RE: Details on Capitalsaurus (revised)

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@geol.umd.edu>]

> From: owner-dinosaur@usc.edu [mailto:owner-dinosaur@usc.edu]On Behalf Of
> philidor11
>
> >From the Details:
> <The holotype was collected by J. K. Murphy in a Washington D.C. sewer.>
> and later:
> <As "Capitalsaurus" was discovered in Cretaceous deposits,...>
>
> The Washington D.C. sewers are Cretaceous deposits?
> Public Works has been underfunded for far too long.
>
> (Is it possible the fossil was carried somewhere else via the sewer?  I
> forget what this relocation by water is called, but this does sound like a
> candidate.)

I believe that the specimen was found during the EXCAVATION of the sewer.
And yes, the bedrock of the Washington, D.C. area (at least east of the Fall
Line) is Cretaceous and Paleogene sediments.

                Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                Vertebrate Paleontologist
Department of Geology           Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland          College Park Scholars
                College Park, MD  20742
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/tholtz.htm
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~jmerck/eltsite
Phone:  301-405-4084    Email:  tholtz@geol.umd.edu
Fax (Geol):  301-314-9661       Fax (CPS-ELT): 301-405-0796