BGuthrie Photos: UT -- St. George -- Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm

UT -- St. George -- Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm:

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. DINO1_190715_016.JPG: Untitled Robert Milner
2. DINO1_190715_030.JPG: Untitled Robert Milner
3. DINO1_190715_036.JPG: The History of Paleontology
4. DINO1_190715_039.JPG: Protecting Fossils, It's for Science!
5. DINO1_190715_047.JPG: The Discovery of Dinosaur Tracks at Johnson Farm The first dinosaur tracks at this site were discovered accidentally by Dr. Sheldon Johnson on Feb. 26, 2000, while he was leveling a hill that was about the same height as the museum roof. This large sandstone block fell from his dump truck, landing upside down and revealing the very clear footprint in the upper middle portion of the block.
6. DINO1_190715_054.JPG: Eubrontes Tracks and Mudcracks
7. DINO1_190715_074.JPG: Geologic Time
8. DINO1_190715_078.JPG: 179 MYA -- Mass extinction 219 MYA -- Mass extinction 250 MYA -- Largest mass extinction in Earth history. 95% of marine species and 70% land species become extinct. Major volcanic events to form the Siberian Traps and Emeishan Volcanic Fields.
9. DINO1_190715_083.JPG: 365 MYA -- Mass extinction mostly affected marine communities, especially reef-building organisms such as stromatoporoids, and rugose and tubulate corals. About 40% of species went extinct. 405 MYA -- Mass extinction. 437 MYA -- Possible asteroid impact evidenced by geochemical anomalies and sudden mass extinctions. Extensive glaciations.
10. DINO1_190715_093.JPG: 33 MYA -- Mass extinction 65 MYA -- Large mass extinction with 75% of all species going extinct, including the reign of dinosaurs on land and ammonites in the oceans. Mammals and birds became the dominant land vertebrates.
11. DINO1_190715_096.JPG: Stratigraphy in the St. George Area
12. DINO1_190715_099.JPG: Stratigraphy in St. George and at Johnson Farm
13. DINO1_190715_102.JPG: How Were These Tracks Made?
14. DINO1_190715_106.JPG: Coelophysis bauri Skeleton (Replica)
15. DINO1_190715_109.JPG: Grallator Tracks
16. DINO1_190715_120.JPG: Batrachopus Trackways
17. DINO1_190715_131.JPG: Selenichnus Trackways
18. DINO1_190715_136.JPG: Protosuchus Life Restoration
19. DINO1_190715_147.JPG: Split Layer: Natural Molds and Casts
20. DINO1_190715_154.JPG: Gigandipus Tracks
21. DINO1_190715_174.JPG: Anomoepus Tracks
22. DINO1_190715_179.JPG: Scutellosaurus Life Restoration
23. DINO1_190715_192.JPG: Other Vertebrate Tracks and Trails
24. DINO1_190715_197.JPG: Fish Swim Trails: Undichna and Parundichna
25. DINO1_190715_201.JPG: Exocampe
26. DINO1_190715_215.JPG: Cynodont Tracks...?
27. DINO1_190715_225.JPG: Invertebrate Trackways, Trails, and Burrows
28. DINO1_190715_227.JPG: Diplichnites
29. DINO1_190715_235.JPG: Kouphichnium
30. DINO1_190715_244.JPG: Skolithos
31. DINO1_190715_249.JPG: Palaeophycus
32. DINO1_190715_253.JPG: Skolithos
33. DINO1_190715_262.JPG: "Poetry on Stone"
34. DINO1_190715_269.JPG: Megapnosaurus Life Restoration
35. DINO1_190715_279.JPG: Installing a Special Rock
36. DINO1_190715_282.JPG: Sedimentary Structures and Ancient Environments
37. DINO1_190715_287.JPG: Symmetrical Ripple Marks
38. DINO1_190715_292.JPG: Raindrop Impressions
39. DINO1_190715_298.JPG: Wrinkle Structures
40. DINO1_190715_303.JPG: Rill Marks
41. DINO1_190715_307.JPG: Tool Marks
42. DINO1_190715_312.JPG: Scratch Circles
43. DINO1_190715_316.JPG: Stromatolites
44. DINO1_190715_320.JPG: Asymmetrical Ripple Marks
45. DINO1_190715_324.JPG: Mudcracks
46. DINO1_190715_330.JPG: Tufa Concretion
47. DINO1_190715_351.JPG: Utah: Land of Lakes
48. DINO1_190715_374.JPG: Stromatolites
49. DINO1_190715_378.JPG: The Discovery of Dinosaur Swim Tracks
50. DINO1_190715_383.JPG: The Discovery of Dinosaur Swim Tracks
51. DINO1_190715_395.JPG: In What Direction Were the Dinosaurs Swimming?
52. DINO1_190715_410.JPG: Exceptional Preservation of Swim Tracks
53. DINO1_190715_446.JPG: Tracks in Tracks
54. DINO1_190715_460.JPG: Preparing a Phytosaur Skull
55. DINO1_190715_485.JPG: History of Fossil Preparation -- Part I
56. DINO1_190715_488.JPG: History of Fossil Preparation -- Part II
57. DINO1_190715_491.JPG: Modern Fossil Preparation
58. DINO1_190715_494.JPG: Fossil Preparation Through the Microscope
59. DINO1_190715_498.JPG: Microvertebrate Fossil Collecting
60. DINO1_190715_501.JPG: Screen Washing
61. DINO1_190715_503.JPG: Excavation and Preparation of a Phytosaur Skull
