Red Gulch Dinosaur Tracksite
Red Gulch Dinosaur Tracksite is an assemblage of fossil dinosaur footprints discovered in 1997 on public land near Shell, Wyoming by Erik P. Kvale, a research geologist from the Indiana Geological Survey. The tracks are believed to have been made during the Middle Jurassic Period, 160-180 million years b.p., on what was then a shore of the Sundance Sea. Theropod tracks are thought to be among those discovered, but evidence suggests that the tracks were made by a large, diverse group of dinosaurs. The site is managed by the Bureau of Land Management as part of the Red Gulch/Alkali National Back Country Byway and is open to the public.
Geology
The tracksite is in a limestone layer in the lower part of the Sundance Formation. Its discovery was somewhat surprising, since the Sundance was historically considered to be marine in nature. Indeed, the layer just above the tracksite contains abundant marine fossils including numerous Gryphaea nebrascensis, indicating that later in the Jurassic it was once again submerged.
See also
- List of fossil sites (with link directory)
References and external links
- BLM Wyoming Red Gulch Dinosaur Tracksite Homepage
- Red Gulch Dinosaur Tracksite – Wyoming’s Middle Jurassic Treasure
- C. Kent Chamberlain: Red Gulch Dinosaur Tracksite
- Red Gulch Dinosaur Tracksite: Photos by State University of New York at Stony Brook
- B. Breithaupt et al., Innovative documentation methodologies in the study of the most extensive dinosaur tracksite in Wyoming
- N.H. Darton, Jurassic formations of the Black Hills of South Dakota, Geological Society of America Bulletin, v.10, p. 383-396 (1899)
Coordinates: 44°29′10″N 107°47′15″W / 44.48620°N 107.78748°W