Module 16

Question 1

what was W Canada Mesozoic like interns of exotic terranes

Answer 1

BC and the Yukon are made up of a series of exotic terranes, some of which did not accrete to the North American craton until the Cretaceous.

many of these terranes were still adrift in the ocean for at least part of the Mesozoic, climatic conditions could have varied between terranes.

during the time that the biota was alive, conditions have varied significantly between areas that are very near one another today

Question 2

what important gological feture was in W Can during Cre

Answer 2

formation of the Rocky Mountains during the Cretaceous, resulting effect of this in creating the Cretaceous Seaway.

changed size during the Period.

The influence of the mountains and the seaway would have been substantial on life in Eastern BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan throughout Cretaceous time

Question 3

what is Tumbler Ridge?

Answer 3

eastern slopes at the northern end of the Rocky Mountains

• Precambrian to Cretaceous
• sed older part deposited in warm shallow sea
• fluctuated b/w shallow seeds and terrestrial (fish, ammonites and trackways)

Question 4

what is Wapiti lake

Answer 4

near tumbler ridge
- Tri deposit
- marine
- ammonites, over 20 genera fish incl sharks, coelacanths, ray-finned fish
- over 12 genera marine reptiles such as ichthyosaurs, myxosaurs and thalattosaurs
-excellent preservation

Question 5

where can you find beautifully preserved Early Jurassic ammonite fossils in W Can

Answer 5

coast mountains of BC

Question 6

how many ammonites genera survived Tri extinction

how many yrs did it take for the group to flourish again?

Answer 6

2

~20 mill yrs

Question 7

1.Why do we not fly up to the field sites in a helicopter from the South Terminal in Vancouver airport?

2.Is the section of marine rock that spans the Triassic-Jurassic boundary in the Coast Mountains of British Columbia complete or is there an unconformity (a gap of time missing)?

3.Why don’t we have fires to cook our food when we’re at these field sites?

4.What are three of the main threats or hassles of doing fieldwork in this area?

5.Given all the constraints and complications of doing fieldwork in this area, why do we still proceed?

Question 8

where was the largest Late Triassic ichthyosaur found? how big? did ichthyosaur have teeth?

who found it

when

Answer 8

NE BC, 21m long, babies had teeth then lost them as adults

Elizabeth Nicholls

1197-2000

Question 9

where was an elasmosaur found?
who, when?

Answer 9

Comox Valley on Vancouver Island

1988, 12yr old girl with dad

Question 10

January 2021, an amateur paleontologist, Russell Ball, found what? Where?

Answer 10

an 84 million year old sea turtle on the banks of the Puntledge River near Courtenay, BC

This may turn out to belong to one of two known ancient sea turtle species or it may belong to a new species

Question 11

what besides elasmosaurs and ancient turtles can be found on Hornby island

Answer 11

marine fossils including numerous sorts of ammonites, crabs, snails, bivalves and sharks teeth

2008, Sandy MacLachlan, found a bone which has turned out to be part of a pterosaur!
- The first flying reptile ever discovered in Western Canada
- small relative most pterosaurs, wingspan of about 1.4 m, still bigger than most of the largest existingt birds

Question 12

1.The Vancouver Island elasmosaur was discovered on the banks of which river in the Courtenay/Comox area?

2.In addition to the elasmosaur, what other large marine reptile has been discovered in the Courtney/Comox area?

3.How many years of prehistory are preserved on Vancouver Island?

4.What is the age of the exposed sea floor along the Trent river bank?

5.What types of fossils are usually found in the rocks along the Trent river bank?

6.What types of fossils are found more rarely in the rocks along the Trent river bank?

7.How many vertebrae of the elasmosaur did Mike Trask and his grandson find on the first weekend after their discovery?

8.How long is the Vancouver Island Elasmosaur?

9.Why is it important to record where you discover a fossil?

Question 13

what can you tell from trackways?

Answer 13

how the animals legs and feet moved, how fast they travelled and sometimes even how big and how old the animal involved was

Question 14

what dino trackways are found at Tumbler ridge?

Answer 14

theropods, sauropods, ornithischians, crocodilians, turtles and birds

Question 15

when was the first trackway found in the Tumbler ridge area?

Answer 15

2000 by local kids

Question 16

where was the very first t-rex trackway found

what did it incl?

where they walking together?

age?

Answer 16

tumbler ridge

• include one trackway of three footprints and two additional trackways of two footprints each.

The depth and state of preservation of the tracks as well as the direction of the tracks all indicate the animals were walking together.

