Mygatt-Moore Quarry Photos

These past few weeks we have been spending quite a bit of time working out in the Late Jurassic Mygatt-Moore Quarry. This quarry is located in the middle Brushy Basin Member of the Morrison Formation, in western Colorado. The most abundant dinosaur taxon at the quarry is the theropod Allosaurus (29%), which is represented by 6 individuals (5 adults, 1 juvenile); in addition, more than 190 mostly shed teeth of Allosaurus have been recovered from the site. The sauropod Apatosaurus is next most abundant (20%) with 5 individuals known from this site (3 adults, 1 sub-adult, 1 juvenile). Approximately 19% of the sample consists of bones of the ankylosaur Mymoorapelta, mostly osteoderms and lateral spines (2 individuals). The three most abundant sauropods in the Morrison Formation (Camarasaurus, Apatosaurus, and Diplodocus) also are preserved at the Mygatt-Moore Quarry, but unlike within the formation as a whole, at the MMQ Apatosaurus accounts for 85% of the sauropod bones at the site; in the formation overall, Camarasaurus is the most abundant sauropod.

I had the privilege of working at the Mygatt-Moore Quarry in 2007 as the Field Coordinator for the Museum of Western Colorado's Dinosaur Journey Museum in Fruita, Colorado. This week I have finally had a chance to load some of my pictures fron this season and last season. The majority of these pictures are from the summer of 2007 when we removed a sauropod tibia and several vertebrae (among many other things!). Some of the pictures towards the end of the section are from the end of the 2008 field season as we removed a sauropod vertebra (actually we removed two but we only have photos of one of the efforts) and prepare to remove a sauropod scapulocoracoid.

Enjoy the pictures!