Paleontology in Montana

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state of Montana

Paleontology in Montana refers to

cartilaginous fish fauna. Later in the Paleozoic the sea began to withdraw, but with a brief return during the Permian
.

During the

duckbilled Maiasaura formed vast nesting colonies. By the end of the Cretaceous Montana was home to some of the most famous dinosaurs; creatures such as Edmontosaurus, Triceratops, and Tyrannosaurus
.

During the early

state fossil
.

Prehistory

The

Shell Mountain south of Big Timber.[3] Later in the Carboniferous, during the Pennsylvanian epoch, the sea began to retreat. Geological uplift was raising the elevation of the northern and northwestern regions of the state. Montana was covered by the sea again for a short interval of the Permian period.[2]

Allosaurus.

During the

theropod Allosaurus. These sediments deposited what is now known as the Morrison Formation.[8]

For thirty million years following the deposition of the Morrison Formation sediments in Montana were being eroded rather than deposited. Seawater was still present in Montana, now extending as an embayment down from the

mosasaurs, pelecypods, and plesiosaurs.[13]

During the

dinosaur footprints are surprisingly rare in Montana compared to other western states with contemporary deposits. This might be due to the local ancient environments not being well suited for track preservation or merely because scientists have not yet looked in the right places.[17]

Tyrannosaurus.

Early in the

fishes, gastropods, mosasaurs, and plesiosaurs.[18] Later in the Maastrichtian stage, volcanic activity was still ongoing in the Elkhorn region and the Western Interior Seaway began to withdraw. This regression would end up resulting in both halves of North America reuniting. As the seaway withdrew the area closest to the Rocky Mountains became an expanding desert. Eastern Montana was hot and humid, by contrast, as the coastal plain was also expanding as a result of the marine regression. By the late Maastrichtian stage large rivers flowed across the eastern part of the state, depositing the sediments that would one day become the Hell Creek Formation. At the time, Montana was home to some of the most famous dinosaurs; creatures including Edmontosaurus, Pachycephalosaurus, Triceratops, and Tyrannosaurus.[19]

During the early

taeniodonts.[3] During the Miocene Montana was also home to camels and horses.[23] Later into the Cenozoic Montana became colder and wetter. Glacial activity scoured the state. At this time mammoths, musk oxen, and dire wolves lived in the areas of the state not covered by glaciers.[2]

History

Indigenous interpretations

Sauropelta.

Clovis people.[24] In the distant past the local indigenous people also collected fossils from Montana's Morrison Formation exposures. Archaeological sites on the Crow Reservation between Pryor and St. Xavier include fire pits lined with sizable dinosaur bones. These fossil-lined fire pits were probably used for cooking.[25]

The

pine cones and roast the nuts.[25]

buffalo herds. When used this way the fossils are called "buffalo-calling stones", known as Iniskim to the Blackfeet of northern Montana and Alberta. This practice derives from the complex shapes of the fossil's internal structure, which can sometimes bear shapes resembling buffalo. Iniskim have been discovered in South Dakota archeological sites. Archeological evidence exists for the buffalo-calling stone tradition that is at least 1,000 years old.[28]

Navajo creation mythology.[29] Another myth, this one Pawnee, may have been influenced by the Maiasaura eggs. The Pawnee told a story about two warriors who traveled far to the north of Nebraska where they found very large an unusual eggs that were found to be the eggs of a water serpent.[30] The Crows attributed "spiritual power" to the fossilized dinosaur eggs of eastern Montana.[31]

The Crow people also believed in water monsters. These were said to be

Tyrannosaurus rex, which could be mistaken for the limb of a large unknown kind of bird.[31] The Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus fossils of Montana's Hell Creek Formation may have influenced Cheyenne beliefs in monsters called ahk.[34]

When the

dinosaurs and mosasaurs of the region's Mesozoic rock. Unktehi was described as a snakelike monster equipped with feet, like the elongate sinuous mosasaurs who had four short limbs. Its back was described as ridged and saw-like, a configuration similar to the appearance of a fossil vertebral column eroding from rock. In more recent times Lakota storyteller James LaPointe has explicitly called Unktehi a dinosaur.[36]

Scientific research

A Brachyceratops skeleton found in Montana being prepared for an exhibition in 1921.

In 1855,

Troodon formosus.[37]

In 1901, Dr.

primates, and taeniodonts.[3]

Montanan Tertiary deposits in the

mosquitoes, snails, and wasps. Vertebrate remains included feathers, and, once in a while, a bird.[20] In 1961 a new flora was found nearby in a badger burrow. The flora is called the Badger Flora. Among the different kinds of plants were water lilies and lotuses.[20]

Deinonychus.

In 1964,

lizards".[40]

In 1978, paleontologist

Maiasaura peeblesorum.[41]

People

Gloria Jean Siebrecht was born in Kalispell in 1940.