62. DINO1_190715_506.JPG: Preparation
63. DINO1_190715_532.JPG: Allosaurus Utha's State Fossil
64. DINO1_190715_539.JPG: Othnielosaurus Leg
65. DINO1_190715_545.JPG: Utahraptor
66. DINO1_190715_554.JPG: Tyrannosauripus Pillmorei Left Footprint (replica)
67. DINO1_190715_556.JPG: Wall of Fossil Tracks
68. DINO1_190715_570.JPG: Utahceratops
69. DINO1_190715_582.JPG: Rare Skin Impressions
70. DINO1_190715_611.JPG: Early Jurassic Pterosaurs
71. DINO1_190715_618.JPG: Walking with Wings
72. DINO1_190715_625.JPG: Lily Pad-Like Plant?
73. DINO1_190715_630.JPG: Death Pose
74. DINO1_190715_635.JPG: Petrified Tree
75. DINO1_190715_663.JPG: Dilophosaurus Life Restoration
76. DINO1_190715_675.JPG: Lake Dixie Discovery Trail
77. DINO1_190715_686.JPG: Welcome to Lake Dixie!
78. DINO1_190715_690.JPG: Layers of Time
79. DINO1_190715_703.JPG: Dinosaur Stomping Ground
80. DINO1_190715_735.JPG: Erosive Megaripples
81. DINO1_190715_748.JPG: Tree Branches and Fish Bones
82. DINO1_190715_761.JPG: Small Tracks & A Turning Dinosaur
83. DINO1_190715_780.JPG: Swimming Crocodile Ancestors?
84. DINO1_190715_796.JPG: A Running Dinosaur Trackway
85. DINO1_190715_803.JPG: Muddy Mammal Ancestors
86. DINO1_190715_825.JPG: Evidence of a Shoreline -- Part 2
87. DINO1_190715_834.JPG: Evidence of a Shoreline -- Part 1
88. DINO1_190715_853.JPG: "Tadpole Nests"
89. DINO1_190715_860.JPG: Tail Drag Trace
90. DINO1_190715_868.JPG: I really resented that some kid had dropped their brochure over one of the prime pieces of the display. The staff said they periodically send people out to remove stuff like this but I didn't have time to wait for hours for that to happen.
91. DINO1_190715_869.JPG: Walking in the Waves
92. DINO1_190715_881.JPG: Theropod Walking After Sitting
93. DINO1_190715_908.JPG: This fossil has been covered in burlap and plaster in the field. Paleontologists call it a "jacketed" fossil.
94. DINO1_190715_919.JPG: Petrified wood collection is limited to 25 pounds per day and not more than 250 pounds a year. This piece of petrified wood was illegally collections. As a paleontologist, you know important data, such as the type and age of the fossil, is lost when fossils are taken without proper permits.
95. DINO1_190715_923.JPG: Sitting Eubrontes Traces on a Beach
96. DINO1_190715_937.JPG: Argghh!! Idiot kids.
97. DINO2_190715_001.JPG: Petrified Wood -- Frozen in Time
98. DINO2_190715_014.JPG: Sitting Eubrontes: Traces on a Beach
99. DINO2_190715_020.JPG: Let's Walk Through Time!
100. DINO2_190715_024.JPG: Precambrian -- Earth Gets a Life
101. DINO2_190715_026.JPG: Take Off, Life! -- The Early Paleozoic Era
102. DINO2_190715_033.JPG: In the Middle of the ~~Night~~ Paleozoic
103. DINO2_190715_039.JPG: Late in the Game (Late Paleozoic)
104. DINO2_190715_043.JPG: The Dinosaur Invasion: Mesozoic Era
105. DINO2_190715_051.JPG: Triassic Life in Utah
106. DINO2_190715_054.JPG: Utah's Jurassic Animals
107. DINO2_190715_058.JPG: Utah During the Cretaceous
108. DINO2_190715_068.JPG: Salutations! From Jurassic Park
109. DINO2_190715_075.JPG: The Flowering Cretaceous
110. DINO2_190715_079.JPG: Now for the Cenozoic
111. DINO2_190715_083.JPG: Onward to the Neogene Period
112. DINO2_190715_089.JPG: The Last Period: The Quaternary, Part 1
113. DINO2_190715_093.JPG: The Last Period: The Quaternary, Part 2
114. DINO2_190715_099.JPG: Walk Through Time Review
Description of Subject Matter: In late February 2000, Dr. Sheldon Johnson was leveling the small hill you are now standing on when he came across dinosaur tracks preserved as natural fossil casts on the underside of a thick layer of sandstone. The sandstone layer was part of a lakeshore that dates back approximately 200 million years and is part of what geologists call the Moenave Formation. The Discovery Site is on the western edge of the ancient lake. When a large block tipped out of a bucket of Dr. Johnson's track hoe, he had no idea that he had just uncovered the first trace of an incredible fossil treasure trove -- one of the most important discoveries in the history of paleontological research in Lower Jurassic rocks.
After several years of research and continual discovery, the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm is a world-class dinosaur site. It includes a rare combination of fossilized bones and footprints of dinosaurs and many other ancient animals. Scientists reference it as the most significant dinosaur tracksite in western North America.

