Oceans of Kansas Paleontology

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Web Name: Oceans of Kansas Paleontology

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OCEANS OF KANSAS PALEONTOLOGY Fossils from the Late Cretaceous Western Interior Sea The entire Oceans of Kansas web site is Copyright © 1996-2017 by Mike Everhart (mike at oceansofkansas.com) TWENTY YEARS ON THE INTERNET! (On the Web since December, 1996) Last updated 12/20/2017 OCEANS OF KANSAS: A Natural History of the Western Interior Sea - THE BOOK (Published 2005) LEFT: FHSM VP-13910, Selmasaurus johnsoni, Polcyn and Everhart (2008), a new species of mosasaur from the Smoky Hill Chalk of western Kansas The 2nd Edition of Oceans of Kansas - A Natural History of the Western Interior Sea will be published in September, 2017. The updated book will be larger, with more figures, descriptions of new discoveries in the past 12 years, and an in depth look at the history of Late Cretaceous paleontology in Kansas. I'm very pleased that the Indiana University Press has given me the opportunity to bring Oceans of Kansas up to date. IMPORTANT NOTE: Asmentioned above, this website is now over twenty years old, older than some ofits readers. Unfortunately, HTML technology changes rapidly and my old MicrosoftFrontPage HTML editor is no longer supported. Worse yet, my two hundred plusweb pages cannot be easily translated into a new text editor, and I am too oldto start it over - not to mention that my cool digital photos from the earlyyears are not so cool anymore. So the bottom line is that Oceans of Kansascannot be updated easily, and will eventually fade from the Internet. It hasbeen a wonderful 20 years. Welcome to theOceans of Kansas Paleontology web page. My name is Mike Everhart and I am your host on a virtual journeymore than 85 million years "back in time" to observe some of the many strange and wonderful creatures that lived in the oceans of the Earth during the final stages of the Age of Dinosaurs. I have collected fossils from the Smoky Hill Chalk of western Kansas for the last thirty-plus years and have been an Adjunct Curator of Paleontology at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History in Hays, Kansas since 1998. I was twice President (2005 and 2015) of the Kansas Academy of Science, and have served as a co-editor of the Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science from 2006 through the present (2017). Currently my wife and I are managing editors of the Transactions. The TKAS is one of the oldest science journals in the United States (est. 1872). I have conducted a Paleontology Symposium at the past eighteen annual meetings (2000-2017) of the Kansas Academy of Science (Abstracts of the 12th Paleo-symposium (2011) here), and the Second Mosasaur Meeting in May, 2007 (below). Note that most of the information available on this website is published my 2005 book, Oceans of Kansas - A Natural History of the Western Interior Sea. (LEFT) The 2nd Edition of Oceans of Kansas is due to be published by the Indiana University Press in September, 2017. The 2nd Edition is extensively updated and 25% larger than the first edition, with more photos of fossils... and mostly in color. Indiana University Press says, "Oceans of Kansas remains the best and only available book of its type currently available." I am also the author ofSea Monsters - Prehistoric Creatures of the Deep, published by National Geographic in 2008. The National Geographic IMAX movie,Sea Monsters, is available on DVD and Blu-ray. DINOSAURS IN KANSAS? Although, with one known exception, dinosaurs did not live in Kansas, some of them died and floated into the Western Interior Sea over Kansas. LEFT: An articulated series of nine caudal vertebrae (FHSM VP-15824) in left (upper) and right lateral view from a shark scavenged hadrosaur discovered in the Smoky Hill Chalk of western Kansas by Keith Ewell, June, 2005. RIGHT: An isolated caudal vertebra from a large Niobrarasaurus coleii (FHSM VP-17229) collected by Laura Garrett in 2007 from southwestern Trego County, KS. 2nd Mosasaur Meeting The Second Mosasaur Meeting was held at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History in Hays, Kansas, in May, 2007. The Proceedings of the Second Mosasaur Meeting (2008) edited by Michael J. Everhart, Sternberg Museum of Natural History, have