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| Jurassic National Monument | |
|---|---|
 Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry Visitor Center | |
  Map of Utah | |
| Location | Emery County, Utah |
| Nearest city | Cleveland |
| Coordinates | 39°19′22″N 110°41′22″W / 39.32282°N 110.68951°W |
| Governing body | Bureau of Land Management |
| www | |
| Designated | 1965 |
Jurassic National Monument, at the site of the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry, well known for containing the densest concentration of Jurassic dinosaur fossils ever found, is a paleontological site located near Cleveland, Utah, in the San Rafael Swell, a part of the geological layers known as the Morrison Formation.
Well over 15,000 bones have been excavated from this Jurassic excavation site and there are many thousands more awaiting excavation and study. It was designated a National Natural Landmark in October 1965.[1] The John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, signed into law by President Donald Trump on March 12, 2019, named it as a national monument.[2]
All of these bones, belonging to different species, are found disarticulated and indistinctly mixed together. It was hypothesized by Peter Dodson in 1980 that this strong concentration of mixed fossilized bones was due to a "predator trap", however it is more likely that this site was actually caused by an extreme drought.[3][4] No strict scientific consensus currently exists.
- ^ "National Natural Landmarks - National Natural Landmarks (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2019-03-30.
Year designated: 1965
- ^ "Text - S.47 - John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act". United States Congress. 2019-03-12. Retrieved 2019-03-12.
- ^ Gates, Terry A. (2005) The Late Jurassic Cleveland-Llyod Dinosaur Quarry as a Drought-Induced Assemblage
- ^ https://commons.lib.niu.edu/bitstream/handle/10843/21602/Reddick_niu_0162M_13209.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Archived 2021-01-06 at the Wayback Machine [bare URL PDF]