Papers by Dr. Marcus Ross
Paleontologists, both staff and student, from the Museum of Geology at the South Dakota School of... more Paleontologists, both staff and student, from the Museum of Geology at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology have been actively prospecting for fossils in the Campanian-age exposures of the Lower Pierre Shale on the Kenneth Brown Ranch since 1994. A measured section of the Pierre Shale at Brown Ranch is presented, and consists of 27.36 m of strata, including outcrops of the Gammon Ferruginous, Sharon Springs, and Mitten Black Shale Members. Field prospecting was combined with an assessment of the Museum of Geology collections at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology to produce a database of 53 vertebrate located within an interval of 0 to 18 m above the base of the section. Fossil distributions within this interval were grouped and tested in 0.5- and 1 m thick stratigraphic intervals and compared against random (Poisson) distributions. At a resolution of 1 m, fossils display random distribution, whereas at a resolution of 0.5 m fossils display an aggregated distr...
Upper Cretaceous marine deposits from the Mid-Atlantic region of North America (Delaware, Marylan... more Upper Cretaceous marine deposits from the Mid-Atlantic region of North America (Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey) and the Maastricht area (southern Netherlands, and nearby Belgium and Gennany) are correlated across the Atlantic using a variety of macro invertebrates, nannofossils, and sequence stratigraphy. Four late Cretaceous Mid-Atlantic sequences, the Marshalltown, Englishtown, Merchantville, and Navesink, span the upper Santonian to lowennost Danian, and have direct correlatives in the Maastricht area. Correlations between the Mid-Atlantic and the Maastricht regions (respectively) are as follows: the upper Santonian to lower Campanian Merchantville and Matawan formations with the Achen and lower Vaals fonnations; the middle Campanian upper Englishtown F onnation with the upper Vaals F onnation; the uppermost middle Campanian to upper Campanian Marshalltown, Wenonah, and Mount Laurel fomlations with the lower Gulpen Fonnation; the Navesink and lower Severn fonnations with the ...
Upper Cretaceous marine deposits from the Mid-Atlantic region of North America (Delaware, Marylan... more Upper Cretaceous marine deposits from the Mid-Atlantic region of North America (Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey) and the Maastricht area (southern Netherlands, and nearby Belgium and Gennany) are correlated across the Atlantic using a variety of macro invertebrates, nannofossils, and sequence stratigraphy. Four late Cretaceous Mid-Atlantic sequences, the Marshalltown, Englishtown, Merchantville, and Navesink, span the upper Santonian to lowennost Danian, and have direct correlatives in the Maastricht area. Correlations between the Mid-Atlantic and the Maastricht regions (respectively) are as follows: the upper Santonian to lower Campanian Merchantville and Matawan formations with the Achen and lower Vaals fonnations; the middle Campanian upper Englishtown F onnation with the upper Vaals F onnation; the uppermost middle Campanian to upper Campanian Marshalltown, Wenonah, and Mount Laurel fomlations with the lower Gulpen Fonnation; the Navesink and lower Severn fonnations with the ...
The question of what differentiates young-Earth creationism (YEC) from Intelligent Design (ID) ha... more The question of what differentiates young-Earth creationism (YEC) from Intelligent Design (ID) has resulted in inaccurate and confusing terminology, and hinders both understanding and dialogue. Though both YEC and ID groups have drawn distinctions between themselves, previous attempts to classify design-based positions on origins have been unable to adequately resolve their relationships. The Nested Hierarchy of Design, a multiple-character classification system, categorizes teleological positions according to the strength of claims regarding the reality, detectability, source, method, and timing of design, and results in an accurate and robust classification of numerous positions. This method avoids the philosophical and theological pitfalls of previous methods and enables construction of accurate definitions for a suite of teleological positions. The incorporation of the Nested Hierarchy of Design in classroom discussion could 1) better represent the suite of opinions among studen...
