Oceans of Kansas, Second Edition: A Natural History of the Western Interior Sea

by Michael J. Everhart

Overview

Revised, updated, and expanded with the latest interpretations and fossil discoveries, the second edition of Oceans of Kansas adds new twists to the fascinating story of the vast inland sea that engulfed central North America during the Age of Dinosaurs. Giant sharks, marine reptiles called mosasaurs, pteranodons, and birds with teeth all flourished in and around these shallow waters. Their abundant and well-preserved remains were sources of great excitement in the scientific community when first discovered in the 1860s and continue to yield exciting discoveries 150 years later. Michael J. Everhart vividly captures the history of these startling finds over the decades and re-creates in unforgettable detail these animals from our distant past and the world in which they lived—above, within, and on the shores of America's ancient inland sea.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780253026323
Publisher:	Indiana University Press
Publication date:	09/11/2017
Series:	Life of the Past
Edition description:	Second Edition
Pages:	460
Sales rank:	249,601
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 10.10(h) x 1.50(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Michael J. Everhart, Adjunct Curator of Paleontology at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History in Hays, Kansas, is an expert on the Late Cretaceous of western Kansas. He is the creator of the award-winning "Oceans of Kansas" paleontology website at www.oceansofkansas.com. He lives in Derby, Kansas.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
1. Introduction: An Ocean in Kansas?
2. Our Discovery of the Western Interior Sea
3. Invertebrates, Plants, and Trace Fossils
4. Sharks: Sharp Teeth and Shell Crushers
5. Fishes, Large and Small
6. Turtles: Leatherback Giants
7. Where the Elasmosaurs Roamed
8. Pliosaurs and Polycotylids
9. Enter the Mosasaurs
10. Pteranodons: Rulers of the Air
11. Feathers and Teeth
12. Dinosaurs?
13. The Big Picture
Epilogue: Where Did It Go?
References
Index

Editorial Reviews

"Oceans of Kansas remains the best and only book of its type currently available. Everhart's treatment of extinct marine reptiles synthesizes source materials far more readably than any other recent, nontechnical book-length study of the subject . . . ."—Copeia, reviewing a previous edition or volume

"Excellent . . . Those who are interested in vertebrate paleontology or in the scientific history of the American midwest should really get a copy. You will not be disappointed!"—PalArch's Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology , reviewing a previous edition or volume

"[The book] will be most useful to fossil collectors working in the local region and to historians of vertebrate paleontology. . . . Recommended."—Choice, reviewing a previous edition or volume

"Oceans of Kansas remains the best and only book of its type currently available. Everhart's treatment of extinct marine reptiles synthesizes source materials far more readably than any other recent, nontechnical book-length study of the subject . . . ."—Copeia

"[The book] will be most useful to fossil collectors working in the local region and to historians of vertebrate paleontology. . . . Recommended."—Choice

"Excellent . . . Those who are interested in vertebrate paleontology or in the scientific history of the American midwest should really get a copy. You will not be disappointed!"—PalArch's Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology

From the Publisher

[The book] will be most useful to fossil collectors working in the local region and to historians of vertebrate paleontology. . . . Recommended.

Choice

Oceans of Kansas remains the best and only book of its type currently available. Everhart's treatment of extinct marine reptiles synthesizes source materials far more readably than any other recent, nontechnical book-length study of the subject . . . .

Copeia

Excellent . . . Those who are interested in vertebrate paleontology or in the scientific history of the American midwest should really get a copy. You will not be disappointed!

PalArch's Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology