| Dinosaur National Monument | |
|---|---|
IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)[1] | |
 A dinosaur skull embedded in rock at Dinosaur National Monument | |
  Location in the United States | |
| Location | Moffat County, Colorado andUintah County, Utah, U.S. |
| Nearest city | Vernal, Utah |
| Coordinates | 40°32′N108°59′W / 40.533°N 108.983°W /40.533; -108.983 |
| Area | 210,844 acres (853.26 km2) |
| Established | October 4, 1915[2] |
| Visitors | 304,468 (in 2018)[3] |
| Governing body | U.S.National Park Service |
| Website | Dinosaur National Monument |
Dinosaur National Monument is anAmerican national monument located on the southeast flank of theUinta Mountains[4] on the border betweenColorado andUtah at the confluence of theGreen andYampa rivers. Although most of the monument area is inMoffat County, Colorado, the Dinosaur Quarry is located in Utah, north of the town ofJensen, Utah. The nearest Colorado town isDinosaur while the nearest city isVernal, Utah.
Originally preserved in 1915 to protect its famous Dinosaur Quarry,[5] the monument was greatly expanded in 1938 to include its wealth of natural history. The park's wild landscapes, topography, geology, paleontology, and history make it a unique resource for both science and recreation. The park contains over 800 paleontological sites and has fossils ofdinosaurs includingAllosaurus,Deinonychus,Abydosaurus, and varioussauropods.[5] TheAbydosaurus consists of a nearly complete skull, the lower jaw, and first four neck vertebrae. The specimen was found at the base of the Mussentuchit Member of theCedar Mountain Formation and is theholotype for the species.
Paleontologist Earl Douglass of the Carnegie Museum discovered eight vertebrae of anApatosaurus on August 17, 1909,[2] which became the first dinosaur skeleton discovered and excavated at the new Carnegie Quarry. The area around the quarry was declared a national monument on October 4, 1915.[2] TheInternational Dark-Sky Association designated Dinosaur National Monument an International Dark Sky Park in April 2019.[6]
The rock layer enclosing the fossils is asandstone andconglomerate bed ofalluvial or river bed origin known as theMorrison Formation from theJurassic Period some 150 million years old. The dinosaurs and other ancient animals were carried by the river system which eventually entombed their remains in Utah.
The pile of sediments were later buried and lithified into solid rock. The layers of rock were later uplifted and tilted to their present angle by the mountain building forces that formed theUinta Mountains[4] during theLaramide orogeny.[5]Erosion later exposed the layers at the surface to be found by paleontologists.
TheFremont people lived in the area of what is now Dinosaur National Monument before the 14th century, with archaeological evidence dating fromc. 200 toc. 1300.Archaeologists first studied and named the Fremont culture along theFremont River in south-central Utah and have since traced it through much of the Green and Colorado River drainages.[8]
The Fremont did not build large permanent dwellings; instead, they lived in small bands within natural shelters, such as rock overhangs or shallow caves, or small villages. They consumed plant foods, such aspine nuts, berries, andcactus fruits, as well as wild game, includingmule deer,bighorn sheep, smaller mammals, and birds. They also grew corn, beans, and squash, sometimes using irrigation techniques.[8]
The fate of the Fremont culture is unclear. Recent theories suggest that the Fremont's lifestyle may have changed due to drought or other climate factors, dwindling natural resources, or the influence of other neighboring cultures.[8] They left evidence of their presence in the form ofpetroglyphs andpictographs of human and animal figures, and abstract designs. Human figures typically havetrapezoidal bodies and elaborate decorations that suggestheaddresses, earrings, necklaces, or shields. The animal figures include bighorn sheep, birds, snakes, and lizards. Purely abstract or geometric designs, such as circles, spirals, and various combinations of lines, are common. Many designs in the monument are accessible for close viewing, along four trails in Utah, one of which is near the visitor center, and a fifth trail in Colorado.[9]
The dinosaur fossil beds (bone beds) were discovered in 1909 byEarl Douglass, apaleontologist working and collecting for theCarnegie Museum of Natural History.[10] He and his crews excavated thousands offossils and shipped them back to the museum inPittsburgh, Pennsylvania for study and display.
