Vertebrate Paleontology, Stratigraphy, and Paleohydrology of Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument, Nevada (Usa)
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GEOLOGY OF THE INTERMOUNTAIN WEST an open-access journal of the Utah Geological Association Volume 4 2017 VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY, STRATIGRAPHY, AND PALEOHYDROLOGY OF TULE SPRINGS FOSSIL BEDS NATIONAL MONUMENT, NEVADA (USA) Kathleen B. Springer, Jeffrey S. Pigati, and Eric Scott A Field Guide Prepared For SOCIETY OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY Annual Meeting, October 26 – 29, 2016 Grand America Hotel Salt Lake City, Utah, USA © 2017 Utah Geological Association. All rights reserved. For permission to copy and distribute, see the following page or visit the UGA website at www.utahgeology.org for information. Email inquiries to [email protected]. GEOLOGY OF THE INTERMOUNTAIN WEST an open-access journal of the Utah Geological Association Volume 4 2017 Editors UGA Board Douglas A. Sprinkel Thomas C. 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Kirkland (Editor-in-Chief) — Utah Geological Survey 2016-2018 Term Craig Morgan [email protected] 801.422.3761 ReBecca Hunt-Foster — Bureau of Land Management Greg McDonald — Bureau of Land Management State Mapping Advisory Committe Martha Hayden — Utah Geological Survey UGA Representative Jason Blake [email protected] 435.658.3423 Production Earthquake Safety Committe Cover Design and Desktop Publishing Chair Grant Willis [email protected] 801.537.3355 Douglas A. Sprinkel UGA Website Cover Buff-colored deposits sit against the backdrop of the Las www.utahgeology.org Vegas Range just outside the city limits of Las Vegas. Webmasters Paul Inkenbrandt [email protected] 801.537.3361 Once thought to be remnants of a large pluvial lake Lance Weaver [email protected] 801.403.1636 called Lake Las Vegas, these deposits actually record UGA Newsletter the presence of extensive desert wetlands that acted as Newsletter Editor Bob Biek [email protected] 801.537.3356 watering holes to an array of Pleistocene megafauna, including mammoth, sloth, camel, horse, bison, Amer- Become a member of the UGA to help support the work of the Association and ican lion, dire wolf, and sabre-toothed cat. receive notices for monthly meetings, annual field conferences, and new publi- cations. Annual membership is $20 and annual student membership is only $5. Visit the UGA website at www.utahgeology.org for information and membership application. This is an open-access article in which the Utah The UGA board is elected annually by a voting process through UGA Members. Geological Association permits unrestricted use, However, the UGA is a volunteer driven organization, and we welcome your distribution, and reproduction of text and figures that voluntary service. If you would like to participate please contact the current are not noted as copyrighted, provided the original president or committee member corresponding with the area in which you would author and source are credited. like to volunteer. Utah Geological Association formed in 1970 from a merger of the Utah Geological Society, founded in 1946, and the Intermountain Association of Geologists, founded in 1949. Affiliated with the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. i GEOLOGY OF THE INTERMOUNTAIN WEST an open-access journal of the Utah Geological Association Volume 4 2017 Vertebrate Paleontology, Stratigraphy, and Paleohydrology of Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument, Nevada (USA) Kathleen B. Springer1, Jeffrey S. Pigati1, and Eric Scott2 1U.S. Geological Survey, Denver Federal Center, Box 25046, MS-980, Denver, CO 80225 USA; [email protected]; [email protected] 2 Dr. John D. Cooper Archaeological and Paleontological Center, California State University, Fullerton, CA 92834; [email protected] ABSTRACT Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument (TUSK) preserves 22,650 acres of the upper Las Vegas Wash in the northern Las Vegas Valley (Nevada, USA). TUSK is home to extensive and stratigraphically complex groundwater discharge (GWD) deposits, called the Las Vegas Formation, which represent springs and desert wetlands that covered much of the valley during the late Quaternary. The GWD deposits record hydrologic changes that occurred here in a dynamic and temporally congruent response to abrupt climatic oscillations over the last ~300 ka (thousands of years). The deposits also entomb the Tule Springs Local Fauna (TSLF), one of the most significant late Pleistocene (Rancholabrean) vertebrate assemblages in the American Southwest. The TSLF is both prolific and diverse, and includes a large mammal assemblage dominated by Mammuthus columbi and Camelops hesternus. Two (and possibly three) distinct species of Equus, two species of Bison, Panthera atrox, Smilodon fatalis, Canis dirus, Megalonyx jeffersonii, and Nothrotheriops shastensis are also present, and newly recognized faunal components include micromam- mals, amphibians, snakes, and birds. Invertebrates, plant macrofossils, and pollen also occur in the depos- its and provide important and complementary paleoenvironmental information. This field compendium highlights the faunal assemblage in the classic stratigraphic sequences of the Las Vegas Formation within TUSK, emphasizes the significant hydrologic changes that occurred in the area during the recent geologic past, and examines the subsequent and repeated effect of rapid climate change on the local desert wetland ecosystem. INTRODUCTION and was created to “conserve, protect, interpret and en- hance for the benefit of present and future generations Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument the unique and nationally important paleontological, scientific, educational and recreational resources and Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument (TUSK) is located in the upper Las Vegas Wash, in the values of the land.” Paleontological and paleoecological northern reaches of the Las Vegas Valley, Clark County, resources, such as fossilized plants, animals, and their southern Nevada. TUSK was established as the 405th traces, including both organic and mineralized remains unit of the National Park Service on December 19, 2014, in body and trace form, are all protected here. Citation for this article. Springer, K.B., Pigati, J.S., and Scott, E., 2017, Vertebrate paleontology, stratigraphy, and paleohydrology of Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument, Nevada (USA): Geology of the Intermountain West, v. 4, p. 55–98. © 2017 Utah Geological Association. All rights reserved. For permission to use, copy, or distribute see the preceeding page or the UGA website, www.utahgeology.org, for information. Email inquiries to [email protected]. 55 Vertebrate Paleontology, Stratigraphy, and Paleohydrology of Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument, Nevada Springer, K.B., Pigati, J.S., and Scott, E. The nearly 23,000-acre national monument also though their findings were never formally published, preserves the last vestiges of extensive middle to late these specimens are highly significant in that they are Quaternary desert wetland ecosystems, which are rep- the earliest recovered Pleistocene vertebrate fossils from resented in the geologic record by stratigraphically the Las Vegas region that can be located in a museum complex groundwater discharge (GWD) deposits that collection. They are presently housed at the University contain the vertebrate fossils (cover photo). This field of California’s Museum of Paleontology (UCMP) on the guide provides global positioning sysytem (GPS) co- Berkeley, California campus. ordinates, annotated photographs, and descriptions of Tule Springs gained notoriety as a potential archae- key sites of geologic and paleontologic interest within ologic and paleontologic hotbed beginning in 1932–33 the monument (figure 1). As of the publication date of with the arrival of a team from the American Museum this guide, TUSK has no designated trails, roads, or in- of Natural History (AMNH) led by archaeologist Fenley frastructure. Therefore, these sites may be accessed by Hunter. Working with Albert C. Silberling, a noted and off-trail hiking only. The monument is fenced at the prolific fossil collector from Montana, Hunter and his urban interface with the cities of Las Vegas and North team collected a small but diverse assemblage of Pleis- Las Vegas, with entry to the park provided at a few se- tocene fossils. They also found charcoal and a single lect ingress points,