Author : David Thompson King
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780962191732
Total Pages : 147 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (917 download)
Book Synopsis Alabama Dinosaurs by : David Thompson King
Download or read book Alabama Dinosaurs written by David Thompson King and published by . This book was released on 2003-01-01 with total page 147 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When most people think of digging up dinosaurs, they think of excavations in the western states where vegetation is sparse and bones can be found by the thousands. Alabama or other states in the eastern U.S. are not usually thought of as places to look for dinosaur bones, but a significant number of specimens have been found in this state. In Alabama, carnivorous (meat-eating), omnivorous (plant- and meat-eating), and herbivorous (plant-eating) dinosaurs have been discovered. All these fossils come from outcrops of Late Cretaceous strata, i.e., strata between 97.5 to 65 million years old, in the northern reaches of the Alabama Coastal Plain.In the book, written by a discoverer of one of Alabama's best known dinosaur, readers will discover much about Alabama and the southeastern U.S. during Late Cretaceous. The book describes the dinosaur fauna as well as environments, climates, and the dinosaur extinction event. The story is told with local view, but also a global perspective by a scientist with many years experience in research on Late Cretaceous fauna and history. Among carnivorous dinosaurs in Alabama, seven specimens are known, and all probably belong to the genus Albertosaurus (a small tyrannosaurid). Omnivorous dinosaurs in the state are limited to two specimens, both of the diminutive genus Ornithomimus (a name meaning Abird mimic). Herbivorous dinosaurs in Alabama are represented by seven specimens of a hadrosaurian genus named Lophorhothon (or similar genera) and five specimens of the armored dinosaur known as a nodosaur (genus is unknown).The book is appropriate for students 15 years and older, college audiences, and adults. Really anyone who is keenly interested in dinosaurs can learn much from this book ... whether you live near or far from Alabama! In 1982, the author discovered the most complete eastern North American Albertosaurus specimen in Montgomery County, Alabama. The reconstructed (and thus complete) specimen, 5.8 meters (19 feet) in length, is currently on display at the Red Mountain Museum in Birmingham, Alabama. In 1988, a geologic description of the site in Montgomery County was published in the Journal of the Alabama Academy of Sciences, volume 59. Dinosaur bones in eastern North America are found in two main modes of occurrence depending upon the ancient environment in which they were buried. In a residual mode (elsewhere in this book these bones are referred to as Aconcentrates), the dinosaur bones are broken, abraded (rounded), and mixed with other bones due to processes acting in ancient environments interpreted to be at or near the shoreline. In a non-residual mode (elsewhere called Acumulates), the dinosaur bones are entirely from one individual and are not broken or abraded. These bones are found in sediments interpreted to represent continental shelves under several tens of meters water and many kilometers offshore. It is significant that Alabama dinosaurs, like all their eastern North American kin (i.e., eastern Late Cretaceous dinosaurs), are not found in sediments representing places where they actually lived. This fact, and other oddities about Alabama dinosaurs, will be discussed in more detail later on in this book.
