Re: champsosaurus range

[frank bliss <frank@blissnet.com>]

The question then occurs, what are the main microfaunal index fossils 
that denote the K/T boundary above Hell Creek in Montana/Lance in 
Wyoming.  Obviously they have to be common and limited to either time 
interval to be useful.  The absence of dinosaur material above the 
break would not necessarily be obvious and the reworked stuff could 
certainly be confusing.  In the meantime the presence of something new 
and common in the Paleocene would be useful.  I read about a fern 
explosion and a lignite layer (not here so far) but this is hardly 
useful if they are not exposed or present locally.   This previously 
mentioned Champsosaur vert came out about 600 GPS feet above MY base 
(not the absolute contact) of known Hell Creek which seems pretty 
high/thick to me (even accounting for a 50 foot regional dip per mile) 
to still be HC.  Please excuse my ignorance in this point as I am just 
now exploring up section away from where I am comfortable/oriented. The 
really scary thing is that some of this is starting to make sense!

Frank Bliss
MS Biostratigraphy
Weston, Wyoming

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