Paleontology Commons^™

Tales In The Teeth: Using Isotopic Analysis To Understand The Paleoecology And Social Behavior Of Brontotheres Of The Intermountain Basins During The Middle Eocene, John Michael Michalski

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

Isotopic analysis has been a common practice used in paleontology to study ancient ecosystems, and the lives of animals therein. Oxygen isotopic analysis is of particular importance not only because of its use in studying paleoecology, diet, and migration, but also its use in studying mountain elevation, and its impact on ancient ecosystems. I use stable oxygen isotopic analysis to study the habits and ecology of brontotheres from intermountain basins surrounding the Uinta Mountains of Utah and Wyoming, USA. I studied the oxygen isotopes from 16 fossil specimens of teeth, most of which belonged to brontotheres, including the genera Palaeosyops …

Biostratigraphic Revision Of Esthonyx (Tillidontia, Mammalia) In The Contect Of Climate Change In The Lower Eocene Of The Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, John Colter Johnson

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Esthonyx is an early Eocene tillodont found in North America, Europe, and India. The genus was named by Edward Drinker (E. D.) Cope in 1874 based on specimens from the San Jose Formation in New Mexico. Since then, several species of Esthonyx have been described from North America alone. The best record of Esthonyx comes from the central Bighorn Basin (BHB) in Wyoming, where it appears in 220 localities in a 640 m-thick stratigraphic succession. Since the last summary of Esthonyx in the BHB, several hundred new specimens have been collected and curated at the Denver Museum of Nature and …

Phylogeny And Disparity Of Ammonoid Family Acanthoceratidae Over Ocean Anoxic Event 2, Lindsey Howard

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The widespread use of genera as proxies for species in paleobiological studies might affect the results of these studies. Although most attention has been given to taxonomic diversity studies, this could also be true of disparity and phylogenetic studies. In particular, the assumption that particular character states truly diagnose all members of a genus might distort results. This study examines the disparity of Acanthoceratid ammonoids at both the generic and species level. 149 species from 42 genera were examined with 52 characters measured. Following the measurements, an inverse modeling simulation was run 100 times to generate a simulated phylogeny with …

Painting A New Perspective On Ordovician Echinoderm Diversity Patterns, Ohav Barak Harris

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Ordovician Period was a time of great biotic and environmental change, encompassing two important biotic events: the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (GOBE) and the Late Ordovician Mass Extinction (LOME). The GOBE occurred during the Middle Ordovician and was a period of rapid diversity increase for marine invertebrate groups, as lower-level taxonomic groups like families and genera came into the forefront. The Ordovician ends with the LOME, an extinction event that is thought to have occurred in two phases: an initial glaciation followed by a subsequent warming. Approximately 85% of marine species went extinct during the LOME, making it the …

Theory Of An Automatic Seepage Meter And Ramifications For Applications, V. A. Zlotnik, D. K. Solomon, D. P. Genereux, T. E. Gilmore, C. E. Humphrey, A. R. Mittelstet, A. V. Zlotnik

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Burning Calories, Burning Ocean: Metabolic Rate In Bivalves As A Predictor Of Extinction Selectivity Through Time And During Rapid Global Warming, Siddharth Gavirneni

Theses - ALL

Organismal metabolic rate is linked to environmental temperature and oxygen consumption, and as such, may be a useful predictor of extinction risk during major climate- driven crises. However, metabolic attributes can be quantified in many ways, highlighting differing aspects of organisms’ ecology. Here, we estimate resting whole-body and mass-specific metabolic rates in post-Carboniferous bivalve taxa using body size and seawater paleotemperature to assess how metabolic rate determines survival both during and outside of intervals of rapid climate warming, or ‘hyperthermals’. Accounting for the effects of geographic range size, we find a pattern of preferential extinction of bivalves with lower total …

Paleoecology Of The Late Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway And Gulf Coastal Plain, Ceara Kathleen Quinn Purcell

