River Badlands Research Articles

Holocene evolution of parabolic dunes, White River Badlands, South Dakota, USA, revealed by high-resolution mapping

AbstractThe White River Badlands (WRB) of South Dakota record eolian activity spanning the late Pleistocene through the latest Holocene (21 ka to modern), reflecting the effects of the last glacial period and Holocene climate fluctuations (Holocene Thermal Maximum, Medieval Climate Anomaly, and Little Ice Age). The WRB dune fields are important paleoclimate indicators in an area of the Great Plains with few climate proxies. The goal of this study is to use 1 m/pixel-resolution digital elevation models from drone imagery to distinguish Early to Middle Holocene parabolic dunes from Late Holocene parabolic dunes. Results indicate that relative ages of dunes are distinguished by slope and roughness (terrain ruggedness index). Morphological differences are attributed to postdepositional wind erosion, soil formation, and mass wasting. Early to Middle Holocene and Late Holocene paleowind directions, 324°± 13.1° (N = 7) and 323° ± 3.0° (N = 19), respectively, are similar to the modern wind regime. Results suggest significant landscape resilience to wind erosion, which resulted in preservation of a mosaic of Early and Late Holocene parabolic dunes. Quantification of dune characteristics will help refine the chronology of eolian activity in the WRB, provide insight into drought-driven landscape evolution, and integrate WRB eolian activity in a regional paleoenvironmental context.

Chronology of dune development in the White River Badlands, northern Great Plains, USA

Abstract Aeolian dune field chronologies provide important information on drought history on the Great Plains. The White River Badlands (WRB) dunes are located approximately 60 km north of the Nebraska Sand Hills (NSH), in the western section of the northern Great Plains. Clifftop dunes, sand sheets, and stabilized northwest-southeast trending parabolic dunes are found on upland mesas and buttes, locally called tables. The result of this study is a dune stabilization history determined from samples collected from stratigraphic exposures and dune crests. Thirty-seven OSL ages, from this and previous investigations, show three periods of dune activity: 1) ∼21,000 years ago to 12,000 years ago (a), 2) ∼9 to 6 ka, and 3) post-700 a. Stratigraphic exposures and low-relief dune forms preserve evidence of late Pleistocene and middle Holocene dune development, while high-relief dune crests preserve evidence of late Holocene dune development. Results of 12 OSL ages from the most recent dune activation event indicate that Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) droughts and Little Ice Age (LIA) droughts caused dune reactivation on the tables. Dune reactivation was accompanied by other drought-driven geomorphological responses in the WRB, including fluvial incision of the prairie and formation of sod tables. Regional significance of the MCA and LIA droughts is supported by similarities in the aeolian chronologies of the NSH at 700–600 a and some western Great Plains dune fields at 420–210 a. Aerial photographs of the WRB show little activity during the Dust Bowl droughts of the 1930s.

Index to Titles and Authors/Editors of Books Reviewed Volume 92 (2017)

Index to Titles and Authors/Editors of Books Reviewed Volume 92 (2017)

Index to Titles and Authors/Editors of Books Reviewed

Index to Titles and Authors/Editors of Books Reviewed

The White River Badlands: geology and paleontology

The White River Badlands: geology and paleontology

First FossilAlligatorfrom the Late Eocene of Nebraska and the Late Paleogene Record of Alligators in the Great Plains

Abstract Fragmentary fossils have been tentatively attributed to Alligator from the Eocene of Wyoming, North Dakota, Saskatchewan, and Utah. The earliest definitive temporal and geographic range of Alligator has been limited to the late Eocene and early Oligocene Chadron and Brule Formations of the White River Badlands in South Dakota, represented by fossils of Alligator prenasalis. New fossils from the Chadron Formation in northwestern Nebraska expand the definitive geographic range of Alligator during the late Eocene. Results from a cladistic analysis of 28 alligatoroid species using 181 morphological characters support the identification of the new specimens as representing the most basally divergent taxon within Alligator, suggesting that they likely represent A. prenasalis; however, a lack of diagnostic features in the Nebraska specimens prevents a definitive assignment to this species. Limited occurrence data may indicate that Alligator experienced a reduction in biogeographic range following global...

