User:Abyssal/Prehistory of North America

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The Kirtlandian is a North American land-vertebrate faunal age of the Cretaceous period, following the Judithian and succeeded by the Edmontonian. It lasted about 2 million years, ca 74.8 to 72.8 Mya and is characterized by the ceratopsian Pentaceratops sternbergii, which lived throughout the Kirtlandian. It was first named by R.M. Sullivan and S.G. Lucas in 2003 as a faunal age for the Kirtland and Fruitland formations. Previously, only five land-vertebrate ages were identified from the Late Cretaceous. as identified by Loris S. Russell in 1975, they include the Paluxian, Aquilan, Judithian, Edmontonian, and the Lancian. Before the naming of the Kirtlandian, three gaps, between the Paluxian and Aquilan, the Aquilan and the Judithian, and the Judithian and Edmontonian, were identified but not named.

The Fruitland Formation measures 97 to 107 metres (318 to 351 ft) thick, and with the 594 metres (1,949 ft) of the Kirtland Formation, the Kirtlandian consists of 701 metres (2,300 ft) of sediments. The rock types within the formations are primarily coal beds, but also include sandstone, siltstone, mudstone, and shale. Within the sediments with a Kirtlandian age, two local faunas, the Hunter Wash local fauna, and the Willow Wash local fauna, have been identified. The currently accepted date of the Kirtlandian is 74.8 to 72.8 million years ago. (see more...)

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Selected article on the prehistory of North America in science, culture and economics

Edward Drinker Cope (left) and Othniel Charles Marsh (right).

The Bone Wars is the name given to a period of intense fossil speculation and discovery during the Gilded Age of American history, marked by a heated rivalry between Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh. The two paleontologists used underhanded methods to out-compete the other in the field, resorting to bribery, theft, and destruction of bones. The scientists also attacked each other in scientific publications, attempting to ruin the other's credibility and cut off his funding.

Originally colleagues who were civil to each other, Cope and Marsh became bitter enemies after several personal slights between them. Their pursuit of bones led them west to rich bone beds in Colorado, Nebraska, and Wyoming. From 1877 to 1892, both paleontologists used their wealth and influence to finance their own expeditions and to procure services and fossils from dinosaur hunters. By the end of the Bone Wars, both men exhausted their funds in fueling their intense rivalry.

Cope and Marsh were financially and socially ruined by their efforts to disgrace each other, but their contributions to science and the field of paleontology were massive; the scientists left behind tons of unopened boxes of fossils on their deaths. The feud between the two men led to over 142 new species of dinosaurs being discovered and described. Several historical books and fictional adaptations have also been published about this period of intense paleontological activity. (see more...)

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Did you know?

... that the ichnogenus Chondrites (pictured) can be used as an indicator of anoxia in sediments?
... that Kendallina, a genus of trilobite, lived in North America during the Upper Cambrian?
... that the recently named trematopid temnospondyl Fedexia was named after the shipping service FedEx, which owned the land where the holotype specimen was found?
... that the extinct Eocene maple species Acer rousei is a possible ancestor to the vine maple?
...that Madison Limestone, a layer of mostly carbonate rocks formed in the Mississippian period, serves as an aquifer and an oil reservoir in the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains areas?

... that the "Bottoms" of Milford, Ohio, contain a Woodland period archaeological site?
... that the extinct Neocorynura electra, found in Dominican amber, is the only known species of Neocorynura "sweat bee" from the Greater Antilles?
... that the Ka'Kabish archaeological site in Belize has revealed evidence of a Mayan city?
... that the extinct ants Azteca alpha carried larvae of the nematode Formicodiplogaster myrmenema?
... that the pattern of the veins on fossil leaves of the extinct golden-club Orontium wolfei confirm it as a member of the arum family?