The Smoky Hill Chalk Member of the Niobrara Chalk

formation Formation may refer to: Linguistics * Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes * Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes Mathematics and science * Cave formation or speleothem, a secondar ...

is a

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...

conservation

Lagerstätte A Lagerstätte (, from '' Lager'' 'storage, lair' '' Stätte'' 'place'; plural ''Lagerstätten'') is a sedimentary deposit that exhibits extraordinary fossils with exceptional preservation—sometimes including preserved soft tissues. These f ...

, or

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

rich geological formation, known primarily for its exceptionally well-preserved

marine reptile Marine reptiles are reptiles which have become secondarily adapted for an aquatic or semiaquatic life in a marine environment. The earliest marine reptile mesosaurus (not to be confused with mosasaurus), arose in the Permian period during th ...

s. Named for the

Smoky Hill River The Smoky Hill River is a river in the central Great Plains of North America, running through Colorado and Kansas.Smoky Hill River. (2009). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved July 22, 2009, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.br ...

, the Smoky Hill Chalk Member is the uppermost of the two structural units of the Niobrara Chalk. It is underlain by the

Fort Hays Limestone Member The Fort Hays Limestone is a Stratigraphic unit#Member, member of the Niobrara Formation of the Colorado Group exposed in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota and is named for the bluffs near the old Fort Hays, a well-known landmark in wes ...

; and the

Pierre Shale The Pierre Shale is a geologic formation or series in the Upper Cretaceous which occurs east of the Rocky Mountains in the Great Plains, from Pembina Valley in Canada to New Mexico. The Pierre Shale was described by Fielding Bradford Meek, Meek a ...

overlies the Smoky Hill Chalk. The Smoky Hill Chalk

outcrop An outcrop or rocky outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth. Features Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most places the bedrock or superficia ...

s in parts of northwest

Kansas Kansas () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its Capital city, capital is Topeka, Kansas, Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita, Kansas, Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebras ...

, its most famous localities for fossils, and in southeastern

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

. Large well-known fossils excavated from the Smoky Hill Chalk include marine reptiles such as

plesiosaur The Plesiosauria (; Greek: πλησίος, ''plesios'', meaning "near to" and ''sauros'', meaning "lizard") or plesiosaurs are an order or clade of extinct Mesozoic marine reptiles, belonging to the Sauropterygia. Plesiosaurs first appea ...

s, large

bony fish Osteichthyes (), popularly referred to as the bony fish, is a diverse superclass of fish that have skeletons primarily composed of bone tissue. They can be contrasted with the Chondrichthyes, which have skeletons primarily composed of cartil ...

such as '' Xiphactinus'',

mosasaur Mosasaurs (from Latin ''Mosa'' meaning the 'Meuse', and Greek ' meaning 'lizard') comprise a group of extinct, large marine reptiles from the Late Cretaceous. Their first fossil remains were discovered in a limestone quarry at Maastricht on ...

s, flying reptiles or

pterosaur Pterosaurs (; from Greek ''pteron'' and ''sauros'', meaning "wing lizard") is an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the order, Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (228 ...

s (namely ''

Pteranodon ''Pteranodon'' (); from Ancient Greek (''pteron'', "wing") and (''anodon'', "toothless") is a genus of pterosaur that included some of the largest known flying reptiles, with ''P. longiceps'' having a wingspan of . They lived during the late Cr ...

''), flightless marine birds such as ''

Hesperornis ''Hesperornis'' (meaning "western bird") is a genus of cormorant-like bird that spanned the first half of the Campanian age of the Late Cretaceous period (83.5–78 mya). One of the lesser-known discoveries of the paleontologist O. C. Marsh i ...

'', and

turtle Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked t ...

s. Many of the most well-known specimens of the marine reptiles were collected by dinosaur hunter

Charles H. Sternberg Charles Hazelius Sternberg (June 15, 1850 – July 20, 1943) was an American fossil collector and paleontologist. He was active in both fields from 1876 to 1928, and collected fossils for Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel C. Marsh, and for the ...

and his son

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...

. The son collected a unique fossil of the giant bony fish ''Xiphactinus audax'' with the skeleton of another bony fish, ''

Gillicus arcuatus ''Gillicus'' was a relatively small, 2-metre long ichthyodectiform fish that lived in the Western Interior Seaway, in what is now central North America, during the Late Cretaceous. Description Like its larger relative, '' Ichthyodectes cte ...

'' inside the larger one. Another excellent skeleton of ''Xiphactinus audax'' was collected by

Edward Drinker Cope Edward Drinker Cope (July 28, 1840 – April 12, 1897) was an American zoologist, paleontologist, comparative anatomist, herpetologist, and ichthyologist. Born to a wealthy Quaker family, Cope distinguished himself as a child prodigy interes ...

during the late nineteenth century heyday of American paleontology and its

Bone Wars The Bone Wars, also known as the Great Dinosaur Rush, was a period of intense and ruthlessly competitive fossil hunting and discovery during the Gilded Age of American history, marked by a heated rivalry between Edward Drinker Cope (of the Acad ...

Viewing and Access

The general type area, the

watershed in

Logan Logan may refer to: Places * Mount Logan (disambiguation) Australia * Logan (Queensland electoral district), an electoral district in the Queensland Legislative Assembly * Logan, Victoria, small locality near St. Arnaud * Logan City, local gov ...

and Gove Counties, has many

badlands Badlands are a type of dry terrain where softer sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils have been extensively eroded."Badlands" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 47. They are characterized by steep slopes, mi ...

eroded into the Smoky Hill Chalk. ;Some natural monuments of Smoky Hill Chalk in Kansas with public daylight access: * Castle Rock * Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park * Monument Rocks

References

External links

*Everhart, M., nd
Oceans of Kansas Paleontology web page
*Everhart, M., nd

*Everhart, M., nd

Geologic formations of the United States Cretaceous Kansas Chalk Lagerstätten {{Kansas-geologic-formation-stub