Museum News
This is where you'll find updates and news for all things Dinosaur Junction! From our expeditions, to our community events. Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to get notified when new things are added to this page!
Triassic Trek
Recently, the museum helped fund one of our volunteers, Faron, to go on a paleontological expedition to Utah. Faron was researching and finding fossils from the Triassic, the first dinosaur period. We asked Faron to write a piece on his experience, here's what he wrote us!
What did our planet look like in the aftermath of the worst mass extinction event ever recorded? 252 million years ago, only 5% of all species managed to survive the Permian-Traissic extinction event; fittingly referred to as The Great Dying. The survivors inherited a decimated planet; the interior of the supercontinent Pangea had become the biggest desert known ever to exist. Vegetation clung to life along the coastlines, and forests became so rare that there are no coal deposits from this time period. The only rain that graced the interior of this continent came in the form of hurricanes the size of Texas, which were strong enough to cross the entire supercontinent before dying out. For all of this destruction and suffering, there was an opportunity for those that had survived; they no longer had any competition. This decimated world would become the cradle for one of the most successful lineages of animals to ever exist: the dinosaurs
"Electric blue" fossil material
Souring the rocky outcrops of Southeastern Utah near Bears Ears National Monument, remnants of this long-gone ecosystem continuously erode from the cliffs. At the very end of August, I had the pleasure of assisting several museum crews (Natural History Museum of Idaho, Natural History Museum of Utah, and the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site) in prospecting the Triassic Chinle formation. This formation represents the very end of the Triassic, and sits directly beneath the Jurassic Moenkopi formation. The fossil resources in this area are plentiful and unique, boasting several incredibly significant sites.
We revisited several known sites; one produces fossils containing vivianite, which turns the fossils electric blue after prolonged oxygen exposure. Another preserves a mass death assemblage of Phytosaurs, the remains of which are articulated (in life position). Robert Gay, a paleontologist from the Natural History Museum of Idaho, found a site that preserves plants and bugs so exceptionally well that the plants preserved are still pliant and flap around in the wind when exposed. Several other amazing new sites were found, including one with an aetosaur in-situ (still in the ground where it was preserved). Across the various sites we visited we collected: phytosaurs, aetosaurs, metoposaurs, fish, invertebrates, plants, and various other unidentified vertebrate fossils. We also found several ichnofossil sites produced by both vertebrates and invertebrates.
The abundance of fossils and data collected will take time to be properly studied, however the finds from this trip will undoubtedly expand our understanding of how life recovered after coming the closest it's ever been to being fully eliminated. Future expositions to the area are planned, as there is still much more to be uncovered. I'm incredibly grateful to The Museum at Dinosaur Junction for sponsoring the cost of this trip and giving me the opportunity to participate.