PalæontologicalP a l æ o n t o l o g i c a l S o c i e t y Bulletin VOLUMEAlbertaA 19 • NUMBERl b2 ewww.albertapaleo.orgrta JUNE 2004 ALBERTA PALÆONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY OFFICERS MEMBERSHIP: Any person with a sincere interest in President Dan Quinsey 247-3022 palaeontology is eligible to present their application for Vice-President Keith Mychaluk 228-3211 membership in the Society. (Please enclose membership Treasurer Mona Marsovsky 547-0182 dues with your request for application.) Secretary Kimberley Motz 243-1044 Single membership $20.00 annually Past-President Vaclav Marsovsky 547-0182 Family or Institution $25.00 annually DIRECTORS THE BULLETIN WILL BE PUBLISHED QUARTERLY: Editor Howard Allen 274-1858 March, June, September and December. Deadline for sub- Membership Howard Allen 274-1858 mitting material for publication is the 15th of the month Program Coordinator Philip Benham 280-6283 prior to publication. Events Coordinator Wayne Braunberger 278-5154 Society Mailing Address: APPOINTMENTS APAC Representative† Dan Quinsey 247-3022 Alberta Palaeontological Society Curator Ron Fortier 285-8041 P.O. Box 35111, Sarcee Postal Outlet Fund Raising Dan Quinsey 247-3022 Calgary, Alberta, Canada T3E 7C7 Librarian Mona Marsovsky 547-0182 (Web: www.albertapaleo.org) Social Director Janice Scott 276-4095 Material for the Bulletin: Webmaster Vaclav Marsovsky 547-0182 Howard Allen, Editor, APS † Alberta Palaeontological Advisory Committee 7828 Hunterslea Crescent, N.W. Th e Society was incorporated in 1986, as a non-profit Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2K 4M2 organization formed to: (E-mail: [email protected]) a. Promote the science of palaeontology through study NOTICE: Readers are advised that opinions expressed in and education. the articles are those of the author and do not necessarily refl ect the viewpoint of the Society. Except for articles b. Make contributions to the science by: marked “Copyright ©,” reprinting of articles by exchange 1) discovery 2) collection 3) description bulletins is permitted, as long as appropriate credit is 4) education of the general public given. Requests for missing issues of the Bulletin should 5) preservation of material for study and the future be addressed to the Editor. Back issues are available for c. Provide information and expertise to other collectors. purchase from the Librarian or the Editor, in hard copy or digital formats. Copies are also available for loan in the d. Work with professionals at museums and universities Society library. to add to the palaeontological collections of the province (preserve Alberta’s heritage). UPCOMING APS MEETINGS Meetings take place at 7:30 p.m., in Room B108 (or B101, across the hall) Mount Royal College: 4825 Richard Road SW, Calgary, Alberta Friday, May 28, 2004—Leslie Eliuk, GeoTours Consulting, Inc. “Reefs of the Maritimes: Primarily the Jurassic-Cretaceous Abenaki off shore.” June, July, August, 2004—No meetings. See Field Trip Update, Page 32. Friday, September 17, 2004—Topic to be announced. ON THE COVER: Reconstruction of an adult Pipestone Creek (Alberta) pachyrhinosaur, by U.S. artist Katy Hargrove. Copyright ©. Used by permission. Feature article on northern Alberta fossils begins on Page 3. APS Bulletin 1 March 2004 hand as usual with a new look and many fossil President’s and mineral give-aways. Th anks to Les Adler, Lyle Hartwig, Harvey Negrich, Geoff Barrett, Roslyn Osztian, and Mike Clark forfor theirtheir contributionscontributions Message and assistance this year. Special thanks also go out to Wayne Braunberger (CRLC Chairman) for putting by Dan Quinsey on a great show and assisting in the APS booth when time permitted. ❏ ongratulations to all our members for their Ccontributions and involvement this past year. It was my personal goal to try to get more members Field Trip involved, and many have stepped up to the plate. Th e Alberta Palaeontological Society (APS) can only measure its success through the personal achieve- Coal Mine Geology and ments of each and every member; and believe me Technology in the when I say we are very successful. Our membership numbers have fl uctuated around Canadian Badlands the 140 mark this year. However, the quality and enthusiasm of our members both new and old have ut on your hiking boots and join Dr. David reached new heights. It is very rewarding to watch PEberth, sedimentologist for the Royal Tyrrell the Society grow in this way. You are doing a great Museum of Palaeontology, and Fred Orosz, local job—keep up the good work. mine buff , for a fascinating fi eld trip in the Canadian Th e Board of Directors welcomes new faces to badlands. Climb to a coal seam and hear how coal an already successful team who will do everything formed and how it was mined. Explore historic mine in their power see the APS continues to reach new ruins and hear stories of the men and machines that heights. I am excited to serve the Alberta Palaeon- laboured there. Ponder the future of coal in Canada. tological Society as president and will do my best to Hear about and experience the historic ambiance continue to motivate everyone in a direction we can of Drumheller’s coal mining communities, and the all be proud of. ❏ astonishing beauty of the Canadian badlands, with two leading experts. Sunday, June 27, 10:30 a.m.