Oldman Formation

Last updated
Oldman Formation
Stratigraphic range: Campanian, 77.5–76.5  Ma
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Type Geological formation
Unit of Belly River Group
Underlies Dinosaur Park Formation
Overlies Foremost Formation
Thicknessup to 328 feet (100 m) [1]
Lithology
Primary Sandstone
Other Mudstone and bentonite
Location
Coordinates 49°37′41″N112°53′23″W / 49.62806°N 112.88972°W / 49.62806; -112.88972 (Oldman Formation)
Region Western Canada Sedimentary Basin
CountryFlag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada
Type section
Named for Oldman River
Named byRussell, L.S. and Landes, R.W.
Year defined1940 [2]
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Oldman Formation (Canada)
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Oldman Formation (Alberta)

The Oldman Formation is a stratigraphic unit of Late Cretaceous (Campanian stage) age that underlies much of southern Alberta, Canada. It consists primarily of sandstones that were deposited in fluvial channel and floodplain environments. It was named for exposures along the Oldman River between its confluence with the St. Mary River and the city of Lethbridge, and it is known primarily for its dinosaur remains and other fossils. [3]

Contents

Lithology

The Oldman Formation is composed primarily of light-colored, fine-grained sandstones. They are upward-fining, lenticular to sheet-like bodies that are yellowish, steep-faced and blocky in outcrop. The formation also includes lesser amounts of siltstone and mudstone. [4]

Depositional environments

Dinosaurs of the Oldman Formation Daspletosaurus hunting.jpg
Dinosaurs of the Oldman Formation

The sediments of the Oldman Formation were deposited in fluvial channels (the sandstones) and a variety of channel margin, overbank and floodplain environments (the siltstones and mudstones). The formation is about 40 metres (130 ft) thick at Dinosaur Provincial Park in southeastern Alberta. It thickens toward the southwest, and northwestern Montana appears to have been the primary source of the sediments. [4]

Relationship to other units

The Oldman Formation is a member of the Belly River Group (also known as the Judith River Group). It conformably overlies the Foremost Formation, and is separated from the overlying Dinosaur Park Formation by a regional disconformity. The sediments of the Oldman are superficially similar to those of the Dinosaur Park, which was included in the Oldman Formation prior to the recognition of the disconformity. The two formations can also be distinguished by petrographic and sedimentologic differences. [3] [4]

Age

The Oldman Formation was deposited during the middle Campanian, between about 77.5 and 76.5 million years ago. [5] It lies fully within magnetic polarity Chron 33n. [6]

Fossil content

List of dinosaurs found in the formation: [5] [7]

Color key
Taxon Reclassified taxonTaxon falsely reported as presentDubious taxon or junior synonym Ichnotaxon Ootaxon Morphotaxon
Notes
Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; crossed out taxa are discredited.

Theropods

Theropods of the Oldman Formation
GenusSpeciesLocationStratigraphic positionMaterialNotesImages
Daspletosaurus D. torosusLowerSeveral specimens with a complete skeletonA tyrannosaurid
Daspletosaurus torosus steveoc flipped.jpg
Unnamed species [8] UpperA skullA new species of tyrannosaurid
Dromaeosaurus IndeterminateTeethA dromaeosaurid
Dromaeosaurus Restoration.png
Hesperonychus H. elizabethaeFoot clawA dromaeosaurid
Hesperonychus elizabethae.jpg
Paronychodon IndeterminateTeethA troodontid
Prismatoolithus [9] P. levisPartial clutch containing 12 eggs
Ricardoestesia R. isoscelesMisreported
IndeterminateTeethA dromaeosaurid
Saurornitholestes S. langstoniPartial remainsA dromaeosaurid
Saurornitholestes digging Burrows wahweap.jpg
Troodon DubiousTeeth, eggs, embryosA dubious taxon of troodontid, most specimens formerly considered Troodon have been reassigned to other genera such as Stenonychosaurus
Oldman Formation troodontid dentary.jpg
Struthiomimus S. altusSeveral specimens, including a nearly complete skeleton [10] An ornithomimid
Struthiomimus BW.jpg

Ornithischians

Ornithischians of the Oldman Formation
GenusSpeciesLocationStratigraphic positionMaterialNotesImages
Albertaceratops A. nesmoiLowerSingle SkullA ceratopsid
Albertaceratops BW.jpg
Albertadromeus [11] A. syntarsusUpperA thescelosaurid
Anchiceratops IndeterminateA ceratopsid
Anchiceratops dinosaur.png
Brachylophosaurus B. canadensisUpperSkull And partial skeletonA hadrosaurid
Brachylophosaurus NT.png
Chasmosaurus C. brevirostrisJunior synonym of C. russelli
Chasmosaurus BW.jpg
C. russelliUpperA ceratopsid, also found in the Dinosaur Park Formation
Coronosaurus C. brinkmaniUpperA ceratopsid
Coronosaurus NT small.jpg
Corythosaurus C. casuariusUpperA hadrosaurid, also found in the Dinosaur Park Formation
Foraminacephale F. brevisAlso known from the Dinosaur Park Formation [12] A pachycephalosaurid, once thought to be a species of Stegoceras Foraminacephale.png
Gremlin [13] G. slobodorumLowerA right frontalA leptoceratopsid
Hanssuesia H. sternbergiUpper, also present in the Dinosaur Park Formation and Judith River Formation skull domeA pachycephalosaurid, potentially synonymous with Stegoceras validum [14]
Hanssuesia sternbergi.jpg
Maiasaura M. peeblesorumUpperA hadrosaurid, also known from the Two Medicine Formation. [15]
Parasaurolophus P. walkeriUpperA hadrosaurid, also found in the Dinosaur Park Formation
Parasaurolophus walkeri.png
Scolosaurus S. cutleriUpperAn ankylosaurid, may actually be from the Dinosaur Park Formation
Scolosaurus feeding.png
Wendiceratops W. pinhornensisLowerPartial Skeleton And Partial SkullA centrosaurine
Wendiceratops pinhornensis.jpg
An unnamed orodromine UnnamedUpperAn orodromine distinct from Albertadromeus. Closer to Oryctodromeus than to Albertadromeus, Orodromeus , and Zephyrosaurus . [11]