[Stop #1] The story of the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site is the story of ancient "Lake Dixie". This lake ran north and east of your current location. The shoreline of the lake varied with time, season and climate, but at numerous times was located within the original discovery areas just to your right and across the road. The lake existing during Early Jurassic time when the land was near sea level and much closer to the equator. Around this ancient lake, dinosaurs were only a component of a whole lakeshore ecosystem consisting of a diverse set of plant and animal life. As water level fluctuated, the shoreline sometimes consisted of drying mud creating the mud cracks around many of the dinosaur tracks.
The dinosaur tracks were formed when a dinosaur stepped into this mud. Firm mud retained the track impressions and was soon filled with sand from the beach of the lake. Over millions of years, the sand had turned into rock creating the natural casts of the dinosaur's feet that you see before you. Thus you are looking at a naturally made replica (natural cast) of the sole of the dinosaur foot and the infillings of the mud cracks. These blocks are displayed upside down from how they naturally occurred.

[Stop #2] You can see the tracks of a small dinosaur that lived on the lakeshore. An animal named Megapnosaurus probably made these tracks. Scientists call this particular type of track, Grallator -- this name is not the name of a dinosaur, but of small, three-toed racks. Megapnosaurus was a small dinosaur, about 3-4 feet tall, 7-8 feet long, and weighed roughly 50 pounds. Megapnosaurus was a skinny, meat-eating dinosaur that had long legs, a long tail, and small crests on its long and narrow head. This track maker was a predator and possibly hunted in packs. Megapnosaurus bones have been found in Arizona.

[Stop #3] The small Batrachopus tracks on these blocks are from an upright-walking crocodylian called Protosuchus, a small, four-legged ancient ancestor of modern crocodiles and alligators that lived on the land instead of in the water.

