Dinosaur National Monument Dinosaur National Monument comprises 210

Dinosaur National Monument

• Dinosaur National Monument comprises 210, 000 acres (325 square miles) of park. It straddles Northern Colorado and Utah, with about 2/3 of its land in Colorado

• In 1909 the paleontologist Earl Douglass from the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburg was the first scientist to document the many dinosaur bones in the area

• Thousands of bones were discovered on the site • Many were moved to the Carnegie Institute including some complete skeletons of creatures such as the small Camptosaurus and the plated Stegosaurus • By 1915 the site was made a national monument, and while there is still excavation bones are no longer removed.

• The bones were found in the Morrison formation • The Morrison formation is in the upper Jurassic and is one of the richest in dinosaur fauna • The Morrison Formation is extremely widespread, covering more than 1. 5 million sq. Km of western USA. Within its spread it represents a number of environments, from hot, arid desert in the southwestern portions to a much wetter and swampier environment in the north.

• Several rare specimens of dinosaur have been discovered at Dinosaur National Monument • These specimens include the first cranial material from the Marshosaurus • portions of an advance embryo of a Camptosaurus • The longest dinosaur skeleton ever discovered was found here as well

MORRISON FORMATION DINOSAURS FOUND AT DINOSAUR NATIONAL MONUMENT

MORRISON FORMATION DINOSAURS FOUND AT DINOSAUR NATIONAL MONUMENT

Evolutionary condition • Plant productivity was high during this time in order to have supported so many large herbivores • But there is also indication that water was periodically in short supply. This is seen inthe lack of coal, small aquatic vertebrates, and the oxidization of sediments. • Also a seasonal shift may have necessitated migration for herbivores leading to the regular distribution of fossils over such a broad area.

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