Abstract The Lagerstätte at Ashfall Fossil Beds—the result of supervolcanic eruption—preserves a mass-death assemblage of articulated skeletons of reptiles, birds, and mammals in a 3-m-thick pure volcanic ash near the base of the Cap Rock Member of the Ash Hollow Formation in Antelope County, Nebraska. The ash originated from the Bruneau-Jarbidge caldera in southwest Idaho, some 1600 km away, and it is geochemically matched with the Ibex Hollow tuff (11.93 Ma). Ashfall is a critical Clarendonian North American Land Mammal Age locality. More than 20 taxa—predominantly medium- and large-sized ungulates preserved in three dimensions—are buried in a late Miocene paleodepression (waterhole) filled with tephra reworked from the landscape by wind and water. Smaller taxa, such as birds, turtles, and moschids, died shortly after the pyroclastic airfall event and their remains are preserved in the basal ash. Remains from the medium-sized ungulates (equids and camelids) are separated from the underlying smaller skeletons by several centimeters of ash, indicating that these animals died at a slightly later time. In turn, more than 100 mostly intact skeletons of the barrel-bodied rhinoceros, Teleoceras major , overlie the remains of the medium-sized taxa. Pathologic bone on the limbs and skulls of the horses, camels, and rhinos suggests short-term survival and slow death several weeks or months after the pyroclastic airfall event. Exquisite preservation in an information-rich context allows aspects of the behavior, social structure, intraspecific variability, and pathology of extinct species to be reconstructed.

Abstract This field guide describes four exposures of glacigenic sediment along the Missouri River bluffs east of Omaha, Nebraska. Field trip stops include Loveland, Iowa, which is the type section of the Loveland Silt and Pisgah Formation (Illinoian and Early Wisconsinan loess) and Crescent Quarry, which exposes the type Nebraskan till. Additionally we will examine core samples of the Kennard Formation, a new stratigraphic unit consisting of multiple pre-Illinoian loesses. We also present recent results on the pre-Illinoian till stratigraphy in the Missouri River valley region. A variety of evidence indicates that the present location of the Missouri River valley originated sometime between deposition of the youngest (pre-Illinoian) till and the (Illinoian) Loveland Silt. The spatial distribution of the youngest pre-Illinoian till further suggests that this reach of the Missouri River (along the Iowa-Nebraska border) was established as an ice-marginal stream along the western terminus of the last pre-Illinoian glaciation.

Abstract The Nebraska Capitol is a stunning Art Deco structure located in the heart of Lincoln, Nebraska. This monumental Capitol building contains outstanding examples of the exterior and interior use of Indiana limestone , and interior use of Red Verona (Rosso Verona) marble , Ridgway bluestone , Yellow Kasota stone , Napoleon Gray marble , Belgian Black marble , Portoro (Black and Gold) marble , and Verde Antique . Examples of numerous other stone types quarried in the United States and Europe can also be found within the building. This chapter discusses these building and decorative stones as used in the Capitol, as well as the geologic setting of this building, the striking paleontological iconography of its Rotunda, and the stones used for the Lincoln Monument on the Capitol grounds.

Abstract Geological and human forces have created some spectacular treasures at the boundary between the Central Lowlands and the Great Plains, and three of them are explored in this guide. In northern Nebraska, the Ashfall Fossil Beds site, a world-class Lagerstätte of articulated mammal, reptile, and bird skeletons, reveals the mass death of a Miocene biotic community. Chapter 1 provides a detailed overview of the geology, paleontology, and reconstructed paleocommunity at Ashfall. The bluffs of the Missouri River in eastern Iowa contain some classic type sections of Pleistocene stratigraphic units. Chapter 2 explores the historical development of Pleistocene stratigraphy in this area and presents new data to refine understanding of the area’s complex geological history. Finally, Chapter 3 presents a unique tour of the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln, which is clad with Indiana limestone and adorned with igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks from European and U.S. quarries. The field guide describes the historical, architectural, and geological aspects of these stones.