[Stop #4] Here you can see two large dinosaur tracks: a larger Gigandipus track on the block to the left and Eubrontes track on the block to the right. Large, meat-eating dinosaurs made both tracks, and all meat-eating dinosaurs have four toes. The Eubrontes tracks generally do not show an impression of a dew claw (small first toe or big toe in humans) because this toe hangs high up off the ankle and doesn't normally touch the ground. The Gigandipus track is larger, has fatter toes, and a forward projected dew claw impression. This is because it was made by a different kind of meat-eater, or that the mud was gooier, so while sinking deep into the mud, the foot pushed more mud out of the way and allowed the dew claw to be close enough to the ground to make an impression.
We are not sure what dinosaur made these tracks. Very likely it was a Dilophosaurus-like dinosaur. Dilophosaurus was approximately 15-20 feet long and stood 6-7 feet high at the hips and weighed between 700-1000 pounds. Researchers have found 13 teeth at the site of a large, meat-eating dinosaur (two are on exhibit in the display case) and none match known teeth of Dilophosaurus. This is evidence of a previously undiscovered dinosaur that lived around Lake Dixie and it may have been responsible for making Eubrontes and/or Gigandipus tracks. Tracks have been found at 25 different levels or horizons of the Moenave Formation at this site. This indicates that the dinosaurs lived in this lake environment for thousands, perhaps millions, of years.

[Stop #5] Hundreds of fish fossils have also been discovered in and around the site. Quite possibly, the dinosaurs were coming to the lake to capture and eat fish. The rich lake habitat was the home of hundreds of other animals. Evidence of this is provided by many invertebrate and fish swim traces. The many small tracks or traces on these blocks were made by horseshoe crabs, insects, a cleft-footed clam and burrows made by insects, mollusks, or worms. You can also see fish swim trails (that look like thin, gentle wavy lines) associated with recently identified tracks called Exocampe. Exocampe tracks were produced by a lizard-like group of reptiles call[ed] spenodontians.

[Stop #6] Notice the very large block against the wall.
This extraordinary block weighs 52,000 pounds and is the largest single-track block in any museum in the world. It was lowered into position by a crane before the roof of the building was completed. The block has 49 individual tracks on it but more importantly, many of the tracks are in rows -- made by a single animal walking in a line. These footprints are called trackways and they provide information about how the track maker moved. There are 14 trackways on this block. Some of the tracks are of immature animals whose tracks are smaller than the adult track makers.
Note that in each trackway, the tracks of the right and left feet are almost in straight lines with one another. This shows that the two-legged track maker had their feet positioned directly beneath their bodies. They walked using their long tails and necks for balance. Scientists can estimate the approximate hip height of the animal by measuring the foot length and multiplying it by four. By measuring the distance and angle between each track, they can also approximate the speed at which the animal was moving.

[Stop #7] Many of the rocks in this area were formed in layers and are called sedimentary rocks. These rocks preserve features created by changes in the climate and depiction of sediment around the lake that are collectively called sedimentary structures. Scientists value these sedimentary structures because of the detailed information they provide about the paleoenvironment that once existed here.
On-shore structures, made in places not covered by water, include rain drop impressions, salt crystal casts formed when some lake water evaporated, mud cracks, ripple marks, and root casts made by sediment that filled in holes once occupied by plant roots. Off-shore structures, made under the water, include flute casts and tool marks made by objects bouncing along the lake bottom by the current, linear ripple marks made by currents, and interference ripples made by water moving in multiple directions at the same time.

[Stop #8] One of the rarest discoveries at the site is the enormous number of swim tracks. As the dinosaurs went into the water, possibly to catch fish, they paddled with their hind feet in relatively shallow water. Their toe claws would take the mud on the lake bottom, making scratches. In these blocks, you can see the claw marks in sets of three made by the three toes of the dinosaur. The swim tracks at this site are the most extensive in the world and were only the second discovery of swim tracks in the world until very recently. The discovery was made in May 2001 by the site paleontologist, Andrew R. C. Milner.

