Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 28 June 2002:
Vol. 296. no. 5577, pp. 2379 - 2383
DOI: 10.1126/science.1072102
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

A Tropical Rainforest in Colorado 1.4 Million Years After the Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary

Kirk R. Johnson,* Beth Ellis

An extremely diverse lower Paleocene (64.1 million years ago) fossil leaf site from Castle Rock, Colorado, contains fossil litter that is similar to the litter of extant equatorial rainforests. The presence of a high-diversity tropical rainforest is unexpected, because other Paleocene floras are species-poor, a feature generally attributed to the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) extinction. The site occurs on the margin of the Denver Basin in synorogenic sedimentary rocks associated with the rise of the Laramide Front Range. Orographic conditions caused by local topography, combined with equable climate, appear to have allowed for the establishment of rainforests within 1.4 million years of the K-T boundary.

Department of Earth Sciences, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Denver, CO 80205, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: kjohnson{at}dmns.org

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
No post-Cretaceous ecosystem depression in European forests? Rich insect-feeding damage on diverse middle Palaeocene plants, Menat, France.
T. Wappler, E. D. Currano, P. Wilf, J. Rust, and C. C. Labandeira (2009)
Proc R Soc B 276, 4271-4277
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
From the Cover: Evidence for a Cenozoic radiation of ferns in an angiosperm-dominated canopy.
E. Schuettpelz and K. M. Pryer (2009)
PNAS 106, 11200-11205
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A Paleocene lowland macroflora from Patagonia reveals significantly greater richness than North American analogs.
A. Iglesias, P. Wilf, K. R. Johnson, A. B. Zamuner, N. R. Cuneo, S. D. Matheos, and B. S. Singer (2007)
Geology 35, 947-950
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Decoupled plant and insect diversity after the end-Cretaceous extinction..
P. Wilf, C. C. Labandeira, K. R. Johnson, and B. Ellis (2006)
Science 313, 1112-1115
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Cenozoic plant diversity in the neotropics..
C. Jaramillo, M. J. Rueda, and G. Mora (2006)
Science 311, 1893-1896
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Come a little bit closer: A high-resolution climate study of the early Paleogene Laramide foreland.
J. O. Sewall and L. C. Sloan (2006)
Geology 34, 81-84
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Correlations of climate and plant ecology to leaf size and shape: potential proxies for the fossil record.
D. L. Royer, P. Wilf, D. A. Janesko, E. A. Kowalski, and D. L. Dilcher (2005)
Am. J. Botany 92, 1141-1151
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Land plant extinction at the end of the Cretaceous: a quantitative analysis of the North Dakota megafloral record.
(2004)
Paleobiology 30, 347-368
Less ice, less tilt, less chill: The influence of a seasonally ice-free Arctic Ocean and reduced obliquity on early Paleogene climate.
J. O. Sewall and L. C. Sloan (2004)
Geology 32, 477-480
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Magnetostratigraphy of Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) to lower Eocene strata of the Denver Basin, Colorado.
J. F. Hicks, J. F. Hicks, K. R. Johnson, J. D. Obradovich, D. P. Miggins, and L. Tauxe (2003)
Rocky Mountain Geology 38, 1-27
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Stratigraphy and megaflora of a K-T boundary section in the eastern Denver Basin, Colorado.
R. S. Barclay, R. S. Barclay, K. R. Johnson, W. J. Betterton, and D. L. Dilcher (2003)
Rocky Mountain Geology 38, 45-71
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Evidence for an in situ early Paleocene rainforest from Castle Rock, Colorado.
B. Ellis, B. Ellis, K. R. Johnson, and R. E. Dunn (2003)
Rocky Mountain Geology 38, 73-100
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Overview of the Late Cretaceous, early Paleocene, and early Eocene megafloras of the Denver Basin, Colorado.
K. R. Johnson, K. R. Johnson, M. L. Reynolds, K. W. Werth, and J. R. Thomasson (2003)
Rocky Mountain Geology 38, 101-120
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
High Plant Diversity in Eocene South America: Evidence from Patagonia.
P. Wilf, N. R. Cuneo, K. R. Johnson, J. F. Hicks, S. L. Wing, and J. D. Obradovich (2003)
Science 300, 122-125
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Correlated terrestrial and marine evidence for global climate changes before mass extinction at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary.
P. Wilf, K. R. Johnson, and B. T. Huber (2003)
PNAS 100, 599-604
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)