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

This dissertation presents research into the paleobiogeography and paleoecology of the Western Interior Seaway (WIS) and Gulf Coastal Plain (GCP) during the Late Cretaceous. The dataset utilized here includes an extensive record of marine invertebrates from over 200 years of fossil collecting and sedimentary data collated from over 45 different literature sources, representing approximately 17 million years of deposition. The high-resolution of this dataset, and its extensive geographic distribution and temporal duration, make it ideal for exploring various ecological questions. Using these data, I have attempted to reconstruct paleobiogeographic provinces as published in prior works, explore functional diversity patterns, and …

Controls On Soft Tissue And Cellular Preservation In Late Eocene And Oligocene Vertebrate Fossils From The White River And Arikaree Groups Of Nebraska, South Dakota, And Wyoming, John E. Gallucci, Grace Woolslayer, Kelsey Barker, Brian Kibelstis, Allison R Tumarkin-Deratzian, Paul V. Ullmann, David E. Grandstaff, Dennis O. Terry

School of Earth & Environment Departmental Research

Previous studies on microtaphonomy have identified multiple types of organic microstructures in fossil vertebrates from a variety of time periods and past environmental settings. This study investigates potential taphonomic, paleoenvironmental, and paleoclimatic controls on soft tissue and cellular preservation in fossil bone. To this end, fifteen vertebrate fossils were studied: eight fossils collected from the Oligocene Sharps Formation of the Arikaree Group in Badlands National Park, South Dakota, and seven fossils from formations in the underlying White River Group, including the Oligocene Brule Formation of Badlands National Park, and the Eocene Chadron Formation of Flagstaff Rim, Wyoming; Toadstool Geologic Park, …

Ecological Dynamics Of Cenozoic North American Mammals, Alexandria Brandis Shupinski

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Understanding how community structure is affected by various ecological, climatic, and environmental changes is a long-standing goal in ecology. However, disentangling human impacts from these other variables is difficult when using short modern timescales and anthropogenically altered communities. The fossil record provides a means to investigate community structure dynamics across critical intervals, excluding humans as a variable. Here, in three studies, I assess changes in North American mammal paleocommunity structure across the last 66 million years (Ma) at multiple temporal and spatial scales. In Chapter 1, I identify changes in mammal functional diversity (FD) locally and continentally, using three independent …

Pathology And Osteological Observations Of Early Pliocene Rhinoceros, Teleoceras Aepysoma (Perissodactyla, Rhinocerotidae) From Gray Fossil Site, Tennessee, Thomas Scaife

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Rhinoceroses were an important part of North America’s Paleogene and Neogene ecosystems, with Teleoceras aepysoma being one of the last representatives of this family. Specimens of T. aepysoma from the Gray Fossil Site (GFS) possess distinct/peculiar pathologies: including a pair of fused ribs and ankylosed phalanges. A qualitative description of the pathologies in the GFS T. aepysoma, including new material, was conducted to accurately identify pathologies and make interpretations about the life history of the GFS rhinos. Analysis suggests that rheumatoid arthritis is common in the lower limb bones of GFS rhinos. Additionally, the rib and toe pathologies are more …

Descriptions Of Interglacial Mastodons From Snowmass, Colorado, Connor White

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Ziegler Reservoir fossil site (ZRFS) in Colorado contains over 4000 mastodon bones that date from 140,000 to 100,000 years ago. At an elevation of ~2705 meters above sea level, ZRFS represents an alpine ecosystem dated to Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5. Formal descriptions of cheek teeth, mandibles, crania, and femora were completed. Statistical analyses of the upper and lower third molars, including a novel measurement of interloph(id) distances, indicate significant differences between ZRFS mastodons and Mammut pacificus, while falling within the ranges for Mammut americanum. This study agrees with the taxonomic assignment of ZRFS mastodons to Mammut …

Consequences Of The Megafauna Extinction: Changes In Food Web Networks On The Edwards Plateau Across The Pleistocene–Holocene Transition, Quentin A. Smith Jr.