now been published. The contents of the volume, including the naming of two new species, are shown online here: The 172 page volume is available for purchase at the Sternberg Museum store for $19.95 plus tax. (Shipping per Priority Mail) Credit card purchases can made through Brad Penka: Phone: 785-628-5569 or Email: Bpenka (at) fhsu.edu Write Brad Penka for more information, Sternberg Museum of Natural History, 3000 Sternberg Drive, Hays, Kansas 67601-2006. ABSTRACT BOOKLET HERE (500 KB) - The First Mosasaur Meeting, Maastricht, The Netherlands, May, 2004 3rd Mosasaur Meeting RECENT PUBLICATIONS (See complete list on Google Scholar): NEWEverhart, M.J. 2017. Oceansof Kansas. Natural History Magazine 126(1):29-33. NEWEverhart, M.J.2017.Oceans of Kansas - A Natural History of the Western Interior Sea,2ndEd., Indiana University Press, 427 pp. NEWEverhart, M.J. 2017. Whenthe amber waves were blue. Konza Journal 51, 10 pp. NEWEverhart, M.J. 2017. CaptainTheophilus H. Turner and the unlikely discovery of Elasmosaurus platyurus.Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science 120(3-4):233-246. NEWDavidson, J.P. and Everhart, M.J.2017. Scattered and shattered: A brief history of the early methods of digging,preserving and transporting Kansas fossils. Transactions of the Kansas Academyof Science 120(3-4):247-258. NEWEverhart, M.J. 2017. Joseph Savage(1823-1891): Abolitionist, Kansas pioneer, horticulturist, fossil collector.Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science 102(1-2):45-56. NEWEverhart, M.J. 2016. William E.Webb – Civil War correspondent, railroad land baron, town founder, Kansaslegislator, adventurer, fossil collector, author. Kansas Academy of Science,Transactions 119(2):179-192. Everhart, M.J. 2016. Rare occurrence of amosasaur (Squamata: Mosasauridae) remains in the Blue Hill Shale (MiddleTuronian) of Mitchell County, Kansas. Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions119(3-4):375-380. Everhart, M.J. 2015. Elias Putnam West (1820-1892) - Lawyer, Attorney General, militia commander, judge, postmaster, archaeologist, and paleontologist. Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions 118(3-4):285-294. Hoganson, J.W., Erickson, J.M. and Everhart, M.J. 2015. Ischyodus rayhaasi (Chimaeroidei; Callorhynchidae) from the Campanian-Maastrichtian Fox Hills of northeastern Colorado, U.S.A. Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions 118(1-2):27-40. Ikejiri, T. and Everhart, M.J. 2015. Notes on the authorship and the holotype of the Late Cretaceous durophagous sharkPtychodus mortoni(Chondrichthyes, Ptychodontidae). pp. 69-73 in Sullivan, R.M. and Lucas, S.G.(eds.), Fossil Record 4. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 67. Everhart, M.J. and Pearson, G. 2014. An isolated squamatedorsal vertebra from the Late Cretaceous Greenhorn Formation of MitchellCounty, Kansas. Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions 117(3-4):261-269. O’Gorman, J.P., Olivero, E.B., Santillana, S. and Everhart, M.J. 2014. Gastroliths associated with an Aristonectes specimen (Plesiosauria, Elasmosauridae), López de Bertodano Formation (upper Maastrichtian) Seymour Island (Is. Marambio), Antarctic Peninsula. Cretaceous Research 50:228-237. Davidson, J.P and Everhart, M.J. 2014. Fictionalized facts; "The Young Fossil Hunters" by Charles H. Sternberg. Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions 117(1-2):41-54. Goldfuss, A. 2013. The skull structure of the Mosasaurus, explained by means of a description of a new species of this genus. Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions 116(1-2):27-46. (Everhart, M.J., Editor) Cook, T.D, Wilson, M.V.H., Murray, A.M., Plint, A.G., Newbrey, M.G. and Everhart, M.J. 2013. A high latitude euselachian assemblage from the early Turonian of Alberta, Canada. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 11(5):555-587. Everhart, M.J. 2013. A new specimenof the marine turtle, Protostega gigasCope (Cryptodira; Protostegidae), from the Late Cretaceous Smoky Hill Chalk ofWestern Kansas. Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions 116(1-2):73. Sachs, S., Kear, B.P., and Everhart, M.J. 2013. Revised vertebral count in the “longest-necked vertebrate” Elasmosaurus platyurus Cope 1868, and clarification of the cervical-dorsal transition in Plesiosauria. PLoS ONE 8(8): 6 pp. LINK Schumacher, B.A., Carpenter, K. and Everhart, M.J. 2013. A new Cretaceous Pliosaurid (Reptilia, Plesiosauria) from the Carlile Shale (middle Turonian) of Russell County, Kansas, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 33(3):613-628 Everhart, M.J. 2013. The Palate Bones of a Fish?” The First Specimen of Ptychodus mortoni (Chondrichthyes; Elasmobranchii) from Alabama. Bulletin of the Alabama Museum of Natural History 31(1):98-104. Friedman, M., Shimada, K., Everhart, M.J., Irwin, K.J., Grandstaff, B.S. and Stewart, J.D. 2013. Geographic and stratigraphic distribution of the Late Cretaceous suspension-feeding bony fish Bonnerichthys gladius (Teleostei, Pachycormiformes). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 33:35-47. Schumacher, B.A., Carpenter, K., and Everhart, M.J. 2012. A new pliosaur (Plesiosauria, Pliosauridae) from the Carlile Shale (Cretaceous, Middle Turonian) of Russell County, Kansas. Supplement to the online Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology ISSN 1937-2809, pp. 168-169. Vullo, R., Buffetaut, E. and Everhart, M.J. 2012. Reappraisal of Gwawinapterus beardi from the Late Cretaceous of Canada: A saurodontid fish, not a pterosaur. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 32(5):1198-1201. Lindgren, J., Everhart, M.J. and Caldwell, M.W. 2011. Three-dimensionally preserved integument reveals hydrodynamic adaptations in the extinct marine lizard Ectenosaurus (Reptilia, Mosasauridae). PLoS One. Bell , A. and Everhart, M.J. 2011. Remains of small ornithurine birds from a Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) microsite in Russell County, north-central Kansas. Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions 114(1-2):115-123. Bourdon, J. and Everhart, M.J. 2011. Analysis of an associated Cretoxyrhina mantelli dentition from the Late Cretaceous (Smoky Hill Chalk, Late Coniacian) of western Kansas. Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions 114(1-2):15-32. Everhart, M.J. 2011. Occurrence of the hybodont shark genus Meristodonoides (Chondrichthyes; Hybodontiformes) in the Cretaceous of Kansas. Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions 114(1-2):33-46. Everhart, M.J. 2011. Rediscovery of the Hesperornis regalis Marsh 1871 holotype locality indicates an earlier stratigraphic occurrence. Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions 114(1-2):59-68. Everhart, M.J., Hageman, S.A. and Hoffman, B.L. 2010. Another Sternberg “fish-within-a-fish” discovery: First report of Ichthyodectes ctenodon (Teleostei; Ichthyodectiformes) with stomach contents. Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions 113(3-4):197-205. Bourdon, J. and Everhart, M.J. 2010.Occurrence of the extinct Carpet shark, Orectoloboides, in the Dakota Formation (Late Cretaceous; Middle Cenomanian) of Kansas. Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions 113(3-4):237-242. Everhart, M.J. and Maltese, A. 2010. First report of a heteromorph ammonite, cf. Glyptoxoceras, from the Smoky Hill Chalk (Santonian) of western Kansas, and a brief review of Niobrara cephalopods. Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions 113:(1-2):64-70. Everhart, M. J. 2010. Bonnerichthys gladius – The largest bony fish and first known planktivore from the Late Cretaceous. Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions 113(1-2):123-124 (abstract). Friedman, M., Shimada, K., Martin, L., Everhart, M.J., Liston, J., Maltese, A. and Triebold, M. 2010. 100-million-year dynasty of giant planktivorous bony fishes in the Mesozoic seas. Science 327:990-993. Shimada, K., Everhart, M.J., Decker, R. and Decker, P.D. 2009. A new skeletal remain of the durophagous shark, Ptychodus mortoni, from the Upper Cretaceous of North America: an indication of gigantic body size. Cretaceous Research 31(2):249-254. Everhart, M.J. 2009. First occurrence of marine vertebrates in the Early Cretaceous of Kansas: Champion Shell Bed, basal Kiowa Formation. Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions 112(3/4):201-210. Everhart, M.J. 2009. Probable plesiosaur remains from the Blue Hill Shale (Carlile Formation; Middle Turonian) of north central Kansas. Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions 112(3/4):215-221. Everhart,M.J. and Bell, A. 2009. A hesperornithiform limb bone from the basal GreenhornFormation (Late Cretaceous; Middle Cenomanian) of north central Kansas. Journalof Vertebrate Paleontology 28(3):952-956. Bell, A. and Everhart, M.J. 2009. A new specimen of Parahesperornis (Aves: Hesperornithiformes) from the Smoky Hill Chalk (Early Campanian) of western Kansas. Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions 112(1/2):7-14. Shimada, K. and Everhart, M.J. 2009. First record of Anomoeodus (Osteichthyes: Pycnodontiformes) fromthe Upper Cretaceous Niobrara Chalk of western Kansas. Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions 112(1/2):98-102. Everhart, M.J. 2008. A bitten skull of Tylosaurus kansasensis (Squamata: Mosasauridae) and a review of mosasaur-on-mosasaurpathology in the fossil record. Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions 111(3/4):251-262 Everhart, M.J. (ed.). 2008. Proceedings of the Second Mosasaur Meeting. Fort Hays Studies Special Issue 3, Fort Hays State University, Hays, Kansas, 172 pp. Everhart, M.J. 2008. The mosasaurs of George F. Sternberg, paleontologist and fossil photographer. Proceedings of the Second Mosasaur Meeting, Fort Hays Studies Special Issue 3, Fort Hays State University, Hays, Kansas, pp. 37-46. Polcyn, M.J. and Everhart, M.J. 2008. Description and phylogenetic analysis of a new species of Selmasaurus (Mosasauridae: Plioplatecarpinae) from the Niobrara Chalk of western Kansas. Proceedings of the Second Mosasaur Meeting, Fort Hays Studies Special Issue 3, Fort Hays State University, Hays, Kansas, pp. 13-28. Polcyn, M.J., Bell, G.L., Jr., Shimada, K. and Everhart, M.J. 2008. The oldest North American mosasaurs (Squamata: Mosasauridae) from the Turonian (Upper Cretaceous) of Kansas and Texas with comments on the radiation of major mosasaur clades. Proceedings of the Second Mosasaur Meeting, Fort Hays Studies Special Issue 3, Fort Hays State University, Hays, Kansas, pp. 137-155. Everhart, M.J. 2008. Rare occurrence of a Globidens sp. (Reptilia; Mosasauridae) dentary in the Sharon Springs Member of the Pierre Shale (Middle Campanian) of Western Kansas. p. 23-29 in Farley G. H. and Choate, J.R. (eds.), Unlocking the Unknown; Papers Honoring Dr. Richard Zakrzewski, , Fort Hays Studies, Special Issue No. 2, 153 p., Fort Hays State University, Hays, KS. Cicimurri, D. J., D. C. Parris and M. J. Everhart. 2008. Partial dentition of a chimaeroid fish (Chondrichthyes, Holocephali) from the Upper Cretaceous Niobrara Chalk of Kansas, USA. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 28(1):34-40. Everhart, M. J. 2007. New stratigraphic records (Albian-Campanian) of the guitarfish, Rhinobatos sp. (Chondrichthyes; Rajiformes), from the Cretaceous of Kansas. Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions 110(3-4): 225-235. Everhart, M. J. 2007. Historical note on the 1884 discovery of Brachauchenius lucasi (Plesiosauria; Pliosauridae) in Ottawa County, Kansas. Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions 110(3-4):255-258. Everhart, M. J. 2007. Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Creatures of the Deep. National Geographic, 192 p. ISBN-13: 978-1426200854 Everhart, M. J. 2007. Remains of a pycnodont fish (Actinopterygii: Pycnodontiformes) in a coprolite; An upper record of Micropycnodon kansasensis in the Smoky Hill Chalk, western Kansas. Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions 110(1/2): 35-43. Everhart, M. J. 2007. Use of archival photographs to rediscover the locality of the Holyrood elasmosaur (Ellsworth County, Kansas). Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions 110(1/2): 135-143. AVAILABLE ON-LINE AS A FREE PDF: Everhart, M.J. 2005. Tylosaurus kansasensis, a new species of tylosaurine (Squamata: Mosasauridae) from the Niobrara Chalk of western Kansas, U.S.A. Netherlands Journal of Geosciences / Geologie en Mijnbouw, 84(3), p. 231-240. Oceans of Kansas is NOT about dinosaurs. Although the typespecimen of Niobrarasaurus coleii was found inKansas, this web site has very little information about dinosaurs. I do recommend someexcellent dinosaur sites on the Oceans of Kansas Linkspage.For more information about the origin of mosasaur and plesiosaur names,go to Ben Creisler's Translation andPronunciation Guide, a recent addition to the The Dinosauria On-Line DinosaurOmnipedia. JohnDamuth's Bibliography of Fossil Vertebrates (BFV) is HERE. Click