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Quaternary Biostratigraphy And Paleoecology Of Fossil Mammals From The Loess Hills Region Of Western Iowa, R. Sanders Rhodes Ii, Holmes A. Semken Jr.

Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science

For over 115 years the Loess Hills region of western Iowa has furnished the fossils of Ice Age and recent mammals to both amateur and professional paleontologists. The oldest of these fossils (the "Aftonian fauna") predates the last glaciation and predominantly are the remains of large mammals. These sites are poorly understood but probably date from near the Irvingtonian/Rancholabrean boundary at about three quarters of a million years ago. The last glaciation (Wisconsinan) is represented by 3 micromammal-dominated faunas and scattered finds of individual specimens of large mammals. Taken together, these indicate rather open grassland, with scattered boreal forest groves …