School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

We are experiencing biodiversity loss due to climate change and human impacts, which is not only harmful to the environment but can also alter the composition of communities and interactions among species. The late Pleistocene experienced a loss of large-bodied mammals which resulted in significant changes in community structure due to changes in body size, diet, and species associations. The impact of these changes on species interactions and community structure across the Pleistocene-Holocene transition remains poorly understood. Using a robust data set of species composition, stable isotopes, body size, and climate variables, we constructed and compared ecological networks of mammal …

Establishing “The Fossil Record”: A Database Of Vertebrate Paleontological Sites Across The State Of Tennessee, Sarah Mclaurine

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fossil localities across the state of Tennessee and the data related to those sites were compiled from Tennessee Division of Geology Bulletin 84, titled “Tennessee’s Prehistoric Vertebrates,” and stored in a Microsoft Access geodatabase housed by the Department of Collections at the East Tennessee State University Museum of Natural History located at the Gray Fossil Site. Included in the database are forms to enter new site localities, view information about those already entered, view and add data to a master faunal list for the state, view sites repository information and store and add documents that are key-word searchable from the …

Temporal Trends And Dental Metric Variation In The Macaca Sylvanus Lineage, Cristina Stan

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The extensive collection of fossil macaques from Europe, spanning from the Late Miocene to the Late Pleistocene period, is believed to be of the species Macaca sylvanus. However, there has been a prolonged discussion regarding the classification of these specimens into a single taxonomic group as the existing dental sample exhibits a large amount of morphological and metric variation. Specifically, researchers have attempted to identify multiple subspecies based on chronological data of the paleontological locality and, secondly, based on dental metric variation. In this study, I assess temporal trends in the fossil record of Macaca sylvanus and compare overall variation …

New Vertebrate Microfossils Expand The Diversity Of The Chondrichthyan And Actinopterygian Fauna Of The Maastrichtian–Danian Hornerstown Formation In New Jersey, Zachary Boles, Paul V. Ullmann, Ian Putnam, Mariele Ford, Joseph T. Deckhut

School of Earth & Environment Departmental Research

The abundance of shark and actinopterygian fossils in the Cretaceous and Paleogene strata of the Atlantic Coastal Plain is well documented; but much remains unknown about the survivorship patterns of these major components of shallow marine faunas in the western Atlantic through the K/Pg mass extinction. To shed light on this subject, we describe an assemblage of new actinopterygian, chondrichthyan, and reptilian microfossils recently recovered from the Maastrichtian Navesink and Maastrichtian–Danian Hornerstown formations at the Jean and Ric Edelman Fossil Park at Rowan University in Mantua Township, New Jersey. The new microfossils clarify extinction patterns across the K/Pg, create temporal …

Assessing Unstable Fossils For Long-Term Storage, Carson Cope, Alex Landwehr, Kale Link, Israel Rivera-Molina, Laura E. Wilson

SACAD: Scholarly Activities

In 2022, Fort Hays State University’s Sternberg Museum of Natural History (FHSM) began a project to address the long-term preservation of a Late Miocene mammal collection. Many of the fossils from the collection were poorly consolidated, uncurated, and improperly stored, leaving them unstable and prone to significant degradation. To organize our stabilization efforts, we developed a new assessment workflow consisting of two evaluation tools. These tools have helped us categorize the risk factors for specimens, the priority in which they should be addressed, and how to store the fossils long-term. With these newly developed workflows, we are in a better …

Applied Depositional Geosystems Of The Coos Bay Basin, Oregon: Organic Geochemistry, Maturation, Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction And Biostratigraphy Of The Coaledo Delta During The Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (Meco), Allison K. Barbato

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Coos Bay Basin on the southwestern coast of Oregon is a forearc basin that contains exceptionally preserved Eocene to Miocene, tidal to wave-dominated, shallow deltaic to deep marine sediments of the Coaledo Delta. Coastal depositional environments are known to host source, reservoir, and seal rocks. Climate, topographic relief, and geographical position all play an important role in regional vegetation development and oceanic setting. This study assesses 84 outcrop and 12 core samples from Coos Bay for their organic geochemical characteristics and microfossil assemblage to provide source rock characterization information, organofacies descriptions, environmental reconstructions, and age control.