A mid-Oligocene (Whitneyan) rhinocerotid from northeastern California

AbstractRhinoceroses were important in North American mammal faunas from the late middle Eocene to the Miocene, but the group’s poor sampling outside the High Plains and eastern Rocky Mountain regions during their early evolution significantly hinders understanding of their biogeography. This limited geographic sampling is particularly true of early–middle Oligocene time, with the vast majority of Whitneyan localities occurring in the White River Badlands of South Dakota. Thus, any rhinocerotid from outside the High Plains during this period is significant. We describe two new rhinocerotid specimens from the middle Oligocene Steamboat Formation of the northeastern Warner Mountains of California. Although the Steamboat Formation is well known for fossil plants, this is the first report of mammalian fossils from the area: an isolated lower molar recovered in 1974 but not previously described or illustrated, and a mandibular fragment recovered approximately 20 years later and bearing two molar teeth, most likely pertaining to the same taxon and horizon. The lack of distinctive morphological characters suggests both fossils be conservatively referred to Rhinocerotidae incertae sedis. Based on published tooth measurement data, Trigonias osborni represents the closest size match, but that species is currently only known from the Chadronian. Similarly, the Whitneyan taxon Diceratherium tridactylum is approximately the right size, but is currently only known from the High Plains and its presence in California would expand its geographic range substantially. Of greatest importance here is that sediments of the eastern Warner Mountains may represent a largely unexplored locale for early–middle Oligocene fossil vertebrates, and may yield important future finds.

Red Deer River shakedown: a history of the Captain Marshall field paleontological expedition to Alberta, 1922, and its aftermath

A Field Museum expedition to collect Late Cretaceous dinosaurs operated for three and a half months in the summer of 1922 in the Red Deer River badlands (Oldman and Dinosaur Park formations, Belly River Group) in an area now known as Dinosaur Provincial Park in southern Alberta, Canada. Associate Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology Elmer S. Riggs led the expedition. He was ably assisted by veteran collectors George F. Sternberg and John B. Abbott. A trio of novice collectors, Anthony Dombrosky, George Bedford and C. Harold Riggs, Elmer's youngest son, rounded out the party. The expedition was a success, netting several quality specimens of duckbilled dinosaurs; one small, partial theropod skeleton; an unidentified duckbilled dinosaur skull; four turtles; other miscellaneous fossil vertebrate remains; numerous fossil plants and invertebrates; and a large fossil log. In 1956, one of these specimens—a nearly complete lambeosaurine hadrosaur reconstructed as Lambeosaurus—debuted as the less fortunate partner of Gorgosaurus in the museum's iconic ‘Dinosaurs, Predator and Prey’ exhibit in Stanley Field Hall. Both of these specimens are still on display in a permanent exhibit called ‘Evolving Planet’. Another notable specimen prepared in 1999-2000 after nearly eighty years in an unopened field jacket has been identified as a juvenile Gorgosaurus. This specimen—nicknamed ‘Elmer’—was recently touring the globe as part of the ‘Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries’ exhibit. More importantly, the expedition was an invaluable shakedown experience for the fossil hunting crew and their new equipment in the months before they left on an ambitious, multi-year fossil mammal collecting expedition to Argentina and Bolivia. An oft-repeated myth holds that Riggs viewed the Alberta expedition as a failure and departed the field the moment he obtained permission to go to South America. This paper shows that myth to be unfounded.

