Garden Park, Colorado
{{Short description|Paleontological site}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
Garden Park is a paleontological site in Fremont County, Colorado, known for its Jurassic dinosaurs and the role the specimens played in the infamous Bone Wars of the late 19th century. Located {{convert|10|km|mi|abbr=on}} north of Cañon City, the name originates from the area providing vegetables to the miners at nearby Cripple Creek in the 19th century. Garden Park proper is a triangular valley surrounded by cliffs on the southeast and southwest and by mountains to the north; however, the name is also refers to the dinosaur sites on top and along the cliffs. The dinosaur sites now form the [https://www.blm.gov/visit/garden-park-fossil-area Garden Park Paleontological Resource Area], which is overseen by the Bureau of Land Management.
File:Cope Quarry.jpg for E. D. Cope]]
File:Marsh Quarry.JPG. Most of the specimens are at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C.]]
Geology
Garden Park was formed by erosion of sedimentary rocks that have been distorted by uplift of the Rocky Mountains. The region is bisected by Four Mile Creek (also called Oil Creek), which has carved a canyon through the Mesozoic and Paleozoic sedimentary rocks. One of these Mesozoic strata is the Morrison Formation, which is exposed within the canyon. However, because the formation contains high amounts of swelling clays, large faulted blocks or slump-blocks of the formation are slowly moving towards the creek. The result is to make it difficult to correlate the various dinosaur quarries because exposures are limited and not continuous.
The formation in Garden Park can be divided informally into a lower and upper unit.Carpenter, K. 1998. Vertebrate biostratigraphy of the Morrison Formation near Cañon City, Colorado. In Carpenter, K., Chure, D. and Kirkland, J.I. (eds.) The Morrison Formation: An Interdisciplinary Study. Modern Geology 23:407-426. The lower unit is composed primarily green and gray mudstones, with numerous lenticular, white to tan to gray sandstones. The upper is composed mostly of red mudstone, with lesser amounts of yellowish, often tabular sandstone. These two units probably correspond to the Tidwell, Saltwash and Brushy Basin members of the Morrison Formation on the Colorado Plateau.
Dinosaurs
The discovery of dinosaurs in the Garden Park area has been presented numerous times by Schuchert and LeVene,Schuchert, C., and LeVene, C.M. 1940. O.C.Marsh, Pioneer in Paleontology. Yale University Press, New Haven. Shur,Shur, E. 1974. The Fossil Feud. Exposition Press, NY. 340p. Ostrom and McIntosh,Ostrom, J,H., and McIntosh, J.S. 1966. Marsh's Dinosaurs: The Collections from Como Bluff. Yale University Press, New Haven. and Jaffe.Jaffe, M. 2000. The Gilded Dinosaur. Crown Publ., New York. Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope both produced major finds here.McCarren, Mark J. The Scientific Contributions of Othniel Charles Marsh, pp 1, 8, 20, Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. {{ISBN|0-912532-32-7}}. The lesser known post-Marsh and Cope collecting of dinosaurs has been presented by Monaco.Monaco, P.E. 1998.A short history of dinosaur collecting in the Garden Park Fossil Area, Canon City, Colorado. In, Carpenter, K., Chure, D. and Kirkland, J.I. (eds.) The Morrison Formation: An Interdisciplinary Study. Modern Geology 23: 465-480. She recounts the expeditions by the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in the early 20th century, the Denver Museum of Natural History in the 1930 and 1990s, and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History in the mid-1950s.
Dinosaurs from Garden Park on display include Allosaurus fragilis, Diplodocus longus, Ceratosaurus nasicornis, and Stegosaurus stenops at the National Museum of Natural History, Haplocanthosaurus delfsi at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and Othnielosaurus consors (then called Othnielia rex), Stegosaurus stenops and a clutch of Preprismatoolithus coloradensis eggs at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.
