Fauna Analysis of a Fossil Microsite from the Late Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation, North Dakota

Kryzsko Commons Ballroom

Over the past few decades, vertebrate microsites have been acknowledged for their usefulness in taphonomic studies. Starting in June of 2019, a group of researchers surveyed a plot of land near Marmarth, North Dakota to document the vertebrate microfossil accumulation in the Hell Creek Formation. This project will allow for us to gain a better understanding of the local fauna and paleoenvironment, provide context to nearby dinosaur excavations, and build a collection for use in future microsite research. The plot we had surveyed was split into six roughly equal sections, or lanes. As a group of six, each of us took up our own lane, combing our individual areas for microfossils. Once we had each finished combing through our individual lanes, the collection of fossils was then transported back to Winona State University for analysis, where the fossils were sorted and taxonomically identified. Individual fossils of each identified taxon were then tallied to determine the relative abundance of the various taxa discovered at the site. This tally resulted in a collection of 2,863 skeletal fragments from the site, including unidentifiable bone fragments. The site produced fossils of turtles, crocodilians, fish, rays, mammals, Triceratops, Edmontosaurus, and theropod dinosaurs. This project is the first of an ongoing series of studies at this site. Future studies could repeat the site sampling in order to give a better representation of the original diversity and abundance.