The Big Pig Dig: Integrating Paleontological Research and Visitor Education at Badlands National Park, South Dakota

A paleontological field discovery known as the Big Pig Dig has developed into a significant visitor education and research site. Between 5,000 and 10,000 visitors stop by the site each summer. The site contains many visitor facilities, including a site shelter, wayside exhibit, site bulletin, demonstration casts and a visitor interpretation program. These are useful tools for communicating to the public, the importance of protecting paleontological sites and promoting paleontological research. Site excavation, documentation and visitor interpretation, are completed by park staff and geology students enrolled at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and other Universities around the United States. The namesake for the site, an ancient pig-like mammal called Archaeotherium, is preserved along with horn-less rhinoceros, the three-toed horse and several other early mammals. Both paleontological and sedimentological evidence indicates that the Pig Dig was a watering hole. The site has provided a significant amount of information on a unique depositional environment preserved within the Oligocene White River Badlands of western South Dakota.

Aeolian cliff-top deposits and buried soils in the White River Badlands, South Dakota, USA

Aeolian deposits in the North American Great Plains are important sources of Holocene palaeo environmental records. Although there are extensive studies on loess and dune records in the region, little is known about records in aeolian cliff-top deposits. These are common on table (mesa) edges in the White River Badlands. These sediments typically have loam and sandy-loam textures with dominantly very fine sand, 0.5–1% organic carbon and 0.5–5% CaCO3. Some of these aeolian deposits are atypically coarse and contain granules and fine pebbles. Buried soils within these deposits are weakly developed with A-C and A-AC-C profiles. Beneath these are buried soils with varying degrees of pedogenic development formed in fluvial, aeolian or colluvial deposits. Thickness and number of buried soils vary. However, late-Holocene soils from several localities have ages of approximately 1300, 2500 and 3700 14C yrs BP. The 1300 14C yr BP soil is cumulic, with a thicker and lighter A horizon. Soils beneath the cliff-top deposits are early-Holocene (typically 7900 but as old as 10000 14C yrs BP) at higher elevation (|950 m) tables, and late-Holocene (2900 14C yrs BP) at lower (|830 m) tables. These age estimates are based on total organic matter 14C ages from the top 5 cm of buried soils, and agreement is good between an infrared stimulated luminescence age and bracketing 14C ages. Our studies show that cliff-top aeolian deposits have a history similar to that of other aeolian deposits on the Great Plains, and they are another source of palaeoenvironmental data.

Source Determination of White River Group Silicates from Two Archaeological Sites in the Great Plains

High-quality cryptocrystalline silicates from the Oligocene-age White River Group of the central Great Plains (referred to here as White River Group Silicates [WRGS]) were widely used prehistorically for chipped-stone tools. There are three known source areas for WRGS: Flattop Butte in northeastern Colorado, Table Mountain in east central Wyoming, and the White River Badlands of South Dakota. Specimens from these sources are often visually indistinguishable, making it difficult to specify the source of WRGS from nonquarry archaeological sites. Using a quantitative method—neutron-activation analysis—these sources were differentiated. The sources of WRGS in two Central Plains archaeological sites also were determined using this technique. The results show that the technique has important implications for studies of prehistoric mobility and for the refinement of cultural-historical affiliation.

Neutron activation analysis of stone from the Chadron Formation and a Clovis Site on the Great Plains

Abstract Cryptocrystalline silicates from the Chadron Formation were widely used by prehistoric human groups in the Great Plains of North America. There are two documented quarry areas: Flattop Butte in Colorado and the White River Badlands of South Dakota. Cryptocrystalline silicates from these sources are visually indistinguishable, making it difficult to determine the sources of artefacts found at archaeological sites. In this investigation, neutron activation analysis is used to distinguish the two sources. This technique also identifies lithic material from the Clovis-age Eckles site in Kansas as being from Flattop Butte.

Paleosols and prehistoric populations in the high plains

AbstractExcavations in 1980–1981 at sites (32MZ319 and 32MZ380) along Cinnamon Creek Ridge in the Little Missouri River Badlands of McKenzie County, North Dakota, unexpectedly revealed at each locality the presence of one or more deeply buried paleosols with associated cultural materials. At both sites, 32MZ319 and 32MZ380, multiple paleosols are present, each of which is terminated by an episode of aeolian deposition. Fifteen radiocarbon dates on these paleosols establish an incipient chronology for paleosol development in the study area and permit correlation with other High Plains archaeological complexes. Geological and archaeological data for the two multiple paleosol sites are summarized.

