International Expedition Will Excavate The Dino-Rich 'Jurassic Mile'

6/5/2019 International Expedition Will Excavate the Dino-Rich 'Jurassic Mile' | Smart News | Smithsonian
MARCH 28, 2019 Follow @jasondaley608
International Expedition Will Excavate the

Dino-Rich 'Jurassic Mile'
|
Smart News
SmartNews
International Expedition Will Excavate the

Dino-Rich ‘Jurassic Mile’
More than 100 paleontologists are heading to the fossil-
filled Morrison Formation
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/international-expedition-will-excavate-dino-rich-jurassic-mile-180971800/ 1/9
(Children's Museum of Indianapolis)
By
smithsonian.com
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For over a century, paleontologists have been digging in the Morrison

Formation, the famous western North American cache of dinosaur
fossils. While the southern part of the formation, which includes
Dinosaur National Monument, has been pretty well studied, the
northern reaches still hold a lot of secrets. That’s why an international
consortium of paleontological institutions is
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/international-expedition-will-excavate-dino-rich-jurassic-mile-180971800/ funding a $27.5 million 2/9
project dubbed “Mission Jurassic” to excavate an entire square mile of

the formation this summer.
More than 100 paleontologists are coming together to dig the “Jurassic
Mile,” which is located on private ranchland around 100 miles east of
Yellowstone National Park, the Associated Press reports. The dig is
being led by the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis—which has 18
years left on its 20-year lease from the landowner of the site—along
with the Natural History Museum in London and the Naturalis
Biodiversity Center in Leiden, Netherlands.
The Children’s Museum has already spent two eld seasons digging on
its own, excavating nearly 600 fossils including an 80-foot-long
Brachiosaur and 90-foot-long Diplodocid, Domenica Bongiovanni at
The Indianapolis Star reports. Already, inside the Jurassic Mile,
paleontologists have found four quarries full of dino bones in the
excavation area. Drone footage has identi ed many more potential dig
sites as well. But the Morrison Formation isn't just full of bones—it
also has lots of dinosaur footprints and fossils from plants as well as
other creatures.
Phil Manning, chair of natural history at the University of Manchester,

tells Bongiovanni of the Star that the team hopes to learn more about
gymnosperms, ginkos, cycads, ferns and other plants that existed in
the Late Jurassic to solve a riddle: How did plant-eating dinosaurs grow
so huge while eating a nutrient poor diet? “It’s a bit like me giving you
a diet of water and oats for your whole life and you end up being 30 feet
tall,” Manning says. “[W]e truly do not yet understand how they
managed it.”
In many digs, resources and funding constraints mean that

paleontologists spend an entire eld season—or several—digging up
one dinosaur fossil. The scale of Mission Jurassic, however, will allow
researchers to excavate a much larger area during the project and
proceed more quickly.
The Children’s Museum has already announced that some of the

Jurassic-era bones discovered will be used to expand its Dinosphere
exhibition, which currently focuses on the later Cretaceous period, the
time when dinosaurs eventually went extinct.
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6/5/2019 International Expedition Will Excavate the Dino-Rich 'Jurassic Mile' | Smart News | Smithsonian

MARCH 28, 2019 Follow @jasondaley608

International Expedition Will Excavate the

International Expedition Will Excavate the

(Children's Museum of Indianapolis)

For over a century, paleontologists have been digging in the Morrison

project dubbed “Mission Jurassic” to excavate an entire square mile of

Phil Manning, chair of natural history at the University of Manchester,

In many digs, resources and funding constraints mean that

The Children’s Museum has already announced that some of the

There's a Dark and Stormy Vortex Brewing on Neptune

Two Giant Killer Hornet Colonies Battle to the Death

Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts

Two Giant Killer Hornet Colonies Battle to the Death (3:25)

Does 'The Last Supper' Really Have a Hidden Meaning? (4:03)

A Whale Shark Cooperates With a Diver Saving Him (1:28)

How Wallis Simpson In ltrated British Royalty (4:18)

What Did the Rebel Yell Sound Like? (4:22)

Comment on this Story

Viewed using Just Read

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