Journal of Geoscience Education
The question of what differentiates young-Earth creationism (YEC) from Intelligent Design (ID) ha... more The question of what differentiates young-Earth creationism (YEC) from Intelligent Design (ID) has resulted in inaccurate and confusing terminology, and hinders both understanding and dialogue. Though both YEC and ID groups have drawn distinctions between themselves, previous attempts to classify design-based positions on origins have been unable to adequately resolve their relationships. The Nested Hierarchy of Design, a multiple-character classification system, categorizes teleological positions according to the strength of claims regarding the reality, detectability, source, method, and timing of design, and results in an accurate and robust classification of numerous positions. This method avoids the philosophical and theological pitfalls of previous methods and enables construction of accurate definitions for a suite of teleological positions. The incorporation of the Nested Hierarchy of Design in classroom discussion could 1) better represent the suite of opinions among students, 2) clarify the many teleological positions, and 3) help to reduce tensions between educators, students, and the public.
Journal of Geoscience Education, 2005
The question of what differentiates young-Earth creationism (YEC) from Intelligent Design (ID) ha... more The question of what differentiates young-Earth creationism (YEC) from Intelligent Design (ID) has resulted in inaccurate and confusing terminology, and hinders both understanding and dialogue. Though both YEC and ID groups have drawn distinctions between themselves, previous attempts to classify design-based positions on origins have been unable to adequately resolve their relationships. The Nested Hierarchy of Design, a multiple-character classification system, categorizes teleological positions according to the strength of claims regarding the reality, detectability, source, method, and timing of design, and results in an accurate and robust classification of numerous positions. This method avoids the philosophical and theological pitfalls of previous methods and enables construction of accurate definitions for a suite of teleological positions. The incorporation of the Nested Hierarchy of Design in classroom discussion could 1) better represent the suite of opinions among students, 2) clarify the many teleological positions, and 3) help to reduce tensions between educators, students, and the public.
Late Cretaceous marine sedimentary deposits from North America, The Netherlands, and Belgium are ... more Late Cretaceous marine sedimentary deposits from North America, The Netherlands, and Belgium are correlated on the basis of ammonites, calcareous nannofossils, sequence stratigraphy, and absolute age methods. These correlations provide the rationale for the construction ...
Answers Research Journal, 2014
Here I provide a compendium of extinct "amphibian" groups, representatives of which may have been... more Here I provide a compendium of extinct "amphibian" groups, representatives of which may have been carried aboard Noah's Ark. Following previous work by the Ark Encounter team, I selected the taxonomic rank of family as a first-order proxy for the biblical "kind." The resulting tabulation places 54 extinct "amphibian" families/kinds on board the Ark. While this number hinges upon taxonomies built upon fossil data (and its inherent shortcomings compared to extant forms), it serves as a reasonable approximation of the number of fossil "amphibians" taken aboard the Ark. When added to previously determined kinds of extant anurans, caudates, and gymnophionans, a total of 248 "amphibian" kinds may have been brought on board the Ark.
Journal of Creation, 2012
Through the Generations: Geologic and Anthropogenic Field Excursions in the Rocky Mountains from Modern to Ancient, 2010
Exposed along the southeast fl ank of the Colorado Front Range are rocks that beautifully illustr... more Exposed along the southeast fl ank of the Colorado Front Range are rocks that beautifully illustrate the interplay of sedimentation and tectonics. Two major rangebounding faults, the Ute Pass fault and the Rampart Range fault, converge on the Garden of the Gods region west of Colorado Springs. Cambrian through Cretaceous strata upturned by these faults reveal in their grain compositions, textures, and bedforms radically different styles of sedimentation. The Cambrian/Ordovician marine transgressive deposits appear to have come to rest on a passive and tectonically inactive craton. In contrast, coarse-grained Pennsylvanian/Permian marine deposits of the Fountain Formation and Lyons Sandstone reveal deposition by suspension and tractive currents in a very dynamic tectonic setting. These styles are contrasted with the alternating eustatics of the Western Interior Seaway which led to the local Cretaceous section. Finally, the powerful imprint of the Laramide orogeny is evident in the sandstone dikes of Sawatch Sandstone which are found within the hanging wall of the Ute Pass fault.
