VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY AND TAPHONOMY OF THE LATE CRETACEOUS (CAMPANIAN) BLADEN FORMATION, BLADEN COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA

Abstract

A site recently discovered near Elizabethtown, North Carolina, has produced a wealth of late Cretaceous (Campanian) age vertebrate fossil material revealing a variety of new taxonomic, paleoecologic, and biogeographic information. This site, the Bladen County Landfill Annex (BCLA), has yielded a greater abundance and diversity of vertebrate material than Phoebus Landing, a well-researched site located approximately 7 km (4.35 miles) southeast of Elizabethtown. Bulk sampling of a bonebed located at the top of the Bladen Formation at the BCLA site yielded a diverse assemblage of fresh water, brackish water, and terrestrial organisms. The fossils from this site exhibit little or no abrasion, implying no transport or a short time and distance of transport. Fossils representing Chondrichthyes, Osteichthyes, Reptilia, Mammalia, and Amphibia were recorded. This fauna allows for regional correlation with Campanian age faunas from the Marshalltown Formation (Ellisdale Site), New Jersey and the Blufftown Formation, Georgia. Of particular note, the BCLA faunal assemblage also exhibits affinities with Campanian age microvertebrate fossil assemblages from the Aguja Formation of Texas, the Mesaverde Formation of Wyoming, the Judith River Formation of Montana, and the Oldman Formation of Alberta, Canada.