Albertosaurus Bonebed, Dry Island Buffalo Jump: Early Maastrichtian, Canada
collected by B. Brown & Kaisen, P. Currie 1910, 1997-2005

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Gastropoda - Viviparidae
Larson et al. 2010 4 specimens
TMP 1999.50.121, 153, 165, 2004.56.69
Osteichthyes
Longrich and Currie 2009 3 specimens
TMP 2003.45.63, 2001.45.93; 3 different sizes
Amphibia - Temnospondyli - Palaeobatrachidae
Larson et al. 2010 3 specimens
TMP 2000.45.38, 2000.45.101
Amphibia - Temnospondyli - Urodela
Larson et al. 2010 1 specimen
TMP 1999.50.131
Reptilia
Larson et al. 2010 5 specimens
TMP 1999.50.138
Reptilia - Ankylosauridae
Larson et al. 2010 2 specimens
TMP 2000.45.37, 2003.45.55
Reptilia - Ceratopsidae
Larson et al. 2010 3 specimens
TMP 1999.50.121, 1999.50.164, 2000.45.36
Reptilia - Hadrosauridae
Longrich and Currie 2009 17 specimens
TMP 2002.45.54
Larson et al. 2010
Reptilia - Alvarezsauridae
Longrich and Currie 2009 11 specimens
TMP 2001.45.8, 12, 31, 51-52, 61, 85-86, 91, 97-98 (2 measurements)
Reptilia - Ornithomimidae
Longrich and Currie 2009 5 specimens
TMP 2001.45.85, 2004.56.64, 1999.50.127, 2005.50.60
Larson et al. 2010
Reptilia - Tyrannosauridae
Currie 2000 232 specimens
Currie 2000 26 individuals
AMNH 5218, 5226-5229, 5231-5234; many TMP specimens
Reptilia
Larson et al. 2010 2 specimens
TMP 2000.45.52, 2000.45.57
Reptilia - Troodontidae
Longrich and Currie 2009 17 specimens
TMP 2003.45.58, 2000.45.10, 2000.45.24, 2000.45.41, 2000.45.90, 2000.45.91, 2001.45.81, 2001.45.81, 2002.45.48, 2003.45.57
Larson and Currie 2013
TMP 1995.002.0023, 1998.063.0043, 1999.050.0114-115
Reptilia - Dromaeosauridae
Longrich and Currie 2009 6 specimens
TMP 1999.050.0117, 2003.45.52, 2000.45.35, 2000.45.203, 2003.45.49
Larson et al. 2010
Larson et al. 2010 14 specimens
TMP 1999.050.0116, 1998.063.0032, 1998.63.071, 1998.64.017, 2000.45.040, 2000.45.082, 2000.45.102, 2001.45.083, 2002.45.050, 2003.45.82, 2003.45.102, 2003.45.83, 2003.45.50, 2003.45.60
Larson et al. 2010 5 specimens
TMP 2000.45.80, 2001.45.82, 2002.45.49, 2002.45.53
Larson and Currie 2013
Reptilia
Longrich and Currie 2009 1 specimen
TMP 2003.45.72
Larson et al. 2010
Mammalia
Larson et al. 2010 1 specimen
Acipenseriformes - Acipenseridae
Longrich and Currie 2009 1 specimen
TMP 2005.45.64
    = Acipenseridae indet. Bonaparte 1831
Larson et al. 2010
Actinopteri
Larson et al. 2010 1 specimen
TMP 2005.50.64
Actinopteri - Amiiformes - Amiidae
Larson et al. 2010 1 specimen
TMP 2003.45.62
Larson et al. 2010 3 specimens
TMP 1999.50.144, 1999.50.146, 1999.50.148
Actinopteri - Ellimmichthyiformes - Sorbinichthyidae
Larson et al. 2010 55 specimens
gen. et sp. nov.
Actinopteri - Ellimmichthyiformes
Newbrey et al. 2010
TMP 2001.045.0093
see common names

Geography
Country:Canada State/province:Alberta
Coordinates: 52.0° North, 112.9° West (view map)
Paleocoordinates:64.1° North, 67.9° West (Wright 2013)
Basis of coordinate:based on nearby landmark
Geographic resolution:small collection
Time
Period: Cretaceous Epoch: Late Cretaceous
Stage: Maastrichtian 10 m.y. bin: Cretaceous 8
Key time interval: Early Maastrichtian
Age range of interval: 72.2 - 66 m.y. ago
Stratigraphy
Geological group:Edmonton Formation:Horseshoe Canyon Member:Tolman
Stratigraphic resolution:bed
Stratigraphy comments: from transition between Units 4 and 5, HCF "B", should be top of Tolman Mb.
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology:massive,lenticular,fine,ferruginous,intraclastic silty sandstone
Includes fossils?Y
Lithology description: "a lenticular, mixed sandstone-siltstone body…no meso- or large-scale cross-bedding or measurable ripple lamination was observed…one or more centimetre-scale beds of massive, poorly sorted, silty, fine-grained sandstone, with intraformational mudstone-to-ironstone clasts, mollusc stein kerns, and millimetre- to centimetre-scale layers of coalified logs, branches, leaves, and seeds. In some areas, the fossiliferous horizon is heavily cemented with a yellow-brown iron carbonate."
Environment:coarse channel fill
Geology comments: "a small alluvial channel, 2 m deep and 15 m wide"; "a small fluvial channel oriented approximately NNE-SSW that experienced one or more high-energy flooding events.
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:body,soft parts
Lagerst�tten type:concentrate
Degree of concentration:-bonebed
Size of fossils:macrofossils,mesofossils
Spatial orientation:preferred
Preservation of anatomical detail:good
Abundance in sediment:abundant
Associated major elements:many
Size sorting:poor
Fragmentation:occasional
Temporal resolution:time-averaged
Spatial resolution:parautochthonous
Collection methods and comments
Collection methods:bulk,selective quarrying,surface (float),surface (in situ),mechanical,sieve,field collection
Reason for describing collection:taxonomic analysis
Museum repositories:AMNH,TMP
Collectors:B. Brown & Kaisen, P. Currie Collection dates:1910, 1997-2005
Metadata
Also known as:Albertosaurus Quarry, Big Valley Creek, ABB, RTMP L2204
Database number:55363
Authorizer:M. Carrano, P. Holroyd Enterer:K. Maguire, M. Carrano, P. Holroyd
Modifier:M. Carrano Research group:vertebrate
Created:2005-10-12 13:46:52 Last modified:2025-02-22 15:12:02
Access level:the public Released:2005-10-12 13:46:52
Creative Commons license:CC0
Reference information

