Re: CERATOPSIAN

[Stanley Friesen <sarima@ix.netcom.com>]

At 05:42 PM 10/10/97 -0700, GBT wrote:
> He goes on that the ceratopsians may have only lived inland.

Sounds nice at first glance.  But he misses one major fact.  The Lance and
Hell Creek Formations were laid down on a broad coastal plain, and
_Triceratops_ is stupendously abundant in these beds.  _Triceratops_ is
found even in the lowest parts of the Hell Creek, where it immediately
overlays the coastal dunes of the Fox Hills Formation.  (In fact parts of
the Hell Creek immediately above the Fox Hills derive from a lagoonal
environment).  This puts _Triceratops_ right by the shore - separated form
it by nothing but a lagoon, a few sand dunes and a beach.

And most of the earlier ceratopsians from the American midwest come from
similar situations.  In short, except for some protoceratopsids,
ceratopsians are virtually unknown from inland formations.


I suspect that the inland sea separating eastern from western North America
simply kept the ceratopsians from moving that way.

--------------
May the peace of God be with you.         sarima@ix.netcom.com
                                          sfriesen@netlock.com