Paleontology in Mississippi
state of Mississippi
Paleontology in Mississippi refers to
state fossils
.
Prehistory
The oldest rocks in Mississippi date back to the
Cretaceous plant life left behind few fossils in Mississippi.ostrich dinosaurs were preserved in the state.[6] An extremely rare Maastrichian ceratopsian tooth was found in 2016, making it the third ceratopsian remain known from Appalachia.[7]
In the early
Bony fish, sharks, and whales also lived in the early Cenozoic seas of Mississippi.[1] Unlike southern Mississippi, the state's northern half persisted as a terrestrial environment covered by forests and swamps. Contemporary local trees left behind petrified wood.[1] Early Tertiary primate fossils were preserved near Meridian. The primates of Tertiary Mississippi are among the oldest known in the world.[8] During the Eocene, Scott County was home to foraminiferans and ostracods.[5] It was also home to large oysters and the primitive whale Basilosaurus.[5] During the later part of the Cenozoic era, the local climate cooled. Contemporary sediments preserved local freshwater molluscs and mammals.[1]
History
_-_Mauricio_Ant%C3%B3n.jpg)
The
foraminiferans and ostracods have played this role in Clay County and younger Eocene fossils of the same taxa have also contributed to the search in Scott County.[5]
Protected areas
Natural history museums
See also
- Paleontology in Alabama
- Paleontology in Arkansas
- Paleontology in Louisiana
- Paleontology in Tennessee
Footnotes
- ^ a b c d e f Springer and Scotchmoor (2005); "Paleontology and geology",.
- ^ Everhart (2005); "Enter the Mosasaurs", page 164.
- ^ Murray (1974); "Mississippi", pages 165-168.
- ^ a b c d Murray (1974); "Mississippi", page 164.
- ^ a b c d e Murray (1974); "Mississippi", page 171.
- ^ Weishampel, et al. (2004); "3.31 Mississippi, United States", page 587.
- ^ "New discovery: Horned dinosaurs walked Mississippi soil".
- ^ Picconi (2003); "Fossils of the Coastal Plain: Region 3", page 96.
- ^ Mayor (2005); "Note 21", page 361.
References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Paleontology in Mississippi.
- Everhart, M. J. 2005. Oceans of Kansas - A Natural History of the Western Interior Sea. Indiana University Press, 320 pp.
- Mayor, Adrienne. Fossil Legends of the First Americans. Princeton University Press. 2005. ISBN 0-691-11345-9.
- Murray, Marian (1974). Hunting for Fossils: A Guide to Finding and Collecting Fossils in All 50 States. Collier Books. p. 348. ISBN 9780020935506.
- Picconi, J. E. 2003. The Teacher-Friendly Guide to the Geology of the Southeastern U.S. Paleontological Research Institution, Ithaca, NY.
- Springer, Dale, Judy Scotchmoor. July 1, 2005. "Mississippi, US." The Paleontology Portal. Accessed September 21, 2012.
- Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. 861 pp. ISBN 0-520-24209-2.