Results indicate the …

Paradox Lost: Wide Gape In The Ordovician Brachiopod Rafinesquina Explains How Unattached Filter-Feeding Strophomenoids Thrived On Muddy Substrates, Benjamin F. Dattilo, Rebecca L. Freeman, Kyle Hartshorn, David Peterman, Aaron Morse, David L. Meyer, Lindsay G. Dougan, James W. Hagadorn

Earth and Environmental Sciences Faculty Publications

Strophomenoid brachiopods had thin, concavo-convex shells, were ubiquitous colonizers of Palaeozoic muddy seafloors, and are hypothesized to have filter-fed in a concave-upward orientation. This orientation would elevate their line of commissure out of potentially lethal lophophore-clogging mud. The paradox is that epi- biont distributions on strophomenoids support a convex-upward life position, as do studies of strophome- noid stability and trace fossils formed by strophomenoid sediment-clearing. A premise of the concave-upward orientation hypothesis is a narrow gape, which causes narrow, high velocity inhalant currents, leaving strophomenoids vul- nerable to sediment entrainment. Herein we investigate the gape angle of Rafinesquina using serial …

Stage And Discharge Prediction From Documentary Time-Lapse Imagery, Kenneth W. Chapman, Troy E. Gilmore, Mehrube Mehrubeoglu, Christian D. Chapman, Aaron R. Mittelstet, John E. Stranzl Jr.

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

Imagery from fixed, ground-based cameras is rich in qualitative and quantitative information that can improve stream discharge monitoring. For instance, time-lapse imagery may be valuable for filling data gaps when sensors fail and/or during lapses in funding for monitoring programs. In this study, we used a large image archive (>40,000 images from 2012 to 2019) from a fixed, ground-based camera that is part of a documentary watershed imaging project (https://plattebasintimelapse.com/). Scalar image features were extracted from daylight images taken at one-hour intervals. The image features were fused with United States Geological Survey stage and discharge data as response variables …

Analysis Of Legacy Gravity Data Reveals Sediment-Filled Troughs Buried Under Flathead Valley, Montana, Usa, Ali Gebril, Mohamed A. Khalil, Robert Matthew Joeckel, James Rose

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

Shallow, dominantly silt- and clay-filled erosional troughs in Quaternary sediments under the Flathead Valley (northwestern Montana, USA) are very likely to be hydraulic barriers limiting the horizontal flow of groundwater. Accurately mapping them is important because of increasing demand for groundwater.We used a legacy Bouguer gravity map measured in 1968. The directional derivatives of the map are computed, and the map was enhanced by implementing edge detection tools.We produced generalized derivative, maximum horizontal gradient, total gradient and tilt gradient maps through two-dimensional Fourier transform analysis. These maps were remarkably successful in locating buried troughs in the northern and northwestern parts …

Cambrian Trilobites From The Nounan Dolomite And Lower St. Charles Formation (Upper Marjuman To Lower Sunwaptan; Miaolingian To Furongian Series), Smithfield Canyon, Northern Utah, Frederick A. Sundberg, Hannah R. Cothren, Carol M. Dehler

Geosciences Faculty Publications

The trilobite faunas that occur with the Steptoean Positive Isotope Carbon Excursion (SPICE) at Smithfield Canyon, Utah, have been reported, but not illustrated. Given the importance of the SPICE at this section for international correlations, the trilobites from new collections from the upper Nounan Dolomite to lower St. Charles Formation at Smithfield Canyon are reported herein and integrated with the previously reported taxa. Trilobite assemblages indicate that the upper Cedaria to the Ellipsocephaloides biozones (Miaolingian Series, Guzhangian Stage to Furongian Series, Jiangshanian Stage) are present stratigraphically below or above the SPICE.

Some of the taxa reported herein may represent new …

Ontogenetically Driven Changes In The Endocranial Anatomy Of Maiasaura Peeblesorum And Its Implications For Sensory Functions, Emma Puetz

Masters Theses

"Hadrosaurids exhibited extreme morphological diversity and behavioral characteristics that can be compared with other, closely related members of Dinosauria – particularly through the study of neuroanatomy. X-ray CT generated endocrania of the Late Cretaceous saurolophine hadrosaur Maiasaura peeblesorum, known as the “good mother” dinosaur, offers a unique opportunity to compare complex ecological behaviors between non-avian dinosaurs and their modern archosaur relatives. The 3D reconstruction software ORS Dragonfly provided linear and volumetric measurements taken from the digital cranial endocast and endosseous labyrinths of three ontogenetically varied M. peeblesorum specimens from the Two Medicine Formation in Montana that were used to …

