A Paleontologists Dream Backyard: Hell Creek Ecosystem

Hell Creek is a mountainous rock formation that could easily be described as a 'palaeontologist's dream backyard'. 

The region is one of the most fossil-rich locations in the world! 

Scientists have been discovering new dinosaur specimens here since its first formal description by Barnum Brown in 1907.

Today, ancient layers of freshwater clay, mudstone and sandstone span parts of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming.

Index map of the Upper Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation along Ft. Peck Lake in northeastern Montana, USA. 

Picture credit: Horner et al. (2011).

Although the formation is now dry and barren, it was once a thriving coastal floodplain riddled with swamps, lush forests, river systems and lakes. 

Some of the most iconic ancient creatures called this place home during the Maastrichtian epoch, roughly 66-67 million years ago. 

Dinosaurs that roamed these plains include the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex, Triceratops, and the giant sea turtle Protostega.

One of the most ground-breaking discoveries from Hell Creek is its thin layer of iridium-rich clay. 

The clay boundary not only marks a transition from the Cretaceous to the Paleogene period but also provides key evidence supporting the asteroid impact hypothesis, which suggests that an asteroid impact led to the mass extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs.

Excavations throughout the formation have led to many more groundbreaking discoveries.

In 2005, scientists found evidence of quill knobs on the fossilised forearm bones of Dakotaraptor, providing solid evidence that Dakotaraptor was feathered.

Illustration and skeletal reconstruction of Dakotaraptor steini holotype demonstrating overall 
proportion and large size of the creature. Picture credit: DePalma et al. (2015).


The presence of feathers on Dakotaraptor and other dinosaurs suggests a close evolutionary relationship between dinosaurs and modern birds.

We could discuss the amazing discoveries of Hell Creek for hours, but all I want to know now is: Where would you travel if you had a time machine? 

Make sure to tell us your answer below!



Further reading

DePalma, Robert A., David A. Burnham, Larry D. Martin, Peter L. Larson, and Robert T. Bakker. (2015) The First Giant Raptor (Theropoda: Dromaeosauridae) from the Hell Creek Formation. Paleontological Contributions, no. 14 (October): 1-16. 

Fastovsky, David E., Bercovici, A. (2016) The Hell Creek Formation and its contribution to the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction: A short primer. Cretaceous Research,
no. 57.

Horner, J.R., Goodwin, M.B., Myhrvold, N. (2011) Dinosaur Census Reveals Abundant
Tyrannosaurus and Rare Ontogenetic Stages in the Upper Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation (Maastrichtian), Montana, USA. PLoS ONE 6(2). 

Lowell, D. (2004) Hell Creek, Montana: America's Key To The Prehistoric Past. St. Martin's Press. 

Parker, T. (2021) Saurian: A Field Guide to Hell Creek. Titan Books.
 

Written by Charlotte Gresham

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kaush Subramaniam: Award-Winning Conservation Storyteller Talks About Sharks, Fossils, and Global Conservation Efforts

Image
This week, we chatted with Kaush Subramaniam, a wildlife conservation biologist and award-winning photographer who tells the stories of conservation efforts across the globe. We learnt about Kaush's work in conservation storytelling, shark conservation efforts, the role of social media in wildlife awareness, and insights into shark fossil records . Let's dive in! Before we dive into discussing sharks in the fossil record, could you start by telling us a bit about yourself and the work you're currently involved in? So my background is in wildlife conservation. I did my Master's thesis on whale sharks so I have a decent amount of experience with sharks. These days I work mainly in conservation storytelling. So I still spend a lot of time around scientists, which also involves being in the water with sharks and other species that are misrepresented in the media. I'm really happy to be talking to you guys about sharks today. What inspired you to move away from academia ...
Read more

Fossil Fanatic talks to Megan! How to study prehistoric life, dream fossil hunting locations, and more!

Image
Welcome to the first blog post from Fossil Fanatic! Throughout these posts, we will be talking to experts, highlighting new scientific discoveries and of course, celebrating the incredible diversity of prehistoric life to soared the skies, patrolled the oceans, and ruled the land.  In today's post, we talk to  Paelontologist Megan Jacobs of Wight Coast Fossils who shares with us some invaluable insight into what it takes to work in the field, grow your knowledge, and perhaps make your own incredible discoveries! Paleontologist Megan Jacobs. Photo credit Wight Coast Fossils. Fossil Fanatic: Megan thanks very much for sharing some of your time to talk to Fossil Fanatic!  I’m sure there will be lots of budding young paleontologists eager to hear about your experiences. Before we get into that, it would be great to hear a little bit about yourself, what does your current work involve? What’s a typical day for yourself? Megan: I am currently juggling my time between running Wi...
Read more

A step back in time

Image
Anyone with even a passing interest in prehistoric animals will surely have, at some point in their life, either purchased or been given a small bag full of miniature curiosities. Coming in a wide array of colours, teeth showing menacingly, limbs tense seemingly ready to spring into action at any moment, this can only be a bag full of the most famous animals ever to walk the Earth. Except, what if it isn’t? What if there are some outliers amongst the diversity of teeth, claws, long necks, and tank-like armour? The truth is that in almost of all these bags, it was highly likely you would come across some prehistoric wonders not quite making it into the dinosaur threshold. This doesn’t make them any less impressive and their worlds any easier to comprehend. Still, surely, we deserve some accuracy when buying something even if they are toys designed to amaze young minds, and, in fairness that is something they certainly do. So, what was and was not a dinosaur? Let us take our own step b...
Read more