Mygatt-Moore Quarry Update: Tom’s Tibia

A week ago this past Thursday we successfully removed a large sauropod tibia from the quarry! This lower leg bone probably belonged to an Apatosaurus. It was initially discovered by our volunteer Tom S. on July 1st as we worked the quarry with our 5-day Moab dig group. Our 3-day dig group participants worked hard with us on July 8th to get the bone excavated and ready for transportation to the Museum. Luckily for us this bone was relatively easy to excavate, as it was 1100 mm (approximately 3′ 7-1/4″) long and straight. Apatosaurus vertebra are seldom this easy to excavate, and far more common in the quarry. The last time we removed a sauropod limb bone from the quarry was a fibula in 2007. Once we had the bone excavated we applied a field jacket to the bone. These field jackets are composed of burlap strips dipped in plaster and then applied to the bone to form a hard shell that helps us to transport the bone safely back to the lab. After the field jacket had dried the tibia was flipped over onto a tarp. It took 8 trip participants, Museum volunteers and employees to drag the tibia from its former 150 million year old resting place to the awaiting Museum truck for its trip back to the Dinosaur Journey preparation lab!

We were very excited for Tom’s big find, which he has already started to clean. Below are some pictures of his progress, along with pictures from during the excavation process. Keep checking back for tibia updates as work moves forward!

Photos courtesy of Roy & Presli Nelson