Primary reference:
63399. B. Brown. 1914. Cretaceous Eocene correlation in New Mexico, Wyoming, Montana, Alberta. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America 25:355-380 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]

Secondary references:

43942 P. R. Bell. 2010. Palaeopathological changes in a population of Albertosaurus sarcophagus from the Upper Cretaceous Horseshoe Canyon Formation of Alberta, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 47:1263-1268 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
63397 B. Brown. 1919. Hunting big game of other days. National Geographic Magazine 35(4):407-429 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
64427 L. G. Buckley, H.-D. Sues, D. W. Larson, M. Reichel, and T. Samman. 2018. Quantifying tooth variation within a single population of Albertosaurus sarcophagus (Theropoda: Tyrannosauridae) and implications for identifying isolated teeth of tyrannosaurids. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 47(9):1227-1251 [E. Vlachos/E. Vlachos/M. Carrano]
77927 T. D. Carr. 2010. A taxonomic assessment of the type series of Albertosaurus sarcophagus and the identity of Tyrannosauridae (Dinosauria, Coelurosauria) in the Albertosaurus bonebed from the Horseshoe Canyon Formation (Campanian–Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous). Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 47:1213-1226 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
14866ETE P. J. Currie. 2000. Possible evidence of gregarious behavior in tyrannosaurids. Gaia 15:271-277 [M. Carrano/K. Maguire/M. Carrano]
77772 P. J. Currie and D. A. Eberth. 2010. On gregarious behavior in Albertosaurus. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 47(9):1277-1289 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
77956 P. J. Currie and E. B. Koppelhus. 2015. The significance of the theropod collections of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology to our understanding of Late Cretaceous theropod diversity. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 52(8):620-629 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
78157 D. A. Eberth. 2015. Origins of dinosaur bonebeds in the Cretaceous of Alberta, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 52(8):655-681 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
51089 D. A. Eberth and P. J. Currie. 2010. Stratigraphy, sedimentology, and taphonomy of the Albertosaurus bonebed (upper Horseshoe Canyon Formation; Maastrichtian), southern Alberta, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 47:1119-1143 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
78037 G. M. Erickson, P. J. Currie, B. D. Inouye and A. A. Winn. 2010. A revised life table and survivorship curve for Albertosaurus sarcophagus based on the Dry Island mass death assemblage. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 47:1269-1275 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
43426 D. W. Larson, D. B. Brinkman, and P. R. Bell. 2010. Faunal assemblages from the upper Horseshoe Canyon Formation, an early Maastrichtian cool-climate assemblage from Alberta, with special reference to the Albertosaurus sarcophagus bonebed. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 47:1159-1181 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
48570 D. W. Larson and P. J. Currie. 2013. Multivariate analyses of small theropod dinosaur teeth and implications for paleoecological turnover through time. PLoS ONE 8(1):e54329:1-14 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
29124ETE N. R. Longrich and P. J. Currie. 2009. Albertonykus borealis, a new alvarezsaur (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Early Maastrichtian of Alberta, Canada: implications for the systematics and ecology of the Alvarezsauridae. Cretaceous Research 30(1):239-252 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
64995 M. G. Newbrey, A. M. Murray, D. B. Brinkman, M. V. H. Wilson, and A. G. Neuman. 2010. A new articulated freshwater fish (Clupeomorpha, Ellimmichthyiformes) from the Horseshoe Canyon Formation, Maastrichtian, of Alberta, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 47:1183-1196 [P. Holroyd/P. Holroyd]
25845ETE B. T. Roach and D. L. Brinkman. 2007. A reevaluation of cooperative pack hunting and gregariousness in Deinonychus antirrhopus and other nonavian theropod dinosaurs. Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History 48(1):103-138 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
62727 L. S. Russell. 1966. Dinosaur hunting in western Canada. Royal Ontario Museum, Life Sciences Contribution 70:1-37 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
70928 D. H. Tanke and P. J. Currie. 2010. A history of Albertosaurus discoveries in Alberta, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 47(9):1197-1211 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
76532 A. L. Titus, K. Knoll, J. J. W. Sertich, D. Yamamura, C. A. Suarez, I. J. Glasspool, J. E. Ginouves, A. K. Lukacic, and E. M. Roberts. 2021. Geology and taphonomy of a unique tyrannosaurid bonebed from the upper Campanian Kaiparowits Formation of southern Utah: implications for tyrannosaurid gregariousness. PeerJ 9:e11013:1-50 [P. Mannion/P. Mannion/M. Carrano]