Aspect‐induced differences in hillslope processes

AbstractThe type and relative rate of geomorphic process activity on residual hillslopes in the White River Badlands of South Dakota were found to vary as a function of aspect‐induced differences in topoclimate. Drainage densities on north‐facing slopes several orders of magnitude greater than those on slopes facing south indicate that north‐facing slopes experience greater fluvial erosion. Comparative analysis of mass movement features suggests that north‐facing slopes are prone to relatively high‐magnitude, low‐frequency failures, whereas south‐facing slopes experience far more frequent but much smaller movements.Variations in process activity can be explained in large part by aspect‐induced differences in moisture regime. Field monitoring of moisture conditions indicates that north‐facing slopes maintain higher and less variable moisture levels. South‐facing slopes are not only drier in‐ general but are subject to more frequent and intense episodes of wetting and drying. Differences in moisture conditions promote differences in weathering activity as evidenced by thicknesses of slope regoliths. Higher moisture levels on north‐facing slopes lead to more rapid dissolution of binding cements and consequently, thicker regolith covers. On south‐facing slopes, however, regolith covers are virtually non‐existent due to both drier conditions and episodic desiccation, which triggers small rockfalls. Greater fluvial erosion on north‐facing slopes is a consequence of higher antecedent moisture levels, which retard infiltration. Further, the unconsolidated regolith cover is more erodible than the relatively unweathered materials exposed on the surfaces of south‐facing slopes. Resistance to slumps and mudflows is lower on north‐facing slopes because the weathered regolith is less cohesive than the unweathered parent material and also because the regoliths are periodically saturated.

Basal Miocene Ash in White River Badlands, South Dakota: GEOLOGICAL NOTES

The white volcanic ash capping Sheep Mountain and other prominent landmarks in the White River Badlands is named the Rockyford Member of the Sharps Formation. It conformably overlies the middle and upper Oligocene Brule Formation, and may be correlated with the ash bed of the Gering Formation in Nebraska. The type section is on the S. end of Sheep Mountain, and the name is taken from the town of Rockyford. The member is 0 to 55 ft. thick, is of pinkish-gray ash with glass shards of rhyolitic composition (R. I. 1.492 - 1.504), and fragments of quartz, biotite, sanidine, andesine, clay and an amphibole. Prominent features are small pipe concretions, and many clastic dikes. Volcanic activity at the end of the Oligocene in Yellowstone and (or) the Colorado Rocky Mountains appears to be the only likely origin for the Rockyford ash. The unit shows no evidence of being substantially reworked except in the peripheral areas of the Grass Creek drainage; deposition, therefore, took place in a relatively short period of time.

Structure plan of clastic dikes

Conclusions drawn from field observations are that vertical sandstone dikes of the White River Badlands, South Dakota, originated as open fractures that were filled with debris supplied by erosion of overlying formations. One existing explanation is that the dikes formed in deep desiccation cracks which developed at the surface as the silts and clays of the Oligocene White River group became consolidated. Evidence from a recent study of a small area of clastic dikes is incompatible with the desiccation‐crack theory of origin. The pattern of intersecting dikes, when mapped, resembles a fracture system rather than having a hexagonal arrangement normally associated with desiccation cracks. Shear fractures appear on the map intersecting at angles of 54° to 71°, the acute bisectrix varying in strike from N 45°W to N 54°W. One dike occupies a major tension fracture, strikes N 50°W, and extends vertically through two beds of strikingly different lithology, a condition unlikely to occur with desiccation cracks. South of the area, normal faults of small vertical displacement, trending northwest, suggest minor regional tension, which may well have caused the development of a fracture pattern as displayed by the dikes. If these fractures were open at the surface, subsequent filling from above would follow, resulting in numerous intersecting clastic dikes.

A Hitherto Undescribed Coprolite from the White River Badlands of South Dakota

A Hitherto Undescribed Coprolite from the White River Badlands of South Dakota