Table Of Contentat the top of the Grand staircase
Life of the Past James o. farlow, editor
at the toP of the Gr and staircase
the Late cretaceous of southern utah
edited by aL an L. titus and M ark a. Loewen
indiana university Press Bloomington & indianapolis
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At the top of the grand staircase : the late
© 2013 by Glen Canyon Natural Cretaceous of Southern Utah / edited by
History Association Alan L. Titus and Mark A. Loewen.
pages cm. – (Life of the past)
All rights reserved Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-253-00883-1 (cloth : alk.
No part of this book may be reproduced or paper) – ISBN 978-0-253-00896-1 (e-book)
utilized in any form or by any means, electronic 1. Geology, Stratigraphic – Cretaceous.
or mechanical, including photocopying and 2. Paleontology – Cretaceous. 3. Geology – Utah.
recording, or by any information storage and 4. Animals, Fossil – Utah. 5. Grand Staircase-
retrieval system, without permission in writing Escalante National Monument (Utah) I. Titus,
from the publisher. The Association of American Alan L. (Alan Lee), [date] editor of compilation.
University Presses’ Resolution on Permissions II. Loewen, Mark A., editor of compilation.
constitutes the only exception to this prohibition. QE688.A85 2013
551.7'7097925 – dc23
2013005859
1 2 3 4 5 18 17 16 15 14 13
This volume is dedicated to William Jefferson Clinton,
forty-second president of the United States, who estab-
lished Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument by
presidential proclamation in 1996 and indirectly spurred
a new era of study on southern Utah’s Cretaceous strati-
graphic and paleontological record.
Proceeding eastward to the Kaiparowits the Cretaceous
presents itself in a manner which is highly significant, and
which merits careful examination.
Clarence Dutton
Tertiary History of the Grand Canyon District, 1882
contents
C
ix Foreword by Jeffrey G. Eaton Preliminary Report on Salamanders (Lissamphibia;
Caudata) from the Late Cretaceous (Late Cenomanian–
xi Preface 11 Late Campanian) of Southern Utah, U.S.A.
237 James D. Gardner, Jeffrey G. Eaton, and Richard L. Cifelli
xiii Acknowledgments
Anuran Ilia from the Upper Cretaceous of
xv List of Contributors 12 Utah – Diversity and Stratigraphic Patterns
273 Zbyneˇk Rocˇek, James D. Gardner, Jeffrey
One Hundred Thirty Years of Cretaceous G. Eaton, and Tomáš Prˇikryl
1 Research in Southern Utah
2 Alan L. Titus 13 Turtles from the Kaiparowits Formation, Utah
295 J. Howard Hutchison, Michael J. Knell, and Donald B. Brinkman
2 Geologic Overview
13 Alan L. Titus, Eric M. Roberts, and L. Barry Albright III Review of Late Cretaceous Mammalian Faunas of the
14 Kaiparowits and Paunsaugunt Plateaus, Southwestern Utah
Accumulation of Organic Carbon–Rich Strata 319 Jeffrey G. Eaton and Richard L. Cifelli
along the Western Margin and in the Center of the
North American Western Interior Seaway during Late Cretaceous Mammals from Bryce Canyon National Park
3 the Cenomanian–Turonian Transgression 15 and Vicinity, Paunsaugunt Plateau, Southwestern Utah
42 Walter E. Dean, Erle G. Kauffman, and Michael A. Arthur 329 Jeffrey G. Eaton
Tectonic and Sedimentary Controls, Age, and Correlation of Lizards and Snakes from the Cenomanian through
4 the Upper Cretaceous Wahweap Formation, Southern Utah Campanian of Southern Utah: Filling the Gap in the
57 Zubair Jinnah Fossil Record of Squamata from the Late Cretaceous
16 of the Western Interior of North America
Implications of the Internal Plumbing of a Late 370 Randall L. Nydam
Cretaceous Sand Volcano: Grand Staircase–
5 Escalante National Monument, Utah Crocodyliforms from the Late Cretaceous of
74 Edward L. Simpson, Hannah L. Hilbert-Wolf, Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument
Michael C. Wizevich, and Sarah E. Tindall 17 and Vicinity, Southern Utah, U.S.A.
424 Randall B. Irmis, J. Howard Hutchison, Joseph
The Kaiparowits Formation: A Remarkable Record of J. W. Sertich, and Alan L. Titus
Late Cretaceous Terrestrial Environments, Ecosystems,
6 and Evolution in Western North America Review of Late Cretaceous Ankylosaurian Dinosaurs
85 Eric M. Roberts, Scott D. Sampson, Alan L. Deino, 18 from the Grand Staircase Region, Southern Utah
Samuel A. Bowring, and Robert Buchwaldt 445 Mark A. Loewen, Michael E. Burns, Michael A. Getty,
James I. Kirkland, and Matthew K. Vickaryous
A Late Campanian Flora from the Kaiparowits
Formation, Southern Utah, and a Brief Overview of Ornithopod Dinosaurs from the Grand Staircase–Escalante
the Widely Sampled but Little-Known Campanian National Monument Region, Utah, and Their Role in
7 Vegetation of the Western Interior of North America 19 Paleobiogeographic and Macroevolutionary Studies
107 Ian M. Miller, Kirk R. Johnson, Douglas E. Kline, 463 Terry A. Gates, Eric K. Lund, C. A. Boyd, Donald D.
†Douglas J. Nichols, and Richard S. Barclay DeBlieux, Alan L. Titus, David C. Evans, Michael A.
