Grand Junction, Colo. — Several recent paleontological discoveries at the Mygatt-Moore Quarry, located in the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area (NCA), may give paleontologists a new understanding of the appearance of dinosaurs living during the late Jurassic period and the environment where these animals lived and eventually perished.
Volunteers with the Museum of Western Colorado [...]
We are long over due to update those who are interested in the progress of our large jacket that was pulled out this past summer from the Mygatt-Moore Quarry. Our volunteer, Dorothy, has been hard at work preparing the jacket and has uncovered all of the large rib that was contained in the jacket, along with [...]
The Mygatt-Moore Quarry has officially been closed up for the summer. We had a very successful summer of digging, with 105 specimens collected over the summer. Included in our finds were 14 plant specimens, 25 various rib sections, 5 sauropod vertebrae and 2 specimens of Mymoorapelta (a vertebra and a piece of neck armor). We also had a great year [...]
Museum of Western Colorado Paleontology Curator, Dr. John Foster, has been awarded a $25,000 grant by the Bureau of Land Management/McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area. Dr. Foster applied for the grant in order to continue research at the Mygatt-Moore Quarry in Rabbit Valley. You can read more about his ongoing research at the quarry in a [...]
On August 19th the Museum’s expeditions crew removed a large jacket containing the remains of a Apatosaurus vertebra and at least 3 (maybe up to 6!) ribs from the Mygatt-Moore Quarry. A backhoe from the City of Fruita was donated for the morning to help us remove this very large piece from the ground. The jacket separated from the ground successfully and is currently being [...]
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 [...]
It is officially dig season at the Mygatt-Moore Quarry! Our first dig was on May 25th and went very well. Dinosaur Journey volunteer and castmaker Dorothy found an Allosaurus tooth tip - our first of the year! On June 4th a beautiful Diplodocus tooth with wear facets on two sides was found in the quarry. This was the first [...]
Mymoorapelta was the first ankylosaur discovered in the Jurassic of North America. This dinosaur was discovered in the Morrison Formation (Brushy Basin Member) at the Mygatt-Moore Quarry, located in western Colorado’s Rabbit Valley. It represented a totally new group of dinosaurs in the Morrison Formation, one that hadn’t been found in this rock unit in [...]
Dr. John Foster, paleontologist for the Museum of Western Colorado, and Katie Stephens, new Manager of the BLM McIinnis Canyons National Conservation Area, met at Rabbit Valley and the Mygatt Moore Dinosaur Quarry to review plans for the upcoming dig season. In their hands is the map of the quarry showing the more than 4,000 [...]