Hell Creek

["Ivan Kwan" <t_rexkwan@hotmail.com>]

I intend to do a story about the fauna of the Hell Creek Formation, just 
before the K-T extinction, and I've got a few questions:

> From what I know, the environment was mostly made up of sequoia-like 
forests, with some magnolias and other deciduous trees (eg oak?) Also, there 
would be some prairies consisting of ferns and some small herbacous shrubs. 
Swamps and wetlands would be full of horsetails & ferns (am I correct?) as 
well as cypress trees.

Is this correct?

By the way, I have no idea what animals inhabited the Western Interior 
Seaway at this time. Was big ol' mean Tylosaurus still making life hell for 
Clidastes, Platecarpus & Elasmosaurus? Were Hesperornis & Ichthyornis still 
around? What about Archelon? I guess Pteranodon had died out by then, but 
were there any other pterosaurs besides Quetzalcoatlus? Also, was 
Deinosuchus still around then? (Would be quite cool to have a real clash of 
the titans; Deinosuchus vs. Tyrannosaurus)

I have heard that Tyrannosaurs remains found in New Mexico have been 
identified as Tyrannosaurus; what was the fauna there like? Would 
Alamosaurus be around to make a nice meal for a marauding pack of 
Tyrannosaurs? Or would great herds of Kritosaurus and Torosaurus replace the 
Edmontosaurus & Triceratops further up north in Alberta & Montana?

Also, I do know that some parts of the Western Interior Seaway (or the 
Niobrara Sea as I call it) retreated far enough for dinosaurs on the Eastern 
side to migrate across; would it be okay to have T-rex wreak havoc on a herd 
of Hadrosaurus, or have it drive away a Dryptosaurus?




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