Getty, James I. Kirkland, and Jeffrey G. Eaton
Continental Invertebrates and Trace Fossils from
8 the Campanian Kaiparowits Formation, Utah Review of Pachycephalosaurian Dinosaurs from Grand
132 Leif Tapanila and Eric M. Roberts 20 Staircase–Escalante National Monument, Southern Utah
482 David C. Evans, Thomas Williamson, Mark
Elasmobranchs from Upper Cretaceous A. Loewen, and James I. Kirkland
9 Freshwater Facies in Southern Utah
153 James I. Kirkland, Jeffrey G. Eaton, and Donald B. Brinkman Ceratopsid Dinosaurs from the Grand
21 Staircase of Southern Utah
Freshwater Osteichthyes from the Cenomanian 488 Mark A. Loewen, Andrew A. Farke, Scott D. Sampson,
to Late Campanian of Grand Staircase– Michael A. Getty, Eric K. Lund, and Patrick M. O’Connor
10 Escalante National Monument, Utah
195 Donald B. Brinkman, Michael G. Newbrey, 22 Late Cretaceous Theropod Dinosaurs of Southern Utah
Andrew G. Neuman, and Jeffrey G. Eaton 504 Lindsay E. Zanno, Mark A. Loewen, Andrew A. Farke, Gy-Su
Kim, Leon P. A. M. Claessens, and Christopher T. McGarrity
A Trackmaker for Saurexallopus: Ichnological
Evidence for Oviraptorosaurian Tracks from the
23 Upper Cretaceous of Western North America
526 Gerard Gierlinski and Martin Lockley
First Report of Probable Therizinosaur (cf.
Macropodosaurus) Tracks from North America, with
Notes on the Neglected Vertebrate Ichnofauna of the
24 Ferron Sandstone (Late Cretaceous) of Central Utah
530 Gerard Gierlinski and Martin Lockley
Fossil Vertebrates from the Tropic Shale
25 (Upper Cretaceous), Southern Utah
536 L. Barry Albright III, David D. Gillette, and Alan L. Titus
Paleontological Overview and Taphonomy of the
Middle Campanian Wahweap Formation in Grand
26 Staircase–Escalante National Monument
563 Donald D. DeBlieux, James I. Kirkland, Terry A. Gates,
Jeffrey G. Eaton, Michael A. Getty, Scott D. Sampson,
Mark A. Loewen, and Martha C. Hayden
Taphonomy of a Subadult Teratophoneus
curriei (Tyrannosauridae) from the Upper
27 Campanian Kaiparowits Formation of Utah
588 Jelle P. Wiersma and Mark A. Loewen
A New Macrovertebrate Assemblage from the Late
28 Cretaceous (Campanian) of Southern Utah
599 Scott D. Sampson, Mark A. Loewen, Eric
M. Roberts, and Michael A. Getty
623 Index
foreword
F
In 1982, Tom Ryer came to the University of Wyo- As was typical of the times, the workers that had simulta-
ming to give a talk on coal geology in the Cretaceous of neously arrived on the Kaiparowits Plateau in 1983 studied
Utah. A few years earlier (1979), Jason Lillegraven had com- mammals; however, this volume reflects the healthy diver-
pleted his groundbreaking Mesozoic Mammals book, and the sification of research that has taken place on the plateau
gaps in our record of Cretaceous mammals were fresh in my over the years. This volume includes chapters on flora, in-
mind. I asked Tom what was landward of these Cretaceous vertebrates, sharks and rays, fish, frogs, salamanders, turtles,
coals, and he replied, “Boring floodplain sediments.” That lizards, crocodylians, dinosaurs (of course!), trackways, and
did it for me. After I graduated in 1982, I drove out to the San marine vertebrates. Also, important contributions are being
Rafael Swell, the Henry Mountains, and the Kaiparowits made on the chronostratigraphy of the region (it is wonder-
Plateau, and I found fossils everywhere I went. I was most ful to finally have some radiometric dates!) and on other as-
impressed by the thick and well-exposed section on the Kai- pects of the geology and sedimentology of this extraordinary
parowits Plateau. So in May 1983, I went to the Kaiparowits sequence.
Plateau to begin my dissertation research. The premise on which Grand Staircase–Escalante Na-
I fully expected to have the Kaiparowits Plateau to my- tional Monument was established is well demonstrated in
self. However, that same year, the remarkable collector Will this volume, but all of us who work in this region understand
Downs led Richard Cifelli (then at the Museum of North- that this compilation does not represent the end of scientific
ern Arizona) to the Kaiparowits Plateau. As it turned out, research here, but rather a new starting place. The monu-
we ended up camped less than a mile from each other on ment will serve to enhance our knowledge of Earth history,
Horse Mountain. This was the beginning of still-continuing and in particular the Late Cretaceous, for generations to
paleontological discoveries on the Kaiparowits Plateau. The come.
scientific resources of the region eventually became the
basis for establishing Grand Staircase–Escalante National Jeffrey G. Eaton
Monument in 1996, and subsequent paleontological research Ogden, Utah
on the monument has been championed by Alan Titus, to December 2011
whom all of us are indebted.
ix
