Suggested Research
In spite of the vast literature on the Hell Creek Formation, there is still much to be learned. Here are some suggestions for research projects for graduate students.
A study of the hydrodynamic processes involved in transporting very large skeletal elements in a fluvial setting. This project is PhD-level, and it would be appropriate for a hydrodynamics engineering student, a fluid dynamics student, or maybe even an aeronautical engineering student that wants to branch out. The research would involve 3-D scanning (CAT scanning would be best, particularly for calculating the unfossilized weight of the bone) of individual skeletal elements of dinosaurs, inputing this data into 3-D simulation software (the kind of software used in fluid dynamics research), analysis, testing, prediction, and conclusions. This type of research would have important implications for ancient depositional environment studies, paleoecology studies, biostratigraphy, and taphonomic studies. How fast must a Cretaceous river flow in order to transport a defleshed Triceratops skull? Can Triceratops skulls be reworked? NASA has huge CAT-scan machines and they have already been used on T. rex skulls so this type of research is very "do-able".
A study of the freshwater gastropods of the Hell Creek Formation.
A taphonomic study of predation damage on the Hell Creek Formation's freshwater mollusk shells. (Bite mark analysis, borings, evidence of the shells being pried open, etc.). To help you build your thesis proposal, read the following reference: Kowalewski, M., and P. H. Kelley (editors). 2002. The Fossil Record of Predation. Paleontological Society Papers Number 8.
A comparison of the freshwater gastropods of the Hell Creek Formation with those of the overlying Tullock Formation (or the Ludlow Formation in North Dakota).
A study of the ostrocoda of the Hell Creek Formation (does the Formation even have ostrocodes?).
Invertebrate ichnology of the Hell Creek Formation.
A study on the floral provenance of the Hell Creek amber (and on it's geochemistry).
A paleoecology study of the Breien Member of the Hell Creek Formation (a marine "tongue" of the Formation in North Dakota)).
A study of the Troodon teeth from the Hell Creek Formation (they may be from a new species. No skeletal material of Troodon is presently known from the Hell Creek Fm., but there are Hell Creek Fm. Troodon teeth in museum collections).
A study of the paleo-floral taphonomy in the Hell Creek Formation.
Bryant (1989:57-58, 76) writes about the avian fauna of the Hell Creek Formation (as of 1989): "There are only about 30 specimens of birds known from the Hell Creek and Tullock formations in the study area. Regrettably, many are elements that are undescribed for Cretaceous taxa, or simply indeterminant: e.g., vertebrae, fragments of tarsometatarsi, scapula fragments."
Avisaurus archibaldi, an enantiornithine bird, was described in 1985, and a Mononykinae incertae sedis (a possible bird described in 1998) are the only Hell Creek taxa so far published. Perhaps it is finally time to reexamine some of the avian Hell Creek material that is gathering dust in museum collections?
Reference: Bryant, L.J. 1989. Non-dinosaurian lower vertebrates across the Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary in Northeastern Montana. University of California Publications in Geological Sciences volume 134. University of California Press, 107 pages.
A more comprehensive study of bite marks found on vertebrate material from the Hell Creek Formation. This study would involve the categorization of the various types of bite marks found on Hell Creek Fm. fossils found in museum collections (involving a study of the size, shape, frequency of occurrence, depth of penetration, association with other types of bite marks, association of certain types of bite marks with fossil bones of certain taxa, association of certain types of bite marks with certain skeletal elements, etc.). In spite of recent work by Greg Erickson (on T. rex tooth marks), this is still an area ripe for new contributions from MS or PhD students, particularly if it is conducted on the bite marks made by the smaller dinosaurian carnivores, crocodilians and pterosaurs! Can the marks be distinguished?
If you need help writing up this proposal, then perhaps the following publication may be useful:
Anderson, K. 2005. A new system of classifying bite marks on marine reptile bones from the Oxford Clay, Peterborough. The Quarterly Journal of the Dinosaur Society 4 (3), 12-15.
A study of trace elements and isotopic anomalies in the fossil bones of animals collected just above the K-T boundary. Compare your results with bones collected from lower in the Hell Creek Formation and from bones collected higher in the Tullock Formation, as well as with bones from recent taxa. Take into consideration the effects of acid leaching of the bones. Compare the bones between similar taxa, only.
