Abstract
FLUCTUATIONS (transgressions and regressions) of intercon-tinental sea-ways during the Mesozoic Era affected the habitat area of coastal plains by alternately restricting the space during transgressive phases and expanding the space during regressive phases. In western North America a coastal plain stretched along the eastern front of the young Rocky Mountains during most of the Late Cretaceous. Here we report results of a six-year field study of the sediments and dinosaur remains from this coastal plain in Montana that provide evidence that anagenesis characterized dinosaur evolution at this time, and that the evolutionary pulse coincided with a marine transgression.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Weishampel, D. B. & Horner, J. R. in 4th Symp. Mesozoic Terrestrial Ecosystems (eds Currie, P. M. & Koster, E. H.) 224–229 (3rd Occ. Paper, Tyrrell Mus. Palaeont., 1987).
Bakker, R. T. in Patterns of Evolution (ed. Hallam, A.) 431–478 (Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1977).
Horner, J. R. in Montana Geological Society 1984 Field Conference Guidebook (eds McBane, J. D. & Garrison, P. B.) 299–303 (Montana Geological Society, Billings, 1984).
Goodwin, M. B. & Deino, A. L. Can. J. Earth Sci. 26, 1384–1391 (1989).
Gingerich, P. D. Paleobiology 11, 27–41 (1985).
Eldredge, N. & Gould, S. J. in Models in Paleobiology (ed. Schopf, T. J. M.) 82–115 (Freeman, Cooper, San Francisco, 1972).
Coombs, W. P. in The Dinosauria (eds Weisbampel, D. B., Dodson, P. & Osmolska, H.) 32–42 (Univ. California Press, Los Angeles, 1990).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Horner, J., Varricchio, D. & Goodwin, M. Marine transgressions and the evolution of Cretaceous dinosaurs. Nature 358, 59–61 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1038/358059a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/358059a0
- Springer Nature Limited
This article is cited by
-
Calibrating the zenith of dinosaur diversity in the Campanian of the Western Interior Basin by CA-ID-TIMS U–Pb geochronology
Scientific Reports (2022)
-
Dinosaur biodiversity declined well before the asteroid impact, influenced by ecological and environmental pressures
Nature Communications (2021)
-
Competition structured a Late Cretaceous megaherbivorous dinosaur assemblage
Scientific Reports (2019)
-
A new tyrannosaur with evidence for anagenesis and crocodile-like facial sensory system
Scientific Reports (2017)
-
Palaeoenvironmental drivers of vertebrate community composition in the Belly River Group (Campanian) of Alberta, Canada, with implications for dinosaur biogeography
BMC Ecology (2016)