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Cretaceous Flora and Fauna of the Sustut Group Near the Sustut River, Northern British Columbia, Canada

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Cretaceous Flora and Fauna of the Sustut Group Near the Sustut River, Northern British Columbia, Canada Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences Cretaceous flora and fauna of the Sustut Group near the Sustut River, northern British Columbia, Canada Journal: Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences Manuscript ID cjes-2019-0031.R2 Manuscript Type: Article Date Submitted by the 26-Jul-2019 Author: Complete List of Authors: Arbour, Victoria; Royal BC Museum, ; Evans, David; Royal Ontario Museum, Department of Natural History; University of Toronto, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Simon, D.; University of Toronto, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Cullen, Thomas;Draft Field Museum of Natural History Braman, Dennis R.; Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, Cretaceous, Sustut Group, Nanhsiungchelyidae, Metasequoia, Sustut Keyword: Basin, Ornithischia Is the invited manuscript for consideration in a Special Not applicable (regular submission) Issue? : https://mc06.manuscriptcentral.com/cjes-pubs Page 1 of 35 Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 1 Cretaceous flora and fauna of the Sustut Group near the Sustut River, northern British 2 Columbia, Canada 3 4 Victoria M. Arbour1,*, David C. Evans2, D. Jade Simon2,3, Thomas M. Cullen4, Dennis Braman5 5 6 Affiliations 7 1Department of Knowledge, Royal BC Museum, 675 Belleville St, Victoria, BC, V8V 9W2, Canada 8 2Department of Natural History, Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queens Park, Toronto, ON, M5S 9 2C6 Canada 10 3Department of Ecology & EvolutionaryDraft Biology, 25 Willcocks St, Toronto, ON M5S 3B2 Canada 11 4Department of Geology, Field Museum of Natural History, 1400 South Lake Shore Dr, Chicago, 12 IL, 60605, USA 13 5Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, 1500 North Dinosaur Trail, Drumheller, AB, T0J 0Y0, 14 Canada 15 *[email protected] 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 1 https://mc06.manuscriptcentral.com/cjes-pubs Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences Page 2 of 35 23 ABSTRACT: A partial ornithischian dinosaur skeleton discovered near the Sustut River in 1971 24 has, to date, represented the only vertebrate fossil remains recovered from the Sustut Basin in 25 northern British Columbia, Canada, but the geological provenance and age of this specimen has 26 remained unclear. We provide new data on the age of this dinosaur specimen based on 27 reconnaissance palaeontological prospecting along the Sustut River, and also report new 28 vertebrate and plant fossils from this region. A skeletal fragment of the turtle Basilemys sp. was 29 discovered at a site closely matching field notes describing the initial collection of the 30 ornithischian dinosaur, suggesting that the new turtle fossil derives from the same locality as 31 the dinosaur. Palynomorphs collected from this site include the marker taxon 32 Pseudoaquilapollenites bertillonites, foundDraft in the lower Hell Creek Formation, and suggesting an 33 age range of between 68.2 and 67.2 Ma for the locality. To the west of this locality we 34 discovered multiple new fossil plant sites preserving wood and the leaves of Metasequoia and 35 several angiosperms, and one site preserved fronds resembling the tree fern Coniopteris sp., 36 suggesting a Cenomanian or older age for sites the area. The complex translational history of 37 the Intermontane Terrane means that the newly discovered turtle may not represent a 38 northern range extension for Basilemys, but it does represent one of the westernmost 39 occurrences of this genus. The discovery of new vertebrate fossil remains in a region with 40 relatively little accessible outcrop at present indicates for the potential for future discoveries in 41 the higher elevation outcrops of the Sustut Basin in this mountainous region of British 42 Columbia. 43 Keywords: Cretaceous, Sustut Group, Nanhsiungchelyidae, Ornithischia, Metasequoia, Sustut 44 Basin 2 https://mc06.manuscriptcentral.com/cjes-pubs Page 3 of 35 Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 45 INTRODUCTION 46 The Sustut Basin is a vast terrestrial Cretaceous basin in the northern interior of British 47 Columbia (Fig. 1). The thickness of its accumulated sediments, and its exposed surface area, 48 would seem to make it a prime candidate for vertebrate fossil exploration, given interest in the 49 terrestrial basins of the North American western interior, but its remote location and rugged 50 terrain have resulted in relatively little attention from palaeontologists. A well preserved, but 51 fragmentary specimen of a small ornithischian dinosaur (RBCM P900) discovered in 1971 near 52 the confluence of Birdflat Creek and the Sustut River in the southern portion of the Sustut Basin 53 by Kenny F. Larsen (Arbour and Graves 2008) points to the potential for significant new fossil 54 discoveries in this region. This specimenDraft was collected prior to extensive geological fieldwork 55 and data collection undertaken in the 1980s through