~ Top 10 Parks for Fossils and Dinosaurs in USA ~

[MysteRy]

Top 10 Parks for Fossils and Dinosaurs in USA

Thanks to the network of national parks, dinosaur hunting is easy for all the family. Rock hounds can delight in exploring pre history in ten fantastic locations stretching from Montana to Texas and, of course, in the southwestern corner of the USA.


1. Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona   



Over 200 million years ago in the late Triassic, a lush pine forest grew in northeast Arizona. Dinosaurs were just starting out. Mankind was nowhere to be seen. When trees died, layers of sediment covered them. something quite special happened then that makes this national park so unique. The sediments were just the right sort. Silica-rich groundwater sunk in. Instead of rotting away, the trees' organic material was replaced by quartz crystals. They became petrified and beautifully preserved. Whole giant logs, up to 200 feet long, became hardened crystals in an array of colours. Over millions of years of weathering, they became exposed and now lie for all to see in the Petrified Forest National Park. There are at least nine distinct - now extinct - species of tree here that grew so long ago. It's sometimes called the Rainbow Forest.
These fossilized trees are not the only attraction. The landscape is stunning and somewhat alien. This barren, desert environment has striped, colourful hills and strange badlands, bordering the Painted Desert. The area with most fossils is the Chinle formation. You can find fossils of the first dinosaurs and giant reptiles that resemble the modern crocodile but over twelve metres long. Palaeontologists have also found shark, crab and many smaller fossils here.
The park lies on Route 66 and spans Navajo and Apache counties, 200 miles east of the Grand Canyon. It has a driving route straight through it, making for easy access. There are visitors centres and museums and you can grab refreshments at the historic landmark of the Painted Desert Inn to the north of the park.

[MysteRy]

2. Dinosaur National Monument, Colorado / Utah   



This is a real Jurassic park, between the Green and Yampa River. After early excavations, the sheer extent of this spectacular find became clear. Some of the most remarkable fossil dinosaurs of the world have been found here in this protected area and - luckily for the visitor - many were left in place for all to see. Over 1,500 fossils are left only partially excavated in cliff faces. These are 'the big ones': Stegosaurus, Brontosaurus and Allosaurus, alive and terrorising the earth 150 million years in the past. The best place to view the dinosaurs is the Carnegie Quarry, also called the dinosaur wall. Here, six miles from Vernal on Highway 40 in a newly-restored and reopened building, you can gaze as the exposed fossils in situ, in a vertical cliff face.
There are also petroglyphs here in the Uinta Basin, showing evidence of early man's occupation of and influence on the area up to 10,000 years ago. There are also superb, scenic drives through the canyons of the park from Harper's Corner.
The park lies right over the border between the states of Colorado and Utah, just off Highways 40, 80, 13 and 191. The visitors centre which is open year round is just north of Jensen on Highway 149 and there are others that are open seasonally.

[MysteRy]

3. Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, Nebraska   



Here, near Harrison, Nebraska are much more recent fossils, from the Miocene era a mere 20 million years ago.  The dinosaurs were long gone, but here are the petrified remains of early mammals. The ancestors of the modern horse, rhino, dog, camel, pig and beaver are well preserved here at Agate. They once ranged over the plains but all are now extinct. The fossil beds are best seen at University Hill and Carnegie Hill, about a kilometre from the visitors' centre. The visitors centre is definitely worth a visit, with many intepretative displays, recreations of the animals and guides to the trails. You can also explore the collection of American Indian artifacts from the times when the Lakota Sioux lived here. The Niobrara River winds through the park and there are one to three-mile trails along the banks. Today's wildlife runs free and protected from hunters here, so it's a perfect opportunity for a family hike through the prairie. The park is open every day except for Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Year's Day. It's  accessible north from Mitchell on Highway 29, following the national park signs for 34 miles. If coming from Harrison, follow Highway 20 south for 22 miles. There are signs on both routes.

[MysteRy]

4. Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, Colorado   



Just over fifty kilometres to the west of Colorado Springs is Florissant. Here there are fossils from the enormous to the microscopic, from the Eocene-Oligocene epoch 34 million years ago. You can compare perfectly preserved mayflies and leaves with the bones of thirty tonne dinosaurs. Enormous, fossilized redwood and sequoia stumps can be found immediately behind the visitors' centre. Over 1,700 different fossil species have been discovered here in a grassy valley of Teller County. You can follow the trails through the meadows and ponderosa pines, and may be lucky enough to see some of the contemporary wildlife: including mountain lions, bears, foxes and elk.

[MysteRy]

5. Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas   



Just inside Texas on the borders of New Mexico, off Highway 62/180 near Pine Springs, lies a mountainous region reaching up to 2,667 metres above sea level. Here, you can see a unique fossilized reef from the days when Texas was under the sea. 265 million years ago, in the Permian epoch, this part of the USA was almost on the equator and had an inland tropical sea. The reef is accessible today on an eight-mile trail, where you can see the preserved remains of trilobites, sponges and sea urchins.

[MysteRy]

6. Glacier National Park, Montana   



For sheer beauty and age, the Montana site cannot be beat. The Precambrian rocks here hold some of the oldest fossils in North America - up to 1.5 billion years old. These stromatolites are very important for geologists though they might not be the most exciting thing to look at. Not when you are surrounded by the soaring, snow-covered peaks of the Rocky Mountains plus the forests, pristine lakes and wilderness. So come here for the scenery, but take in the evidence of creatures so old it is almost beyond imagining at one of the visitors' centres.

[MysteRy]

7. John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, Oregon   



Hike into ancient Oregon to see fossil remains in over 700 identified sites. From the Eocene period some 44 million years ago, you can see preserved plants and mammals in Clarno, the Painted Hills and Sheep Rock. This is a huge area so plan your visit carefully. Entrance is free to all sites and debateably the best place to start is at the James Cant Ranch Historic District. Palaeontological research is still going on, and you can take a number of short trails and visit the exhibits. The visitors centre is on Highway 19 between Kimberly and Dayville.

[MysteRy]

8. Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument, Idaho   



This is the world's most important fossil site for the late Pliocene era some four million years ago. Over 220 different animals and plants have been discovered here, near Hagerman and Snake River on Route 30. The fossils here are from just before the the ice age period. There are mastadons, camels and sabre-toothed tigers, plus the unique Hagerman horse which fell into extinction 10,000 years ago. The horse is what has made these fossil beds world famous. Hagerman is forty minutes from Twin Falls and an hour and a half from Boise, Idaho.

[MysteRy]

9. Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota   



About ten million years after the disappearance of dinosaurs from the planet, the Paleocene era brought swamps to Dakota. 55 million years ago, there was a rich, steamy delta here that was home to crocodiles, turtles and a whole lot more small creatures. Now, there exposed volcanic rocks where you can see these fossils in situ. The Little Missouri River has carved out badlands and canyons and you can walk trails for over 100 miles. Roosevelt came here to hunt, and there is still an abundance of elk, prairie dogs, deer and bison here. The south unit, near Medora is 27 miles east of the border with Montana, accessed from exits 27 and 24 off Interstate 94.

[MysteRy]

0. Fossil Butte National Monument, Wyoming   



9 miles northwest of Kemmering in Wyoming is the world's best record of the Tertiary aquatic fauna and flora. This was the warm, sub-tropical Eocene era some 50 million years into history. Fossil lake was calm and shallow and, when the creatures died, their remains were almost perfectly preserved by fine layers of sediment. You can now see the fish, crocodiles, turtles, bats, birds and insects along with the incredible detail of plants. There are over eighty different exhibits and an interpretive video at the visitor's centre on Highway 30. Summer is the best time to visit.