Riggs Quarry 15, Fruita (FMNH): Kimmeridgian - Tithonian, Colorado
collected by E. Riggs 1900-1901

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Reptilia
Brontosaurus excelsus Marsh 1879
1 individual
11 presacral, 5 sacral, 23 caudal vertebrae, pelvis, ribs, and chevrons (1 measurement)
Diplodocus sp. Marsh 1878
Turner and Peterson 1999 1 specimen
femur, found by Al Look in 1930
see common names

Geography
Country:United States State/province:Colorado County:Mesa
Coordinates: 39.1° North, 108.7° West (view map)
Paleocoordinates:35.1° North, 55.4° West
Basis of coordinate:stated in text
Altitude:1402 meters
Geographic resolution:outcrop
Time
Period:Jurassic Epoch:Late/Upper Jurassic
Key time interval:Kimmeridgian - Tithonian
Age range of interval:154.80000 - 145.00000 m.y. ago
Stratigraphy
Formation:Morrison Member:Brushy Basin
Local section:N-Thoroughfare Local bed:500 ft
Local order:bottom to top
Stratigraphic resolution:bed
Stratigraphy comments: "probably equivalent to Como Beds of Wyoming"; 198 ft below top of member
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology:concretionary,green,red,blue claystone
Secondary lithology:"cross stratification" sandstone
Includes fossils?Y
Lithology description: "variegated clays...alternation between green and purplish bands does not mark andy variation in the nature of hardness of these massive joint clays. There are frequent layers of clay nodules, sometimes calcareous, and a few ledges of nodular gray sandstone which are confined to limited areas. Occasional thick ledges of cross-bedded sandstone and lenticular masses of greenish sand occur at almost all levels, but these are likewise of limited extent. Near the top...the clays take on a more sandy nature." (Riggs 1901)
Environment:levee
Geology comments: overbank-levee in a well-drained floodplain
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:body
Size of fossils:macrofossils
Spatial orientation:life position
Preservation of anatomical detail:good
Associated major elements:all
Fragmentation:none
Encrustation:none
Temporal resolution:snapshot
Collection methods and comments
Collection methods:selective quarrying,mechanical,field collection
Reason for describing collection:taxonomic analysis
Museum repositories:FMNH
Collectors:E. Riggs Collection dates:1900-1901
Metadata
Also known as:CO-36, Dinosaur Hill Quarry
Database number:36576
Authorizer:M. Carrano Enterer:M. Carrano
Modifier:M. Carrano Research group:taphonomy,vertebrate
Created:2004-02-05 08:10:13 Last modified:2019-07-19 15:36:12
Access level:the public Released:2004-02-05 08:10:13
Creative Commons license:CC BY
Reference information

Primary reference:
35184.ETE E. S. Riggs. 1903. The vertebral column of Brontosaurus. Science 17(427):393-394 [M. Carrano/M. Oreska]

Secondary references:

15268ETE H. J. Armstrong and E. S. McReynolds. 1987. Stratigraphic correlation of dinosaur quarries near Grand Junction, Colorado. In W. R. Averett (ed.), Paleontology and Geology of the Dinosaur Triangle: Guidebook for 1987 Field Trip. Museum of Western Colorado, Grand Junction 103-106 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
15264ETE W. L. Chenoweth. 1987. The Riggs Hill and Dinosaur Hill sites, Mesa County, Colorado. In W. R. Averett (ed.), Paleontology and Geology of the Dinosaur Triangle: Guidebook for 1987 Field Trip 97-100 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Uhen]
5669ETE 1424P. Dodson, A. K. Behrensmeyer, R. T. Bakker and J. S. McIntosh. 1980. Taphonomy and paleoecology of Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation. Paleobiology 6:208-232 [A. Behrensmeyer/A. Behrensmeyer/M. Carrano]
15179ETE J. R. Foster. 2003. Paleoecological analysis of the vertebrate fauna of the Morrison Formation (Upper Jurassic), Rocky Mountain region, U.S.A. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 23:1-95 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
61877 J. R. Foster, J. B. McHugh, J. E. Peterson and M. F. Leschin. 2016. Major bonebeds in mudrocks of the Morrison Formation (Upper Jurassic), northern Colorado Plateau of Utah and Colorado. Geology of the Intermountain West 3:33-66 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
69484 J. R. Foster and J. E. Peterson. 2016. First report of Apatosaurus (Diplodocidae: Apatosaurinae) from the Cleveland-Lloyd Quarry in the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Utah: abundance, distribution, paleoecology, and taphonomy of an endemic North American sauropod clade. Palaeoworld 25:431-443 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
63755 C. S. Goodknight, W. L. Chenoweth, and W. A. Girdley. 1991. First day road log from Grand Junction to Moab via Riggs and Dinosaur hills, Fruita Paleontological Area, Rabbit Valley Research Natural Area, and Utah Highway 128. In W. R. Averett (ed.), Guidebook for Dinosaur Quarries and Tracksites Tour, Western Colorado and Eastern Utah 70-81 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
63169 S. R. McKelvey. 1920. The Dinosauria with Special Reference to the Dinosaur of Colorado 1-20 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
54066 H. F. Osborn. 1905. Western explorations for fossil vertebrates. The Popular Science Monthly 67:561-568 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
9790 E. S. Riggs. 1901. The dinosaur beds of the Grand River Valley of Colorado. Field Columbian Museum Geological Series 1(9):267-274 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
9789 E. S. Riggs. 1903. Structure and relationships of opisthocoelian dinosaurs, part I: Apatosaurus Marsh. Field Columbian Museum Geological Series 2(4):165-196 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]
13281ETE C. E. Turner and F. Peterson. 1999. Biostratigraphy of dinosaurs in the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of the Western Interior, U.S.A. In D. D. Gillette (ed.), Vertebrate Paleontology in Utah, Utah Geological Survey Miscellaneous Publication 99-1:77-114 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano/M. Carrano]