About 145 million years ago-about the midpoint of dinosaur history, much of the Dinosaur Diamond region was covered by low lying plains with highlands to the west and southwest. Rivers and streams flowed across the flats towards the northeast, with occasional ponding of water in lakes and marshes (a region not unlike the modern-day drainage of the Mississippi River). A variety of ferns, club mosses, cycads, and confers flourished, with no evidence of the later, more familiar flowering plants and grasses.
During the Jurassic Period, large plant-eating dinosaurs like Apatosaurus (also known as Brontosaurus), Brachiosaurus, Diplodocus, and Camarasaurus thrived along with the stranger Stegosaurus and the bipedal Camptosaurus. Meat-eating dinosaurs, such as Allosaurus, preyed upon these plant-eaters.
Preservation of bones from these animals and the resulting study of them have revealed a large variety of stories about their lives and deaths. Some of the sites preserve evidence of obvious predation or scavenging, like tooth marks on bones; another suggests dinosaurs died in floods and their bones are preserved in the sediments laid in a river channel or sandbar; and still others preserve both predator and prey trapped in the remnants of a mud bog or spring-fed pond. Quick burial and groundwater have aided their preservation by permineralizing or petrifying the bones. Subsequent tumultuous geologic activity-including mountain building with its resulting squeezing, warping, tilting, shifting, and erosion of rock strata-eventually reexposed the older rocks and revealed the dinosaur bones
The Dinosaur Diamond embraces one of the world's finest dinosaur, fossil and archaeological regions. Jurassic, Triassic, and Cretaceous dinosaur fossils can be found in several museums along the Dinosaur Diamond.
Within the world's ancient "Jurassic Playground" there are numerous active dig sites yielding more and more dinosaur fossils - many of which are the finest specimens found anywhere. New sites have been identified but not yet excavated. Other sites remain to be identified. Fossils from the Dinosaur Diamond region are located in over 65 museums worldwide.
The following museums offer dinosaur, fossil and archaeological interpretive displays and resources along the Dinosaur Diamond Prehistoric Highway. For the most part the museums and sites along the Dinosaur Diamond are described sequentially in a counter-clockwise direction beginning in Vernal Utah.
Dinosaur National Monument
Created in 1915 to preserve one of the world's largest concentration of Jurassic-age dinosaur bones found in the area, the monument consists of an authentic quarry where paleontologists spent hours unearthing dinosaur bones and the remote, rugged lands adjacent to the quarry in place as nature deposited them 150 million years ago.
Dinosaur National Monument is one sight most people can't see often enough. This time capsule of Dinosaur remains is never boring and is the perfect place to take visitors when they come to stay for a few days. When paleontologists quit their excavations the quarry became a life size display of 2000 relieved bones in their 200 foot long natural habitat in the side of a mountain. These embedded bones awe children, inspire sculptors, and instill thoughts of mortality in adults. Campgrounds are located near the quarry at Split Mountain and Green River.
Petroglyphs and many primitive sites in the monument are accessible by automobile. The size of some of the individual ancient drawings are remarkably large. 'Josie's Cabin, a nearby site, is popular with visitors. Children love to splash and play in the spring water that feeds a little pond. Adults like the tranquility of 'Josie's Ranch' and its cool tree-covered trails.
The area's remarkable scenic beauty can also be enjoyed on numerous trails that bring visitors into contact with this remote rugged land's abundant wildlife and interesting geology. The dramatic beauty of the monument at 'Harper's Corner', 'Echo Park', or along 'Jones Creek' can be overwhelming. The Green and Yampa Rivers both flow through the monument, giving more adventurous visitors a chance to enjoy the thrill of whitewater rafting through this national treasure. Spectacular geological formations of the colorful canyons, for example 'Mitten Park Fault', also reveal much of the Earth's history, while exposing this "Jurassic Park."
Quicktime Video Link
Interactive Link - spin the Allosaur Skull
Dinosaur National Monument - Extract from ‘ Geology of Utah's Parks and Monuments 2000 Utah Geological Association Publication 28 D.A. Sprinkel, T. C.Chidsey, Jr., and P. B. Anderson, editors’
Dinosaur Quarry-Jensen, Utah
The quarry, located 7 miles north of Jensen, Utah, is the only place in the park to view dinosaur bones. The quarry displays a 160-foot long wall with over 1600 dinosaur bones. The quarry also provides exhibits and a paleontology laboratory. It is open year-round.
Canyon Country-Dinosaur, Colorado
The Harpers Corner Scenic Drive provides a 2-hour roundtrip letting visitors scan 210,000 acres of dramatic canyon country landscape from roadside overlooks. A trail at Harpers Corner provides stunning views of the canyons below and the confluence of the Green and Yampa Rivers. Some of the most scenic parts of the monument are accessible on paved or well-graded roads in this eastern portion of the monument.
Utah Field House of Natural History
State Park Museum - Vernal, Utah
A trip to the Uintah Basin isn't complete without a visit to the Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum. The museum opened its doors in 2004 and is located two blocks east of the old Fieldhouse on Highway 40 in Vernal. The Basin can now boast that it is one of the few places in the world where every era of the Earth's geological history is present.
Museum designers highlighted the geological and geographical features of an area with an 80-mile radius around vernal using different colored floor tile to represent the different ages of rock. The museum features a 49-seat theater with a 10 minute video presentation designed to peak interest so visitors will seek an understanding of what they see during their visit. after the video, visitors begin a journey that takes them from 149 million years ago to the present by slowly winding their way from the museums first floor to its second floor. although the ascent is gradual the effect is astounding. Interactive exhibits, such as gastrolith stomach stone, encourage visitors to pull on the display to reveal what is hidden behind it in stone. Visitors can also walk around a large sandbar constructed in the middle of the floor and observe a large display that includes stegasoraus, Allosaurus and other dinosaurs in a scene designed to represent their natural habitat.
