NPS Areas With Fossil Exhibits
Several fossil sites in the United States are under the protection of the National Park Service. Besides Agate, the major ones are:
Badlands National Park, South Dakota
Badlands
Prominent deposits from the Oligocene Epoch, predecessor to the Miocene, combine with a rugged, eroded landscape and abundant wildlife to make Badlands a park where the natural processes of the past combine with those of today. The National Park Service maintains a Fossil Exhibit Trail at Badlands and presents fossil cleaning demonstrations. Prominent fossils are those of ancient camels, giant pigs, sabertooth cats, Protoceras, and Brontotheres. Mailing address: P.O. Box 6, Interior, SD 57750.
Dinosaur National Monument, Colorado and Utah
Dinosaur
The late Jurassic muds and sands of the Morrison Formation have been a major source of dinosaur bones for more than a century. Steeply tilted strata near Vernal, Utah, were the source of tons of bones for the Carnegie Museum of Pittsburgh. This quarry site became the nucleus of Dinosaur National Monument. The bone-bearing stratum has been exposed by careful excavation, so that bones and partial skeletons of numerous dinosaurs are exposed in high relief. The entire quarry face is covered by a glass-walled structure that forms a large gallery. Mailing address: 4545 E. Hwy. 40, Dinosaur, CO 81610.