here for themost current view on the relationships of Americanmosasaurs. Also go HEREfor a more detailed cladogram on MikkoHaaramo's Phylogeny Archive webpage. For a fictional story about the daily life of a mosasaur, CLICK HERE. If you are interestedin fossil insects, visit Roy Beckemeyer's "Winds of Kansas" webpage. .... and for a new paleontology blog by Greg Liggett,visit the BoneBlogger SCHEDULE, REGISTRATION AND ABSTRACT SUBMITTAL INFORMATION HERE: The 18th Annual Paleontology Symposium will be held at the 149th Annual Meeting of the Kansas Academy of Science, Saturday, April 8, 2017 Fort Hays State University, Hays, Kansas See abstracts from the 2014 Paleo-symposium here Larry Dean Martin (1943-2013) - Renaissance Paleontologist (PDF - 1.8 MB) LEFT: Well known paleontologists who have discovered fossils in Kansas "The best publication about mosasaurs" The Yale Peabody Museum Publications Office is pleased to announce that the 1967 monograph, "Systematics and Morphology of American Mosasaurs" by Dale Russell, Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, Bulletin 23, is now available as a facsimile reprint through the Yale Peabody Museum web site. The museum regularly receives requests for this title, which is the first of several of out-of-print publications that will be made available to the worldwide academic community through Yale's print-on-demand service. (Go to the Publications link at http://www.peabody.yale.edu). 07/05/2012 Ben Creisler's PlesiosaurPronunciation Guide - Moved to Oceans of Kansas 07/05/2012 Ben Creisler's MosasaurPronunciation Guide - Moved to Oceans of Kansas 01/02/2012 The Last Pliosaur - Megacephalosauruseulerti discovered in the Blue Hill Shale 11/28/2011 Inoceramids - Giant Cretaceous clamsfrom the Smoky Hill Chalk 11/16/2011 Ectenosaurus clidastoidesmosasaur with preserved skin 10/24/2011 Protostega gigas - A newdiscovery in the Smoky Hill Chalk of Gove County 08/15/2011 KiowaShale Field Trip: Plesiosaurs 07/15/2011 Tusoteuthis longa - Theelusive Niobrara squid.... 05/10/2011 Kansas Crocodiles - Life alongthe edge of the Western Interior Sea 10/27/2010 Ptychodus mortoni - New shellcrushing shark specimen from the Smoky Hill Chalk 06/09.2010 Cretodus crassidens - LateCretaceous Shark Collected from the Blue Hill Shale of Mitchell County,Kansas 04/19/2010 Kansas Ammonites.... -Something like a squid in a coiled shell 10/26/2008 Remains of youngmosasaurs from the Smoky Hill Chalk - It was a dangerous place to be born.... 09/13/2008 Digging up a large turtlein the Fairport Chalk - Probable first collection of the skull of Desmatochelyslowii from Kansas. 09/10/2008 The brain and back of theskull of mosasaurs - A primer on the complicated anatomy.... 07/13/2008 First polycotylid plesiosaur fromthe Fort Hays Limestone - (Early Coniacian) - Jewell County, Kansas. 04/27/2008 Baptornis advenus Marsh 1877, a marine bird from thewestern Interior Sea. (Smaller, more primitive than Hesperornis. 04/18/2008 A complete mosasaur skeleton - Osseous and cartilaginous. Osborne,1899 - Early photographs of Tylosaurus proriger MORE OCEANS OF KANSAS LINKS HERE LINKS TO OTHER PALEONTOLOGY SITES There are also many links to other excellent paleo web pages and museum sites around the world, so please plan on taking some time to see what is available. Also, don't forget to bookmark this page so that you can come back occasionally to see what has been added. The two best ways to 'surf' the Oceans of Kansas site are to use the Table of Contents pages, or the Links to this site and other paleontology web pages. There are also 'hyper-links' embedded in the text on most of the pages that will take you to other sub-pages for more information on that subject. These links are highlighted in a different color (light blue) and are 'click-able'. From the Links page, you can surf the net to sites all over the world, but please take a tour of Oceans of Kansas Paleontology first. To get things started, let's take a look at: Click on the Pteranodon to take the unofficial Oceans of Kansas A "virtual tour" of the Sternberg Museum of Natural History (Click for official web page) You can now download aFREE pdf copy of this early article on Kansas Sharks by Williston - Provided by theKansas Geological Survey. Williston, S. W. 1900. Cretaceous fishes:Selachians and Pycnodonts.University Geological