CO-49, Dino Cove (Jurassic to of the United States)

Also known as Curecanti N.R.A., Blue Mesa Apatosaurus Quarry

Where: Gunnison County, Colorado (38.5° N, 107.4° W: paleocoordinates 34.4° N, 54.5° W)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

• small collection-level geographic resolution

When: Brushy Basin Member (Morrison Formation), Late/Upper Kimmeridgian to Late/Upper Kimmeridgian (155.7 - 145.0 Ma)

• bed-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: crevasse splay; lenticular, fine-grained, medium sandstone and green mudstone

• "a flood event with rapidly decreasing flow velocity" in "a playa-like complex" of lakes. Possible crevasse splay.
• "lens-shaped, fine- to medium-grained sandstone...In the thickest part of the sandstone body the sedimentary structures show a transition from crossbeds with heights of 10-12cm at the bottom of the unit, to well-defined planar beds, to cross-beds with heights of 2-3cm, to poorly-defined beds at the top of the unit...Above and below the sandstone are green, smectite-rich, massive mudstones."

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils

Collected by A. Fiorillo, K. Trujillo, C. May in 1995–1998

Collection methods: quarrying, mechanical,

Primary reference: A. R. Fiorillo and C. L. May. 1996. Preliminary report on the taphonomy and depositional setting of a new dinosaur locality in the Morrison Formation (Brushy Basin Member) of Curecanti National Recreation Area, Colorado. In M. Morales (ed.), The Continental Jurassic. Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin 60:555-561 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 38883: authorized by Matthew Carrano, entered by Matthew Carrano on 12.05.2004, edited by Jonathan Tennant

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
Branchiopoda
 Diplostraca -
Conchostraca indet.
Conchostraca indet. Sars 1867 clam shrimp
"common"
Osteichthyes
 Therapsida -
Mammaliaformes indet.2
Mammaliaformes indet.2 Rowe 1988 mammaliaform
Isolated teeth
Reptilia
 Loricata -
Crocodyliformes indet.2
Crocodyliformes indet.2 crocodilian
Long bone
 Ornithischia - Stegosauridae
Stegosaurus sp.2
Stegosaurus sp.2 Marsh 1877 ornithischian
MWC 5525, one anterior caudal centrum and one mid-caudal centrum
 Theropoda -
Allosaurus sp.
Allosaurus sp. Marsh 1877 allosauroid
tooth
 Saurischia - Diplodocidae
Apatosaurus sp.1
Apatosaurus sp.1 Marsh 1877 diplodocid
MWC 5140, partial skeleton consisting of two nearly complete cervical vertebrae, parts of at least three other cervical vertebrae, four dorsal vertebrae, four sacral vertebrae, four caudal vertebrae, several chevrons, left femur, a partial ilium, a partial ischium, several partial ribs, and many fragments
1Foster 2003; 2Koch et al. 2006