GIGAPANING IN MONTANA'S HELL CREEK FORMATION

The mainstream availability of high resolution imaging has greatly increased the efficiency of broad-scale stratigraphic correlation. Using GigaPan, a system of high resolution panoramic imaging, we have successfully documented vertical sections that would have otherwise been inaccessable or too dangerous for evaluation. The topography of our area of interest, the Late Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation(~67-65.5 Ma), Montana near the Snow Creek tributary consists of isolated buttes and ridges. Erosion has resulted in buttes measuring as much as 200 meters of vertical relief and separation between buttes of 500 to 1,000 meters. GigaPan allows us to image large areas quickly with sufficient resolution to zoom for detailed correlation. The GigaPan images may then be combined with traditional stratigraphic sections to gain a comprehensive overview of the area geology and changes through time.

GigaPan imaging in combination with "by hand" stratigraphic evaluation serve as the geological benchmark for the Snow Creek Paleoecology Project, an interdisciplinary program that aims to understand the changing paleolandscapes and faunal component leading up the mass extinction at the Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary. As a continuation of our ongoing project, we will present preliminary results from the 2011 field season using GigaPan and offer tips we have learned while using the GigaPan system.