See also

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References

  1. Lexicon of Canadian Geological Units. "Oldman Formation". Archived from the original on 2013-02-22. Retrieved 2009-02-06.
  2. Russell, L.S. and Landes, R.W., 1940. Geology of the southern Alberta Plains; Geological Survey of Canada, Memoir 221.
  3. 1 2 Eberth, D.A. and Hamblin A.P. 1993. Tectonic, stratigraphic, and sedimentologic significance of a regional discontinuity in the upper Judith River Group (Belly River wedge) of southern Alberta, Saskatchewan, and northern Montana. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 30: 174-200.
  4. 1 2 3 Eberth, D.A. 2005. The geology. In: Currie, P.J., and Koppelhus, E.B. (eds), Dinosaur Provincial Park: A Spectacular Ancient Ecosystem Revealed. Indiana University Press: Bloomington and Indianapolis, p. 54-82. ISBN   0-253-34595-2.
  5. 1 2 Arbour, V.M.; Burns, M. E.; Sissons, R. L. (2009). "A redescription of the ankylosaurid dinosaur Dyoplosaurus acutosquameus Parks, 1924 (Ornithischia: Ankylosauria) and a revision of the genus". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 29 (4): 1117–1135. doi:10.1671/039.029.0405.
  6. Lerbekmo, J.F. 1989. The position of the 33-33r (Campanian) polarity chron boundary in southeastern Alberta. Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology 37: 43-47.
  7. Weishampel, D.B., Barrett, P.M., Coria, R.A., Le Loueff, J., Xu X., Zhao X., Sahni, A., Gomani, E.M.P., & Noto, C.N. 2004. Dinosaur distribution. In: Weishampel, D.B., Dodson, P., & Osmólska, H. (Eds.). The Dinosauria (2nd Edition). Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 517-606.
  8. Miyashita, Tetsuto; Currie, Philip; Paulina-Carabajal, Ariana (2013). "A new species of Daspletosaurus (Theropoda: Tyrannosauridae) from the Campanian of southern Alberta represented by a growth series of well-preserved skulls and skeletons". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 33 (Supplement 1): 178.
  9. Zelenitsky, Darla K.; Hills, L.V. (1996). "An egg clutch of Prismatoolithus levis oosp. nov. from the Oldman Formation (Upper Cretaceous), Devil's Coulee, southern Alberta". Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 33 (8): 1127–1131. doi:10.1139/e96-085.
  10. Claessens, L.; Loewen, Mark A. (2015). "A redescription of Ornithomimus velox Marsh, 1890 (Dinosauria, Theropoda)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 36: e1034593. doi:10.1080/02724634.2015.1034593.
  11. 1 2 Brown, C. M.; Evans, D. C.; Ryan, M. J.; Russell, A. P. (2013). "New data on the diversity and abundance of small-bodied ornithopods (Dinosauria, Ornithischia) from the Belly River Group (Campanian) of Alberta". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 33 (3): 495. doi:10.1080/02724634.2013.746229.
  12. Sullivan, R.M. (2006). "A taxonomic review of the Pachycephalosauridae (Dinosauria: Ornithischia)" (PDF). In Lucas, S.G.; Sullivan, R.M. (eds.). Late Cretaceous vertebrates from the Western Interior. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin. Vol. 35. pp. 347–365.
  13. Ryan, M.J.; Micucci, L.; Rizo, H.; Sullivan, C.; Lee, Y.-N.; Evans, D.C. (2023). "A New Late Cretaceous leptoceratopsid (Dinosauria: Ceratopsia) from the Oldman Formation (Campanian) of Alberta, Canada". In Lee, Y.-N. (ed.). Windows into Sauropsid and Synapsid Evolution: Essays in Honor of Prof. Louis L. Jacobs. Seoul: Dinosaur Science Center Press. pp. 151–165. ISBN   978-89-5708-358-1.
  14. Dyer, Aaron D.; Powers, Mark J.; Currie, Philip J. (2023). "Problematic putative pachycephalosaurids: Synchrotron µCT imaging shines new light on the anatomy and taxonomic validity of Gravitholus albertae from the Belly River Group (Campanian) of Alberta, Canada". Vertebrate Anatomy Morphology Palaeontology. 10 (1): 65–110. doi: 10.18435/vamp29388 . ISSN   2292-1389.
  15. McFeeters, Bradley D.; Evans, David C.; Ryan, Michael J.; Maddin, Hillary C. (22 December 2020). "First occurrence of Maiasaura (Dinosauria, Hadrosauridae) from the Upper Cretaceous Oldman Formation of southern Alberta, Canada". Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. doi:10.1139/cjes-2019-0207.

Bibliography