Møns Klint Fossil Excavations (MKFE)

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

Why Møns Klint may have a dinosaur

 

-Many dinosaur fossils have been found in marine deposits

 

-There are two records of dinosaurs from the chalk of England, which is somewhat similar to that of Møns Klint

 

-Maastrichtian dinosaur fossils have been found in marine deposits

 

-Dinosaur fossils have been found in Maastrichtian limestone/chalk

 

[jpc]

It is certainly possible... other late Cretaceous marine beds have produced dino remains.  Kansas chalk...two or three hadrosaur verts and maybe one or two more complete specimen of Niobrarasaurus (I think one of our KS members actually found one of these) and I think an ankylosaur, Australian marine ankylosaurs Minmi and Kunbarrasaurus, Pierre Shale in my neck of the woods I think has produced the occasional hadrosaur vert.  (Feel free to correct my list made mostly off the top of my head).  

 

But these are exceedingly rare.    

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

To add to your list of dinosaur fossils from Cretaceous marine sediments, there are several hadrosaurid remains in the Maastrichtian limestone of Maastricht; there is also a euornithopod tooth and skeletal remains of the ankylosaur Acanthopholis from the chalk of England. From the "Blue Marls" of Provence, there are partial abelisaurid skeletons. In southern Australia, there are several opalised bones belonging to theropods and ornithopods. Furthermore, from the Bearpaw Shale of Alberta has been recovered a fairly complete nodosaur skeleton, and several other ornithischian remains.

There is also a nodosaurid ankylosaur from coastal California. 

John Horner, in 1979, reported the presence of 95 dinosaur specimens in the late Cretaceous of USA. I am fairly sure that that number of specimens has increased since '79.

By the way, I only listed above a handful of countries, I am sure there are many more dinosaur specimens than I wrote about.

Thus, they are not as "exceedingly rare" as you suggest.

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

MKFE News and Updates

 

 

 

Preparation:

-2 out of the 4 cidarid spines have been reglued

-Small but well preserved fragment of Membranipora is entirely freed of chalk

 

 

 

Research:

-Various circumstances (shown in an earlier post) point to the fact that the presence of dinosaur bones at MK is possible

-Based on correlative studies with similar fossil sites, MK likely harbours the remains of elasmosaurid plesiosaurs and chelonioid testudines

[Dsailor]

Thank you for the excellent work you are doing. Sounds awesome.

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

8 hours ago, Dsailor said:

Thank you for the excellent work you are doing. Sounds awesome.

Thank you for your support! Expect a paper or two in a popular geology review within the next few years... 

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

Various notes on the fossil site of Møns Klint

 

 

-Location: Island of Møn, Storstrøms County, Zealand, Denmark. 

 

-Age: Upper part of Lower Maastrichtian  (~70 million years old), Late Cretaceous

     -->Stratigraphy: Esnehensis Zone, Tor            Formation, Højerup Member, Chalk            Group.

 

-Sediment exposed: stratified layers of pure (>99% CaCO3) chalk, with regular bands of flint

 

-Origin: marine

 

-Length of fossil site: 6 kilometres

 

-Highest point of fossil site:126 metres

 

-Fauna: Sponges, Bryozoans, Corals, Brachiopods, Lamellibranches, Bivalves, Gasteropods, Cirripedes, Decapods, Coleoids, Ammonoids, Nautiloids, Crinoids, Echinoids, Asteroids, Ophiuroids, Holothuroids, Chondrichthyans, Osteichthyans, Reptiles.

 

-Most similar fossil site: Jasmund Peninsula cliffs, Rügen (Germany).

 

-Rarest invertebrate fossil: onychite from a large teuthid

 

-Rarest vertebrate fossil: fragments of the mandibular rami from a Thoracosaurus-like gavialoid.

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

MKFE News and Updates

 

 

Bad news:

-Field trip to Møns Klint was not possible this summer due to various personal reasons, though I will do my best to make one possible for summer 2018.

 

 

Research:

-Currently cataloguing and labelling Møns Klint fossils from MKFE N¤ 1

-Writing a brief communication describing a unique fossil from MK (a pair of worn thoracosaurine mandibulae.

 

 

"Breaking news":

-Change in project name: it is now called the Møns Klint Fossil Research Program (MKFRP) - the acronym MKFE now represents only the field trips.

[Macrophyseter]

On 9/30/2017 at 4:41 AM, The Amateur Paleontologist said:

-Field trip to Møns Klint was not possible this summer due to various personal reasons, though I will do my best to make one possible for summer 2018.

RIP  But hopefully next summer will fare better than other summers! Good luck!

 

Also, maybe could a few pics be okay? I'm dying to see what youve got with my own eyes 

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

Don't worry, I will try and post a few pictures of my finds during the weekend.

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

On 10/5/2017 at 5:56 AM, The Amateur Paleontologist said:

Don't worry, I will try and post a few pictures of my finds during the weekend.

Got any pictures yet?

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

Sorry for the long wait, here are some pictures of my MK fossils. First one is a selection of regular echinoid fragments.