Joint Interpretation Of Ert And Self-Potential Data To Characterize The Subsurface Geology And Hydrodynamics Along The Sutherland Supply Canal And Paxton Siphon Inlet, Paxton, Nebraska., M. K. Aboushanab, D. R. Hallum, R. M. Joeckel

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Interpreting An Archaean Paleoenvironment Through 3d Imagery Of Microbialites, Cecilia M. Howard, Nathan D. Sheldon, Selena Y. Smith, Nora Noffke

OES Faculty Publications

While stromatolites, and to a lesser extent thrombolites, have been extensively studied in order to unravel Precambrian (>539 Ma) biological evolution, studies of clastic-dominated microbially induced sedimentary structures (MISS) are relatively scarce. The lack of a consolidated record of clastic microbialites creates questions about how much (and what) information on depositional and taphonomic settings can be gleaned from these fossils. We used μCT scanning, a non-destructive X-ray-based 3D imaging method, to reconstruct morphologies of ancient MISS and mat textures in two previously described coastal Archaean samples from the ~3.48 Ga Dresser Formation, Pilbara, Western Australia. The aim of this …

A Proxy System Modeling Approach To Combining Tree-Ring And Sediment-Based Paleotempestological Records, Elizabeth J. Wallace, Sylvia Dee, Joshua Bregy, Kerry A. Emanuel

OES Faculty Publications

The short and biased observational record of tropical cyclones (TCs) limits scientific understanding of how these destructive storms respond to climate forcing. Paleohurricane records use natural archives (tree rings, coarse-grained sediment) to reconstruct TC properties (frequency and intensity of rainfall, wind) over the past few hundreds to thousands of years. However, different sensitivities and sampling biases in the various paleohurricane proxies restrict our ability to compile these records into regional or basin-scale TC estimates. Here we test how well pseudo tree-ring records of paleohurricanes capture TC rainfall and occurrence. Using a large set of statistically downscaled storms forced with the …

Leveraging High Resolution Classifications And Random Forests For Hindcasting Decades Of Mesic Ecosystem Dynamics In The Landsat Time Series, N. E. Kolarik, Nawaraj Shrestha, T. Caughlin, J. S. Brandt

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Nebraska Statewide Groundwater-Level Monitoring Report 2023, Aaron R. Young, Mark E. Burbach, Sue Olafsen Lackey, Robert Matthew Joeckel, Nawaraj Shrestha, Jeffrey Westrop

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

This report is a synthesis of groundwater-level monitoring programs in Nebraska. It is a continuation of the series of annual reports and maps produced by the Conservation and Survey Division (CSD) of the University of Nebraska in cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) since the 1950s. Groundwater-level monitoring began in Nebraska in 1930 to survey the state’s groundwater resources and observe changes in its availability on a regular basis. The CSD and USGS cooperatively developed, maintained, and operated an observation-well network throughout the state. These two agencies were responsible for collecting and archiving this information, and for making it …

Transient Electromagnetic (Tem) Survey For Targeted Drilling On The Kurtzhals Property, Cedar County, Nebraska, Jesse Korus, Katherine (Katie) Cameron, Michele Waszgis

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

The Kurtzhals property is in Section 19, Township 30N, Range 3 in Cedar County, Nebraska. The present land use is agricultural row crop, but past use included hog production. Two active irrigation wells are located on adjacent properties to the west and southwest. An irrigation well was installed in the northwest corner of the property in 2022. Due to the low yield (300 gallons per minute) of this well, Mr. Kurtzhals seeks to install an additional irrigation well to supplement the first. Several unsuccessful test holes had been drilled prior to the present survey. The purpose of this survey was …

Zircon Luminescence Dating Re-Visited, C. Schmidt, T. Halter, P.R. Hanson, A. Ulianov, B. Putlitz, G. E. King, S. Kreutzer

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Age Dating Young Groundwater: How To Determine Groundwater Age From Environmental Tracer Data, D. K. Solomon, T. E. Gilmore

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.