Fossil Cycad National Monument was a national monument in the U.S. state of South Dakota beginning in 1922. The site contained hundreds of fossils of the cycad-like bennettitalean plant Cycadeoidea , one of the world's greatest concentrations. [1] Because vandals stole or destroyed all of the visible fossils, it was withdrawn as a national monument in 1957. [2] It is located in northwestern Fall River County, on U.S. Route 18, northeast of the city of Edgemont.
The fossilized cycad beds were discovered in 1892 by F. H. Cole of Hot Springs, South Dakota, in the 120-million-year-old Dakota Sandstone Formation, near Minnekahta. [3] Cole sent photographs of the fossils to Professor Henry Newton, a geologist at the Smithsonian Institution. Professor Thomas MacBride of the University of Iowa published the first description of the site in 1893. There were believed to be large deposits of Cretaceous cycad fossils. (Cycads are plants resembling ferns, although not related to them. The ones at this site were tree-sized.) A few years earlier, ranchers in the area were unearthing fossil cycads, which were described as prehistoric pineapples by them, to be sold off as curiosities. This practice was stopped due to the intervention of the University of Iowa, the Smithsonian and various institutions. [4]
In 1920, Yale paleobotanist George Reber Wieland obtained the fossil cycad-rich land under the Homestead Act "in order that the cycads might not fall into unworthy hands". [5] Two years later he offered to return the land to the federal government if a national monument could be established to protect the fossils.
The original monument was established on October 21, 1922, through Proclamation 1641 of President Warren G. Harding. It encompassed 1.3 km2 (320 acres) at the south entrance to the Black Hills of South Dakota. It was said to be "probably one of the most interesting fossil-plant beds yet discovered, with the most perfectly preserved specimens, and is known to scientific people throughout the world." [6] It was the third American monument designed to protect its fossils, most notably the Cretaceous-era fossils. [7] The superintendent at Wind Cave National Park was given jurisdiction over the new national monument, but day-to-day supervision was left to local ranchers. [8]
Even before formal approval of the new national monument, all of the visible fossils had been removed, many by Yale University paleontologist George Wieland, due to the fact that no administrator for supervising the area had been assigned. Excavations in the 1930s uncovered many new fossils which were also removed by Wieland, including one fossil cycad put on display at the 1933 World's Fair which was eventually lost and never recovered. [9] [10] Wieland wrote several scientific papers based on the fossils he unearthed. [11] [12] A few other paleontologists also wrote papers about the fossil plants unearthed there. [13] The site was retained for some years in the expectation that erosion would uncover new fossils. In the 1940s, things took a turn for the worse for Fossil Cycad National Monument. Erosion and neglect had destroyed most of the fossils in that region until there were few or no fossils left. There were plans to help restore the area to its natural beauty, but this did not happen, and on September 1, 1957, Fossil Cycad National Monument was transferred to the Bureau of Land Management. [2]
In 1980, construction of a highway through the site uncovered more fossil cycads. The site was nominated as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern in 1997. [14] [15] While the monument is no more, many of the cycads excavated from that area are still in existence and are on display at various scientific institutions such as Yale University, the Smithsonian, and South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. [16]
Nowadays, Fossil Cycad National Monument serves as an historic example of how poor planning, poor management, lack of supervision, and non-existent federal enforcement against theft on public lands can spell disaster for an area of land intended to be preserved from development. [17] [18] The downfall of Fossil Cycad National Monument also serves as a reminder for better park management and for assurance that past mistakes are not repeated. [19] [20] [21] [22]
Cycads are seed plants that typically have a stout and woody (ligneous) trunk with a crown of large, hard, stiff, evergreen and (usually) pinnate leaves. The species are dioecious, that is, individual plants of a species are either male or female. Cycads vary in size from having trunks only a few centimeters to several meters tall. They typically grow slowly and have long lifespans. Because of their superficial resemblance to palms or ferns, they are sometimes mistaken for them, but they are not closely related to either group. Cycads are gymnosperms (naked-seeded), meaning their unfertilized seeds are open to the air to be directly fertilized by pollination, as contrasted with angiosperms, which have enclosed seeds with more complex fertilization arrangements. Cycads have very specialized pollinators, usually a specific species of beetle. Both male and female cycads bear cones (strobili), somewhat similar to conifer cones.
Petrified wood, is the name given to a special type of fossilized wood, the fossilized remains of terrestrial vegetation. Petrifaction is the result of a tree or tree-like plants having been replaced by stone via a mineralization process that often includes permineralization and replacement. The organic materials making up cell walls have been replicated with minerals. In some instances, the original structure of the stem tissue may be partially retained. Unlike other plant fossils, which are typically impressions or compressions, petrified wood is a three-dimensional representation of the original organic material.
Archelon is an extinct marine turtle from the Late Cretaceous, and is the largest turtle ever to have been documented, with the biggest specimen measuring 4.6 m (15 ft) from head to tail and 2.2–3.2 t in body mass. It is known only from the Pierre Shale and has one species, A. ischyros. In the past, the genus also contained A. marshii and A. copei, though these have been reassigned to Protostega and Kansastega, respectively. The genus was named in 1895 by American paleontologist George Reber Wieland based on a skeleton from South Dakota, who placed it into the extinct family Protostegidae. The leatherback sea turtle was once thought to be its closest living relative, but now, Protostegidae is thought to be a completely separate lineage from any living sea turtle.
The Zamiaceae are a family of cycads that are superficially palm or fern-like. They are divided into two subfamilies with eight genera and about 150 species in the tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, Australia and North and South America.
The Pierre Shale is a geologic formation or series in the Upper Cretaceous which occurs east of the Rocky Mountains in the Great Plains, from Pembina Valley in Canada to New Mexico.
The Javelina Formation is a geological formation in Texas. Dating has shown that the strata date to the Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous, approximately 70 to 66.5 million years old. The middle part of the formation has been dated to about 69 million years ago plus or minus 1 million years and the top situated near the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary, dated to 66 Ma ago. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.
The Black Peaks Formation is a geological formation in Texas whose strata date back to the Late Cretaceous. Dinosaur remains and the pterosaur Quetzalcoatlus northropi have been among the fossils reported from the formation. The boundary with the underlying Javelina Formation has been estimated at 66.5 million years old. The formation preserves the rays Rhombodus and Dasyatis, as well as many gar scales.
The Harebell Formation is a Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) geologic formation in Wyoming which outcrops in parts of the Yellowstone National Park. Dinosaur remains diagnostic to the genus level are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.
The Brule Formation was deposited between 33 and 30 million years ago, roughly the Rupelian age (Oligocene). It occurs as a subunit of the White River Group in South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, North Dakota, and Wyoming.
The Hannold Hill Formation is an Early Eocene (Wasatchian) geologic unit in the western United States. It preserves the fossilized remains of the ray Myliobatis and gar.
The Pen Formation is a Campanian-age geologic unit in the western United States.
The Bell Canyon Formation is a geologic formation found in the Delaware Basin of southeastern New Mexico and western Texas. It contains fossils characteristic of the Guadalupian Age of the Permian Period.
The Doughnut Formation is an Upper Mississippian geologic unit in the western United States. Fish fossils have been discovered in shale outcrops of this formation in Dinosaur National Monument.
The Cabrillo Formation is a Maastrichtian stage geologic formation in coastal San Diego County, southern California. It is part of the Rosario Group. The Maastrichtian stage is of the Late Cretaceous Epoch, during the Mesozoic Era.
The Kishenehn Formation is a Paleogene stratigraphic unit in Montana. Fossil amiiforme and teleost fish have been found in outcrops of the formation's Coal Creek Member in Glacier National Park. Mosquitos have also been found in the Coal Creek Member, and have been found to be hematophagous. It is considered a Middle Eocene Lagerstätte.
The Cliff House Sandstone is a late Campanian stratigraphic unit comprising sandstones in the western United States.
The Glenns Ferry Formation is a Pliocene stratigraphic unit in the western United States. Outcrops of the formation in Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument preserve the remains of seven fish species, five of which are extinct. These include the teleosteans Mylopharodon hagermanensis, Sigmopharyngodon idahoensis, and Ptychocheilus oregonensis, Ameirurus vespertinus, and the sunfish Archoplites taylori. A nearly complete skull of the catfish Ameirurus vespertinus was recovered in 2001 from the wall of the Smithsonian Horse Quarry.
The Lost Burro Formation is a Middle to Upper/Late Devonian geologic formation in the Mojave Desert of California in the Western United States.
The Fernando Formation is a Plio-Pleistocene marine mudstone, siltstone and sandstone formation in the greater Los Angeles Basin, Ventura Basin, and Santa Monica Mountains, in Los Angeles County of Southern California.
The White Sands fossil footprints are a set of fossilized human footprints discovered in 2009 in the White Sands National Park in New Mexico. In 2021 they were radiocarbon dated, based on seeds found in the sediment layers, to between 21,000 and 23,000 years ago. That date range is currently the subject of scientific debate, but if it is correct, the footprints would be one of, if not the oldest record of humans in the Americas. The earlier theory held that human settlement of the Americas began at the end of the last Ice Age, about 13,000-16,000 years ago.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)From Dakoterra, volume 6 (Proceedings of the 10th Conference on Fossil Resources. Rapid City, SD May 2014) http://publicfossils.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Proceedings.pdf Archived 2016-08-05 at the Wayback Machine :