Further analysis of a Late Jurassic dinosaur bone-bed from the Morrison Formation of Montana, USA, with a computed three-dimensional reconstruction

A Late Jurassic sauropod bone-bed comprising thousands of individual skeletal elements in the Morrison Formation of Montana, USA, is re-analysed to further elucidate its taphonomic history. New data gained from detailed contextual sampling is assembled and presented to test the hypothesis of a droug...

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Veröffentlicht in:Earth and environmental science transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 2012-09, Vol.103 (3-4), p.443-458
Hauptverfasser: Storrs, Glenn W., Oser, Sara E., Aull, Mark
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:A Late Jurassic sauropod bone-bed comprising thousands of individual skeletal elements in the Morrison Formation of Montana, USA, is re-analysed to further elucidate its taphonomic history. New data gained from detailed contextual sampling is assembled and presented to test the hypothesis of a drought-induced, mass-mortality assemblage, and its subsequent depositional emplacement by a debris flow. Large dinosaur bone-beds are well-known in the Morrison, yet the Mother's Day Quarry site is unique for the formation in depicting an apparent debris flow deposit. Use of a computer program tailored to the data allows three-dimensional reconstruction of the bone-bed and recreates the palaeoslope of the deposit, adding support to the debris flow hypothesis. Such digital manipulation of field data may allow a deeper understanding of other bone-bed origination events.
ISSN:1755-6910
1755-6929
DOI:10.1017/S1755691013000248