Cretaceous Dinosaurs across Alaska Show the Role of Paleoclimate in Structuring Ancient Large-Herbivore Populations

The partially correlative Alaskan dinosaur-bearing Prince Creek Formation (PCF), North Slope, lower Cantwell Formation (LCF), Denali National Park, and Chignik Formation (CF), Aniakchak National Monument, form an N–S transect that, together, provides an unparalleled opportunity to examine an ancient...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geosciences
Main Authors: Anthony R. Fiorillo, Paul J. McCarthy, Yoshitsugu Kobayashi, Marina B. Suarez
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2022
Subjects:
hadrosaurs
ceratopsians
Arctic
ancient Arctic
terrestrial ecosystems
ecosystem reconstruction
Geology
QE1-996.5
Prince Creek
north slope
Alaska
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences12040161
https://doaj.org/article/d0dee591114e4ef7b01b99f9fbe99174
Description
Summary:The partially correlative Alaskan dinosaur-bearing Prince Creek Formation (PCF), North Slope, lower Cantwell Formation (LCF), Denali National Park, and Chignik Formation (CF), Aniakchak National Monument, form an N–S transect that, together, provides an unparalleled opportunity to examine an ancient high-latitude terrestrial ecosystem. The PCF, 75–85° N paleolatitude, had a Mean Annual Temperature (MAT) of ~5–7 °C and a Mean Annual Precipitation (MAP) of ~1250 mm/year. The LCF, ~71° N paleolatitude, had a MAT of ~7.4 °C and MAP of ~661 mm/year. The CF, ~57° N paleolatitude, had a MAT of ~13 °C and MAP of ~1090 mm/year. The relative abundances of the large-bodied herbivorous dinosaurs, hadrosaurids and ceratopsids, vary along this transect, suggesting that these climatic differences (temperature and precipitation) played a role in the ecology of these large-bodied herbivores of the ancient north. MAP played a more direct role in their distribution than MAT, and the seasonal temperature range may have played a secondary role.

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