Self Guided Field Trip Of Dinosaur National Monument

By Riley Mortenson

Geo 1010 Online

Salt Lake Community College

November 9, 2023

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 This paper is about the Geological areas in and around Dinosaur National Monument located in

Eastern Utah near Vernal. Dinosaur National Monument includes many features from the Quarry all the

way to Split Mountain, which will be discussed later. This paper will also explain the geological history of

how the Quarry was formed along with the layers of the Split Mountain Anticline. There are multiple

canyons along with faults formed due to the uplifting of the range in the Uinta Mountain Region.

About 145 million years ago, a river buried thousands of dinosaur bones in gravel and sand of the

channel. The sandbar eventually became the site of the Dinosaur Quarry today. Even more river deposits

and sand began to cover the sandbar to several thousand feet deep. The mineral laden waters cemented it

into a hard sandstone which then fossilized the bones with it. Due to compression of the Earth’s crust, it

buckled the strata upward into an arch shape, tilting the sandbar and the layers around it. Erosion began to

wear away the top and sides of the arch, the sandbar stayed in the same place but the ground gradually

eroded lower drawing closer to it. In 1909 some of the sandbar had been exposed and worn away and

that’s when Earl Douglass saw eight dinosaur tail bones near the top of the ridge. Douglass and his

workers spent the next 15 years slicing into the top of the ridge stripping away the sandstone. The ridge

top was widened and deepened but left with a ten foot clay layer to protect the remaining bone deposit.

The bone bearing sandstone now forms one wall of the quarry building ( West, 1994.)

Most of Dinosaur National Monument consists of the eastern part of the Uinta Mountains Uplift

with a number of anticlinal folds along the slopes. One of the major folds is the Split Mountain Anticline.

Split Mountain is a westward plunging anticline with the Green River going straight through it ( Huntoon,

5.) Some of the youngest rocks in the monument, known as Oligocene Bishop Conglomerate, are

evidence that the Split Mountain anticline formed long before the Green River existed. The Bishop

Conglomerate consists of “loosely cemented bouldery, cobbly conglomerate and coarse, poorly sorted,

pebbly, friable sandstone” ( Hansen, 1986). This conglomerate is on the East side of the monument near

Harper’s Corner and was not affected by the tectonic event that produced the Split Mountain Anticline

because it would have been folded along with the older rocks. The green river continues to flow through

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the anticline bringing sediments towards the Colorado River. While observing this site, it was made clear

that the water flowing through has been eroding away the rock and will eventually flatten the entire area.

Throughout the monument there are numerous faults. A fault is a break in the earth’s crust that is

caused by stress and strain where slippage of rocks takes place (Unterman, 1969). The four major faults

are, Yampa Fault, Red Rock Fault, Mitten Park Fault, and Island Park Fault. The Yampa Fault extends

from Split Mountain Canyon all the way up to Moonshine Draw. This Fault produces the first step of the

step fault series that forms the south side of the Uinta Mountain. Red Rock Fault is a branch of the Yampa

Fault made up of Light buff Weber sandstone, gray Park City limestone, and red Moenkopi sandstone and

shale ( Unterman, 1969.) Mitten Park Fault is displayed by upturned strata between Wild Mountain which

was uplifted and Steamboat Rock which has been down dropped. Due to the Red Rock Fault, this Fault is

offset and curves near the top of the road switchback. Mitten Park Fault elevated the east side of Harpers

Plateau while Island Park fault elevated the west side of the Plateau.

There are many canyons throughout the monument, one of them being Whirlpool Canyon. This is

a colorful canyon that begins at the Mitten Park Fault that was carved out by the Green River. In the

upper left corner of this canyon you can see light-colored Weber Sandstone. Lodore Canyon is one of the

deepest and most rugged canyons in Dinosaur National monument with a depth of more than 3,350 feet in

the inner canyon and elevation of 9,006 feet in the outer canyon ( Unterman, 1969). In the Yampa Canyon

there are scars and scarps on the Mountain and represent slip off slopes and meander-migration scars. At

the earlier stage, the river channel gradually migrated down the slope on resistant Morgan limestone in

deepening its bed (Unteran, 1969). While visiting this Monument I was only able to see Split Mountain

Canyon who’s river flow course was greatly affected by Mitten Park and Island Park Faults. This canyon

has a campground at the mouth of it along with many visitors even during cold months when I went.

As for the Quarry, it all started when those eight dinosaur bones were spotted by Douglass. Today

in the Quarry there are over 1,500 dinosaur bones exposed in the rock that visitors can see and touch

(NPF, 2023.) The monument also restores petroglyphs and pictographs that can be traced back to almost

10,000 years ago. This proves that there were people living in this area, calling it their home. On the way

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out of the Quarry the bus drove by a trail that I was unable to go on. However, research on it has taught

me that it is called the Sound of Silence Trail. One of the most prominent geological features in this trail

is The Nugget Sandstone. It is a resistant cliff-forming unit with the presence of large scale high angle

cross bedding. It contains horizontally laminated beds near the base of the formation and also contains

mudcracks. There are also ripple marks that were produced by wind that are throughout the formation

(Hansen, 1986.) Another well known formation is the Middle Jurassic Carmel Formation. This is a mainly

red colored formation that is near Nugget Sandstone. It contains mudstone, siltstone and fine-grained

sandstone. It is said to be a shallow marine deposit that formed in a basin that was cut off from normal

marine circulation and subjected to evaporation (Hansen, 1986.) Due to this, it contains many marine

fossils. Another formation on this trail is the Upper Jurassic Stump Formation which consists of both the

lower curtis and upper redwater member. Curtis mainly consists of sandstone while redwater is siltstone

to sandstone that contains marine mollusk shell fragments and glauconite (Hansen, 1986.) Ripple marks

and cross bedding are common on this formation as well.

Dinosaur National Monument has revealed more dinosaur fossils than ever before. It teaches us

so much more about the Jurassic world and where the dinosaurs once stood. The monument contains a

jumble of Camarasaurus bone high up in the rock and is the most nearly complete skeleton in the whole

Quarry. To keep each bone from cracking or freezing during the cold winter years since, each bone is

covered with a clear preservative sealant (West, 1994.) From dinosaur bones to faults and canyons,

Dinosaur National Monument is a place full of many geological features showcasing it’s times. It was a

wonderful place to visit with many different sites to see and things to learn. It is and will continue to be a

well known place for geological study.

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 Works Cited

Untermann, G. E., & Untermann, B. (Ruple). (1969). Popular guide to the geology of

Dinosaur National Monument. Dinosaur Nature Association.

West, L., & Chure, D. (1994). Dinosaur: The dinosaur national monument quarry. Dinosaur

Nature Association

Dinosaur national monument. National Park Foundation. (n.d.).

https://www.nationalparks.org/explore/parks/dinosaur-national-monument

Hansen, W. R. (1986). Neogene Tectonics and Geomorphology of the Eastern Uinta Mountains in Utah,

Colorado, and Wyoming. Npshistory.com.

http://npshistory.com/publications/geology/pp/1356/contents.htm

Sprinkel, D. (2019, September 12). The curious case of the green river in the Uinta Mountains. Utah

Geological Survey.

https://geology.utah.gov/map-pub/survey-notes/glad-you-asked/the-curious-case-green-river-uinta-mounta

ins/

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Quartz Rock located near the Green River by Split Mountain

Sedimentary Rock with quartz, located near Green River by Split Mountain

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Dinosaur Fossils inside Sandstone wall of the Quarry

Dinosaur Fossil Imprints on sandstone in Quarry

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Split Mountain Formation

Sound of Silence Trail

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