Reflections of surface water, seasonality and climate in stable oxygen isotopes from tyrannosaurid tooth enamel

Abstract

Patterns of isotopic variation in enamel of eight Albertosaurus teeth from the Campanian/Maastrichtian Horseshoe Canyon Formation, Alberta, were measured by serial sampling along the growth axis. Cycles in the isotopic values appear to correlate to published tooth growth rates for tyrannosaurids. Tyrannosaurid dinosaur teeth of ~50 mm in length provide ideal repositories of terrestrial climatic information as each records a full annual cycle of body water isotopic variation. The relatively thin enamel precludes problems associated with time-averaging associated with complex growth patterns found in thick mammalian enamel. The most consistent and striking pattern associated with all of the teeth are two relatively closely spaced subequal maxima. These appear to be associated with onset of a seasonal episode of high humidity after the activation of the “amount effect,” where the influence of ambient temperature on surface water (and body water) δ 18O ends while temperatures remain above 20 °C. Teeth within a single fossiliferous horizon show the same general isotopic pattern and range. A notable difference in pattern shape and magnitude of isotopic variation between tyrannosaurid teeth from several stratigraphic intervals of the lower Horseshoe Canyon Formation section indicates a climatic changes from strong seasonality (high annual temperature range with distinct precipitation and humidity maxima during each year) at the base of the section to milder seasonality at the top.