The
Smoky Hill Chalk Member of the Niobrara Chalk formation is a
CretaceousThe Cretaceous , Latin language for "chalky", usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago . In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows on the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...
conservation
LagerstätteA Lagerstätte is a sedimentary deposit that exhibits extraordinary fossil richness or completeness. Palaeontologists distinguish two kinds....
, or
fossilFossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals, plants, and other organisms from the remote past. The totality of fossils, both discovered and undiscovered, and their placement in fossiliferous rock formations and sedimentary layers is known as the fossil record...
rich geological formation, known primarily for its exceptionally well-preserved
marine reptileMarine reptiles are reptiles which have become secondarily adapted for an aquatic or semi-aquatic life in a marine environment.The earliest marine reptiles arose in the Permian period during the Paleozoic era...
s. The Smoky Hill Chalk Member is the uppermost of the two structural units of the Niobrara Chalk. It is underlain by the Fort Hays Limestone Member; and the
Pierre ShaleThe Pierre Shale is a geologic formation or series in the Upper Cretaceous which occurs east of the Rocky Mountains from North Dakota to New Mexico....
overlies the Smoky Hill Chalk. The Smoky Hill Chalk
outcropAn outcrop is an exposure of bedrock or superficial deposits at the surface of the Earth.Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface. In most places the bedrock or superficial deposits are covered by a mantle of soil and vegetation and cannot be seen or examined closely...
s in parts of northwest
KansasKansas is a state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa tribe, who inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south wind," although this was...
, its most famous localities for fossils, and in southeastern
NebraskaNebraska is a state located on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha....
.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Smoky Hill Chalk' Start a new discussion about 'Smoky Hill Chalk' Answer questions from other users |
The
Smoky Hill Chalk Member of the Niobrara Chalk formation is a
CretaceousThe Cretaceous , Latin language for "chalky", usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago . In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows on the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...
conservation
LagerstätteA Lagerstätte is a sedimentary deposit that exhibits extraordinary fossil richness or completeness. Palaeontologists distinguish two kinds....
, or
fossilFossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals, plants, and other organisms from the remote past. The totality of fossils, both discovered and undiscovered, and their placement in fossiliferous rock formations and sedimentary layers is known as the fossil record...
rich geological formation, known primarily for its exceptionally well-preserved
marine reptileMarine reptiles are reptiles which have become secondarily adapted for an aquatic or semi-aquatic life in a marine environment.The earliest marine reptiles arose in the Permian period during the Paleozoic era...
s. The Smoky Hill Chalk Member is the uppermost of the two structural units of the Niobrara Chalk. It is underlain by the Fort Hays Limestone Member; and the
Pierre ShaleThe Pierre Shale is a geologic formation or series in the Upper Cretaceous which occurs east of the Rocky Mountains from North Dakota to New Mexico....
overlies the Smoky Hill Chalk. The Smoky Hill Chalk
outcropAn outcrop is an exposure of bedrock or superficial deposits at the surface of the Earth.Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface. In most places the bedrock or superficial deposits are covered by a mantle of soil and vegetation and cannot be seen or examined closely...
s in parts of northwest
KansasKansas is a state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa tribe, who inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south wind," although this was...
, its most famous localities for fossils, and in southeastern
NebraskaNebraska is a state located on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha....
. Large well-known fossils excavated from the Smoky Hill Chalk include marine reptiles such as
plesiosaurA plesiosaur was a type of carnivorous aquatic reptile. After their discovery, plesiosaurs were somewhat fancifully said to have resembled "a snake threaded through the shell of a turtle", although they had no shell...
s, large
bony fishOsteichthyes , also called bony fish, are a taxonomic group of fish that includes the ray-finned fish and lobe-finned fish . The split between these two classes occurred about 450 million years ago....
such as
XiphactinusXiphactinus was a large, 4.5 to 5 m long predatory bony fish that lived in the Western Interior Sea, over what is now the middle of North America, during the Late Cretaceous. When alive, the fish would have resembled a gargantuan, fanged tarpon...
, mososaurs, flying reptiles or
pterosaurPterosaurs were flying reptiles of the clade or order Pterosauria. They existed from the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous Period...
s, flightless marine birds such as
HesperornisHesperornis is an extinct genus of flightless aquatic birds that lived during the Santonian to Campanian sub-epochs of the Late Cretaceous . One of the lesser known discoveries of paleontologist O. C. Marsh in the late 19th century Bone Wars, it was an important early find in the history of avian...
, and
turtleTurtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...
s. Many of the most well-known specimens of the marine reptiles were collected by dinosaur hunter Charles H. Sternberg and his son
GeorgeGeorge F. Sternberg was a paleontologist best known for his discovery in Gove County, Kansas of the "fish-within-a-fish" of Xiphactinus audax. He was the son of Charles Hazelius Sternberg and nephew of Brig. Gen. George M. Sternberg...
. The son collected a unique fossil of the giant bony fish
Xiphactinus audax with the skeleton of another bony fish,
Gillicus arcuatusGillicus arcuatus was a relatively small, 2-meter long ichthyodectid fish that lived in the Western Interior Seaway, in what is now central North America, during the Late Cretaceous. Like its larger relative, Ichthyodectes ctenodon, G. arcuatus had numerous small teeth lining its jaws, and ate...
inside the larger one. Another excellent skeleton of
Xiphactinus audax was collected by
Edward Drinker CopeEdward Drinker Cope was an American paleontologist and comparative anatomist, as well as a noted herpetologist and ichthyologist. Born to a wealthy Quaker family, Cope quickly distinguished himself as a child prodigy interested in science; he published his first scientific paper at the age of...
during the late nineteenth century heyday of American paleontology and its
Bone WarsThe Bone Wars, also known as the "Great Dinosaur Rush", refers to a period of intense fossil speculation and discovery during the Gilded Age of American history, marked by a heated rivalry between Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh...
.
External links