Last Cretaceous adventure this year

[Ridgehiker]

Winter hasn't yet arrived so we went for what will likely be our last badland adventure of the year. As usual, more of an all around Nature outing than just fossil oriented.  The cooler temperatures are a welcome as much easier to scramble up and down the canyons. However, short daylight hours limited our hike to a couple of hours.  You can tell from the deep shadows that we're approaching the shortest days.

This is Late Cretaceous... Campanian.  An area just down stream from Dinosaur Provincial Park.  Although fossils on the surface can be collected in Alberta, these are all 'catch and release'.  (We're almost fossils ourselves and downsizing the collection).  It's only possible to identify most finds to a family level as the dino list in this area is quite extensive.

 

Di on the look out for Tyrannosaurs.

 

[Ridgehiker]

Dinosur Provincial Park to the West...we're heading out downstream to the East .

[Ridgehiker]

The terrain isn't the easiest to navigate at times but dino fossils often tumble from above into these gorges.  One has to be quite agile and fit to hike through these canyons.  Getting through some sections remind me of the obstacle course back in basic training.  

[Ridgehiker]

In an odd way the dark shadows can help find some bone as the lighter colour can  stand out against darker ironstone.  The paler dino bone so obvious in this photo can be hard to distinguish when the sun is directly overhead. 

[Ridgehiker]

Some hollow Tyrannosaur emerging and eroding bone by bone down the slope.

[ynot]

Looking nice so far!!

[Ridgehiker]

Most complete bones are of the smaller size...like this Hadrosaur metacarpal. Likely was exposed just this year. The preservation can be pristine.

[Ridgehiker]

In contrast, something like this eroded hadrosaur foot phalange may have been exposed for a decade

[Ridgehiker]

Some dino 'exploding'. Perhaps a small theropod as a length of hollow metatarsal among the debris. However, fragments of three or four dino families can be sometimes found within a meter of each other.  Deposits accumulate together over the millenia.

[Ridgehiker]

Di deep in the heart of the Cretaceous. 

[Ridgehiker]

A horizontal layer of dino material eroding out of the sandstone.  Evidence of a mass death in an ancient flood.

[Ridgehiker]

Di is a master 'finder' of things like this jaw. Her patience often yields more rewards than my scurrying up and down the hoodoo walls. 

[Ridgehiker]

A lot of specimens are not reachable. A misstep and its a fall into the eroding holes.  Best to live and hike another day. Then again, those could be some neat fossils. Perhaps more in the hole.

[Ridgehiker]

Hadrosaur Vertebra and a lichen covered metatarsal.

[Ridgehiker]

Raptor phalange. About 10cm. None of these material is identifiable beyond general description. 

[Ridgehiker]

Dino Canyon..echo...echo

[Ridgehiker]

What lies around the bend?

[Ridgehiker]

Croc teeth and scutes. 

[Ridgehiker]

Evidence of seasonal floods in recent times.  Can you see the  ankylosaur scute and a hadrosaur jaw covered by more recently deposited glacial rocks?

[Ridgehiker]

Deep shadows from the sun being low on the horizon.  In summer the sun directly overhead turns these canyons into an oven.

[Ridgehiker]

 

'Typical' ceratopsian end caudal vertebra with the diagnostic hourglass shape. Another one at a higher strata ( both sides)...likely another genus as different strata of the formation and shape not as pronounced.

[Ridgehiker]

Lots of petrified wood. Some of the harder silicified chunks reveal a blue shine if cut and polished.

[Ridgehiker]

Lots of vertebrae...found theropod, Hadrosaur, ankylosaur. Unless a particular anatomical position and good quality, can be difficult to name to family.

[Ridgehiker]

Ceratopsian jaw fragment and other head elements

[Ridgehiker]

Dino fragments covering the ground. The world's biggest jigsaw puzzle.