Paleontology Commons^™

Ecological Controls On The Campanian Distribution Of Hesperornis (Aves: Hesperornithiformes) In The Western Interior Seaway, Blake Chapman

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

The epicontinental Western Interior Seaway (WIS) of Late Cretaceous North America provided a unique marine habitat for cephalopods, fish, marine reptiles, and the foot-propelled diving seabird Hesperornis. While several predator-prey relationships among Hesperornis or other hesperornithiforms and other WIS animals have been hypothesized based on gut contents, bite marks, and coprolites/colonites, ecological relationships have not been quantitatively tested. Paleontological species distribution modeling (SDM) studies have focused on extinct non-marine taxa and marine invertebrates, with only two marine vertebrate studies of extant taxa. Here, two SDM methods were used to test the influence of vertebrate faunas, sedimentary rock type, paleogeography, …

2021 Nebraska Water Leaders Academy Final Report, Mark E. Burbach, Robert Matthew Joeckel, Brooke Mott, Gina S. Matkin

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

Seventeen participants completed the 2021 Water Leaders Academy bringing the total number of graduates to 153 since the inception of the program in 2011. Assessments of participants’ transformational leadership skills, champion of innovation skills, water knowledge, engagement with water issues, civic capacity, entrepreneurial leadership behaviors, and boundary spanner abilities showed significant increases over the course of the year, according to both the participants and their raters. Feedback from the participants was highly positive and constructive. Academy planners are addressing participant concerns. Only minor changes are planned for the 2022 Academy curriculum. Results of the program assessment indicate that the curriculum …

Our Past Creates Our Present: A Brief Overview Of Racism And Colonialism In Western Paleontology, Pedro M. Monarrez, Joshua B. Zimmt, Annaka M. Clement, William Gearty, John J. Jacisin Iii, Kelsey M. Jenkins, Kristopher Mm. Kusnerik, Carmi Milagros Thompson, Ashley W. Poust, Selina V. Robson, Judith A. Sclafani, Kelsey T. Stilson, Shamindri D. Tennakoon

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

As practitioners of a historical science, paleontologists and geoscientists are well versed in the idea that the ability to understand and to anticipate the future relies upon our collective knowledge of the past. Despite this understanding, the fundamental role that the history of paleontology and the geosciences plays in shaping the structure and culture of our disciplines is seldom recognized and therefore not acted upon sufficiently. Here, we present a brief review of the history of paleontology and geology in Western countries, with a particular focus on North America since the 1800s. Western paleontology and geology are intertwined with systematic …

Diatoms And Their Response To Tectonic Gateway Changes: Case Studies From Southern Hemisphere Sites, Jason James Coenen

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation covers three major transitions in Earth's climate system throughout theCenozoic (the past 65 million years of Earth's history). The progressive breakup of the super continent Pangea and the ultimate change in ocean circulation (and redistribution of heat) as a result of tectonic events dating back to the Mesozoic, primed Earth's climate system for cooling and ultimately bipolar glaciation. Climate transitions in three distinct environments were studied using absolute diatom abundance, diatom assemblages, and geochemical tracers of diatoms (i.e., biogenic silica weight%). Two geographic regions are the focus of this dissertation work. Region one is the Ross Embayment of …

Diversity And Taxonomy Of Malagasy Pygmy Hippopotamuses, Allison Shackelton

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Madagascar has many species of extinct megafauna, including up to three species of extinct hippopotamus. Subfossil hippo specimens have been found at sites across Madagascar, yet the number of species and taxonomic relationships of the extinct Malagasy pygmy hippopotamus are poorly understood. This thesis will analyze cranial and postcranial bones to improve our understanding of the diversity and taxonomy of Malagasy subfossil hippos, focusing on adults from Ampasambazimba and Tsaramody and juveniles from Ampasambazimba and Anjohibe. Measurements of the tibia and femur of adult specimens, which are used as diagnostic features in other studies, may not be accurate diagnostic features, …

Bryozoan Taxa Of The Toroweap Formation Of Clark County, Nevada, Amy Joy Hess

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

Founding Monsters Tales, Maggie Colangelo, Bernard Means

Founding Monsters

The creative team behind the Founding Monsters comic book—Maggie Colangelo and Dr. Bernard K. Means—bring you Founding Monsters Tales. Founding Monsters Tales features all-new art by Maggie and explores and expands on themes in Founding Monsters. Meet again Moses Williams, an enslaved servant of the Peale family who not only helped reconstruct the first mastodon skeleton, but was an unheralded artist in his own right. Find out whether mastodons were meat eaters, and how they differed from mammoths. Learn whether Thomas Jefferson was correct in his interpretation of what he called “the great claw.” Discover what Jefferson thought …

