"...The monument includes world class paleontological sites..."
(Proclamation 6920, 1996)
News Updates
Projects
Documents & Resources
In the distant past, the Monument has been a shallow tropical sea, a coastal area, a lush swamp, and part of a vast sea of blowing sand, larger than any known today. More recent change, such as the end of the last Ice Age, is also recorded here. Scientists are very interested in this story of change, how it shaped who and what we are today, and ultimately, what the future may hold. Fossils, the evidence of ancient life, are an important part of this story. Although nearly all geologic formations in the Monument, which range in age from 260 million years ago to modern times, contain fossils, scientists are especially interested in the sequence of rocks formed between 75 and 94 million years ago, in what is called the Cretaceous Period of the Mesozoic Era.
Studying the Dakota, Tropic, Straight Cliffs, Wahweap, and Kaiparowits formations within the Monument has yielded more information about land-based ecosystem change at the end of the dinosaur era than almost any other place in the world. Fossils of many species of dinosaurs, small mammals, birds, lizards, crocodiles, turtles, amphibians, plants, and invertebrates have already been found, helping us paint a relatively complete picture of what it was like in North America not long before the dinosaurs vanished forever.
Why did the dinosaurs die out after such a long period of complete dominance? Impact from a meteor or comet is generally implicated, but scientists also find evidence that long-term climate and ecosystem change was also partly to responsible. The answers may be locked in the stones of the Monument, awaiting discovery. One thing is clear, study of the Monument's fossil treasures by scientists has really only just begun.
Please help us preserve these important national treasures for everyone to enjoy and leave fossils where you find them. The original location of a fossil is everything in terms of its value to the scientist. The age, environment and ecology of a fossil are all based on where it was found. If you see anything you think might be large pieces of fossil bone while you are in the backcountry, please make a detailed note of where it is and report it to Monument staff.
Programs
>