Kaiparowits Basin Project
The Kaiparowits Basin Project, led by Dr. Scott Sampson of the
Utah Museum of Natural History, focuses on the geology and
paleontology of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
(GSENM). Located in an extremely remote and wild area, GSENM spans
nearly 1.9 million acres of southern Utah. Stunning and expansive
exposures of Cretaceous-aged rocks in the monument preserve a
record of past life between 95 and 74 million years ago, and
represent one of the least explored dinosaur bone yards in the
United States. Most of the fossils being discovered are new to
science and are among the best preserved representatives of their
kind in North America.
Research associated with the Kaiparowits Basin Project is
multi-faceted, ranging from geological investigations into the
deposition and age of the rocks to descriptions of new animal and
plant species. Dr.
Kirk Johnson and Dr. Ian Miller of the Denver Museum of
Nature & Science have been involved in paleobotanical
exploration and excavation as part of this effort.
Dr. Joseph Sertich's research currently focuses on descriptions of
new dinosaur and crocodile species. Specifically, he is working
with colleagues on new tyrannosaurid dinosaurs, large meat-eaters
closely related to the iconic Tyrannosaurus rex. These
descriptions are coupled with investigations into the biogeographic
history of the region as an important record of the western North
American landmass of Laramidia.
Turkana Basin Project
Famous for its incredibly rich record of human evolution over
the past 7 million years, the Turkana Basin of northern Kenya also
preserves much older rocks containing the remains of some of the
last dinosaurs present on the African continent. Since 2004, Dr.
Joseph Sertich's work in the Late Cretaceous outcrops of the Lapurr
Range in northwestern Turkana have focused on the collection of
vertebrate fossils and understanding the geology of this
spectacular and important region. The remains of theropod,
sauropod, and ornithopod dinosaurs, crocodyliforms, and pterosaurs
are among the most significant finds to date. In collaboration with
Dr. Erik Seiffert of Stony Brook University and Dr. Fredrick Kyalo
Manthi of the National Museums of Kenya, and in partnership with
the Turkana Basin Institute, they are working to address questions
surrounding a number of significant evolutionary events, including
the origin and diversification of various vertebrate groups in
Africa and the evolutionary relationships of Africa's last
dinosaurs.
Spectacular fossils of dinosaurs and other vertebrates have long
been found in rocks deposited in the "middle" Cretaceous of Africa,
a time period ranging from about 125 to 90 million years ago.
However, the vertebrate fossil record of Africa after this period
in time is not well understood.
The incredibly remote and rugged Western Desert of Egypt has
spectacular exposures of fossil-bearing rocks from this poorly
known time period, and promises to provide a rare glimpse into this
moment of African history. Collaboration with Dr. Hesham Sallam and
other colleagues at Mansoura University, Dr. Erik Seiffert of Stony
Brook University, and Dr. Patrick O'Connor of Ohio University has
resulted in the discovery of new dinosaur and crocodile remains,
some of the first of their kind from the latest Cretaceous of
Africa. Ongoing work focuses on the description of these important
new fossils and the training of future Egyptian
paleontologists.
Though separated from the southeast coast of Africa by less than
300 miles, the island of Madagascar has been isolated for more than
88 million years. Discoveries in the Mahajanga Basin of
northwestern Madagascar have revealed an incredibly diverse and
well-preserved fauna of more than 50 species of bony fishes, frogs,
turtles, lizards, snakes, crocodyliforms, dinosaurs, birds, and
mammals that thrived in Madagascar approximately 66 million years
ago. Many of these species are new to science, and many represent
extremely bizarre forms including the plant eating crocodile
Simosuchus clarki, the giant frog Beelzebufo
ampinga, and the very bird-like dinosaur Rahonavis
ostromi. This research, led by Dr. David Krause of Stony Brook
University, has provided important information on the anatomy and
relationships of many of these fossil animals and has documented
the geological setting and history of the region. Ongoing work
includes the description of several other new or poorly known
species, including an incredibly diverse assemblage of
crocodiles.
Other research in the Ambilobe Basin of northern-most Madagascar
and the Morondava Basin of southwestern Madagascar has recovered
new dinosaur species older than those known from the Mahajanga
Basin. These fossils provide a window into Madagascar between about
90 and 70 million years ago, and hold the potential for many
exciting new discoveries to come.