Founding Monsters, Maggie Colangelo, Bernard Means

Founding Monsters

The Founding Monsters comic book was created as a science-friendly graphical storytelling framework that tells the story of the Founding Fathers and their obsession with prehistoric megafauna, especially mastodons and giant ground sloths. Founding Monsters combines sequential art (e.g. comic book style) with historical and scientific data. The first mastodon (Mammut americanum) fossils were found in New York in the early 18th century. Later in the 18th century, Thomas Jefferson was sent fossils from what is now West Virginia for what were eventually identified as bones from a giant ground sloth (Megalonyx jeffersoni). The founding fathers, …

Annual Report 2020 Conservation And Survey Division, Robert Matthew Joeckel

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

The Conservation and Survey Division (Nebraska Geological Survey), the natural resource survey component of the School of Natural Resources, is a unique, multi-disciplinary research, service and data-collection organization established by state statute in 1921.

The Division's mission is to investigate and record information about Nebraska's geologic history, its rock and mineral resources, the quantity and quality of its water resources, land cover and other aspects of its geography, as well as the nature, distribution and uses of its soils.

Modeling Stromatolite Formation With Diffusion-Limited Aggregation, Laura E. Stevens

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Stromatolites, microbialites, and other microbially induced sedimentary structures exist in the rock record as far back as 3.6 billion years ago and continue to form in the present day. Better characterizing these structures and better understanding how they form is crucial in distinguishing these biosignatures from similar, abiotic structures, which can help us to understand the conditions of early Earth and early Mars. To that end, I have modified DLA 3D EXT, an open-source stromatolite modeling program, to more closely reflect the process of microbial trapping-and-binding by filamentous microbes in a calcite-precipitating hot spring system. This modified program includes a …

African Land Mammal Ages, John Van Couvering, Eric Delson

Publications and Research

We define 17 African land mammal ages, or AFLMAs, covering the Cenozoic record of the Afro-arabian continent, the planet’s second largest land mass. While fossiliferous deposits are absent on the eroded plateau of the continent’s interior, almost 800 fossil genera from over 350 locations have now been identified in coastal deposits, karst caves, and in the Neogene rift valleys. Given a well-developed geochronologic framework, together with continuing revision to the fossil record—both stimulated by the story of human evolution in Africa—and also to compensate for the variation in fossil ecosystems across such great distances, the AFLMAs are biochronological units defined …

Microbe-Mineral Interactions During Exceptional Fossil Preservation, Stromatolite Formation, And Desert Varnish Growth, Michael Strange

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Ediacaran to Cambrian Deep Spring Formation consists of mixed carbonate-siliciclastic strata which contain an increasingly complex and biogeographically important biota. Past investigations of the Deep Spring Formation at Mt. Dunfee, Nevada, explored the highly diverse microbialite reefs consisting of a wide range of stromatolite morphologies which exerted significant control on local sedimentation and topography. Early investigations also documented the biomineralizing metazoan Cloudina (an Ediacaran index fossil). However, recent exploration of the area has resulted in the discovery of several new metazoan fossil communities consisting of a diverse assemblage of Ediacaran soft-tissue tubicolous vermiforms (tube fossils) similar to Cloudina. The …

Stratigraphy, Petrology, Diagenesis, Paleontology, And Depositional Environments Of The Harrisburg Member Of The Kaibab Formation In Northern Arizona And Southern Utah, Zachery T. Case

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Kaibab Formation has two members, the Fossil Mountain Member below and the Harrisburg Member above. They were deposited in shallow-marine shelf to restricted coastal settings. Stratigraphically above are the Rock Canyon Conglomerate and the Moenkopi Formation; consisting of the Timpoweap and Lower Red members; which are the only members present in the study area. The Rock Canyon Conglomerate was deposited in depressions and as a regolith. The Timpoweap and Lower Red members were deposited in shallow marine to tidal environments.

