Kaiparowits Formation

Kaiparowits Formation
Stratigraphic range: Upper Cretaceous
Type Geological formation

The Kaiparowits Formation is a sedimentary rock formation found in the Kaiparowits Plateau in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, in the southern part of Utah in the western United States. It is over 2800 feet (850 m) thick, and is Campanian in age. This Upper Cretaceous formation was formed from alluvial floodplains of large rivers; sandstone beds represent rivers, and mudstone beds represent floodplain deposits. It is fossiliferous, with most specimens from the lower half of the formation, but exploration is only comparatively recent, with most work being done since 1982.

Contents

Paleofauna

Animals present include chondrichthyans (sharks and rays), gars, bowfin, sturgeons, frogs, salamanders, turtles, lizards, crocodilians, coelurosaurian theropods such as dromaeosaurids, troodontids, and Ornithomimus velox, armored dinosaurs, the duckbill Parasaurolophus cyrtocristatus, and a variety of early mammals including multituberculates, marsupials, and insectivorans.[1] Recent finds include large specimens of the duckbill Gryposaurus,[2] including the new species G. monumentensis,[2] and the first described remains of the oviraptorosaurian Hagryphus giganteus.[3]

Trace fossils are also known from the Kaiparowits, including an excellently preserved hadrosaur skin impression known from a recent analysis by Herrero and Farke.[4]

Ornithischians

Color key
Taxon Reclassified taxon Taxon falsely reported as present Dubious taxon or junior synonym Ichnotaxon Ootaxon Morphotaxon
Notes
Uncertain or tentative data are in small text; crossed out data are discredited.
Ornithischians reported from the Kaiparowits Formation
Genus Species Location Stratigraphic position Material Notes Images

Euoplocephalus[5]

Indeterminate[5]

Gryposaurus[6]

G. monumentensis[6]

A saurolophine

Parasaurolophus[5]

P. cyrtocristatus[5]

A lambeosaurine

Stegoceras[5]

Indeterminate[5]

Triceratops[7]

Indeterminate[7]

Kosmoceratops[8]

K. richardsoni

A chasmosaurine

Utahceratops[8]

U. gettyi

A chasmosaurine

Theropods

Color key
Taxon Reclassified taxon Taxon falsely reported as present Dubious taxon or junior synonym Ichnotaxon Ootaxon Morphotaxon
Notes
Uncertain or tentative data are in small text; crossed out data are discredited.
Theropods reported from the Kaiparowits Formation
Genus Species Location Stratigraphic position Material Notes Images

Albertosaurus[9]

Indeterminate[9]

Avisaurus[5]

Unnamed[5]

A enantiornithine

Hagryphus[6]

H. giganteus[6]

An elmisaurine

Ornithomimus[5]

O. velox[5]

An ornithomimid

Paronychodon[10]

Indeterminate[10]

Ricardoestesia[11]

Indeterminate[11]

Talos[6]

T. sampsoni[6]

A troodontid

Teratophoneus[12]

T. curriei

A tyrannosaurid

Troodon[5]

Indeterminate[5]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ Eaton, Jeffrey G.; Cifelli, Richard L.; Hutchinson, J. Howard; Kirkland, James I.; and Parrish, J. Michael (1999). "Cretaceous vertebrate faunas from the Kaiparowits Plateau, south-central Utah". In Gillete, David D. (ed.). Vertebrate Paleontology in Utah. Miscellaneous Publication 99-1. Salt Lake City: Utah Geological Survey. pp. 345–353. ISBN 1-55791-634-9. 
  2. ^ a b Gates, Terry; and Sampson, Scott (2006). "A new species of Gryposaurus (Dinosauria: Hadrosauridae) from the Upper Campanian Kaiparowits Formation of Utah". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 26 (3, Suppl.): 65A. 
  3. ^ Zanno, Lindsay E.; and Sampson, Scott D. (2005). "A new oviraptorosaur (Theropoda; Maniraptora) from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) of Utah". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 25 (4): 897–904. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2005)025[0897:ANOTMF]2.0.CO;2. 
  4. ^ Herrero, Lucia and Farke, Andrew A. 2010. Hadrosaurid Dinosaur Skin Impressions from the Upper Cretaceous Kaiparowits Formation of Southern Utah, USA. – Palarch’s Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology 7(2) (2010), 1-7. ISSN 1567-2158.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "3.1 Utah, United States; 12. Kaiparowits Formation," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Pages 579-580.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Lindsay E. Zanno, David J. Varricchio, Patrick M. O'Connor, Alan L. Titus and Michael J. Knell (2011). "A new troodontid theropod, Talos sampsoni gen. et sp. nov., from the Upper Cretaceous Western Interior Basin of North America". PLoS ONE. 
  7. ^ a b Listed as "cf. Triceratops sp." in "3.1 Utah, United States; 12. Kaiparowits Formation," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 580.
  8. ^ a b "New Horned Dinosaurs of Utah Provide Evidence for Intracontinental Dinosaur Endemism" in Sampson, et al. (2010)
  9. ^ a b Listed as "?Albertosaurus sp." in "3.1 Utah, United States; 12. Kaiparowits Formation," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 579.
  10. ^ a b Listed as "cf. Paronychodon sp." in "3.1 Utah, United States; 12. Kaiparowits Formation," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 579.
  11. ^ a b Listed as "cf. Ricardoestesia sp." in "3.1 Utah, United States; 12. Kaiparowits Formation," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 579.
  12. ^ Thomas D. Carr, Thomas E. Williamson, Brooks B. Britt and Ken Stadtman (2011). "Evidence for high taxonomic and morphologic tyrannosauroid diversity in the Late Cretaceous (Late Campanian) of the American Southwest and a new short-skulled tyrannosaurid from the Kaiparowits formation of Utah". Naturwissenschaften 98 (3): 241–246. doi:10.1007/s00114-011-0762-7. PMID 21253683. http://www.springerlink.com/content/y3203347l6580475/. 

References

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