PresidentWoodrow Wilson proclaimed the dinosaur beds as Dinosaur National Monument in 1915. The monument boundaries were expanded in 1938 from the original 80 acres (0.13 sq mi; 0.32 km2) surrounding the dinosaur quarry in Utah, to 210,844 acres (329 sq mi; 853 km2) in Utah and Colorado, encompassing the river canyons of theGreen andYampa.[2]
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The plans made by theU.S. Bureau of Reclamation on a ten-dam, billion dollarColorado River Storage Project began to arouse opposition in the early 1950s when it was announced that one of the proposed dams would be atEcho Park, in the middle of Dinosaur National Monument. The controversy assumed major proportions, dominating conservation politics for years.David Brower, executive director of theSierra Club, andHoward Zahniser ofThe Wilderness Society led an unprecedented nationwide campaign to preserve the free-flowing rivers and scenic canyons of the Green and Yampa Rivers. They argued that if a national monument was not safe from development, how could any wildland be kept intact?[11]
On the other side of the argument were powerful members ofCongress from western states, who were committed to the project in order to secure water rights, obtain cheaphydroelectric power and developreservoirs as tourist destinations. After much debate, Congress settled on a compromise that eliminatedEcho Park Dam and authorized the rest of the project. The Colorado River Storage Project Act became law on April 11, 1956. It stated, "that no dam or reservoir constructed under the authorization of the Act shall be within any National Park or Monument."[12]
Places on the list of National Register of Historic Places include:[13]
The Dinosaur National Monument sits on a vast area of desert land in Northwestern Colorado and Northeastern Utah. Typical of high deserts, summer temperatures can be exceedingly hot, while winter temperatures can be very cold. Snowfall is common, but the snow melts rapidly in the arid and sunny climates of these states. Rainfall is very low, and the evaporation rate classifies the area as desert, even though the rainfall exceeds 10 inches.
| Climate data for Dinosaur National Monument | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 33.0 (0.6) | 39.0 (3.9) | 50.4 (10.2) | 60.8 (16.0) | 71.9 (22.2) | 83.2 (28.4) | 90.5 (32.5) | 87.9 (31.1) | 77.7 (25.4) | 63.6 (17.6) | 45.7 (7.6) | 34.2 (1.2) | 61.5 (16.4) |
| Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 10.8 (−11.8) | 15.2 (−9.3) | 25.0 (−3.9) | 31.8 (−0.1) | 40.5 (4.7) | 48.9 (9.4) | 56.6 (13.7) | 54.7 (12.6) | 45.5 (7.5) | 34.9 (1.6) | 23.3 (−4.8) | 12.7 (−10.7) | 33.3 (0.7) |
| Averageprecipitation inches (mm) | 0.64 (16) | 0.56 (14) | 0.88 (22) | 1.17 (30) | 1.30 (33) | 1.06 (27) | 1.01 (26) | 0.89 (23) | 1.24 (31) | 1.46 (37) | 0.80 (20) | 0.62 (16) | 11.64 (296) |
| Average snowfall inches (cm) | 9.2 (23) | 6.6 (17) | 5.9 (15) | 3.5 (8.9) | 0.7 (1.8) | 0.2 (0.51) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.2 (0.51) | 1.6 (4.1) | 4.7 (12) | 8.3 (21) | 41.1 (104) |
| Source: The Western Regional Climate Center[15] | |||||||||||||
The "Wall of Bones" located within the Dinosaur Quarry building in the park consists of a steeply tilted (67° from horizontal)rocklayer which contains thousands ofdinosaurfossils. The preserved section is only a portion of what was originally present when Douglass made his discovery as seen on the map above. When work ceased in 1922, a portion of the quarry was left for future development. This work began as part of President Franklin Roosevelt's Civil Works Administration, which provided employment during the Depression under the Transient Relief Service and later under the Works Progress Administration.[16] This work included constructing a road to the quarry, removal of overburden covering the bone-bearing strata, and building of a small, temporary museum.World War II interrupted work, but this was resumed in 1951 with the building of a small metal building over the east portion of the quarry to test whether bone was abundant enough to warrant a larger, more permanent building. This more permanent building was erected in the mid-1950s as part of the National Park Service Mission 66 plan. The architectural design was high controversial for its ultra-modern use of glass, steel and concrete ramp that spiraled around a cylindrical office tower. The building opened at the dedication ceremony on June 1, 1958.[17] The design had two levels and abundant natural light so that visitors could watch technicians remove the hard rock to reveal the excavated fossil bones in-situ.
In July 2006, theQuarry Visitor Center was closed due to structural problems that since 1958 had plagued the building because it was built on unstable clay. The decision was made to build a new facility elsewhere in the monument to house the visitor center and administrative functions, making it easier to resolve the structural problems of the quarry building while still retaining a portion of the historicMission 66 era exhibit hall.[18] It was announced in April 2009 that Dinosaur National Monument would receive $13.1 million to refurbish and reopen the gallery as part of the Obama administration's $750 billion stimulus plan.[19] The Park Service successfully rebuilt the Quarry Exhibit Hall, supporting its weight on 70-foot steel micropile columns that extend to the bedrock below the unstable clay.[20] The Dinosaur Quarry was reopened in Fall 2011.
This article incorporatespublic domain material fromFremont Culture.National Park Service. October 7, 2018. RetrievedJanuary 29, 2020. This article incorporatespublic domain material fromViewing Petroglyphs and Pictographs.National Park Service. December 19, 2017. RetrievedJanuary 29, 2020.
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