The Utah Field House of Natural History sits amidst some of the most spectacular geologic and paleontologic resources in the world and introduces visitors to more than 1.2 billion years of geologic history. Over 600 million years of life are preserved, ranging from Precambrian algae, Paleozoic trilobites, Mesozoic reptiles and wood, to Tertiary mammals. Native American prehistory and ethnology as well as modem biology complete the story of the natural history of the Uinta Basin-Uinta Mountains area. In addition to exhibits, the museum maintains a specimen collection for future displays, educational programs and research. Eighteen life-size replicas of prehistoric animals are exhibited in an outdoor setting, including a Tyrannosaurus rex and Utahraptor.
The discovery of Tertiary mammals south of Vernal and of the dinosaur quarry in the late 19th and early 20th centuries has made the area a paleontologist's paradise. The Utah Field was created to act as a local repository for some of these fossils in the late 1940's. More than six million visitors have visited the museum since its opening.
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College of Eastern Utah Prehistoric Museum-Price, Utah
The CEU Prehistoric Museum was founded in the early 1960s through the efforts of local citizens headed by Don Burge, the college geology professor. The original museum opened in 1961 in an upstairs room of the Price City Hall and soon expanded into the hallway with the first mounted dinosaur, a meat-eating Allosaurus from the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry.
The CEU Museum has made a name for itself by operating 50-plus dinosaur quarries and participating in many archaeological projects. The museum is accredited by the American Association of Museums and is a designated repository for federal and state collections. The museum has the largest collection of dinosaur tracks in the world. The museum's Hall of Dinosaurs includes six complete dinosaur skeletons from the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods of eastern Utah. Four newly discovered dinosaurs are scheduled to be mounted over the next few years.
The CEU Museum also is home to Utahraptor-the Cretaceous Period's most ferocious meat-eating dinosaur that hunted in packs. This year an 8 foot by 40 foot mural of the Pleistocene Age (10,000 to 17,000 years ago) will be completed. The museum exhibits also include extensive Fremont Culture artifacts. The museum conducts 1-week field programs for students during the summer.
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Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry
The Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry (30 miles south of Price) was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1966 under the Historic Sites Act of 1935 (BLM) and is an extremely productive Jurassic Period dinosaur quarry of world stature. The quarry works a bone bed created under puzzling conditions 147 million years ago. The most concentrated deposit of Jurassic dinosaur bones ever found and three quarters of the animals that left their bones here were predators. Add the fact that the bones are generally in very good condition while the skeletons are generally not and this deposit becomes a very strange one indeed.
Seventy-four individual animals have been identified from the approximately 12,000 bones excavated. There is strong evidence that there are thousands more bones yet to be uncovered. Exhibits include a replica of an adult Allosaurus skeleton, a map of the bone bed, a fossil preparation table, replica skulls of animals found in the quarry, information on and a replica of the one dinosaur egg recovered from the site, and much more. Material from the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry is located in more than 65 museums around the world.
Museum of the San Rafael-Castle Dale, Utah
The Museum of the San Rafael includes exhibits of large dinosaur skeletons including the Allosaurus, Chasmosaurus, and Albertosaurus. Exhibits also include highlights of the geology, history, animal, and plant life of the San Rafael Swell area as well as exceptional Native American/Fremont artifacts and sculptures.
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Dinosaur Museum - Blanding, Utah
At the Dinosaur Museum, gigantic fossilized logs from before the Age of Dinosaurs set the stage for your walk through time. On view are skeletons, fossilized skin eggs, footprints, and beautifully realistic sculptures which represent dinosaurs from the Four Comers region and throughout the globe. View a rare duckbill dinosaur mummy and a tyrannosaur from Mongolia. Stroll through the "History Hall of Dinosaur Movies" and see an actual stop-motion model used in the original 1933 film classic, "King King."
For a day's worth of diversified museum viewing, Blanding is home to three museums, which present Paleontology, Archeology, and Western USA history in both indoor and outdoor settings. Along with The Dinosaur Museum, there is The Edge of the Cedars Museum and State Park, and the Utah State University Nations of the Four Corners Cultural Center.
Dan O'Laurie Canyon Country Museum-Moab, Utah
This regional museum tells the story of Moab and Grand County's past, from prehistoric and Ute Indian artifacts to the explorations of Spanish missionaries. Photos and artifacts show pioneer Moab life, much of which centered around ranching or mining. The museum also features an extensive rock and mineral display and massive bones from dinosaurs. Adults and children alike will love the museum's "hands on" policy with many of the displays.
The Dan O'Laurie Museum highlights archaeological, geological, and historical exhibits associated with the dramatic landscape and archaeological wonders of Moab Valley and southeastern Utah. Dinosaur tracks and a dinosaur femur are among its exhibits, as well as archaeological displays. Cultural exhibits also include artifacts of Archaic peoples followed by Anasazi, Fremont, and Ute.
Dinosaur Valley Museum of Western Colorado - Grand Junction, Colorado
The Dinosaur Valley Museum is home to several large dinosaur skeletons, robotic dinosaurs, a simulated dinosaur quarry, fossils, and interactive exhibits. The Museum also houses a paleontology laboratory.
Delta County Museum-Delta, Colorado
The Delta County Museum is home to over 200 fossilized dinosaur bones and detailed maps and descriptions of the Dry Mesa Quarry.
Rangely Museum - Rangely, Colorado
The Rangely Museum exhibitions include Native American artifacts, the pioneer settlement of the area, and energy development. Dinosaur trackways comprise one exhibit.
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