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Prince Creek Formation
Geological formation From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Prince Creek Formation is a geological formation in Alaska with strata dating to the Late Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.[2]
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Age
The PCF ranges from Late Cretaceous (Campanian) to Paleogene in age. Due to a slight structural dip, the unit becomes progressively younger downriver (northward). Biostratigraphic analyses from the upper, vertebrate-bearing portion of the unit near Ocean Point indicate a temporal range from as old as late Campanian to as young as late Maastrichtian. Although previous radiometric dating suggested an early Maastrichtian age, more recent work indicates the fossiliferous beds near Ocean Point to be late Campanian in age (Druckenmiller et al. 2023).[3]
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Habitat
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During the time when the Prince Creek Formation was deposited, Earth was going through a global cooling phase.[4] The Prince Creek Formation depositional environment includes tidally influenced meandering rivers, anastomosed distributary channels, crevasse splays, levees, lakes, ponds, and mires.[5] Large amounts of plants material are represented by peridonoid dinocysts, algae, fungal hyphae, fern and moss spores, projectates, Wodehouseia edmontonicola, bisaccate pollen, taxodiaceous pollen, and pollen from trees, shrubs, and herbs. Preserved woody trunks show trees did not exceed 20cm in diameter and canopy heights were estimated to have been around 5-6 meters tall. Frequent false rings observed in the dendrochronology of the stumps were deduced to have been caused by sudden drops in temperature during the growing season to between 6–10 °C (43–50 °F) suggestive of more sub-arctic summer conditions. These trees were compared to the modern Picea mariana which is common throughout the modern North American Taiga. Another similarity to modern boreal forests is the presence of charcoal indicating frequent forest fires in the depositional environment.[6] Emerging methodologies using oxygen-18 isotope values from fossil vertebrate remains to estimate average meteoric water temperature have yielded highly accurate results. When applied to the Prince Creek Formation it estimated a mean annual temperature around 0 °C (32 °F).[7] Mean annual precipitation was around 1,300 millimetres (51 in).[8] The paleolatitude of the formation at the time of deposition was around 80°N, high in the Arctic Circle, and would have likely experienced 120 days of winter darkness.[9][10]
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Vertebrate paleofauna
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Dinosaurs
Theropods
Indeterminate tyrannosaurid remains are present, mostly in the form of teeth. The teeth are from the Kikak-Tegoseak Quarry, Liscomb Quarry, and Byers Bed, totaling 8 teeth.[11] Fossils of crown or near-crown birds as well as members of Hesperornithes and Ichthyornithes have been reported in 2025, providing the oldest evidence of birds nesting at polar latitudes reported to date.[12]
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Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; |
Ornithischians
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Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; |
Mammals
Cartilaginous fish
Ray-finned fish
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Plants
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A Reinvestigation of the Parataxodium-type flora has revealed the assemblage was far more diverse than previously thought. However this sedimentary block’s stratigraphic origins are uncertain. No other in situ limestone blocks comparable to the Parataxodium-type flora have been located along the Colville River. Rivers upstream from the point of discovery cut through Upper Cretaceous deposits that range in age from Late Albian to Cenomanian. The diversity of flora present is more consistent with the Tuluvak Formation, which is dated to the Turonian-Coniacian.[32]
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Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; |
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See also
References
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