EXPLORATORY POLLEN, PHYTOLITH, AND FOSSILIZED WOOD IDENTIFICATION OF JURASSIC SAMPLES FROM A DINOSAUR QUARRY ON THE WARM SPRINGS RANCH, WYOMING

Summary

The Warm Springs Ranch in Thermopolis, Wyoming, is home to the "BS" dinosaur quarry,

an Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation dated as Kimmeridgian -Tithonian (156-144 mya). Pollen

analysis was undertaken on a sample of drab mudstone from the quarry layer, and phytolith

analysis was attempted on a piece of lignitic material from the quarry layer. The seam of lignite

was approximately 2-3 inches thick and perhaps a foot wide and might have been part of a tree

trunk. A fossil wood sample was collected a few feet below the Morrison/Cloverly contact, nearly

40 feet above the quarry layer. This sample was polished so the wood structure could be

identified microscopically.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• PaleoResearch Institute

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