Survey Kansas VI pp. 237-256,with pls. The Cretaceous Period lasted from about 144 million years ago to 65 million years ago. In Kansas, it is represented by marine and estuarine deposits from the Early Cretaceous (Albian) Cheyenne Sandstone and Kiowa Shale that overlay the Wellington Formation (Permian) or the Morrison Formation (Jurassic) at the base, to the Pierre Shale at the top. (See Kansas Geology Map and Time Scale). A brief Cretaceous Time Scale is found here. The 1999 version of the GSA (Geological Society of America) geologic time scale is found HERE as a printable .pdf file (233 kb). A major part of the upper portion (Late Cretaceous) of these deposits is referred to as the Niobrara Formation. It contains a rather unique member called the Smoky Hill Chalk, and provides the exposures for two Kansas landmarks: Castle Rock and Monument Rocks. The chalk found in Kansas was deposited between 87 and 82 million years ago during a period when a shallow inland sea (the Western Interior Sea) covered most of the Midwest from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Circle. The deposition of these chalky, marine sediments occurred during the last half of the Cretaceous Period, approximately 15-20 million years before the end of the Age of Dinosaurs. The Smoky Hill Chalk member is about 600 feet thick in Kansas, and lies conformably above the Fort Hays Limestone, and below the Pierre Shale. For the most part, the chalk is composed of the compacted shells (coccolithophores) and plates (coccoliths)of an abundant, microscopic, golden-brown algae (Chrysophyceae) that lived in the clear waters of a warm, shallow sea. A large percentage of the chalk is made up of coprolites containing coccoliths from the animals that fed on the algae. More photos of the Smoky Hill Chalk HERE. A generalized map of the North American continent during late Cretaceous time. The Western Interior Sea covered most of the Midwest from the present Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic.(Map modified from an exhibit at the University of Nebraska State Museum) TheWestern Interior Sea,sometimes called the Inland Sea, was probably less than 600 feet deep in most areas, andhad a relatively flat and soft, mud bottom. It is considered to be an 'epi-continentalsea'; that is, one which lies on top of a continental landmass, and not betweencontinents. Near the middle of the sea where Kansas is now located, sediments weredeposited at a rate which would ultimately produce about one inch of compacted chalk forevery 700 years. The chalk also has more than a hundred thin layers of bentonite clay,most of which are rusty red in color, that are the result of the fall of ash from repeatederuptions of volcanoes to the west of Kansas in what is now Nevada and Utah. These ashdeposits can be traced for miles across the chalk beds and have been used as marker unitsin describing the stratigraphy of the formation (See Hattin, 1982). In addition, severalspecies of vertebrate and invertebrate marine life that lived and/or became extinct atcertain times during the deposition of the chalk are useful in determining the age andbiostratigraphy of widely separated exposures (See Stewart, 1990). Near the end of theCretaceous, the Western Interior Sea began to close, becoming shallower and narrower asthe Rocky Mountains were pushed up from the west, uplifting the sea bottom as theyrose. Eventually, the center of North America rose above sea level and the sediments(limestones, sandstones, shales and chalk) deposited on the basement rocks of Kansas fornearly half a billion years began to erode away. Oceans of Kansas is now available as a book. OCEANS OF KANSAS - A Natural History of the Western Interior Sea. byMichael J. Everhart, published June, 2005 by the Indiana University Press ISBN: 0253345472 "A journey to a time when sea monsters roamed the middle of America" Oceans of Kansas was named the featured book from Kansas for the 2006 National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. It was also a featured book of the Discovery Channel Book Club and is currently in its 3rd Printing by the Indiana University Press... over 6000 copies sold! My Acknowledgments.... RIGHT: Photo by Cheryl Unruh of Flyover People from a book-signing in June, 2007. Used with permission:

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