Regular parking project at Dinosaur National Monument unearthed dinosaur fossil He will be on the scene for the first time in over a century.
Workers discovered and exposed the fossil near the quarry’s exhibition hall after removing asphalt in mid-September. sandstone containing dinosaurssaid the National Park Service. Park officials identified the site on September 16 and immediately halted construction to allow paleontologists to evaluate the find.
This fossil is thought to belong to a large, long-necked dinosaur called a diplodocus. This species is commonly found in historic bonebeds in the area.
Park officials said staff, Utah Conservation Corps members, volunteers and construction workers helped excavate the site.
Rare dinosaur bones from 67 million years ago discovered in museum’s private parking lot
Dinosaur Monument staff will be working on dinosaur fossils unearthed in the Quarry Exhibition Hall parking lot during September and October. (NPS/Rebecca Hunt-Foster)
From mid-September to mid-October, workers removed approximately 3,000 pounds of fossils and surrounding rock. This material is currently being cleaned and studied. Utah Natural History Field House Vernal State Park Museum. Visitors can see the fossil preparation process in the museum’s fossil laboratory.
The site had not been excavated since 1924, when fossil removal efforts ended after a series of excavations in the early 20th century led by the Carnegie Museum, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, and the University of Utah. Dinosaur National Monument was established in 1915.
This undated photo shows a life-size model of a Diplodocus in the Dinosaur Garden at the Utah Museum of Natural History’s Fieldhouse in Vernal, Utah. (Jon G. Fuller/VWPics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Some of the newly discovered fossils are already on display at the Quarry Exhibit Hall, also known as the “Wall of Bone,” and at the Utah Fieldhouse Museum. of exhibition hall The park’s most popular attraction, located atop the former Carnegie Quarry, visitors can see approximately 1,500 dinosaur fossils still buried in the rock.
On June 8, 2019, a diplodocus skeleton similar to the species unearthed at the Dinosaur Monument towers over the newly renovated Fossil Hall at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. This species lived 152 million years ago. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Click here to download the FOX News app
Following the excavation, crews completed parking and roadway improvement projects, including new concrete and asphalt work and improved accessibility around the exhibit hall.