A study of the clay mineral facies within the Hell Creek Formation.
A study of the heavy mineral fraction in the Hell Creek sandstone. Provenance studies.
Invertebrate ichnology of the Hell Creek Formation. Little research has been done on Hell Creek trace fossils, so the formation is long overdue for such a study.
The geochemistry of Hell Creek amber.
[chromatography studies; isotopic studies, and a chemical comparison with amber from other formations and with tree resins from extant taxa].
A study of inclusions [water, gasses, carbonaceous material] in Hell Creek amber. No one really knows how permeable or impermeable the Hell Creek Formation amber is regarding the exchange of gasses with the ambient atmosphere.
A more detailed study (geochemical, isotopic, and/or textural) of soot particles from the K-T Boundary Bed of the Hell Creek Formation. (see Tinus and Roddy, 1990; see Wolbach et al. 1988; see Belcher et al., 2003; see Durda and Kring, 2004; see Gilmour et al., 1989; and build your thesis proposal from there).
A sedimentological study of reworking of impact-related K-T detritus into Paleogene sediments (reworking of impact spherules and shocked quartz grains and other shocked minerals into the overlying Tullock Fm. sediments). Since impact spherules and shocked minerals are uncommon in the stratigraphic record, they are considered to be "tagged" minerals and they can be used as indicators of sediment reworking. In units that don't contain sandstone, this study would involve extensive sieving in order to concentrate appropriately sized sand grains.
A geochemical study of the magnetic fraction of the impact spherules in the K-T boundary layer of the Hell Creek Formation. (because they are magnetic, these tiny grains will be easy to collect).
A study of the carbonaceous material in the K-T Boundary layer. How much of the material is due to coalification, and how much of the material is due to the effects of fire (e.g., the presence of charcoal)?
An isotopic study of the soot at (or near) the K-T Boundary layer, compared with the soot below and above the Boundary layer.
K-T Boundary "Soot References":
(Don't be intimidated by the amount of research which has already been done on this topic; the study of carbon at the boundary has just begun!).
Belcher, C. M., M. E. Collinson, A. R. Sweet, A. R. Hildebrand, and A. C. Scott. 2003. Fireball passes and nothing burns - The role of thermal radiation in the Cretaceous-Tertiary event: Evidence from the charcoal record of North America. Geology 31:1061-1064.
Durda, D. D., and D. A. Kring. 2004. Ignition threshold for impact-generated
fires. Journal of Geophysical Research 109: E08004. [on-line version of the journal].
Falcon-Lang, H. J., J. Kvaceki, and D. Ulicny. 2001. Fire-prone plant communities and palaeoclimate of a Late Cretaceous fluvial to estuarine environment, Pecínov quarry, Czech Republic. Geol. Mag. 138 (5):563-576.
Gilmour, I., W. S. Wolbach, and E. Anders. 1989. Major wildfires at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary, in Clube, S. V. M., ed., Catastrophes and evolution: Astronomical foundations. Cambridge Unversity Press, Cambridge, p. 195-213.
Petersen, H. I. 1998. Morphology, formation and palaeoenvironmental implications of naturally formed char particles in coals and carbonaceous mudstones. Fuel 77:1177-1183.
Robertson, D. S., M. C. McKenna, O. B. Toon, S. Hope, and J. A. Lillegraven. 2004. Survival in the first hours of the Cenozoic. Geological Society of America Bulletin 116:760-768.
Robertson, D. S., M. C. McKenna, O. B. Toon, S. Hope, and J. A. Lillegraven. 2004. Fireball passes and nothing burns: Comment. Geology Online Forum (March, 2004), pp. e50-e50.
Rundel, P. W. 1981. Fire as an ecological factor, p. 501-538, in Lange, O. L., et al., eds., Physiological plant ecology I, Response to the physical environment: Springer Verlag, Berlin.
Scott, A. C. 2000. The pre-Quaternary history of fire. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 164:281-329.
Scott, A. C., B. H. Lomax, M. E. Collinson, G. R. Upchurch, and D. J. Beerling. 2000. Fire across the K/T boundary: Initial results from the Sugarite Coal, New Mexico, USA. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 164:381-395.
