Standing Rock Hadrosaur Site: Late/Upper Maastrichtian, South Dakota
collected by K. Olson, Nellermoe 1993–2003, 2010–2012

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Gastropoda - Viviparidae
Campeloma sp. Rafinesque 1819
Colson et al. 2004 3 specimens
Lioplacodes sp. Meek and Hayden 1864
Colson et al. 2004
Viviparus sp. Montfort 1810
Colson et al. 2004
Bivalvia - Unionida - Unionidae
Unionidae indet. Rafinesque 1820
Colson et al. 2004 2 specimens
Bivalvia - Cardiida - Sphaeriidae
Sphaerium sp. Scopoli 1777
Colson et al. 2004
Mammalia
Theria indet. (Parker and Haswell 1897)
Ullmann et al. 2017 1 specimen
premolar
Metatheria indet. (Huxley 1880)
Ullmann et al. 2017 1 specimen
molar talonid
Eutheria indet. (Huxley 1880)
Ullmann et al. 2017 1 specimen
lower molar
Mammalia - Multituberculata
Multituberculata indet. (Cope 1884)
Ullmann et al. 2017 58 specimens
Teeth, partial dentary
Reptilia
Testudines indet. Batsch 1788
Colson et al. 2004 3 specimens
    = Compsemys victa Leidy 1856
Ullmann et al. 2017
Carapace fragments
Reptilia - Testudines - Trionychidae
Trionychidae indet. Gray 1825
Ullmann et al. 2017 3 specimens
Costal, carapace fragments
Reptilia
Borealosuchus sternbergi
Ullmann et al. 2017 6 specimens
teeth
Reptilia - Crocodylia
Crocodylia indet. (Owen 1842)
Colson et al. 2004 2 specimens
Reptilia
Brachychampsa montana Gilmore 1911
Ullmann et al. 2017 20 specimens
teeth
Reptilia - Hadrosauridae
Edmontosaurus sp. Lambe 1917
5500 specimens
    = Edmontosaurus annectens Marsh 1892
Ullmann et al. 2017
Reptilia - Troodontidae
Troodontidae indet. Gilmore 1924
Ullmann et al. 2017 2 specimens
teeth
Reptilia - Dromaeosauridae
Dromaeosauridae indet. Colbert and Russell 1969
Ullmann et al. 2017 89 specimens
teeth
Reptilia
Aves indet. Linnaeus 1758
Colson et al. 2004
Reptilia - Tyrannosauridae
Tyrannosauridae indet. Osborn 1906
Larson et al. 2003
"a smaller tyrannosaurid"
Tyrannosaurus rex Osborn 1905
Larson et al. 2003
"most likely"
Reptilia
Champsosauridae indet. Cope 1876
Colson et al. 2004 2 specimens
    = Neochoristodera indet. Evans and Hecht 1993
Ullmann et al. 2017
Teeth
Actinopteri - Amiiformes - Amiidae
Kindleia fragosa Jordan 1927
Ullmann et al. 2017 5 specimens
recombined as Cyclurus fragosus
vertebrae
Actinopteri - Lepisosteiformes - Lepisosteidae
Osteichthyes indet. Huxley 1880
Colson et al. 2004 197 specimens
"fish scales"
    = Lepisosteus occidentalis Leidy 1856
Ullmann et al. 2017
original and current combination Lepidotus occidentalis
Chondrichthyes - Rajiformes - Rhinobatidae
Myledaphus bipartitus Cope 1876
Ullmann et al. 2017 2 specimens
teeth
Coniferales
Taxodiaceaepollenites sp. Kremp 1958
Colson et al. 2004
Coniferales - Cupressaceae
Taxodium occidentalis
Ullmann et al. 2017
Metasequoia sp. Miki 1941
Ullmann et al. 2017
unclassified
Coniferophyta indet.
Colson et al. 2004
"cones of conifers"
see common names

