BREIEN MEMBER OF THE HELL CREEK FORMATION

Johnathan Campbell, who is a fossil preparator in North Dakota, says of the marine-facies Breien Member of the Hell Creek Formation:

"In South Central North Dakota (N. Central SD) there is a Member in the lower Hell Creek, Called the Breien. This member is very much marine, commonly containing the teeth of sharks and ratfishes. Also found are shrimp burrows (very common), oysters and other marine molluscs, including the very rare scaphite. Both above and below this 20 foot thick horizon is found typical freshwater (terrestrial) Hell Creek fauna and flora."

"Very little has been published on the Breien. Charles Frye in the early-mid sixties worked the unit for his dissertation on the Stratigraphy and Paleontology of the Hell Creek Fm. in ND. He produced a publication (1964) called "Marine Tongues in the Hell Creek Formation, North Dakota". John Hoganson (North Dakota Geological Survey) Is currently thinking of studying the units sharks, rays and ratfishes. Joe Hartman (EERC) as given some thought to studying the Molluscs and the Stratigraphy. Many Hell Creek workers know of the unit, but it has seen little exposure do to its 'remote' location in south central North Dakota. Far away from the exposures of the west." (from a public post on the UseNet newsgroup sci.bio.paleontology, Feb. 1999).

From the abstract of Frye's (1964) paper:

"The Hell Creek Formation of Cretaceous age, predominantly nonmarine, contains two units of marine and brackish water beds. The marine unit of Breien Member lies near the base of the formation in the Missouri River region south of Bismarck and represents a re-advance of the Late Cretaceous sea. Near the top of the formation, in the Little Missouri Valley in the southwest corner of the State {North Dakota}, are the brackish water beds, probably deposited near the mouth of a stream flowing east into the sea".

From the abstract of Frye (1969):

"The Hell Creek members represent subaerial top-set beds of a giant delta stretching into the Cretaceous Fox Hill sea. Laterally equivalent marine top-set beds are the Fox Hills Formation. Fore-set and bottom-set beds are the Pierre Shale."

These units will undoubtably prove to be very important from a paleoecological point of view.

References:

  1. Belt, E.S., J.F. Hicks, and D.A. Murphy. 1997. A pre-Lancian regional unconformity and its relationship to Hell Creek paleogeography in south-eastern Montana. Contributions to Geology (University of Wyoming, Laramie) 31(2):1-26.

  2. Crowder, R. K. 1984. Patterns of latest Cretaceous sedimentation; shelf-to-continental transition, Western Interior, USA. SEPM first annual midyear meeting. San Jose, California. Aug. 10-13, 1984. SEPM, Tulsa, Oklahoma. [abstract]. Volume 1, page 22.

  3. Frye, C.I. 1964. Marine tongues in the Hell Creek Formation, North Dakota. Compass of Sigma Gamma Epsilon 41(2):167-171.

  4. Frye, C.I. 1967. The Hell Creek Formation (Upper Cretaceous) in North Dakota. PhD dissertation. University of North Dakota, Grand Forks. 411 pages.

  5. Frye, C.I. 1969. Stratigraphy of the Hell Creek Formation in North Dakota. Bulletin of the North Dakota Geological Survey 54. 65 pages.

  6. Hartman, J.H. and Kirkland, J.I. 2002. Brackish and marine mollusks of the Hell Creek Formation of North Dakota: Evidence for a persisting Cretaceous seaway, in Hartman, J.H., Johnson, K.R., and Nichols, D.J., (eds.) The Hell Creek Formation of the northern Great Plains: An integrated continental record of the end of the Cretaceous, Geological Society of America Special Paper 361, p. 271-296.

  7. Hoganson, J.W. 1994. Stumpf Site registered as a North Dakota Natural Area. North Dakota Geological Survey Newsletter 21(4):7-10.

  8. Laird, W. M., and R. H. Mitchell. 1942. The geology of the southern part of Morton County, North Dakota. North Dakota Geol. Surv. Bulletin 14, 42 pages.

    Hell Creek Life © 1997-2006 Phillip Bigelow