Romanian Taphonomy and Dieing Dinos

Francois Therion et al. have an article in the current issue of Paleo3 (Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology) called, "Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of the Late Cretaceous Sânpetru Formation (Haţeg Basin, Romania) using paleosols and implications for the “disappearance” of dinosaurs. I happen to have a fondness for Romania, but besides that, they did something I (and many others) have often said needed to be done: they took a good look at the taphonomic conditions at the K-T boundary. I'll just put what they conclude in their abstract: "The distribution of pedotypes through the Sânpetru Formation reveals small- and large-scale palaeoenvironmental changes associated with the shifting of a complex mosaic of wet and dry habitats in response to shifts in river position on the alluvial plain. However, a major palaeoenvironmental change occurs in the upper Sânpetru Formation, where the region was transformed into extensive wetlands. Such dramatic changes coincide with river competence increase, change in palaeocurrent directions, and dearth of macrovertebrate remains, which had been previously misinterpreted as evidence for the disappearance of dinosaurs at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary. These palaeoenvironmental changes, induced by tectonism, are responsible for the shift from preservation of macrofossils concentrated by hydraulic processes into conspicuous lenticular bonebeds in the lower Sânpetru Formation to preservation of microfossil, and more rarely macrofossil, remains in hydromorphic calcareous paleosols in the upper Sânpetru Formation. The consequences of palaeoenvironmental changes on vertebrate preservation mode must be considered in the search for fossils and interpretation of the fossil record."
While I am currently dubious as to how much it will affect our understanding of the K-T extinction, it is not from any problem with their study. There is much more study that needs to be done like this before I think we can make any sort of determination on the taphonomic effects influencing the perception of mass extinctions. The work done before in this regard has mostly been on a broad scale looking for large patterns. But we have really been lacking in detailed studies of the preservation changes at specific extinction events. I hope that others continue this line of investigation in other areas and other times. This is critical but often undervalued research for our paleoenvironmental and evolutionary understanding. When I say undervalued, it seems to be very often something that many people realize is important and will say so, but then tend to ignore it when it comes to their own research and interpretations. So I am quite happy to see this article.