarse clastic fluvial

sediments. No; bones are buried in very fine grained clay and

mud, overlain by sandstone containing glauconite.

•Associated fossil flora and fauna should be consistent with fluvial

accumulations. No; find marine elements mixed with brackish or

freshwater forms.

Alternative model

• Graded bone bed in mudstone is best explained as a

density current deposited rapidly in deeper water.

• The widespread sharp upper contact of the bone-

containing claystone with fine-grained immature

sandstone is best explained by deposition in deeper

water.

• The presence of peloidal glauconite is generally

considered an indicator of shelf deposition.

• Dinoflagellates and acritarchs are more consistent

with a shelf environment.

• The presence of abundant teeth of what are now

marine organisms are best explained in a marine

setting.

• Time is not an issue in this context.

Depositional Setting

Conclusions

• An unusual and VERY RICH bone bed in eastern

Wyoming is opening a window into the past.

• It is widely acknowledged that dinosaurs and

many other forms were killed by a catastrophe of

global proportions.

• Even at this early stage in our investigation at

this site we find abundant evidence for

catastrophic death and burial of dinosaurs that I

believe can be accommodated in a global flood.

• Having our eyes wide open to alternative

explanations is always a good thing in science.

More Information

Creation-Evolution issues

http://origins.swau.edu

Online Fossil Museum

http://fossil.swau.edu

Educational Online Museum

http://dinosaur.swau.edu

Dinosaur Research Project

http://dinosaurproject.swau.edu

What Happened to the Dinosaurs?...•It is widely acknowledged that dinosaurs and many other forms...

Documents

Transcript of What Happened to the Dinosaurs?...•It is widely acknowledged that dinosaurs and many other forms...