RE: Hell Creek

["Tracy L. Ford" <dino.hunter@home.com>]

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-dinosaur@usc.edu [mailto:owner-dinosaur@usc.edu]On Behalf Of
Ivan Kwan
Sent: Sunday, December 02, 2001 9:25 AM
To: dinosaur@usc.edu
Subject: Hell Creek

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:

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)<<

Deinosuchus is a marine alligatoroid (see Chris I didn't say Allgatorid). So
if Tyrannosaurus was walking along a beach or lagoon...


I have heard that Tyrannosaurs remains found in New Mexico have been
identified as Tyrannosaurus; what was the fauna there like?
If you can get a hold of the book, Advances in San Juan Basin Paleontology
(1981), there are several articles covering the fauna, a bit dated and a few
animals have been added, or the new Dinosaurs of New Mexico (you can go to
the New Mexico Museum web site and I think order from there, but I may be
wrong).
Would
Alamosaurus be around to make a nice meal for a marauding pack of
Tyrannosaurs?
At one time I would have argued against this, but like a few other things, I
stand corrected. There is Tyrannosaur material with Alamosaurus coming out
of Utah.
Or would great herds of Kritosaurus and Torosaurus replace the
Edmontosaurus & Triceratops further up north in Alberta & Montana?

This is probably correct.

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?
This article has already been listed on the list, but there is a new article
in Geology Today...

Terry Dennis O, jr, et al, 2001, Marine Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary section
in southwestern South Dakota. Geology Today, V. 29, n. 11, p. 1055-1058.

Tracy L. Ford
P. O. Box 1171
Poway Ca  92074