[Stop #9] These blocks provide a very rare look at the anatomy of the track maker. The sediment that makes up these blocks is fine enough that it was able to preserve impressions of the skin from the dinosaur's feet. In some places, these tiny, bump-like scales slid through the sediment, leaving multiple parallel lines called scaled scratch marks. Look closely too [sic] see what a 200-million-year-old dinosaur's skin looked like. The other blocks at this stop, to your right, show dew claw and metatarsals (heel) impressions.

[Stop #10] This is the actual track-bearing surface of the original discovery and contains over 1,000 tracks of all shapes and sizes. In addition to the Grallator, Eubrontes, and Batrachopus tracks, the surface contains various unusual tracks as well as evidence of plants, invertebrates, fish and even limping and running dinosaurs. On this surface near the north (roadside) wall, site volunteers and scientists uncovered the imprints of a dinosaur that squatted down, then stood up, and walked off dragging its tail. This squatting track of a meat-eating dinosaur is only the fourth such discovery in the world. It is the first track in the world of a meat-eating dinosaur to show clear hand impressions. The other examples are from a remote location in China and the Connecticut River Valley.

Ethics of Scientific Discovery:
The St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm is unusual in the context of modern paleontology because, following its discovery by Dr. Sheldon Johnson on the private property of his small farm, the site was preserved and developed for public and scientific benefit rather than sold piecemeal for profit or wholly ignored. The alternative would have destroyed its value to both the scientific community and the thousands who visit the site. This contrasts with the actions of many people regarding recent paleontological discoveries and conveys an important message to site patrons about how to deal with any paleontological resources they may encounter.

Stromatolite:
Around 3.5 billion years ago, the planet's first life forms appeared. Microscopic single cells without nuclei begin to flourish, possibly around volcanic hot springs that dotted the oceans. In shallow intertidal waters, a cyanobacteria occasionally formed widespread mats in which life precipitated and sediment collected. The cyanobacteria then grew through the mat to the surface, trapping more sediment. The result was a multi-layered cyanobacteria and lime sandwich called a stromatolite.
Cyanobacteria are more important than casual observation might suggest. These created were the first life form able to produce oxygen through photosynthesis. Until then, Earth's atmosphere lacked free oxygen, containing instead greater proportions of carbon dioxide, sulfur gases, and possibly methane. Over time, the atmosphere slowly became enriched with oxygen.

Rhizoconcretions and root casts:
The root-like structures that you see in front of you may be rhizoconcretions ("rhizo" means "root" and "concretion" means a mineralization forming concentric rings around a nucleus.)
Root casts or rhizoliths ("lith" means stone) are sediment infillings of where roots used to be. After the organic plant material decomposes, fine sediment accumulates with the empty cavity left behind.
Rhizoconcretions are similar to root casts; however, they are different in how they are formed. The hole through the center may have contained the actual root material. Calcium carbonate (or calcite) forms concentric rings around the root nucleus forming a concretion. Through time, the concretions were replaced by jasper (a microcrystaline quarts or silicate mineral) as water percolated through the rock removing the soluble calcite and replacing [it] with silicate.
Wikipedia Description: St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site is a fossil site and museum in Saint George, Utah. The museum preserves thousands of dinosaur footprints right at the original site of discovery.

The site was discovered by accident on February 26, 2000 by Dr. Sheldon Johnson, a retired optometrist and resident of St. George. He was in the process of excavating his property when he stumbled upon a large, naturally cut rock. The rock exposed a natural dinosaur footprint, which Johnson originally thought to be a complete dinosaur fossil due to the quality of the preservation.

Realizing that these dinosaur tracks would be best served if they were maintained for scientific and educational purposes, Dr. Johnson and his wife, LaVerna, worked to set aside the land and its fossils. Eventually the Johnsons donated the tracks that had been found and arranged for the land to be cared for by the City of St. George. They worked with scientists, local businesses, and government officials on the local, state, and national level to create the museum that is here today. They set up the foundation that continues to preserve the site as a creative learning environment.

The best preserved and most numerous tracks today form the in-place trackway and exhibits of the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site. Many other fossils including bones of dinosaurs and fish, shells of small aquatic animals, and leaves and seeds of plants, have joined the footprints, enabling paleontologists to reconstruct the nearly 200 million-year-old ecosystem preserved here with unprecedented clarity, an extreme rarity for rocks of any time period.
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