John R. Horner was born in Shelby on June 15, 1946
.

Natural history museums

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b Murray (1974); "Montana", page 184.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Varricchio, Springer, Scotchmoor (2006); "Paleontology and geology".
  3. ^ a b c d Murray (1974); "Montana", page 183.
  4. ^ Horner (2001); "Triassic Time", pages 60-61.
  5. ^ Horner (2001); "Triassic Time", page 61.
  6. ^ Horner (2001); "Jurassic Time", page 61.
  7. ^ Horner (2001); "Jurassic Time", pages 61-62.
  8. ^ a b Horner (2001); "Jurassic Time", page 62.
  9. ^ Horner (2001); "The Fossils Known from the Morrison Formation in Montana", page 63.
  10. ^ Horner (2001); "Cretaceous Time", page 63.
  11. ^ Everhart (2005); "One Day in the Life of a Mosasaur", page 7.
  12. ^ Horner (2001); "Middle Cretaceous Time", page 68.
  13. ^ Horner (2001); "Late Cretaceous Time: Santonian Stage", page 69.
  14. ^ Lockley and Hunt (1999); "Overview of the Late Cretaceous Environment", pages 214-215.
  15. ^ a b Horner (2001); "Late Cretaceous Time: Campanian Stage", page 70.
  16. ^ Jacobs (1995); "Chapter 4: The Land of Texas Giants", page 104.
  17. ^ Lockley and Hunt (1999); "Rare Tracks of the Laramie Formation", page 236.
  18. ^ Horner (2001); "Late Cretaceous Time: Maastrichtian Stage", page 76.
  19. ^ Horner (2001); "Latest Cretaceous Time: Maastrichtian Stage", page 77.
  20. ^ a b c d Murray (1974); "Montana", page 181.
  21. ^ Murray (1974); "Montana", page 186.
  22. ^ Murray (1974); "Montana", pages 181-182.
  23. ^ a b c Murray (1974); "Montana", page 182.
  24. ^ Mayor (2005); "Water Monsters and Thunder Birds on the Prairie and in the Badlands", page 272.
  25. ^ a b Mayor (2005); "Water Monsters and Thunder Birds on the Prairie and in the Badlands", page 273.
  26. ^ Mayor (2005); "Cheyenne Fossil Knowledge", page 216.
  27. ^ Mayor (2005); "Water Monsters and Thunder Birds on the Prairie and in the Badlands", pages 272-273.
  28. ^ Mayor (2005); "Buffalo-Calling Stones", page 227.
  29. ^ Mayor (2005); "The Monsters", page 129.
  30. ^ Mayor (2005); "Spirit Animal Mounds", pages 190-191.
  31. ^ a b Mayor (2005); "Water Monsters and Thunder Birds on the Prairie and in the Badlands", page 276.
  32. ^ Mayor (2005); "Water Monsters and Thunder Birds on the Prairie and in the Badlands", page 275.
  33. ^ Mayor (2005); "Water Monsters and Thunder Birds on the Prairie and in the Badlands", pages 275-276.
  34. ^ Mayor (2005); "Cheyenne Fossil Knowledge", page 212.
  35. ^ Mayor (2005); "Water Monsters and Thunder Birds on the Prairie and in the Badlands", page 235.
  36. ^ Mayor (2005); "Water Monsters and Thunder Birds on the Prairie and in the Badlands", page 237.
  37. ^ Horner (2001); "History of Dinosaur Collecting in Montana", page 44.
  38. ^ Murray (1974); "Montana", pages 182-183.
  39. ^ Horner (2001); "History of Dinosaur Collecting in Montana", page 53.
  40. ^ Horner (2001); "History of Dinosaur Collecting in Montana", pages 53-54.
  41. ^ a b Horner (2001); "History of Dinosaur Collecting in Montana", page 56.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Paleontology in Montana.
Wikisource has original works on the topic: Paleontology in the United States#Montana
  • Everhart, M. J. 2005. Oceans of Kansas – A Natural History of the Western Interior Sea. Indiana University Press, 320 pp.
  • Horner, John R. Dinosaurs Under the Big Sky. Mountain Press Publishing Company. Missoula, Montana. 2001.
    ISBN 0-87842-445-8
    .
  • Jacobs, L. L., III. 1995. Lone Star Dinosaurs. Texas A&M University Press.
  • Lockley, Martin and Hunt, Adrian. Dinosaur Tracks of Western North America. Columbia University Press. 1999.
  • 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 978-0-02-093550-6
    .
  • Varricchio, David; Dale Springer, Judy Scotchmoor. July 21, 2006. "Montana, US". The Paleontology Portal. Accessed September 21, 2012.

External links

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