Vertebrate Remains on Ancient Rocky Shores: A Review with Report on Hadrosaur Bones from the Upper Cretaceous of Baja California (México)

Abstract

The bones and teeth of vertebrates occur on shorelines in quantities sufficient to provide a guide to the range of animals that live both inland and offshore. Burial is necessary for any remains to enter the fossil record and coastal deposits representing intertidal and shallow subtidal environments are potential repositories of this record. A survey of 150 published reports on rocky shores from the Cambrian to the Pleistocene reveals approximately 5% in which vertebrate remains are listed and described. In all cases, the vertebrates involved are marine in habit, but there is no reason to suppose that the remains of land-dwelling vertebrates should be excluded from such deposits. The potential for dinosaur remains to be incorporated in marine coastal deposits is appraised with particular attention to the Upper Cretaceous of Baja California (México) and southern California (U.S.A.). Newly discovered hadrosaur (duckbill) dinosaur bones from the Eréndira area on the Pacific coast of Baja California (México) are described as related to a Late Cretaceous rocky shoreline.