Jurassic National Monument
Jurassic National Monument, at the site of the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry, well known for containing the densest concentration of Jurassic dinosaur fossils ever found, is a paleontological site located near Cleveland, Utah, in the San Rafael Swell, a part of the geological layers known as the Morrison Formation.
| Jurassic National Monument | |
|---|---|
Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry Visitor Center | |
Map of Utah | |
| Location | Emery County, Utah |
| Nearest city | Cleveland |
| Coordinates | 39.32282°N 110.68951°W |
| Governing body | Bureau of Land Management |
| www | |
U.S. National Natural Landmark | |
| Designated | 1965 |
Well over 15,000 bones have been excavated from this Jurassic excavation site and there are many thousands more awaiting excavation and study. It was designated a National Natural Landmark in October 1965. The John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, signed into law by President Donald Trump on March 12, 2019, named it as a national monument.
All of these bones, belonging to different species, are found disarticulated and indistinctly mixed together. It has been hypothesised that this strong concentration of mixed fossilised bones is due to a "predator trap", but any kind of definitive scientific consensus has not yet been reached and debate continues to the present day.