–4:00 p.m. Cost: $15/person. Includes lunch at the East Cou- Calgary Rock and lee School Museum. Participants must provide their own transportation. Meet at the Atlas Coal Mine Lapidary Club National Historic Site. To register: phone the Atlas at (403) 822-2220. Sponsored by the Drumheller Regional Science Gem, Mineral & Council in partnership with the Atlas Coal Mine Fossil Show 2004 National Historic Site. ❏ by Dan Quinsey Help Excavate he annual CRLC Show was held May 1–2, 2004 MongolianMongolian DinosaursDinosaurs Tat the West Hillhurst Arena in Calgary. Once again, the show was a huge success. Many dealers thisthis SeptemberSeptember were on hand off ering a variety of supplies for the enthusiast. Th ere were many displays to view and by Mona Marsovsky several experts on hand exhibiting their various skills. Congratulations go out to the Calgary Rock r. Philip Currie and Dr. Eva Koppelhus will be and Lapidary Club for another job well done. Dleading an expedition to the Gobi Desert of Th e Alberta Palaeontological Society was on (see “Mongolian Dinosaurs,” page 31) APS Bulletin 2 June 2004 Mosquitoes Th e 2003 and Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology Expedition to the Grande Prairie Region (Northwestern Alberta, Canada) Mud by Darren H. Tanke (Copyright © 2004) wishing to do research in this region. Some recent Grande Prairie tourism information and media zeal regarding Grande Prairie region fossil resources has Introduction introduced some important factual errors, which are n July 2003, the Dinosaur Research Program addressed below. Exact locality for the sites described and other staff of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of herein are on fi le at TMP and are available to quali- Palaeontology (TMP), with logistical and vol- fi ed investigators. unteer support from Grande Prairie Regional Abbreviations: Fm.: Formation; MYA: million ICollege (GPRC) and other local help, conducted fi eld years ago; ROM: Royal Ontario Museum; TMP: work in the Grande Prairie region, in northwestern Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology. Alberta. Th e author carried out additional explor- atory work with Grande Prairie volunteer Sheldon hen one thinks of traditional dinosaur col- Graber in mid-September that year. Wlecting in southern Alberta, images of hot, Th ese eff orts marked the fi rst full-scale palae- arid badlands and short grass prairie come to mind. ontological expedition in the area since those of However, the terrain in the Grande Prairie district, 1986–1989, when TMP excavations of a rich horned 500–800 km northwest of these localities is for the dinosaur bonebed on Pipestone Creek (Tanke, 1988; most part completely diff erent. Langston, Currie and Tanke, in prep.) and limited Unlike the badlands, the region is within aspen local explorations were carried out. parkland and largely boreal forest biomes. It is tra- Examined only sporadically, the Late Cretaceous versed with numerous deep river and creek valleys. Wapiti Formation has nevertheless yielded some im- Th e region has a cooler and moister climate, averag- portant fossils including hadrosaur and ceratopsian- ing some 450 mm of precipitation annually. All this dominated bonebeds, dinosaur skeletons, dinosaur precipitation leads to luxuriant plant growth and is footprint localities, insects in amber and megaplant thus heavily forested with deciduous and conifer- fossils. Multigeneric bonebeds and microvertebrate ous trees. Much of the prairie regions are now under remains are rare, but eff orts to relocate both and plow, but one does not have to go far west or south or especially the latter are certainly underachieved. deep into any river valley to be in remote bush coun- Fift een Wapiti Formation sites in the Grande try, complete with black and grizzly bears, moose, Prairie region (Figure 1) were reexamined, explored elk, mountain goats and other big game. and/or sampled. Th is report summarizes previous As with northern bush country across Canada, eff orts and describes the results of the 2003 work. the air is fi lled with mosquitoes and other blood- It is, in part, an eff ort to help summarize the widely sucking insects that make life miserable for the fi eld scattered historical (including newspaper), geological palaeontologist. 2003 was not too bad in this regard; and especially vertebrate palaeontological literature but 1986 was a particularly bad year, the author on carried out in the Peace River districts in north- several occasions killing fi ve mosquitoes in one swat. western Alberta and northeastern British Columbia Heavy rains and shading trees make for muddy (Tanke, in prep.