the 2000s (Evenchick et al. 2003, 56 Evenchick and Thorkelson 2005, McMechan et al. 2007) and consequently the precise location 57 and geological age of the original collection site has been unknown. A one-day reconnaissance 58 trip to the area by the Peace Region Palaeontological Research Centre in 2013 did not recover 59 additional vertebrate skeletal fossils or identify the original collection site, but reported 60 dinosaur footprints at a site along the Sustut River (R. McCrea, pers. comm. 2019 ). Given the 61 rarity of vertebrate fossils from the region, a detailed understanding of the stratigraphic 62 context for RBCM P900 is crucial for interpreting its significance to broader patterns of dinosaur 63 biogeography in western North America during the Late Cretaceous. To that end, we undertook 64 a reconnaissance field expedition to the Sustut River area near its confluence with Birdflat 65 Creek in 2017 with the aims of 1) relocating the original collection site of RBCM P900, 2) 3 https://mc06.manuscriptcentral.com/cjes-pubs Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences Page 4 of 35 66 searching for additional fossils in the area, and 3) documenting the geologic context and age of 67 RBCM P900 and any newly discovered fossils. 68 69 Geographical and geological setting 70 Interviews with K. Larsen by one of us (VMA) in February 2005, as well as copies of 71 Larsen’s 1971 field notes (SI 2), provided the initial geographic information for where RBCM 72 P900 was discovered near the confluence of the Sustut River and Birdflat Creek. From the 1960s 73 to 1970s, BC Rail constructed the Dease Lake Extension through much of the Sustut Basin, 74 reaching the extent of the Sustut River in 1971 (and providing the access that would ultimately 75 result in the discovery of RBCM P900). ThisDraft part of the Sustut Basin was also heavily logged 76 from the early 1990s to 2007 and, as such, several dirt roads and airstrips were developed, and 77 the railway reopened for use after having been abandoned since the late 1970s (Rabnett and 78 Wilson 2008). Although the roads and railway are visible on Google Earth satellite images from 79 2005, the railway has now been inactive for several years and is densely vegetated, and only a 80 few airstrips and roads are maintained for use by two fishing lodges on the river. Access to the 81 area by our field team in August 2017 was via a fixed-wing aircraft at the Minaret grass airstrip, 82 originating from Smithers, BC. We prospected 14 km on foot along the abandoned BC Rail 83 Dease Lake Extension, about 1.5 km on foot along the Sustut River near the Birdflat Creek 84 confluence and under the Surespan Bridge, 800 m on foot along Birdflat Creek, and 6.5 km by 85 jet boat along the Sustut River. The extensive outcrops visible in photographs taken during the 86 construction of the railway line (Rabnett and Wilson 2008) are now much more limited, having 87 been revegetated in the intervening five decades. 4 https://mc06.manuscriptcentral.com/cjes-pubs Page 5 of 35 Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 88 The Sustut Basin lies within the Stikinia terrane of the Intermontane Superterrane 89 (Ricketts 2008). Stikinia was an ancient Pacific Ocean volcanic arc that, along with several other 90 island arcs, slowly collided with the western edge of the continent around 170 million years ago 91 (Ricketts 2008). As additional terranes collided to the west of Stikinia and the Intermontane 92 Superterrane, Stikinia flexed and became a basin. The rising mountains to the west deposited 93 sediments into the Sustut Basin, forming the Sustut Group (Riddell 2011). Although the Sustut 94 River is today located at about 56.6°N, palaeomagnetic data suggest that Wrangellia and the 95 Intermontane Superterrane were locked together and located around 1700 km south of their 96 present position 75 million years ago (Shaw and Johnston 2016, Enkin et al. 2003, Enkin 2006), 97 although others argue for a less extremeDraft amount of displacement (e.g. Butler and Gehrels 2001, 98 Symons et al. 2005). 99 The Sustut Group is a succession of clastic terrestrial rocks first defined by Lord (1948) 100 based on strata in the McConnell Creek map area (National Topographic Service map sheet 101 94D), and further mapped and described by Eisbacher (1971, 1974), Bustin and McKenzie 102 (1989), and Evenchick and Thorkelson (2005). It is subdivided into two formations, the lower 103 Tango Creek Formation and upper Brothers Peak Formation (Eisbacher 1971, 1974; Fig. 2). The 104 Tango Creek Formation consists of a series of alternating, fining-upwards sandstones and 105 mudstones. Eisbacher (1974) further subdivided the Tango Creek Formation into the informal 106 Niven and Tatlatui members, and subdivided the Brothers Peak Formation into the informal 107 Laslui and Spatsizi members. The Niven member of the Tango Creek Formation is a sandstone- 108 mudstone succession with sandstone more abundant, and green and red mudstones. The 109 Tatlatui member includes dark grey mudstones, chert-pebble-bearing arenites, and local thin 5 https://mc06.manuscriptcentral.com/cjes-pubs Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences Page 6 of 35 110 seams of lignite.
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