Abstract The Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) boundary section at the West Bijou Site is remarkable because many of the methods used to constrain the position of a terrestrial K-T boundary have been successfully applied to a local section. These include palynology, magnetostratigraphy, shocked quartz and iridium analysis, vertebrate paleontology, geochronology, and paleobotany. The West Bijou Site K-T boundary records the extinction of the Wodehouseia spinata Assemblage Zone palynoflora (21%), followed immediately by the presence of a fern-spore abundance anomaly (74%) and the subsequent appearance of the P1 palynoflora. This palynological extinction is coincident with the presence of shock-metamorphosed quartz grains (5+ planes of parallel lamellae) and an iridium spike of 619 ± 32 parts per trillion within the 3-cm-thick boundary claystone. The boundary lies within a reversely magnetized interval, recognized as subchron C29r, substantiated by a radiometrically dated tuff 4.5 m below the boundary with an age of 65.73 ± 0.13 Ma. Dinosaur remains attributable to the late Maastrichtian Triceratops Zone were discovered 4 m below the boundary clay, and a partial jaw of a diagnostic Pu1 mammal was discovered 12 m above. Fossil plants are most abundant in the Paleocene and document a low diversity ecosystem recognizable as the southernmost extension of the FUI disaster recovery flora that radiated in North America following the K-T boundary cataclysm.

Full article available in PDF version.

Full article available in PDF version.

Full article available in PDF version.