Larger Fossil Slabs

Slab G01

The quarry where our fossil dinosaur tracks come from was a commercial dinosaur track quarry. Tracks were dug up, the stone cut into sections with individual tracks, and those tracks sold. Thanks to a generous donation from the quarry owner, we have a couple of larger slabs with multiple tracks.

The upper photo shows a slab that is 34" wide and 44" tall. It is covered with raised theropod dinosaur tracks, as well as portions of tracks, of various sizes. Many of the tracks are in a section of the stone that has fossil ripples, indicating the tracks were made in shallow water.

The backside of this large slab has shallow, impressed tracks. The evidence seen on this slab is consistent with a continual build-up of sediment that buried the dinosaur's tracks, instead of the footprints being buried by an annual flood.

(Note: our fossils are numbered to identify their storage location. Not all fossils may be on display in the museum at any particular time.)

Slab G02

The second photo shows another of our larger slabs. This slab also has numerous dinosaur tracks of various sizes. What is interesting about this slab are the many small layers of sediment that can be discerned when viewing this slab in-person. Distinct track impressions can be seen in multiple layers of sediment, one on top of the other. They appear to be made by a dinosaur moving its toes as the sediment was building up. This shows the trackmaker was not walking on a muddy beach buried by an annual flood, but was standing in water where sediment was continuously being deposited.

In addition to being on display in the museum, these slabs (and others), are a part of our on-going research into the formation and fossilization (preservation) of dinosaur footprints.