Nine stratigraphic units were identified in the Harrisburg Member. Units one, two, three, five, six, seven, and nine are …

Assessing The Recalibration Interval For Nearshore Sediment Assemblages After Hurricane Irma: Implications For Developing Long-Term Records Of Overwash Deposits, Stephen Mitchell

Master's Theses

Surface distributions are commonly collected to assist with overwash interpretation; however, many of these are first established immediately after a major overwash event as part of a post-event field survey. This study documents the impacts of Hurricane Irma, a Category 5 storm, on nearshore sediments off the coast of Anegada (British Virgin Islands) using distributions of Homotrema rubra, an encrusting foraminifer with a defined provenance in coral reef ecosystems. Over four sampling intervals spanning 2 years, from six months pre-Hurricane Irma to 18 months post-Hurricane Irma, surface sediment was collected from three shore-perpendicular transects on both the northern and …

Sediment Provenance Of Tsunami Deposits: Implications For Assessing The Relative Intensity Of Paleotsunamis From The Sendai Coastline Of Japan, Tiffany Otai

Master's Theses

The 2011 Tohoku tsunami impacted the northeastern coast of Japan and caused unexpected damages due to the underestimation of this type of hazard. Of particular importance is the fact that geologic evidence for a predecessor event, the Jogan tsunami (CE 869), could have forecasted the severity of the 2011 Tohoku event. While the timing of tsunamis is important for effective hazard mitigation, outside of the 2011 Tohoku event, the intensity of past tsunamis remains unclear. To understand paleotsunami intensity, it is important to document characteristics of modern analogues like the 2011 event. This study utilizes surface distributions of foraminifera from …

Constraining Respired Carbon Storage In The Eastern Tropical Pacific Over The Last 25 Thousand Years Using Benthic Foraminiferal Boron/Calcium Ratios, Brian James Close

OES Theses and Dissertations

The storage of inorganic carbon in the deep Pacific Ocean is thought to play an important role in regulating both glacial-interglacial and millennial-scale atmospheric CO₂ concentrations (Broecker and Barker 2007; Sigman et al., 2010). A recent study by Loveley et al. (2017) showed that sedimentary authigenic uranium (aU) concentrations, a proxy for suboxic bottom-water conditions, increased significantly in the Eastern Equatorial Pacific (EEP) during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, 18 kyr – 23 kyr). If this is correct, the low-oxygen, CO_2-rich waters would also have a lower pH and a lower carbonate ion concentration ([CO₃^{2- …}

Molecular Tests Support The Viability Of Rare Earth Elements As Proxies For Fossil Biomolecule Preservation, Paul V. Ullmann, Kristyn K. Voegele, David E. Grandstaff, Richard D. Ash, Wenxia Zheng, Elena R. Schroeter, Mary H. Schweitzer, Kenneth J. Lacovara

School of Earth & Environment Departmental Research

The rare earth element (REE) composition of a fossil bone reflects its chemical alteration during diagenesis. Consequently, fossils presenting low REE concentrations and/or REE profiles indicative of simple diffusion, signifying minimal alteration, have been proposed as ideal candidates for paleomolecular investigation. We directly tested this prediction by conducting multiple biomolecular assays on a well-preserved fibula of the dinosaur Edmontosaurus from the Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation previously found to exhibit low REE concentrations and steeply-declining REE profiles. Gel electrophoresis identified the presence of organic material in this specimen, and subsequent immunofluorescence and enzyme-linked immunosorbant assays identified preservation of epitopes of the …

Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, Paleontological Resources Management Plan (Public Version), Scott Kottkamp, Vincent L. Santucci, Justin S. Tweet, Jessica De Smet, Ellen Stark

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

Since Agate Springs Ranch was founded by James H. Cook in 1887, exquisite examples of transitional Miocene mammalian fauna have been found along this stretch of the Niobrara River valley. Collectively these paleontological discoveries, along with the existing archeological and historical Native American collection, were the basis for establishing Agate Fossil Beds National Monument (AGFO) as a unit of the National Park System (NPS). The fossil remains from the Harrison and Anderson Ranch formations span a short, but important, time period within the Miocene Epoch. AGFO has provided science with an intimate look into North American mammalian evolution …

Assessment Of Switchgrass-Based Bioenergy Supply Using Gis-Based Fuzzy Logic And Network Optimization In Missouri (U.S.A.), Gia Nguyen, Erik Lyttek, Pankaj Lal, Taylor Wieczerak, Pralhad Burli

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Bioenergy has been globally recognized as one of the sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels. An assured supply of biomass feedstocks is a crucial bottleneck for the bioenergy industry emanating from uncertainties in land-use changes and future prices. Analytical approaches deriving from geographical information systems (GIS)-based analysis, mathematical modeling, optimization analyses, and empirical techniques have been widely used to evaluate the potential for bioenergy feedstock. In this study, we propose a three-phase methodology integrating fuzzy logic, network optimization, and ecosystem services assessment to estimate potential bioenergy supply. The fuzzy logic analysis uses multiple spatial criteria to identify suitable biomass cultivating regions. …

Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction Of Quaternary Saltville, Virginia, Using Ostracode Autecology, Austin Gause

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Saltville valley in southwestern Virginia is home to Quaternary localities containing paleontological and archaeological remains. Historically the valley has been mined for salt and the small lakes, ponds and springs along the valley floor have a brackish signature. A preliminary report on the site’s ostracode fauna suggested that the site’s water was not always saline. This study analyzed modern and Quaternary ostracodes to understand the valley’s hydrologic and chemical evolution. Sediments contained primarily freshwater species, including the environmentally sensitive Candona crogmaniana. The presence of Pelocypris tuberculatum and a new Fabaeformiscandona species throughout a vertical section spanning the latest Pleistocene …

Early Paleogene Biosiliceous Sedimentation In The Atlantic Ocean: Testing The Inorganic Origin Hypothesis For Paleocene And Eocene Chert And Porcellanite, Jakub Witkowski, Donald E. Penman, Karolina Bryłka, Bridget S. Wade, Sabine Matting, David M. Harwood, Steven M. Bohaty

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

The widespread occurrence of lower Eocene chert and porcellanite has been viewed as a major paleoceanographic issue since the advent of ocean drilling, and both biotic and abiotic forcings have been proposed to explain it. We present a reconstruction of indurated siliceous sediment (ISS) and preserved biosiliceous sediment (PBS) occurrences in the Atlantic Ocean through the Paleocene and Eocene (~66 through 34 Ma). ISS and PBS distributions reveal dissimilar temporal trends, with the peak of ISS occurrences coinciding with the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum, in line with previous studies. PBS occurrences show a generally increasing trend culminating between 44 and …

Preservation Of Latest Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) - Paleocene Frogs (Eorubeta Nevadensis) Of The Sheep Pass Formation Of East-Central Nevada And Implications For Paleogeography Of The Nevadaplano, Joshua W. Bonde, Peter A. Druschke, Richard P. Hilton, Amy C. Henrici, Stephen M. Rowland

Geoscience Faculty Research

Here we report on exceptional preservation of remains of the frog Eorubeta nevadensis in deposits of the Sheep Pass Formation, ranging from Late Cretaceous to Eocene, in the south Egan Range, Nevada. This formation represents a lacustrine basin within the Sevier retroarc hinterland. The formation is subdivided into six members (A–F); of interest here are members B and C. The base of member B is ?uppermost Cretaceous-Paleocene, while member C is Paleocene. Member B frogs are preserved in three taphonomic modes. Mode 1 frogs are nearly complete and accumulated under attritional processes, with frogs settling on microbial mats, as evidenced …

Fayetteville And Imo Shales: Punctuated Upper Mississippian Shallowing Upward Sequence, Southern Ozark Region, Northern Arkansas, Joshua Stevens

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The late Mississippian lithostratigraphic succession in the southern Ozark region, northern Arkansas, include, in ascending order, the Meramecan Moorefield Shale, Batesville Sandstone (with Hindsville Member); Chesterian Fayetteville Shale and Pitkin Limestone (with Imo Member). This interval is now interpreted as a single transgressive-regressive, unconformity-bounded, eustatic, third order cycle (Stevens and Manger, 2018). The Moorefield lowstand wedge is bound by a basal unconformity and succeeded by the transgressive Batesville Sandstone with its Hindsville Member. This succession reflects accretionary deposition along strike of the rising strand line, likely as a barrier island system, as its equivalents are shale (basinward) and limestone (laterally …

Crabs From The Cane River Formation Of Northern Louisiana: A Study Of Neozanthopsis Americana And Associated Fauna, Katie Mclain

Honors Theses

Neozanthopsis Americana is a crab from the middle Eocene Claiborne Group that lived along the Gulf of Mexico, and has been documented in Texas and Louisiana. This species was discovered by Rathburn (1928) and was later amended and added to by Schweitzer (2014). The specimens in this paper are found near Natchitoches, Louisiana, and along with their accompanying fossils are used to describe the depositional environment of the locality. Sediments were taken from the site and analyzed under a standard microscope for microfossils, which were collected and further analyzed under scanning electron microscope. In addition to the microfossils, the cuticles …