Tinus, R.W., and D.J. Roddy. 1990. Effects of global atmospheric perturbations on forest ecosystems in the Northern Temporate Zone: Predictions of seasonal depressed-temperature kill mechanisms, biomass production, and wildfire soot mechanisms, in Sharpton, V.L., and P.E. Ward (eds.), Global catastrophes in Earth history. Geological Society of America Special Paper 247: 77-86.
Wegweiser, M. D. 2005. Paleowildfire characteristics and behavior: diagenetic changes occurring in vascular bone during cremation by wildfire reveal ancient fire behavior [Abstract], p. 143, In D.R. Braman, F. Therrien, E.B. Koppelhus, and W. Taylor, (eds.), Dinosaur Park Symposium Short Papers, Special Publication of the Royal Tyrrell Museum, Drumheller, Alberta, September 24 - 25, 2005.
Wolbach, W.L., I. Gilmour, E. Anders, C.J. Orth, and R.R. Brooks. 1988. A global fire at the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary. Nature 334: 665-669.
A trace element analysis or an isotopic analysis of air-fall components in the K-T Boundary Bed of the Hell Creek Formation (for ideas on the format of such a study, see Mukhopadhyay, Farley, and Montanari, 2001).
K-T Boundary "Isotope References":
Mukhopadhyay, S., K.A. Farley, A Montanari. 2001. A Short Duration of the
Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary Event: Evidence from Extraterrestrial
Helium-3. Science 291:1952-55.
A study of the atmospheric chemistry at the K-T boundary. For ideas on how to build your thesis proposal, see the following references:
Brett, R. 1992. The Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction: A lethal mechanism involving anhydrite target rocks. Geochemica et Cosmochimica Acta 56: 3603-3606.
Cronan, C.S. 1985. Chemical weathering and solution chemistry in acid forest soils: Differential influence of soil type, biotic processes and H+ deposition, in Drever, J.I. (ed.), The chemistry of weathering. D. Reidel, Dordrecht, Netherlands. pp. 175-195.
d'Hondt, S. M.E.Q. Pilson, H. Sigurdsson, A.K. Hanson, and S. Carey. 1994. Surface water acidification and extinction at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary. Geology 22:983-986.
Fastovsky, D.E., K. McSweeney, and L.D. Norton. 1989. Pedogenic devlopment at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary, Garfield County, Montana. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 59: 758-767.
Folster, H. 1985. Proton consumption rates in Holocene and present-day weathering of acid forest soils, in Drever, J.I. (ed.), The chemistry of weathering. D. Reidel, Dordrecht, Netherlands, pp. 197-209.
Howells, G. 1990. Acid rain and acid water. Ellis-Horwood, Chichester, UK. 215 p.
MacDougall, J.D. 1988. Seawater strontium isotopes, acid rain and the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary. Science 239: 485-487.
Prinn, R.G., and B. Fegley. 1987. Bolide impacts, acid rain, and biospheric traumas at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 83: 1-15.
Retallack, G.J. 1990. Soils of the past. Unvin-Hyman, London. 520 p.
Retallack, G.J. 1996. Acid Trauma at the Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary in eastern Montana. G.S.A. Today 6(5):1-7.
Retallack, G.J., G.D. Leahy, and M.D. Spoon. 1987. Evidence from paleosols for ecosystem changes across the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary in Montana. Geology 15: 1090-1093.
Sigurdsson, H., S. d'Hondt, and S. Carey. 1992. The impact of the Cretaceous/Tertiary bolide on evaporite terrane and generation of major sulfuric acid aerosol. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 109: 543-559.
Staub. J.R., and A.D. Cohen. 1978. Kaolinite enrichment beneath coals: A modern analog, Snuggedy Swamp, South Carolina. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 48:203-210.
Weil, A. 1994. K/T survivorship as a test of acid rain hypotheses. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 26(7): A335.
Whitmore, M.E. 1985. Effects of SO2 and NOx on plant growth, in Winner, W.E. et al (eds.), Sulfur dioxide and vegetation. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California, p. 281-295.
Zahnle, K. 1990. Atmospheric chemistry by large impacts, in Sharpton, V.L, and P.E. Ward (eds.), Global catastrophes in Earth history. Geological Society of America Special Paper 247: 271-288.
Hell Creek Life © 1997-2010 Phillip Bigelow