Re: CERATOPSIAN

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

At 09:09 AM 10/20/97 -0600, Jeffrey Martz wrote:
>
>     Are these "inland sediments" actually part of the Hell Creek
>Formation itself, or are you referring to different Lancian formations 
>like the Scollard?    

Not the Lance or Hell Creek themselves, certainly.  The Scollard was one of
the more inland areas, at least in part, as were parts of the Willow Creek
and the small areas of the western portions of the Frenchman.  (Also, most
of my distribution maps date back to the 70's, so they may be out of date).

One good source on this is:
        Lehman, Thomas M., 1987. "Late Maastrichtian Paleoenvironments and
Dinosaurs Biogeographyin the Western Interior of North America."
Paleogeography, Paleoclimatoloy, Paleoecology 60:189-217.


Ooops.  Looking at the diversity diagrams in this article I notice I made
an error in my previous article here.  _Triceratops_ *is* listed as present
in the "Leptoceratops fauna", at about 30% of the fauna (Scollard),
compared to 55-75% of the fauna in the main Triceratops zone closer to the
paleocoast (Lance/Hell Creek).   So I misspoke: _Tricerarops_ is known from
the more inland areas, it was just more abundant in the lower lying coastal
plains.  (_Leptoceratops_ is said to be absent from the coastal formation,
and as abundant as _Triceratops_ in the Scollard).

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