The Hell Creek Formation, Montana: A Stratigraphic Review and Revision Based on a Sequence Stratigraphic Approach
1
Badlands Dinosaur Museum, Dickinson Museum Center, Dickinson, ND 58601, USA
2
Museum of the Rockies, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA
Geosciences 2020, 10(11), 435; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences10110435
Received: 12 September 2020
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Revised: 20 October 2020
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Accepted: 30 October 2020
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Published: 5 November 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geological and Biological Records of the End-Cretaceous Terrestrial Successions)
The Upper Maastrichtian fluvial Hell Creek Formation of the Fort Peck Lake area, Montana (and regional equivalents) is notable for its vertebrate fossils and for the K-Pg mass extinction at or near its upper contact. Despite intense study, internal stratigraphy of the Hell Creek Formation is still poorly constrained, hindering study. This work reviews the stratigraphy of the Hell Creek Formation, as currently understood, and proposes important revisions to the recently proposed type section, particularly concerning complexity of the Hell Creek Formation basal contact. This work also subdivides the Montanan Hell Creek Formation into four 4th order depositional sequences, superimposed over a 3rd order marine transgression. Sequence boundaries are defined by four, laterally continuous disconformities formed by pauses in the creation of accommodation space, marked by overlying amalgamated channel complexes, or less commonly, correlative interfluve paleosols. Cyclicity in Montana may be correlative with similar 4th order cyclicity and marine influence documented in North and South Dakota, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. Magnetostratigraphy and new biostratigraphic data support correlation of the upper Montanan sequence with the North Dakotan Cantapeta tongue (and overlying fines) and Canadian Scollard and Frenchman Formations.
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Keywords:
Hell Creek Formation; stratigraphy; sequence stratigraphy; lithostratigraphy; magnetostratigraphy; chronostratigraphy; paleontology; Late Cretaceous; Maastrichtian
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MDPI and ACS Style
Fowler, D. The Hell Creek Formation, Montana: A Stratigraphic Review and Revision Based on a Sequence Stratigraphic Approach. Geosciences 2020, 10, 435. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences10110435
AMA Style
Fowler D. The Hell Creek Formation, Montana: A Stratigraphic Review and Revision Based on a Sequence Stratigraphic Approach. Geosciences. 2020; 10(11):435. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences10110435
Chicago/Turabian StyleFowler, Denver. 2020. "The Hell Creek Formation, Montana: A Stratigraphic Review and Revision Based on a Sequence Stratigraphic Approach" Geosciences 10, no. 11: 435. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences10110435
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