Major vertebrate quarries
references Carpenter, K. 1998. Vertebrate biostratigraphy of the Morrison Formation near Cañon City, Colorado. In Carpenter, K., Chure, D. and Kirkland, J.I. (eds.) The Morrison Formation: An Interdisciplinary Study. Modern Geology 23:407-426.McIntosh, J.S. 1998. New information about the Cope collection of sauropods from Garden Park, Colorado. In Carpenter, K., Chure, D. and Kirkland, J.I. (eds.) The Morrison Formation: An Interdisciplinary Study. Modern Geology 23:481-506. (h) = holotype
{|
|
=Cleveland Museum of Natural History Quarry=
;Reptilia
:Testudines
::Amphichelydia
:::Glyptops ornatus
:Crocodilia
::Mesosuchia
:::Eutretauranosuchus delfsi
;Dinosauria
:Saurischia
::Sauropoda
=Cope's Quarries=
CS 1 (Cope's Nipple = Saurian Hill)
;Dinosauria
:Saurischia
::Sauropoda
:::Camarasaurus supremus (h)
Quarry 1
;Dinosauria
:Saurischia
::Theropoda
Quarry 2
;Dinosauria
:Saurischia
::Sauropoda
:::''Camarasaurus supremus
::Theropoda
:::Epanterias amplexus (h) nomen dubium (now Allosaurus)
:Ornithischia
::Stegosauria
::Hypsirophus discurus
Quarry 3
;Dinosauria
:Saurischia
::Sauropoda
:::Amphicoelias fragillimus (h) (now Maraapunisaurus)
Quarry 4
;Dinosauria
:Saurischia
::Sauropoda
;
:Symphyrophus musculosus (h) nomen dubium
Quarry 5 (=Denver Museum of Natural History Camarasaurus)
;Dinosauria
:Saurischia
::Sauropoda
:::Camarasaurus supremus
Quarry 6
;Dinosauria
:Saurischia
::Sauropoda
:::Camarasaurus supremus
Quarry 7
;Dinosauria
:Saurischia
::Sauropoda
:::Amphicoelias sp.
:::Camarasaurus supremus
Quarry 8 (CS 2; The Fort)
;Dinosauria
:Saurischia
::Sauropoda
:::Camarasaurus supremus
Quarry 9
;Dinosauria
:Saurischia
::Sauropoda?
Quarry 10
;Dinosauria
:Saurischia
::Sauropoda?
Quarry 11
;Dinosauria
:Saurischia
::Sauropoda?
Quarry 12
;Dinosauria
:Saurischia
::Sauropoda
:::Amphicoelias altus (h)
Quarry 13
;Dinosauria indeterminate
Quarry 14
;Dinosauria
:Saurischia
::Sauropoda
:::Camarasaurus supremus
Quarry 15 (Oil Tract)
;Dinosauria
:Saurischia
::Sauropoda
:::Amphicoelias latus (h) (now Camarasaurus grandis)
The following cannot be assigned to specific quarries
;Reptilia
:Testudines
::Amphichelydia
:::Glyptops plicatulus
;Incertae sedis
:Tichosteus lucasanus (h) nomen dubium
:Tichosteus aequifacies (h) nomen dubium
:Brachyrophus altarkansanus (h) nomen dubium
;Dinosauria
:Saurischia
::Sauropoda
:::Caulodon diversidens (h) nomen dubium
:Ornithischia
::Stegosauria
:::Hypsirophus seeleyanus (h)
=Denver Museum of Natural History =
Deweese Quarry (DMNH)
;Dinosauria
:Saurischia
::Sauropoda
:::Diplodocinae indeterminate
Egg Gulch
;Dinosauria
:Saurischia
::Theropoda
:::Prismatoolithus coloradensis (eggs)
:Ornithischia
::Ornithopoda
:::Dryosauridae indeterminate
Kessler's Quarry
;Reptilia
:Testudines
::Amphichelydia
:::Glyptops plicatus
:Crocodilia
::Mesoeucrocodylia
:::Goniopholididae indeterminate
;Dinosauria
:Saurischia
::Theropoda
:::Torvosaurus sp.