An Unusual Mastodon Revisited: Providing A Regional Focus For Mammut Americanum (Proboscidea, Mammutidae) In The Southeast, Matthew Inabinett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A century ago, two large American mastodon Mammut americanum specimens from coastal South Carolina were mounted for display at Amherst College. Their robust build, broad and pentalophodont third molars, and well-developed mandibular tusks were noted as unusual. Here, these specimens are redescribed; three additional mastodon mandibles from the same region of South Carolina are also described. Though collection information on these specimens is sparse, they appear to span >150 ka in the Middle to Late Pleistocene, and probably include the first report of Mammut from the earliest-Rancholabrean Ten Mile Hill Formation. Some “unusual” features — moderately to extremely broad third …

Paleoecology Of Columbian And Pygmy Mammoths In Southern Nevada And California: How Terminal Pleistocene Ecosystems Shaped Mammoths At The Individual, Population, And Community Level, Lauren Elizabeth Parry

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this dissertation research is to examine the paleoecology of the Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) and the pygmy mammoth (M. exilis) on the individual, population, and community level, emphasizing factors internal to their ecosystem that may have contributed to their extinction. I focus specifically on mammoths from Southern Nevada and Southern California to add regional data to the complex and evolving study of North American mammoth paleoecology.

Chapter 2 documents the permitted excavation of a partial mammoth (Mammuthus sp.) between 2016-2018 from late Pleistocene groundwater-discharge deposits near Fairbanks Spring in the Amargosa Valley, Nevada. A preliminary radiocarbon date …

Encephalization In Commensal Raccoons: A Unique Test Of The Cognitive Buffer Hypothesis, Peter M. Anderson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated selective pressures associated with encephalization in mammals and discussed broader implications. Relative brain size as measured by EQ (Encephalization Quotient) was compared between ecological categories. Omnivores had higher average EQ than ecological specialists. Since specialists are disproportionately affected by extinction events, selection for ecological generalism is proposed as encephalization mechanism. This mechanism may reinforce the more widely known Cognitive Buffer Hypothesis (CBH)—the idea that possessing relatively large brains has buffered lineages against environmental change. CBH is tested here by comparing EQs in Procyon lotor (raccoon) in urban and rural environments. CBH predicts that raccoons in the most …

Ontogenetic And Adult Shape Variation In The Endocast Of Tapirus: Implications For T. Polkensis From The Gray Fossil Site, Thomas M. Gaetano

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Endocranial morphology provides evidence of sensory ecology and sociality of extinct vertebrates. The Earliest Pliocene Gray Fossil Site (GFS) of NE Tennessee features a conspicuous dominance of skeletal elements belonging to the dwarf tapir, Tapirus polkensis. Numerous individuals in one fossil locality often suggests gregarious behavior, but sociality in T. polkensis contradicts behavior documented for extant Tapirus species. I test T. polkensis for variation in sensory and social ecology using computed tomography and 3D digital endocasts from an ontogenetic sequence. I compare the T. polkensis endocasts with extant Tapirus species using Encephalization Quotients (EQs) and 3D geometric morphometrics. Results …

A Southeastern North America River Community Forty-Thousand Years Ago, Zack J. Quirk, Dennis B. Blanton

Georgia Journal of Science

Understanding how past communities have been shaped by environmental alterations can provide insight into the impacts of future climate change. Local climate and river systems have changed significantly over the last glacial maximum, but little is known about the communities of the Georgian Coastal Plain earlier in the period. Plant fossils from Coffee Bluff, a Quaternary organic river deposit of the Ocmulgee River in southeastern Georgia, were used to determine past environmental and climatic conditions. The paleoflora were found imbedded in a mud matrix and were removed by a slaking method; they were later identified and separated to respective ecological …

Nebraska Statewide Groundwater-Level Monitoring Report 2019, Aaron R. Young, Mark E. Burbach, Leslie M. Howard, Sue Olafsen Lackey, Robert Matthew Joeckel

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

The term “groundwater” has come to be all but synonymous with Nebraska. Nearly three-quarters of the total volume of the High Plains Aquifer lies beneath the State. Groundwater maintains our streams, our ecosystems, our people, and our vitally important agricultural economy. Nebraska’s total groundwater resource is vast, yet it is also vulnerable to natural and anthropogenic changes, necessitating a long-term commitment to wise management through informed decision making. Monitoring, studying, and reporting form the essential basis for such management and, ultimately, for meeting the myriad challenges presented by change.

The personnel of the Conservation and Survey Division (CSD) are proud …