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The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah is the location of one of the best-known terrestrial records for the late Cretaceous. A major effort in the new century has documented over 2,000 new vertebrate fossil sites, provided new radiometric dates, and identified five new genera of ceratopsids, two new species of hadrosaur, a probable new genus of hypsilophodontid, new pachycephalosaurs and ankylosaurs, several kinds of theropods (including a new genus of oviraptor and a new tyrannosaur), plus the most complete specimen of a Late Cretaceous therizinosaur ever collected from North America, and much more.
At the Top of the Grand Staircase: The Late Cretaceous of Southern Utah documents this major stepping stone toward a synthesis of the ecology and evolution of the Late Cretaceous ecosystems of western North America.
1. 130 Years of Cretaceous Research in Southern Utah /Alan L. Titus
2. Geologic Overview /Alan L. Titus, Eric M. Roberts, and L. Barry Albright
3. Accumulation of Organic-carbon-rich Strata along the Western Margin and in the Center of the North American Western Interior Seaway during the Cenomanian-Turonian Transgression /Walter E. Dean, Erle G. Kauffman, and Michael A. Arthur
4. Tectonic and Sedimentary Controls, Age, and Correlation of the Upper Cretaceous Wahweap Formation, Southern Utah /Zubair Jinnah
5. Implications of the Internal Plumbing of a Late Cretaceous Sand Volcano: Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah /Edward L. Simpson, Hannah L. Hilbert-Wolf, Michael C. Wizevich, and Sarah E. Tindall
6. The Kaiparowits Formation: A Remarkable Record of Late Cretaceous Terrestrial Environments, Ecosystems, and Evolution in Western North America /Eric M. Roberts, Scott D. Sampson, Al Deino, and Sam Bowring
7. A Late Campanian Flora from the Kaiparowits Formation, Southern Utah, and a Brief Overview of the Widely Sampled but Little Known Campanian Vegetation of the Western Interior of North America /Ian M. Miller, Kirk R. Johnson, Douglas E. Kline, Douglas J. Nichols, and Richard S. Barclay
8. Continental Invertebrates and Trace Fossils from the Campanian Kaiparowits Formation, Utah /Leif Tapanila and Eric M. Roberts
9. Elasmobranchs from Upper Cretaceous Freshwater Facies in Southern Utah /James I. Kirkland, Jeffery G. Eaton, and Donald B. Brinkman
10. Freshwater Osteichthyes from the Cenomanian to Late Campanian of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah /Donald B. Brinkman, Michael G. Newbray, Andrew G. Neuman, and Jeffrey G. Eaton
11. Preliminary Report on Salamanders (Lissamphibia; Caudata) from the Late Cretaceous (Late Cenomanian–Late Campanian) of Southern Utah, U.S.A. /James D. Gardner, Jeffrey G. Eaton, and Richard L. Cifelli
12. Anuran Ilia from the Upper Cretaceous of Utah: Diversity and Stratigraphic Patterns /Zbynĕk Roček, James D. Gardner, Jeffrey G. Eaton, and Tomáš Přikryl
13. Turtles from the Kaiparowits Formation, Utah /J. Howard Hutchison, Michael J. Knell, and Donald B. Brinkman
14. Review of Late Cretaceous Mammalian Faunas of the Kaiparowits and Paunsaugunt Plateaus, Southwestern Utah /Jeffrey G. Eaton and Richard L. Cifelli
15. Late Cretaceous Mammals from Bryce Canyon National Park and Vicinity, Paunsaugunt Plateau, Southwestern Utah /Jeffrey G. Eaton
16. Lizards and Snakes from the Cenomanian through Campanian of Southern Utah: Filling the Gap in the Fossil Record of Squamata from the Late Cretaceous of the Western Interior of North America /Randall L. Nydam
17. Crocodyliforms from the Late Cretaceous of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and Vicinity, Southern Utah, U.S.A. /Randall B. Irmis, J. Howard Hutchison, Joseph J. W. Sertich, and Alan L. Titus
18. Review of Late Cretaceous Ankylosaurian Dinosaurs from the Grand Staircase Region, Southern Utah /Mark A. Loewen, Michael E. Burns, Mike A. Getty, James I. Kirkland, and Matthew K. Vickaryous
19. Ornithopod Dinosaurs from the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Region, Utah and their Role in Paleobiogeographic and Macroevolutionary Studies /Terry A. Gates, Eric K. Lund, C. A. Boyd, Donald D. DeBlieux, Alan L. Titus, David C. Evans, Michael A. Getty, James I. Kirkland, and Jeffrey G. Eaton
20. A Review of Pachycephalosaurian Dinosaurs from Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Southern Utah /David C. Evans, Thomas Williamson, Mark A. Loewen, and James I. Kirkland
21. Ceratopsid Dinosaurs from the Grand Staircase of Southern Utah /Mark A. Loewen, Andrew A. Farke, Scott D. Sampson, Michael A. Getty, Eric K. Lund, and Patrick M. O’Connor
22. Late Cretaceous Theropod Dinosaurs of Southern Utah /Lindsay E. Zanno, Mark A. Loewen, Andrew A. Farke, Gy-Su Kim, Leon P. A. M. Claessens, and Christopher T. McGarrity
23. A Trackmaker for Saurexallopus: Ichnological Evidence for Oviraptosaurian Rracks from the Upper Cretaceous of Western North America /Gerard Gierlinski and Martin Lockley
24. First Report of Probable Therizinosaur (cf. Macropodosaurus) Tracks from North America, with Notes on the Neglected Vertebrate Ichnofauna of the Ferron Sandstone (Late Cretaceous) of Central Utah /Gerard Gierlinski and Martin G. Lockley
25. Fossil Vertebrates from the Tropic Shale (Upper Cretaceous), Southern Utah /L. Barry Albright III, David D. Gillette, and Alan L. Titus
26. Paleontological Overview and Taphonomy of the Middle Campanian Wahweap Formation in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument /Donald D. DeBlieux, James I. Kirkland, Terry A. Gates, Jeffrey G. Eaton, Michael A. Getty, Scott D. Sampson, Mark A. Loewen, and Martha C. Hayden
27. Taphonomy of a Subadult Teratophoneus curriei (Tyrannosauridae) from the Upper Campanian Kaiparowits Formation of Utah /Jelle P. Wiersma and Mark A. Loewen
28. A New Macrovertebrate Assemblage from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) of Southern Utah /Scott D. Sampson, Mark A. Loewen, Eric M. Roberts, and Michael A. Getty
Index
Alan L. Titus is Monument Paleontologist at Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah and Adjunct Curator, Natural History Museum of Utah. Mark Loewen is Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Geology and Geophysics University of Utah and Research Associate, Natural History Museum of Utah.
"[...] Rather than marking an end point, the volume is a foundational manuscript for ongoing research that will be indispensable to anyone researching the monument's prehistoric life. At the Top of the Grand Staircase is an essential volume for explorers who are continuing to search through what's left of Cretaceous Utah."
– National Geographic Phenomena
"The work on the Cretaceous of southern Utah in the past decade or so has been extraordinary. What was once a terra incognito has now become one of the most exciting areas for paleontological research in the world [...] The scope of this volume is very systematic, starting with sedimentation and tectonics, proceeding with plants and invertebrates, and culminating with analysis of fossil vertebrates. This volume will be very welcome indeed."
– Peter Dodson, University of Pennsylvania