:Ornithischia
::Ornithopoda
:::genus and species indeterminate
::Stegosauria
:::Stegosaurus stenops
Lindsey Quarry
;Amphibia
:Anura
;Reptilia
:Testudines
::Amphichelydia
:::Glyptops plicatus
:Rhynchocephalia
:::Opisthias rarus
;Dinosauria
:Saurischia
::Sauropoda
:::Camarasaurus grandis
::Theropoda
:::Allosaurus fragilis
:Ornithischia
::Ornithopoda
:::genus and species indeterminate
;Mammalia
:Multituberculata
::genus and species indeterminate
Meyer Site 1
;Reptilia
:Crocodilia
::Mesosuchia
:::Goniopholididae indeterminate
;Dinosauria
:Saurischia
::Sauropoda
:::genus and species indeterminate
::Theropoda
:::Allosaurus sp.
Meyer Site 2
;Dinosauria
:Saurischia
::Theropoda
:::Torvosaurus cf. T. tanneri
Meyer Site 3
;Dinosauria
:Saurischia
::Sauropoda
:::Diplodocinae indeterminate
Not-A-Haplocanthosaurus Quarry
;Dinosauria
:Saurischia
::Sauropoda
:::Diplodocidae indeterminate
::Theropoda
:::genus and species indeterminate
Small's Quarry
;Osteichthyes
:Actinopterygii
::genus and species indeterminate
:Sarcopterygii
::Dipnoi
:::Ceratodus guentheri
;Reptilia
:Testudines
::Amphichelydia
:::Dinochelys whitei
:::Glyptops plicatus
:Squamata
::?Sauria indeterminate
::Lacertilia
:Pterosauria
:::Kepodactylus grandis (h)
:Crocodylia
::Mesosuchia
:::Goniopholididae indeterminate
;Dinosauria
:Saurischia
::Sauropoda
:::Apatosaurinae indeterminate
::Theropoda
:::Ceratosauria indeterminate
:::genus and species indeterminate
:Ornithiscia
::Ornithopoda
:::Dryosaurus altus
::Stegosauria
:::Stegosaurus stenops
::Ankylosauria
:::?Mymoorapelta sp.
;Mammalia
:Docodonta
::Docodontidae
:Dryolestidae
::new genus and species
Valley of Death Locality
;Reptilia
:Testudines
::Amphichelydia
:::Glyptops plicatulus
;Dinosauria
:Saurischia
::Sauropoda
:::Diplodocinae indeterminate
:Ornithischia
::Neornithischia
::::genus and species indeterminate
=Marsh Quarries=
Jennings and Johnson Locality
;Reptilia
:Crocodilia
::Hallopus victor
Felch Quarry 1
;Osteichthyes
:Sarcopterygii
::Dipnoi
:::Ceratodus guentheri
;Reptilia
:Testudines
::Amphichelydia
:::Dinochelys whitei
:::Glyptops plicatulus
:Crocodylia
::Mesosuchia
:::Eutretauranosuchus sp.
;Dinosauria
:Saurischia
::Sauropoda
:::Brachiosaurus sp.
:::Brontosaurus yahnahpin
:::Diplodocus longus (h)
:::Haplocanthosaurus priscus (h)
:::Haplocanthosaurus utterbacki (h) (=H. priscus)
::Theropoda
:::Allosaurus fragilis (h)
:::Ceratosaurus nasicornis (h)
:::Coelurus fragilis
:::Ceratosauria indeterminate
:::Labrosaurus ferox (h) (now Allosaurus fragilis)
:Ornithischia
::Ornithopoda
:::Dryosaurus altus
:::Othnielia rex (h)
::Stegosauria
:::Stegosaurus stenops (h)
Felch Quarry 2
;Dinosauria
:Saurischia
::Sauropoda
:::Diplodocus longus
Lucas's Site
;Reptilia
:Crocodylia
::Mesoeucrocodylia
:::Amphicotylus lucasii
;Dinosauria
:Ornithischia
::Ornithopoda
:::Nanosaurus agilis (h)
|}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.blm.gov/visit/garden-park-fossil-area Garden Park Fossil Area] - Bureau of Land Management
- [http://handsontheland.org/garden-park/ Hands On The Land]
{{coord|38|34|24|N|105|13|31|W|display=title}}
{{authority control}}
Category:Jurassic paleontological sites of North America
Category:Paleontology in Colorado