*** Welcome to piglix ***

Dry Mesa Quarry


The Dry Mesa Dinosaur Quarry is situated in southwestern Colorado, United States, near the town of Delta. Its geology forms a part of the Morrison Formation and has famously yielded a great diversity of animal remains from the Jurassic Period, among them Ceratosaurus, Supersaurus, and Torvosaurus. The quarry is found within the Uncompahgre National Forest.

In 1971, a large theropod phalanx (Torvosaurus tanneri) [1] was discovered at Dry Mesa by Daniel and Vivian Jones [2] of Delta, Colorado. The find was reported to James A. Jensen [3] of Brigham Young University (BYU) who commenced quarrying operations in 1972. Under the direction of the BYU Earth Science Museum, the quarry has been excavated for 13 field seasons. Approximately 4000 bones have been collected, making it one of the most prolific dinosaur producing accumulations in the Morrison Formation. Thirty vertebrate genera are represented in the quarry including dinosaurs, a pterosaur, crocodile, turtle, lungfish, and a prototherian mammal. Twenty-three genera of dinosaurs have been found in the quarry distinguishing it as the most diverse Jurassic dinosaur assemblage. The quarry is especially recognized for its large sauropods, among which Supersaurus vivianae [4] and "Ultrasaurus" mcintoshi [5] are the most celebrated finds (Richmond and Morris, 1999).


...
Wikipedia

...