SALT LAKE CITY — A newly discovered batch of well-preserved dinosaur bones, petrified trees and even freshwater clams in southeastern Utah could provide new clues about life in the region 150 million years ago.
The Bureau of Land Management announced the find this week, calling the quarry near Hanksville “a major dinosaur fossil discovery.”
An excavation revealed at least four sauropods, which are long-necked, long-tailed, plant-eating dinosaurs, and two carnivorous ones, according to the bureau. It may have also uncovered an herbivorous stegosaurus.
Animal burrows and petrified tree trunks 6 feet in diameter were found nearby. The site doesn’t contain any new species but offers scientists the chance to learn more about the ecology of that time, said Scott Foss, a BLM paleontologist.
The fossilized dinosaurs are from the same late Jurassic period as those at Dinosaur National Monument, which straddles the Utah-Colorado state line, and the Cleveland-Lloyd quarry near Price.
It could be a decade or so before the full importance of the Hanksville quarry is known, Foss said.
“It does have the potential to match the other major quarries in Utah,” he said.
The bones were found in a sandstone channel of an ancient river.
“The preservation of these dinosaurs is excellent,” Foss said.
The BLM plans to close the site to conduct an environmental assessment for continued work in the area. The agency isn’t disclosing the exact location of the find because of security concerns.
