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A Fossil Treasure Trove
Ghost Ranch has been a popular site for paleon- tologists for over 130 years. Excavations at the Coelophysis quarry began in the 1940s led by the famous paleontologist Edwin Colbert. Since then, hundreds of dinosaur fossils have been unearthed-including many of the first dinosaurs on Earth. Scientists are still fascinated by this region today—and they're still finding fossils there. In fact, scientists are not sure why there are so many fossils at this one location. There are layers and layers of fossils where animals seem to have died in the same place. One theory is that flash floods of ancient times washed the drowned bodies of reptiles and dinosaurs downstream into concentrated deposits.
Description: Site of rich fossil beds, particularly from the Triassic Period (220 mya), when dinosaurs first began to appear on Earth
Significance: The most dinosaur fossils of any other site in North America; richest collection of early dinosaur fossils from the Triassic Period.
Exploration: First explored in the 1880s
Number of quarries: Four (Each quarry, for a different layer, has abundant dinosaur material.)
The rock layers at Ghost Ranch preserved fossils from the entire age of the dinosaurs. The lowest layer holds fossils from the:
Cretaceous Period (145-65 mya)
Jurassic Period (200-145 mya)
Triassic Period (250-200 mya)
Correct!
The deeper the layer, the older the rock. At the top are sandstone rocks from the Cretaceous Period. Below that are red and white colored Jurassic cliffs. Near the bottom are the red Triassic badlands, going back 230 million years, when dinosaurs first appeared.
When dinosaurs evolved in this region, it was much farther south than it is today. During that period in history, the region was:
A. a desert, with a hot, dry climate
B. a forest, with a tropical, humid climate
under an ocean
Correct!
Many streams and rivers flowed through the region, with trees and ferns growing along their banks. Nearby were giant conifers. In times of floods, these trees were uprooted, buried in deep mud and fossilized. Today, these "petrified trees" look like great Greek columns of marble.
Paleontologists at Ghost Ranch are looking for larger bones and complete skeletons, since tiny bones don't provide much information.
Fact
OR
Fiction
?
Fiction
Big or tiny, every bone is critical. Bones found in the Chinle Formation, a group of sedimen- tary layers formed 210-230 mya, may add important new knowledge about that time.
Paleontologists were the first people to inhabit the area around Ghost Ranch.
Fact
OR
Fiction
?
Fiction
In fact, the area has a long and turbulent history, including the Anasazi Indians, Spanish conquistadors, and cattle rustlers.
“
Ghost Ranch seems to have been an excellent environment for animals. There were plenty of vegetation, water, and shelter.
„
Sterling Nesbitt, Paleontologist
“
We hope to piece together a picture of the creatures that lived here in the Late Triassic. The question is, how did they interact with one another? It's a big mystery, but we are finding more and more clues.
„
Sterling Nesbitt, Paleontologist