Dinosaur Provincial Park

Dinosaur Provincial Park
Dinosaur Provincial Park
Location	County of Newell / Special Area No. 2, near Brooks; Alberta
Coordinates	50°45′42″N 111°29′06″W / 50.76167°N 111.48500°W
Area	73.29 square kilometres (28.30 sq mi)
Founded	1955
Governing body	Alberta Tourism, Parks and Recreation
IUCN Category III (Natural Monument)
Provincial Park of Alberta	1955
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Type	Natural
Criteria	vii, viii
Designated	1979 (3rd session)
Reference no.	71
Country	Canada
Region	Europe and North America
	Location of Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta

Dinosaur Provincial Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site situated 220 kilometres (137 mi) east of Calgary, Alberta, Canada; or 48 kilometres (30 mi) northeast of Brooks.

The park is situated in the Red Deer River valley, which is noted for its striking badland topography, and abundance of dinosaur fossils. The park is well-known for being one of the richest dinosaur fossil locales in the world. Fifty-eight dinosaur species have been discovered at the park and more than 500 specimens have been removed and exhibited in museums around the globe. The renowned fossil assemblage of nearly 500 species of life, from microscopic fern spores to large carnivorous dinosaurs, justified its becoming a World Heritage Site in 1979.

Dinosaur Provincial Park Visitor Centre

The Dinosaur Provincial Park Visitor Centre features exhibits about dinosaurs, fossils, and the geology and natural history of the park. There is a video theatre, fossil prep lab area, and a gift shop. Public programs are offered in the summer.

John Ware's Cabin is a restored early 20th century cabin that was used by John Ware, an African-American cowboy and important figure in Alberta's ranching history. The cabin is located near the visitor centre and is open on select days in the summer.^[1]

History

Established on June 27, 1955 as part of Alberta's 50th Jubilee Year with the goal of protecting the fossil beds, the first warden was Roy Fowler (1902–1975), a farmer and amateur fossil hunter.

The park was established as a UNESCO World Heritage Site on October 26, 1979 both for its nationally significant badlands and riverside riparian habitats, and for the international importance of the fossils found there.

Until 1985, discoveries made in the park had to be shipped to museums throughout the world for scientific analysis and display, including the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto in Ontario, the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa in Ontario, the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, New York State, and the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois. This changed with the opening of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology 100 kilometres upstream in Midland Provincial Park adjacent to Drumheller.

Nature

The park protects a very complex ecosystem including three communities: prairie grasslands, badlands, and riverside cottonwoods. Its ecosystem is surrounded by prairies but is unique unto itself. Choruses of coyotes are common at dusk, as are the calls of nighthawks. Cottontail rabbits, mule deer, and pronghorn can all be seen in the park; the prairie rattlesnake, bull snake and the red-sided garter snake are present as well. Curlews and Canada geese are among the 165 bird species that can be seen in the spring and summer. Some of the most northern species of cactus, including Opuntia (prickly pear) and Pediocactus (pincushion) can be observed in full bloom during the later half of June.

Geology

The sediments exposed in the badlands at Dinosaur Provincial Park were laid down over a period of about 1.5 million years during the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous epoch, and belong to three different geologic formations. The top of the terrestrial Oldman Formation, which outcrops at the base of the sequence, is the oldest. It is overlain by a complete section of the terrestrial Dinosaur Park Formation, which is in turn overlain by the base of the marine Bearpaw Formation. The Dinosaur Park Formation, which contains most of the articulated dinosaur skeletons, was laid down between about 76.5 and 74.8 million years ago. It was deposited in floodplain and coastal plain environments by river systems that flowed eastward and southeastward to the Western Interior Seaway.^[2]

Paleontology

Dinosaur Provincial Park preserves an extraordinarily diverse group of freshwater vertebrates. Fish include sharks, rays (such as the durophage Myledaphus), paddlefish, bowfins, gars, and teleosts. Amphibians include frogs, salamanders, and the extinct albanerpetontids. Reptiles include lizards (such as the large monitor Palaeosaniwa), a wide range of turtles, crocodilians, and the fish-eating Champsosaurus. Mammal fossils from the park are relatively rare and consist of isolated teeth, fragmentary jaws with teeth, and tooth fragments from mouse-sized and shrew-sized animals. They include representatives of placental, marsupial, and multituberculate mammals.^[2]

Plant fossils from the park and surrounding area include fern fronds; foliage and wood of taxodiaceous and cupressaceous conifers; and leaves of Ginkgo, Cercidiphyllum, Platanus, a Pistia-like aquatic plant, and others.^[3] A rich assemblage of fossil pollen and spores has also been described.^[4]

The dinosaurs of the park are astonishingly diverse. They include:

Ceratopsia

Leptoceratops sp.
Centrosaurus apertus
Coronosaurus brinkmani
Styracosaurus albertensis
Pachyrhinosaurus
Chasmosaurus belli, C. russelli
Vagaceratops irvinensis

