Dinosaur Discovery in Eastern Utah additional information

The press release, map information and map may be found at museum.ceu.edu

Below is additional information about the site.

Goose Neck Site-Eastern Utah

College of Eastern Utah Prehistoric Museum

Excavation by College of Eastern Utah Museum staff and volunteers in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management.

Excavation Supervisor, John Bird

This is an exciting discovery as articulated dinosaurs in Eastern Utah are relatively rare. A collaborative effort between the College of Eastern Utah Prehistoric Museum and the BLM, who manages fossils for public education, will take place to excavate the dinosaur.

This discovery provides a unique opportunity for the public to observe an active dinosaur excavation. The public is invited to attend the dig from Tuesday May 4^th through Saturday May 8^th. Media Day is May 4^th.

Additional Information

The site received its name from the way the vertebrae bent back on themselves, just like a goose’s neck is bent back when it is sleeping. In this dinosaurs’ case, his (or her) neck was bent back after it was dead, when it was deposited in its final resting place.

At this site fossil bones from a young Allosaur a carnivore, and from a sauropod,

a long necked herbivore have been found.

These dinosaurs lived during the late Jurassic period, about 140 mya.

The bone bed lies in the brushy basin member of the Morrison Formation. This formation is well known for its abundance of fossils. It was formed from the deposits of lakes and slow moving streams and rivers.

Dinosaur bones were covered with sediments carried by moving water. The sediment covering protected the bones from scavengers, bacteria and insects.

As sediments continued to build up the slow process of fossilization started. Minerals from the ground water began filling in the empty spaces of the bone. Over centuries the minerals continued depositing in the bone petrifying it. Under the right conditions even minute detail of the bone can be preserved, even down to the microscopic level.

This discovery is a great example of the rich paleontological region that the College of Eastern Utah Prehistoric Museum is fortunate to be located in. This dinosaur will be prepped at the museum, where the public can observe the process and talk to fossil preparators. This dinosaur is a theropod (meat eating dinosaur) and will be studied by professionals adding to the knowledge of that time period. The CEU Prehistoric Museum is an accredited institution as well as a state and federal repository.