 

 

Next is some isocrinid crinoid columnals, all of them from Isselicrinus buchii.

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

Some Asteroidea ossicles, all of them goniasterid.

 

 

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

A personal favourite; series of ~ 40 articulated Isselicrinus buchii columnals:

 

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/collections-database/echinoderms/crinoids-blastoids/maastrichtian-crinoid-columnal-from-møns-klint-r505/

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

11 hours ago, The Amateur Paleontologist said:

Sorry for the long wait, here are some pictures of my MK fossils. First one is a selection of regular echinoid fragments.

 

 

Next is some isocrinid crinoid columnals, all of them from Isselicrinus buchii.

Those look just like a stack of lifesaver candies. Now my sweet tooth is hungry.

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

A short series of articulated Isselicrinus buchii columnals; note the partial cirri (some of the cirri ossicles have come off and are currently being reglued).

 

3 articulated Asteroid ossicles preserved in a small piece of flint.

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

There are more pictures to come!

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

Apologies for my late absence from the TFF, I have been rather busy with school work. I have however, managed to continue working from time to time on my MKFRP. So, without further ado...

 

MKFRP News and Updates

 

 

Preparation and collection:

-The piece of chalk that encloses the large (?Ditrupula sp.) serpulid has yielded a small fragment of bone; and though it is broken and uninformative, this piece of bone has not been affected by the local MK preservation bias (bone is more often and better preserved in flint rather than in chalk) given that it is only broken but not eroded

 

 

Research:

-Due to shape, size, texture and culture; it is considered that the small bone fragment is from a fish, possibly a cranial bone

-Second draft of paper describing a partial crocodylomorph (cf. Thoracosaurus) will soon be finished

-Once the MK Crocodylomorph paper is finished, the next bit of research I hope to undertake is a correlative study comparing the Maastrichtian echinoderm and vertebrate fauna from MK to that of Rügen

 

 

Fieldwork:

-Main goals of MKFE Nº 2:

>Find and reopen the Echinoderm Quarry (see earlier post in the same thread)

>Collect more cephalopod, crustacean, vertebrate and echinoderm material

[Tidgy's Dad]

Very interesting thread. 

I look forward to further developments. 

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

Small MKFRP Project Update:

 

 

Erratum:

-In the "Research" section of the previous update, read colour instead of culture

 

Research:

-Small bone fragment (see previous update) is definitely part of a cranial fish bone (yay! Bone material is rarer than teeth at Møns Klint)

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

MKFRP News and Updates

 

 

"Good news":

-MKFE N¤2 has been confirmed for summer 2018; and it shall last for 2 weeks!

-Several fossils shall be donated to the GeoCenter Møns Klint, including a synechodontiform shark tooth crown, a 40-segment-long Isselicrinus buchii crinoid columnal and a cidaroid hemipyramid

 

 

Research:

-Due to the small size of the cidaroid hemipyramid (~10mm in length), it likely represents either a juvenile taxon, or a taxon that has never been found at Møns Klint  (most cidaroid hemipyramids from MK are ~30mm in length)

-Presence of enchodontiform fish at MK has been confirmed based on observations of items in the GCMK collections and my personal collection

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

Small MKFRP Project Update

 

 

Research:

-Based on photographies of material from the Late Cretaceous of Rügen (Germany) and New Jersey (USA), I can hereby conclude that the fragmentary tooth crown I found at Møns Klint (Wednesday 10th August 2016) belongs definitely to the Squatina genus (probably Squatina hassei Leriche 1929) - finally, a definitive ID for this shark tooth  ! What's more, I haven't seen any record of Squatina from MK in any literature... If that's indeed true, then I might have found the first representative of the Squatina genus from Møns Klint. The Squatina tooth crown shall be donated to the GeoCenter Møns Klint in summer 2018.

[Kosmoceras]

16 hours ago, The Amateur Paleontologist said:

Small MKFRP Project Update

 

 

Research:

-Based on photographies of material from the Late Cretaceous of Rügen (Germany) and New Jersey (USA), I can hereby conclude that the fragmentary tooth crown I found at Møns Klint (Wednesday 10th August 2016) belongs definitely to the Squatina genus (probably Squatina hassei Leriche 1929) - finally, a definitive ID for this shark tooth  ! What's more, I haven't seen any record of Squatina from MK in any literature... If that's indeed true, then I might have found the first representative of the Squatina genus from Møns Klint. The Squatina tooth crown shall be donated to the GeoCenter Møns Klint in summer 2018.

I'd be interested in seeing this tooth, could you post a photo?

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

4 hours ago, Kosmoceras said:

I'd be interested in seeing this tooth, could you post a photo?

 

I'm really sorry, but the specimen is rather small and I don't have any suitable means of taking a good picture of the specimen (and I've tried rather often...)

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

2 hours ago, The Amateur Paleontologist said:

 

I'm really sorry, but the specimen is rather small and I don't have any suitable means of taking a good picture of the specimen (and I've tried rather often...)

How tall is it on the long axis?