They are from the Late Cretaceous, somewhere between 74 and 72 million years old

Question 17

A nearly complete ________ (herbivorous dinosaur with a crest) skeleton was found in 2007

This animal is __ million years old and mostly still has its bones _____ _______ in their initial orientation!

this site is the first _____ ________ in BC

Answer 17

A nearly complete hadrosaur (herbivorous dinosaur with a crest) skeleton was found in 2007

This animal is 75 million years old and mostly still has its bones joined together in their initial orientation!

this site is the first dino bonebed in BC

Question 18

what is found in Six Peaks Dinosaur Track Site - Hudson’s Hope 160km from Tumbler ridge?

Answer 18

rock that is covered by tracks is about 3000 - 3500 m2 in total. It is potentially the largest recorded track site anywhere in the world

over 1000 footprints from 12 different types of dinosaur track types have been uncovered including ornithopods, sauropods, theropods, birds

Early Cretaceous, about 117 - 115 million years ago

Question 19

1.How do paleontologists make copies of dinosaur footprints?

2.How many digits are there on a sauropod hindfoot?

3.How many claws are there on a sauropod hindfoot?

4.How long did it take to excavate down to the bottom of the large sauropod footprint?

5.What is the approximate hip height in a theropod with a 54 cm long hindfoot?

6.What are three ways to tell whether a hind footprint is a left or a right foot in the theropods?

7.What different measurements are taken when measuring a trackway?

8.What are trackway measurements used for?

Question 20

who is George

Answer 20

Lambeosaurus, duck-billed dinosaur, lived ~75ma in Alberta

found in the Red Deer Valley by Charles Sternberg and his sons

skeleton in The Pacific Museum of the Earth at UBC

Question 21

Best preserved Nodosaur

Answer 21

from North of Fort McMurray, Alberta

3000lbs
fossilized skin still covers the bumpy armor plates on the animal’s skull; the scales are still visible on the soles of its feet

Question 22

1.What group do nodosaurs belong to?

2.How much of the animal was preserved?

3.What are osteoderms? What is it believed they were used for?

4.How widespread were nodosaurs in space?

5.When were nodosaurs extant on Earth?

6.What differences did the nodosaurs have compared with the ankylosaurs?

Question 23

7.How did this dinosaur end up getting buried at sea, so far away from the coastline? Explain the process of bloat and float…

8.What skin structures were preserved?

9.What was the most spectacular aspect of this fossil, what is it called, and what function does this perform?

10.What is a cololite?

11.What does the cololite found in the nodosaur tell us about what the animal ate?

12.What does the presence of charcoal suggest about what the nodosaur may have eaten?

Question 24

Dino Provincial park

Answer 24

• best preserved Mesozoic faunas in the world
• UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979, based on its exceptional and diverse dinosaur and other vertebrate fossils
• late Cre was a lush, coastal plain adjacent to the Cretaceous Seaway
• spore evidence suggests plants like magnolias, sycamores, bald cypress trees, redwoods and ferns were abundant

now 50 different species of dinosaur recognized from the park including theropods, bird-mimics, lizard types, duck-billed, hadrosaurs, horned, dome-headed, armoured and club tailed groups

fauna that has been found at Dinosaur Provincial Park includes 5% of all the dinosaur species known in the world

Question 25

1. What is the most common dinosaur found at Dinosaur Provincial Park?
2. Is a dinosaur bone relatively heavy or light?

3.How did the dinosaur bones all end up in the same place, in ‘bone beds’?

4.Is it likely to find the bones of a full, single dinosaur in a bone bed? Why or why not?

5.What is the purpose of the consolidant that is painted on the fossils once they are exposed?

Question 26

1. How many species of birds (dinosaurs living relatives) exist on Earth today?

2.How many species of dinosaurs do we know about on Earth right now?

3.How many dinosaur species have been found in Alberta? and in Dinosaur Provincial Park?

4.What are some of the most famous dinosaur groups found in the park?

5.What is the importance of studying fossil plants to dinosaurs specifically?

Question 27

Royal Tyrrell Museum - Alberta

Answer 27

176 km northwest, just outside Drumheller, Alberta

houses about 160 000 fossils and is Canada’s only museum exclusively dedicated to the science of paleontology

houses one of the world’s largest displays of dinosaurs and other Mesozoic life!

Question 28

1. What is the proposed function for Zuul’s tail?

2.What State was Zuul found in?

3.Why is it important to have dinosaurs from both Alberta and Montana in the Royal Ontario Museum’s Dinosaur Collections?

4.What are you seeing on Zuul’s body now on the preserved fossil?

5.What is special about an Ankylosaur’s tail?

6.Are the rocks from the Milk River Formation older or younger than those in Dinosaur Provincial Park?

7.Why are these fossils important specifically?