Overview
- Asphalt removal on Sept. 16 near the Quarry Exhibit Hall exposed dinosaur-bearing sandstone, prompting an immediate construction pause for paleontological assessment.
- Park staff, Utah Conservation Corps crews, and volunteers removed roughly 3,000 pounds of fossil-bearing rock during work from mid-September to mid-October.
- Recovered elements include 14 tail vertebrae plus a humerus, radius, ulna, tibia, fibula, and toes, identified as a large sauropod most likely Diplodocus.
- The bonebed had not seen excavation since 1924, and the current parking area sits on tailings from early 20th-century digs.
- Some bones are on public display at the Utah Field House in Vernal and at the Quarry Exhibit Hall, while the rest of the specimen likely extends into the hillside with fieldwork paused for winter.