Ridgehiker Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 Back to the Cretaceous badlands. Fall has come to the Alberta Badlands and cooler temperatures. This is a positive for exploring the steeper slopes and KT dino extinction boundary high above the Red Deer River. This report is a bit top heavy in scenery photos. Didn't want to get sidetracked by fossils along long trek through lower levels or would never make it up to the destination. Encountered Bullwinkle a couple of kms before our driving destination. Lots of wildlife this day including grouse, mule deer , coyotes and a million migrating waterfowl. Need to push our way through some non-badland topography. Boreal and aspen forests. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raggedy Man Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 ...I'm back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgehiker Posted October 1, 2016 Author Share Posted October 1, 2016 The Red Deer River flowing through the Horseshoe Canyon and Scollard Formations. Quite a contrast between the natural and technological world...Di in the distance texting and doing her regular work from her 'open air' office. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgehiker Posted October 1, 2016 Author Share Posted October 1, 2016 'The goal'. About a 125 meter high hoodoo. Difficult face but lots of erosion to explore. Perhaps an hours scramble up. Di will explore below then come around the easier sloped side and meet up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgehiker Posted October 1, 2016 Author Share Posted October 1, 2016 All fossils catch and release. Discovering 'stuff' as I go up. Can only take photos where I can pause on a ledge. Lots of 'blue' coloured bone and teeth material. This colour is unique to the Scollard Formation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgehiker Posted October 1, 2016 Author Share Posted October 1, 2016 Gets a bit precarious but 'nothing ventured, no...' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgehiker Posted October 1, 2016 Author Share Posted October 1, 2016 Dino fossils found in various layers. Herbivore material mostly hadrosaur ( like this caudal vertebra and metatarsal). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgehiker Posted October 1, 2016 Author Share Posted October 1, 2016 Crushed T rex 'something' bone and a tooth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgehiker Posted October 1, 2016 Author Share Posted October 1, 2016 A theropod claw. The last fossils before the KT line. A theropod bone end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgehiker Posted October 1, 2016 Author Share Posted October 1, 2016 Just a fun photo. Where's Waldo. Can you spot the Ankylosaur scute and a ceratopsian tooth? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgehiker Posted October 1, 2016 Author Share Posted October 1, 2016 The KT line! Its at the lower dark band in the middle of the photo ( not the one with stone) Dinosaurs below and none above ( supposedly). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HamptonsDoc Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 Very nice pictures! Thanks for sharing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgehiker Posted October 1, 2016 Author Share Posted October 1, 2016 Di met me up top arriving via the easier slope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgehiker Posted October 1, 2016 Author Share Posted October 1, 2016 Somebody's teeth I lined up on a femur Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgehiker Posted October 1, 2016 Author Share Posted October 1, 2016 On this hoodoo I discovered a deposit of terrestrial molluscs just below the extinction boundary. Freshwater snails and clams. The irony is they are the same half dozen genera we find in Alberta today. This was my 'Eureka' moment of the day as I had found identical preserved molluscs years ago and have searched for a similar deposit with no success until now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgehiker Posted October 1, 2016 Author Share Posted October 1, 2016 Di found one of the finest Tyrannosaur teeth I have ever seen. The photo doesn't do the serrations justice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgehiker Posted October 1, 2016 Author Share Posted October 1, 2016 Some scenes around the KT boundary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimravis Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 As usual, nice report and finds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fruitbat Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 Great report and spectacular scenery! I'm assuming that you poked around above the K-Pg (K-T) boundary just for the fun of it! Did you find any evidence of fossil material at all? -Joe Illigitimati non carborundum Fruitbat's PDF Library Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troodon Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 Great report, nice finds and love the area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgehiker Posted October 1, 2016 Author Share Posted October 1, 2016 15 minutes ago, Fruitbat said: Great report and spectacular scenery! I'm assuming that you poked around above the K-Pg (K-T) boundary just for the fun of it! Did you find any evidence of fossil material at all? -Joe There are vertebrate fossils above the KT boundary. Croc, turtle,Champsosaur, etc. However, at this site I didnt find a fossiliferous layer. I have found a Troodon tooth and another small raptor tooth at other exposures above the boundary. Its possible they got there via glaciation but...? I'm a skeptic when it comes to an 'all in one ' dino extinction event. Around the globe we just dont have enough terrestrial formations spanning the boundary to make a definitive assumption. An analogy...If we just had North America to look at today, we would assume that all members of the elephant family were extinct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 Another spectacular trip report. Thanks for taking us along vicariously. Cheers. -Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 Just fantastic! Thanks for posting this all. And congratulations to you on your "Eureka" moment and to Di on her T-Rex tooth. Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troodon Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 What part of the Red Deer River did you collect? I've collected from Drumheller to up and around the Tolman Bridge. Nice country. That tyrannosaur tooth is pretty nice , size? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDAWG Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 Fantastic trip report! I could only dream of such a place. Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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