An electric blue Parksosaurus warreni “dances” among a wide variety of flowering plants known from different locations across Alaska and Russia during the Cretaceous era. While we are most familiar with the Pleistocene-era Bering land bridge connecting North America and Eurasia, evidence of many shared fossil plant and animal species show Alaska also bridged the continents during the late Cretaceous. Plant fossils across the arctic point to a warm, dense forest that covered the northern extreme of both continents, brimming with many flowering plant species and a wide diversity of fauna.

Citations:

Herman, Alexei & Sokolova, Aleksandra. (2016). "Late Cretaceous Kholokhovchan Flora of Northeastern Asia: Composition, age and fossil plant descriptions." Cretaceous Research. 59. 249-271. 10.1016/j.cretres.2015.11.008.

Mccarthy, P. J., Fiorillo, A. R., & Taylor, E. L. (2016). “Ancient polar ecosystems and paleoclimate in deep time: Evidence from the past, implications for the future.” Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 441, 223-225. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2015.10.012

Karala, Maija. "Dinosaurs of the Taiga (botany for paleoartists part VII)." (2015, December 01). Retrieved from https://hummingdinosaur.wordpress.com/2015/11/02/dinosaurs-of-the-taiga-...

Spicer, Robert A., and Alexei B. Herman. (2010) “The Late Cretaceous Environment of the Arctic: A Quantitative Reassessment Based on Plant Fossils.” Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, vol. 295, no. 3-4, pp. 423–442., doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.02.025.

Herman, Alexei & Spicer, Robert & Spicer, Teresa. (2015). "Environmental constraints on terrestrial vertebrate behaviour and reproduction in the high Arctic of the Late Cretaceous." Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 441. 10.1016/j.palaeo.2015.09.041.

Moiseeva, M. G., & Sokolova, A. B. (2014). “New data on the composition and age of the Ust’-Emuneret flora from the Enmyvaam River basin (Central Chukotka).” Stratigraphy and Geological Correlation, 22(3), 269-286.

Herman, Alexei. (2013). "Albian-Paleocene Flora of the North Pacific: Systematic Composition, Palaeofloristics and Phytostratigraphy. Stratigraphy and Geological Correlation." 21. 10.1134/S0869593813070034.

Flaig, P. P., McCarthy, P. J., Fiorillo, A. R., Driese, S. G., & Nordt, L. C. (2013). “Anatomy, evolution and paleoenvironmental interpretation of an ancient Arctic coastal plain: integrated paleopedology and palynology from the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Prince Creek Formation, North Slope, Alaska, USA.” New Frontiers in Paleopedology and Terrestrial Paleoclimatology: Paleosols and Soil Surface Analogue Systems: SEPM, Special Publication, 104, 179-230.

Fiorillo, Anthony & Tomsich, Carla & Mccarthy, Paul & Stone, D & A. Benowitz, Jeff & O'Sullivan, Paul. (2011). "New zircon U-Pb ages for the lower Cantwell Formation: implications for the Late Cretaceous paleoecology and paleoenvironment of the lower Cantwell Formation near Sable Mountain, Denali National Park and Preserve, central Alaska Range, USA."

Tomsich C. S., et al. (2010). “Late Cretaceous Flora in an Ancient Fluvial Environment: The Lower Cantwell Formation at Sable Mountain, Denali National Park, Alaska.” Alaska Park Science. 8(2):21-25

Fiorillo, A. R., McCarthy, P. J., & Flaig, P. P. (2010). “Taphonomic and sedimentologic interpretations of the dinosaur-bearing Upper Cretaceous strata of the Prince Creek Formation, northern Alaska: insights from an ancient high-latitude terrestrial ecosystem.” Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 295(3-4), 376-388.

Tomsich, Carla & Mccarthy, Paul & Fowell, Sarah & Sunderlin, David. (2010). "Paleofloristic and paleoenvironmental information from a Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) flora of the lower Cantwell Formation near Sable Mountain, Denali National Park, Alaska." Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 295. 389-408. 10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.02.023.

Gangloff, R. A., & Fiorillo, A. R. (2010). “Taphonomy and paleoecology of a bonebed from the Prince Creek Formation, North Slope, Alaska.” Palaios, 25(5), 299-317.

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Maslova, N & Herman, Alexei. (2006). "Infructescences of Friisicarpus nom. nov. (Platanaceae) and associated foliage of the platanoid type from the Cenomanian of western Siberia." Paleontological Journal. 40. 109-113. 10.1134/S0031030106010138.

Spicer, Robert & Ahlberg, Anders & Herman, Alexei & Kelley, Simon & I. Raikevich, Mikhail & M. Rees, Peter. (2002). “Palaeoenvironment and ecology of the middle Cretaceous Grebenka flora of northeastern Asia.” Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 184. 65-105. 10.1016/S0031-0182(02)00247-X.

Zhou, Zhe-Kun & L. Crepet, William & C. Nixon, Kevin. (2001). "The Earliest Fossil Evidence of the Hamamelidaceae: Late Cretaceous (Turonian) Inflorescences and Fruits of Altingioideae." American Journal of Botany. 88. 753-66. 10.2307/2657028.

Spicer, Robert & Herman, Alexei. (2001). “The Albian-Cenomanian flora of the Kukpowruk River, western North Slope, Alaska: Stratigraphy, palaeofloristics, and plant communities.” Cretaceous Research. 22. 10.1006/cres.2000.0238.

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Hollick, C. A, Martin, George C. (1930). “The Upper Cretaceous floras of Alaska with A Description of the Plant-Bearing Beds.” U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 159, 123 p.