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 2009
Abundant, readily identifiable, and biostratigraphically resolved specimens make mosasaurs ideal ... more Abundant, readily identifiable, and biostratigraphically resolved specimens make mosasaurs ideal candidates to test fluxes in generic richness and morphological trends among marine vertebrates during the late Cretaceous. More than 1800 globally distributed mosasaur specimens are allocated to fifteen substage-level stratigraphically correlated assemblages. These data are quantitatively analyzed to illuminate trends within the group. Following their first appearance in the Cenomanian, mosasaurs experienced a significant radiation in the Coniacian and Santonian. Richness levels continued increasing into the Maastrichtian while mosasaurs incrementally exploited new predatory niches recognized via accumulation of novel dental morphologies. Their extinction at the end of the Cretaceous occurred at the zenith of mosasaur morphological and ecological diversity.
… field excursions in …, 2010
Exposed along the southeast fl ank of the Colorado Front Range are rocks that beautifully illustr... more Exposed along the southeast fl ank of the Colorado Front Range are rocks that beautifully illustrate the interplay of sedimentation and tectonics. Two major rangebounding faults, the Ute Pass fault and the Rampart Range fault, converge on the Garden of the Gods region west of Colorado Springs. Cambrian through Cretaceous strata upturned by these faults reveal in their grain compositions, textures, and bedforms radically different styles of sedimentation. The Cambrian/Ordovician marine transgressive deposits appear to have come to rest on a passive and tectonically inactive craton. In contrast, coarse-grained Pennsylvanian/Permian marine deposits of the Fountain Formation and Lyons Sandstone reveal deposition by suspension and tractive currents in a very dynamic tectonic setting. These styles are contrasted with the alternating eustatics of the Western Interior Seaway which led to the local Cretaceous section. Finally, the powerful imprint of the Laramide orogeny is evident in the sandstone dikes of Sawatch Sandstone which are found within the hanging wall of the Ute Pass fault.
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 2009
Abundant, readily identifiable, and biostratigraphically resolved specimens make mosasaurs ideal ... more Abundant, readily identifiable, and biostratigraphically resolved specimens make mosasaurs ideal candidates to test fluxes in generic richness and morphological trends among marine vertebrates during the late Cretaceous. More than 1800 globally ...
Northeastern Geology and …, 2006
Upper Cretaceous marine deposits from the Mid-Atlantic region of North America (Delaware, Marylan... more Upper Cretaceous marine deposits from the Mid-Atlantic region of North America (Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey) and the Maastricht area (southern Netherlands, and nearby Belgium and Gennany) are correlated across the Atlantic using a variety of macro invertebrates, nannofossils, and sequence stratigraphy. Four late Cretaceous Mid-Atlantic sequences, the Marshalltown, Englishtown, Merchantville, and Navesink, span the upper Santonian to lowennost Danian, and have direct correlatives in the Maastricht area. Correlations between the Mid-Atlantic and the Maastricht regions (respectively) are as follows: the upper Santonian to lower Campanian Merchantville and Matawan formations with the Achen and lower Vaals fonnations; the middle Campanian upper Englishtown F onnation with the upper Vaals F onnation; the uppermost middle Campanian to upper Campanian Marshalltown, Wenonah, and Mount Laurel fomlations with the lower Gulpen Fonnation; the Navesink and lower Severn fonnations with the middle Gulpen Fonnation; and the New Egypt and upper Severn fonnations with the upper Gulpen and Maastricht fonnations. Additionally, deposits of the Maastricht area also provide support for several proposed subdivisions in the Marshalltown and Navesink sequences. The correlations proposed here can serve to refine the biostratigraphy oflarge marine vertebrates known from both sides of the Atlantic.
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Papers by Dr. Marcus Ross