Geography
Country:United States State/province:South Dakota County:Corson
Coordinates: 45.5° North, 101.6° West (view map)
Paleocoordinates:51.3° North, 75.2° West
Basis of coordinate:based on nearby landmark
Altitude:2577 feet
Geographic resolution:outcrop
Time
Period:Cretaceous Epoch:Late/Upper Cretaceous
Stage:Maastrichtian 10 m.y. bin:Cretaceous 8
Key time interval:Late/Upper Maastrichtian
Age range of interval:72.10000 - 66.00000 m.y. ago
Stratigraphy
Geological group:Montana Formation:Hell Creek Member:Little Beaver Creek
Local section:CHS Local bed:5
Local order:bottom to top
Stratigraphic resolution:bed
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology:fine,medium silty mudstone
Includes fossils?Y
Lithology description: "Dominant sediment mode is fine to medium clay, with a hint of a second mode at fine silt in some layers. Pulses of coarser sediment are also indicated. 30 to 60 vol% organic fragments...layers of papery-weathering lignitic shale are commonly underlain by a layer of blocky or crumbly, organic-rich mudstone and overlain by a less organic-rich siltstone or silty shale."
Environment:crevasse splay
Geology comments: "deposited in a coastal swamp dissected by, and ultimately overrun by, distributary chennels or rivers...There does not appear to be any obvious evidence for a marine influence on Unit 5, even though it occupies a transitional position from the marine bar- and beach-ridge sequence of the Fox Hills Formation to the obviously fluvial environments of the Hell Creek Formation."
"Sedimentologic data indicate that burial took place during a modest crevasse splay event in a shallow floodplain pond"
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:body,mold/impression
Lagerst�tten type:concentrate
Degree of concentration:-bonebed
Size of fossils:macrofossils,mesofossils,microfossils
Spatial orientation:random
Preservation of anatomical detail:good
Abundance in sediment:common
Disassociated major elements:many
Disassociated minor elements:many
Size sorting:very poor
Fragmentation:occasional
Temporal resolution:time-averaged
Spatial resolution:parautochthonous
Collection methods and comments
Collection methods:bulk,selective quarrying,surface (in situ),mechanical,field collection
Reason for describing collection:biostratigraphic analysis
Collectors:K. Olson, Nellermoe Collection dates:1993–2003, 2010–2012
Collection method comments: Ullmann et al. 2017: "Excavation at the site began upon its discovery in 1993 by a collaboration between private land owners, Concordia College, and Minnesota State University-Moorhead. Concordia continued annual summer excavations at SRHS through 2003, collecting a total of more than 4,000 bones. The site was hence initially named the Concordia Hadrosaur Site, and was published with this name in a stratigraphic report (Colson et al. 2004). However, later investigations of land ownership boundaries found that two of the three excavations performed by Concordia crews actually took place on land owned by the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. Accordingly, fossils collected in these first 11 years were split between collections of the Biology Department of Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, and the Paleontology Department at the headquarters of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in Fort Yates, North Dakota. In 2016, SRHS bones under the care of Concordia College (studied herein) were transferred to the vertebrate paleontology collection of the North Dakota Heritage Center and State Museum in Bismarck, North Dakota.
After a six year hiatus of excavations, in 2010 the Standing Rock Paleontology Department (SRPD) reinitiated annual summer excavations at the eastern end of the bluff. Via an invitation by the lead Concordia project researcher (RN), Drexel University joined the suite of programs investigating the bonebed and the head author (PVU) led a collaborative expedition between Drexel, Concordia, and the Standing Rock Reservation to the site in the summer of 2012. As all excavations since 2010 (including our collaborative dig in 2012) have been pioneered by the SRPD and Standing Rock reservation staff, we have renamed the bonebed the Standing Rock Hadrosaur Site in honor of their ardent support."
Metadata
Also known as:Concordia Hadrosaur Site, CHS, SRHS
Database number:47034
Authorizer:M. Carrano Enterer:M. Carrano
Modifier:M. Carrano Research group:vertebrate
Created:2005-02-01 09:59:46 Last modified:2022-05-02 15:08:39
Access level:the public Released:2005-02-01 09:59:46
Creative Commons license:CC BY
Reference information

Primary reference:
23425.ETE R. Gould, R. Larson, and R. Nellermoe. 2003. An allometric study comparing metatarsal II's in Edmontosaurus from a low-diversity hadrosaur bone bed in Corson Co., S. D. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 23(3, suppl.):56A [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]

Secondary references:

12504ETE M. C. Colson, R. O. Colson, and R. Nellermoe. 2004. Stratigraphy and depositional environments of the upper Fox Hills and lower Hell Creek Formations at the Concordia Hadrosaur Site in northwestern South Dakota. Rocky Mountain Geology 39(2):93-1117 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
23444ETE R. Larson, R. Nellermoe, and R. Gould. 2003. A study of theropod teeth from a low-species-density hadrosaur bone bed in the lower Hell Creek Formation in Corson Co., S.D. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 23(3, suppl.):70A-71A [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
81555 W. W. Stein. 2019. Taking count: a census of dinosaur fossils recovered from the Hell Creek and Lance formations (Maastrichtian). The Journal of Paleontological Sciences JPS.C.2019:01:1-42 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
25841ETE K. J. S. Thomas and S. J. Carlson. 2004. Microscale ?18O and ?13C isotopic analysis of an ontogenetic series of the hadrosaurid dinosaur Edmontosaurus: implications for physiology and ecology. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 206:257-287 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
80624 P. V. Ullmann, D. E. Grandstaff, R. D. Ash and K. J. Lacovara. 2020. Geochemical taphonomy of the Standing Rock Hadrosaur Site: exploring links between rare earth elements and cellular and soft tissue preservation. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 269:223-237 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
80604 P. V. Ullmann, S. H. Pandhya, and R. Nellermoe. 2019. Patterns of soft tissue and cellular preservation in relation to fossil bone tissue structure and overburden depth at the Standing Rock Hadrosaur Site, Maastrichtian Hell Creek Formation, South Dakota, USA. Cretaceous Research 99:1-13 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
80623 P. V. Ullmann, A. Shaw, R. Nellermoe and K. J. Lacovara. 2017. Taphonomy of the Standing Rock Hadrosaur Site, Corson County, South Dakota. Palaios 32:779-796 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]