A herd of plant-eating dinosaurs stroll along a stream bed when suddenly, a flash flood washes them away, burying them in meters of sand and clay. Time passes and their bodies and bones fossilize.

Fast forward to today, paleontologists at Dinosaur National Monument and Brigham Young University make a phenomenal scientific discovery of the sauropod (plant-eaters) remains now cast in stone.

Actually, "this dinosaur bone-bed looks more like a log jam," says Dan Chure, DNM paleontologist.

The bones of big ones, little ones, old ones and young ones are all jumbled together.

“The animals had to be buried fairly fast,” says Brooks Britt, BYU paleontologist. “The basin containing the fossils was filled with 12 meters of rock and sediment.”

A Fantastic Find

“We know this because the bones are hooked-up completely like the remains of a fresh carcass,” Britt says. “Its not just bones, but connecting tissue, that fossilized here.”

Preservation at Site DNM #16 is unusual. Already known for its near vertical fossil wall, the monument now has a rare sauropod skull site.

Few sauropod skulls have been found despite the fact that these giant plant-eating dinosaurs roamed the earth for millions of years.

"They were big-bodied creatures with small heads, which didn't preserve well," Chure says. "Sauropod skulls have been found in Mongolia, Argentina and now, Dinosaur National Monument. It's a remarkable discovery.”

In fact, four sauropod skulls have been found, Chure says. “Three years ago, the monument and BYU discovered a complete one-of-a-kind sauropod skull from the Lower Cretaceous layers, a mere 80 million years old."

That discovery is a 19-inch skull extracted from a 6,000 pound block of stone that was removed by helicopter from the site and delivered to BYU in a dump truck.

BYU and DNM researchers now have one complete, but broken skull, and pieces of two other skulls from the older beds of Site DNM #16. All represent the "same species out of 200 other possible species," says Chure.

"These guys fossilized because they were buried quickly," Britt says, pointing to a puzzle of ribs, a humerus and other unidentifiable bone fragments.

An Explosive Scientific Discovery

Rapid burial means better preservation, which means better potential recovery and better scientific information.

Question: How does a scientist get through 12 meters of overburden?

Answer: Dynamite.

Chure says the bone bed was covered by a layer of rock too hard to remove by conventional jack hammer digging.

“We used three blasts,” Chure says, “prepared by a certified blasting crew who set one 11-12-inch hole and two 18-inch holes to blow out the overburden.”

A blast team from Rocky Mountain National Park provided the expertise.

"More overburden was moved in three days than could have been excavated in months," Britt says. "It opened the face of the site that we are excavating today."

A ledge of rumble created by the blast allows BYU students to work on the near-70 degree slope without sliding down hill.

"I wouldn't give my life for science," says Britt, joking about the dangers of his profession, "but, students are expendable."

The fossil remains from DNM are currently housed at BYU . They will be returned at a future time to the Uintah Basin when the federal curation facility is completed.

mbernard@vernal.com