A Glimpse of Late-Jurassic Dinosaurs

DINOSAUR NAT’L PARK, DAY 2

A Glimpse of Late-Jurassic Dinosau

A gold rush-like quest for dinosaur bones swept America’s West in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.  The Carnegie Quarry in the Morrison Formation has yielded a wealth of dinosaur fossils.  Laid down from 147 to 155 million years ago.  Fossils show that dinosaurs lived atthe same time as clams, snails, algae, ostra cods, crawfish, insects, salamanders, frogs, lizards, turtles, crocodiles and small animals.    These fossils tell us more about the Morrison ecosystem tan the dinosaur fossils.  New fossil finds here help us reconstruct the ecosystem . 

Inside this building are actual Dinosaur Bones.  

The building is built around a part of the Morrison Formation

In 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt increased the monuments size by over 210,000 acres.  This protected not only the deep colorful canyon of the Green and Yampa Rivers, but also the cultural features left by ancient cutlers, settlers and homesteaders.

Ornithischian Skull and lower jaws

is a mold of one found here.  

The original is at Carnegie Museum of Natural 

History  DNM# 2567

Bones have been found in these areas 

Below the park ranger is giving a tour

showing where bones were found

The “Swelter Shelter” (named by the researchers who excavated it in the blazing heat of summer are up to 7,000 years old.  Little is know of the long vanished makers of these artifacts.  These ancient people are referred as the Desert Archaic culture.

The pictographs (paintings) and petroglyphs (scratched or carved designs) are not so ancient.  The were make about 1,000 years ago by the Fremont Culture,

The lizard wanted to check it out

Why the tilted rocks.  

These rock layers were once level but forces deep underground warped them upward into an irregular dome shape.  The “hogback” ridges of stone are all that remain of rock layers that once crossed Split Mountain.  Now they have eroded to this.

Below is a picture of Split Mountain Campground.

This is where Ton began the hike he'll never forget

This is the rugged ridge of Split Mountain, which is named because the Green River has split it in half.  The river produced a spectacular canyon and a geological mystery

He saw lots of wildlife

Beautiful flowers......

....but the rugged 3 mile straight up trail 

started to get to him.

He had the water and other things required 

Even the cute squirrels couldn't take away the exaustion

With the tough hike over all the rocks and up the mountain

He needed a break

and decided to come down

Coming down was still beautiful scenery

After two wonderful days here, we say

Goodbye to our Beautiful campsite

The horses behind it

and the beautiful sunsets