Dinosaur National Monument, Colorado/Utah

Green River, Dinosaur National Monument, Utah
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Green_River_UT_2005-10-14.jpg
Author: Michael Overton


Dinosaur National Monument is a site famous for its dinosaur fossils located at the border between Colorado and Utah. The national monument, which was declared on 4 October, 1915, covers 210,844 acres (85,326 ha) on the southeastern flank of the Uinta Mountains. Much of the area is within Moffat County in Colorado, although a section of it, called Dinosaur Quarry, is inside the border of Utah.

Dinosaur National Monument has yielded important fossils including those of the Allosaurus and Abydosaurus. The rock layer on which the fossils are found was once a river bed some 150 million years ago. Carcases of dinosaurs and other animals were deposited there during floods. Later on layers of sediments piled over the dinosaur remains.

Green River, Utah
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Green_River_UT_2005-10-13_2338.jpg
Author: Michael Overton


The dinosaur fossil beds of Dinosaur National Monument were first discovered by Earl Douglass in 1909. Douglass, a paleontologist with Carnegie Museum, shipped thousands of fossils to the museum in Pittsburgh, Penssylvania. In 1915 the site was proclaimed Dinosaur National Monument by President Woodrow Wilson.

Boundaries of the monument was expanded from its original 80 acres (320,000 sq m) to its present 210,844 acres (over 800 sq km) covering both Colorado and Utah in 1938. Also found within Dinosaur National Monument are petroglyphs created by early Native Americans. To prevent further vandalism to the petroglyphs, many of their sites are not listed on maps.

Green River, Dinosaur National Monument
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Green_River_UT_2005-10-14_0003.jpg
Author: Michael Overton

Visiting Dinosaur National Monument, Colorado

The main visitor center is the Canyon Area Visitor Center, at 4545 Highway 40, Dinosaur, C) 81680. The center is open Wednesdays through Sundays between 8:30 am and 4:30 pm. The Fossil Discovery Trail (when it opens April 2011) will provide in situ viewing of fossilized bones. Until then, there is a temporary visitor center about four miles north of Jensen, Utah. The national monument will only start implementing entrance fees from 2012.

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