DINOSAUR NATIONAL MONUMENT
Stratigraphy of the Dinosaur National Monument area (northeatern Utah &
northwestern Colorado). The main dinosaur bone bed is in the Morrison
Formation (Upper Jurassic).
Monocline in Dinosaur National Monument.
Split Mountain showing tilted sedimentary rock layers in Dinosaur
National Monument.
Green River running through Dinosaur National Monument. The dark-colored
rocks along the river banks on the left side are Mancos Shale (Upper
Cretaceous).
Steeply tilted sedimentary rocks - conglomeratic sandstones and shales of the Morrison
Formation (Upper Jurassic). The building at upper right is the visitor
center that covers the main dinosaur bone bed.
Dinosaur Bone Bed - steeply tilted, fluvial, fossiliferous
conglomeratic sandstone with dinosaur bones and fossil clams - Morrison Formation
(Upper Jurassic).
Dinosaur Bone Bed - disarticulated dinosaur bones in steeply tilted,
fluvial, fossiliferous conglomeratic sandstone - Morrison Formation (Upper
Jurassic).
Dinosaur Bone Bed - disarticulated dinosaur bones in steeply tilted,
fluvial, fossiliferous conglomeratic sandstone - Morrison Formation (Upper
Jurassic).
Dinosaur Bone Bed - disarticulated dinosaur bones & partially
articulated dinosaur skeletons in steeply tilted, fluvial, fossiliferous
conglomeratic sandstone - Morrison Formation (Upper Jurassic).
Camarasaurus skull - this well-preserved sauropod dinosaur skull is articulated
with several neck vertebrae embedded in the dinosaur bone bed.
Camarasaurus skeleton - this complete, juvenile sauropod dinosaur skeleton was
quarried from the site that is now Dinosaur National Monument. It is
currently on display at Carnegie Museum of Natural History (Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, USA).
Allosaurus skull - this well-preserved theropod dinosaur skull was excavated from
the dinosaur bone bed.
Fossil bivalves (clams) are the most common fossil in the bone bed. The roughly elliptical-shaped structures
are the clams. They are preserved
as internal molds - the original shell has been dissolved away. The dark-colored pieces are pebbles -
the rock varies from sandstone to conglomeratic sandstone to conglomerate.