7/12/2014

July 12, 2014 Part One–The Wyoming Dinosaur Center and Dig Sites

(This is in two parts because of an issue I am having with Live Writer – sorry.)

We had a slow start this morning but then finally made our way to the Wyoming Dinosaur Center and Dig Sites.  As we were registering we found out there was a tour to the dig sites just starting so away we went.

It turned out to be only Andy and I on the bus that made its way about 3 miles from the center up a dirt road:

07-12-14 B Wyoming Dinosaur Center (2)

07-12-14 B Wyoming Dinosaur Center (6)

The bus stopped right by these wildflowers with lots of butterflies:

07-12-14 B Wyoming Dinosaur Center (8)

Our tour guide took us to one of the sites that was opened about a month ago.  So far this is what they found:

07-12-14 B Wyoming Dinosaur Center (11)

07-12-14 B Wyoming Dinosaur Center (13)

They are mostly hip bones of a diplodocus dinosaur.  They are finding bones upon bones and think that this may have been a river or large runoff that gathered the bones together – sort of like a log jam.

The orange “stick” in the photo below is a marker on where they locate the bones.  When bones are found, these markers are placed and recorded.  They have found many dinosaur bones in this area but not all have been dug out.

The building on the hill is closed for now.  They have found a full skeleton and foot prints and they are in the process of stabilizing them:

07-12-14 B Wyoming Dinosaur Center (17)

This is looking down the hill where there are a few more dig sites:

07-12-14 B Wyoming Dinosaur Center (18)

Some of the bones are quite easy to find and others are not.  The white dots in the picture below are marking bones and bone fragments:

07-12-14 B Wyoming Dinosaur Center (22)

07-12-14 B Wyoming Dinosaur Center (24)

The bulge in that rock is actually a foot print.  For right now they are leaving it there until the hill can be stabilized.

07-12-14 B Wyoming Dinosaur Center (36)

The piles of dirt here are covering a backbone.  When they discover bones and cannot get them out before the winter comes, they will bury them in the surrounding soil to help preserve them until they can get back to them.

07-12-14 B Wyoming Dinosaur Center (38)

We spent about 45 minutes with our guide and then made our way back to the museum:

07-12-14 B Wyoming Dinosaur Center (46)

The museum tour is in Part Two.

No comments: