Testing the Utility of Vertebrate Remains in Recognizing Patterns in Fluvial Deposits: An Example from the Lower Horseshoe Canyon Formation, Alberta

Abstract

Other| October 01, 2002 Testing the Utility of Vertebrate Remains in Recognizing Patterns in Fluvial Deposits: An Example from the Lower Horseshoe Canyon Formation, Alberta WILLIAM H. STRAIGHT; WILLIAM H. STRAIGHT 1Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences Department, Box 8208, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695 Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar DAVID A. EBERTH DAVID A. EBERTH 2Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, Box 7500, Drumheller AB T0J 0Y0, Canada Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information WILLIAM H. STRAIGHT 1Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences Department, Box 8208, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695 DAVID A. EBERTH 2Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, Box 7500, Drumheller AB T0J 0Y0, Canada Publisher: SEPM Society for Sedimentary Geology Accepted: 10 Mar 2002 First Online: 03 Mar 2017 Online ISSN: 1938-5323 Print ISSN: 0883-1351 Society for Sedimentary Geology PALAIOS (2002) 17 (5): 472–490. https://doi.org/10.1669/0883-1351(2002)017<0472:TTUOVR>2.0.CO;2 Article history Accepted: 10 Mar 2002 First Online: 03 Mar 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation WILLIAM H. STRAIGHT, DAVID A. EBERTH; Testing the Utility of Vertebrate Remains in Recognizing Patterns in Fluvial Deposits: An Example from the Lower Horseshoe Canyon Formation, Alberta. PALAIOS 2002;; 17 (5): 472–490. doi: https://doi.org/10.1669/0883-1351(2002)017<0472:TTUOVR>2.0.CO;2 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyPALAIOS Search Advanced Search Abstract Depositional cycles in fluvial successions are described here as chronostratigraphic packages of strata founded on a laterally extensive, scour-based, amalgamated channel-sand body, overlain by mudrocks, isolated channel fills, avulsion and splay complexes, and paleosols. Ten packages are described from the lower Horseshoe Canyon Formation (Campanian-Maastrichtian), one of a succession of clastic wedges filling the Alberta foreland basin in south-central Alberta. The structure of these packages is consistent with the fall-rise-fall cycle of base-level described in other studies, but the package-bounding scours and internal surfaces are discontinuous and difficult to trace in the mudrock-dominated strata. Terrestrial vertebrate fossils are preserved in relatively fossiliferous, facies-independent horizons 1 to 3 m thick that statistically correlate with the stratigraphic position of package scours and surfaces. Fossiliferous horizons formed as a result of attritional accumulation under an optimum, relatively low, regional deposition rate. Not only do these horizons aid in locating package surfaces, but they also provide insight to the interaction of the package-scale, base-level oscillation with the larger-scale fluctuation in accommodation associated with the formation of the clastic wedge. As such, fossiliferous horizons in the Horseshoe Canyon Formation make better boundary markers than do paleosols, splays, coal seams, or even the surfaces associated with package structure. Therefore, the vertebrate fossil record may supply a means of stratigraphically evaluating sections in other locations in which typical sedimentological and architectural cues for surfaces are absent. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.