Paleoichthyology and Sedimentology of the Paleocene Ravenscrag Formation, Saskatchewan, Canada

• Author / Creator

  Sinha, Sinjini

• The Paleocene Ravenscrag Formation of southern Saskatchewan preserves one of the best non-marine micro vertebrate assemblages in Canada. Because of their diffused nature, microfossils are quite frequently preserved and recovered from the flood plain deposits of rivers. Previous paleontological studies have examined the terrestrial vertebrates as well as the flora of the formation but not the non-terrestrial fossils. Hence, in this study, the focus is on the taxonomic diversity of the ichthyofauna recovered from this region from two different localities, namely- the Roche Percée (UAR2A site) locality from southeastern Saskatchewan and the Croc Pot locality from southwestern Saskatchewan. Seven known taxa, namely lepisosteids, holostean A, amiids, acanthomorphs, osteoglossomophs, esocids, and gonorhynchids are reported from the UAR2A site of the Roche Percée locality. Apart from these seven taxa, one unidentified teleost and 12 other unknown taxa have been reported. The morphology of these 12 taxa reported does not match with any other taxa reported before, hence they could belong to new species. The Croc Pot locality on the other hand, represents diverse taxa, of which six are known and one is an unidentified taxon. The identified taxa include lepisosteids, holostean A, amiids, acanthomorphs, osteoglossomophs, and gonorhynchids. In addition to the ichthyofauna, the stratigraphy of the Croc Pot locality has been studied, and specifically four different lithological sections have been constructed to study the characteristics of the beds. The extensive studies on the ichthyofauna from the two localities along with the sedimentology of the Croc Pot locality allows for paleoenvironmental reconstructions at the time of deposition of the strata with better confidence. The spatial and temporal diversity of the reported ichthyofauna from the region was assessed by comparing the fauna of southeastern and southwestern Saskatchewan. Also, the variation of morphology along the vertebral column of Esox lucius has been documented to better aid in identification of isolated centra in micro fossil localities. Lastly, the ichthyofauna from the Ravenscrag Formation has been compared to the formations lying above and below it to reconstruct the diversity and evolution of fishes in the region from Late Cretaceous to early Eocene.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Roche Percée
  • Pike
  • Croc Pot
  • Ravenscrag

• Graduation date

  Fall 2019

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-zpx4-pw65

• License

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