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Science 16 March 1984:
Vol. 223. no. 4641, pp. 1177 - 1179
DOI: 10.1126/science.223.4641.1177
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Articles

Terminal Cretaceous Extinctions in the Hell Creek Area, Montana: Compatible with Catastrophic Extinction

J. SMIT 1 and S. VAN DER KAARS 2

1 Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles 90024, and Geological Institute, University of Amsterdam, 1018 VZ Amsterdam, Netherlands
2 Geological Institute, University of Amsterdam

Inaccurate stratigraphic correlations in the Hell Creek area, Montana, have led to the assumption that transitional vertebrate faunas (Bug Creek Anthills) exist in the latest Cretaceous, refuting a catastrophic turnover at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary. Establishment of the transitional faunas in Paleocene channels that cut down through the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary renders the terrestrial faunal record compatible with the marine record and with catastrophic extinction.

Submitted on July 14, 1983
Accepted on January 10, 1984


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
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