UW STUDENTS INVESTIGATE YELLOW BRICK ROAD DINOSAUR TRACKSITE
 ANCIENT
TRACKS -- Thomas Adams, of Shelby, Iowa, a UW
geology/geophysics and zoology/physiology senior, documents a 165
million-year-old dinosaur footprint at the Yellow Brick Road Dinosaur Tracksite
in the Big Horn Basin. (Click on image to enlarge). Adams and Brent
Breithaupt, UW Geological Museum director, wrote an article about the tracksite
published in Wyoming Geo-Notes No. 76, April 2003, by the Wyoming State
Geological Survey. (UW Geological Museum photo) |
June 6, 2003 -- The Yellow Brick Road Dinosaur Tracksite in the Big Horn Basin is as large as any site previously found in Wyoming, according to findings of a University of Wyoming student research project.
An article about the tracksite, co-written by Thomas Adams of Shelby, Iowa, a geology/geophysics and zoology/physiology senior, and Brent Breithaupt, UW Geological Museum director, was published by the Wyoming State Geological Survey in Wyoming Geo-Notes No. 76, April 2003. It is the first time an article written by an undergraduate geology student was published in the journal, Breithaupt says."This tracksite project is an example of the opportunities for undergraduate students to conduct meaningful research at the university," says Breithaupt. "The study has provided valuable experiences in setting up research projects, and colleting and interpreting field data."
The project to locate and study Middle Jurassic dinosaur tracks began in 2001. The Yellow Brick Road Dinosaur Tracksite may be even more extensive than the renowned Red Gulch Dinosaur Tracksite located only a couple of miles away, Adams and Breithaupt report. The Red Gulch Tracksite, with more than 1,000 tracks, is one of the largest in Wyoming and one of the most extensively studied dinosaur tracksites in the world.
"Our work shows that estimations on dinosaur sizes, speeds and activity patterns can be determined from the fossil record," Adams and Breithaupt state in the article.
Any evidence of dinosaur activity from 165 million years ago is significant in that there are only a few dinosaur fossil records from the time. A large, shallow inland sea (called the Sundance Sea) covered much of North America at the time, including parts of Wyoming.
"Studies of Middle Jurassic dinosaurs tracks in the Big Horn Basin have increased our understanding of a population of carnivorous dinosaurs on the shores of the Sundance Sea," Adams says.
"This site also provides us with important new information about the paleoenvironment of Northern Wyoming," Breithaupt adds.
UW students and volunteers have studied thousands of tracks at the site, all made by two-legged, three-toed meat-eating dinosaurs. Adams conducted detailed measurements of hundreds of tracks, and documented the site using aerial photographs taken from a blimp plus satellite imagery. More study results will be published in a future issue of Wyoming Geo-notes.
The project is supported through funding by Wyoming EPSCoR (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research), the Jurassic Foundation, the UW Geological Museum, a Chevron Field Scholarship and Industrial Field Support through the UW Department of Geology and Geophysics.