Hadrosauridae

Corythosaurus casuarius
Gryposaurus notabilis, G. incurvimanus
Lambeosaurus lambei, L. magnicristatus
Prosaurolophus maximus
Parasaurolophus walkeri

Ankylosauria

Hypsilophodontidae

Orodromeus

Pachycephalosauria

Stegoceras

Tyrannosauridae

Daspletosaurus torosus
Gorgosaurus libratus

Ornithomimidae

Ornithomimus
Struthiomimus
Rativates
new ornithomimid species A

Caenagnathidae

Chirostenotes pergracilis
Chirostenotes elegans
Chirostenotes collinsi

Paraves

Dromaeosaurus albertensis
Saurornitholestes
Hesperonychus elizabethae
?new dromaeosaur species A
?new dromaeosaur species B
Troodon
new troodontid species A

Classification Uncertain

Ricardoestesia gilmorei

Birds such as Hesperornithiformes were present, as well as giant Pterosauria related to Quetzalcoatlus. Stagodont marsupials, placentals and multituberculate mammals scurried underfoot.

IUGS geological heritage site

In respect of it being the 'world's most abundant and diverse dinosaur locality, yielding more than 166 vertebrate taxa, including 51 species of non-avian dinosaurs', the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) included the 'Dinosaur Provincial Park' in its assemblage of 100 'geological heritage sites' around the world in a listing published in October 2022. The organisation defines an IUGS Geological Heritage Site as 'a key place with geological elements and/or processes of international scientific relevance, used as a reference, and/or with a substantial contribution to the development of geological sciences through history.'^[5]

Gallery

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References

^ "Travel Article: Dinosaur Provincial Park". Archived from the original on 2011-07-18. Retrieved 2009-11-11.
^ ^a ^b Currie, P.J., and Koppelhus, E.B. (eds). 2005. Dinosaur Provincial Park: A Spectacular Ancient Ecosystem Revealed. Indiana University Press: Bloomington and Indianapolis, 648 p.
^ Koppelhus, E.B. 2005. Paleobotany. In: Currie, P.J., and Koppelhus, E.B. (eds), Dinosaur Provincial Park: A Spectacular Ancient Ecosystem Revealed. Indiana University Press: Bloomington and Indianapolis, 131-138.
^ Braman, D.R., and Koppelhus, E.B. 2005. Campanian palynomorphs. In: Currie, P.J., and Koppelhus, E.B. (eds), Dinosaur Provincial Park: A Spectacular Ancient Ecosystem Revealed. Indiana University Press: Bloomington and Indianapolis, 101-130.
^ "The First 100 IUGS Geological Heritage Sites" (PDF). IUGS International Commission on Geoheritage. IUGS. Retrieved 13 November 2022.

External links

[1] "Travel Article: Dinosaur Provincial Park". Archived from the original on 2011-07-18. Retrieved 2009-11-11.

[Currie2005-2] Currie, P.J., and Koppelhus, E.B. (eds). 2005. Dinosaur Provincial Park: A Spectacular Ancient Ecosystem Revealed. Indiana University Press: Bloomington and Indianapolis, 648 p.

[3] Koppelhus, E.B. 2005. Paleobotany. In: Currie, P.J., and Koppelhus, E.B. (eds), Dinosaur Provincial Park: A Spectacular Ancient Ecosystem Revealed. Indiana University Press: Bloomington and Indianapolis, 131-138.

[4] Braman, D.R., and Koppelhus, E.B. 2005. Campanian palynomorphs. In: Currie, P.J., and Koppelhus, E.B. (eds), Dinosaur Provincial Park: A Spectacular Ancient Ecosystem Revealed. Indiana University Press: Bloomington and Indianapolis, 101-130.

[5] "The First 100 IUGS Geological Heritage Sites" (PDF). IUGS International Commission on Geoheritage. IUGS. Retrieved 13 November 2022.

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v t e World Heritage Sites in Canada
Western	Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks Dinosaur Provincial Park Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump Kluane / Wrangell–St. Elias / Glacier Bay / Tatshenshini-Alsek¹ Pimachiowin Aki SG̱aang Gwaay Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park¹ Wood Buffalo² Writing-on-Stone / Áísínai’pi
Eastern	Grand-Pré Gros Morne Joggins Fossil Cliffs L'Anse aux Meadows Miguasha Mistaken Point Old Town Lunenburg Old Quebec Red Bay Rideau Canal
Northern	Nahanni Wood Buffalo²
¹ Shared with the US ² Shared with other region/s

v t e Protected areas in Alberta
World Heritage Sites	Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks Dinosaur Provincial Park Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park Wood Buffalo National Park Writing-on-Stone / Áísínai’pi
National parks	Banff Elk Island Jasper Waterton Lakes Wood Buffalo
Provincial parks, wildlands and wildernesses	Aspen Beach Antelope Hill Beauvais Lake Big Hill Springs Big Island Big Knife Bow Valley Bragg Creek Brown-Lowery Calling Lake Canmore Nordic Centre Caribou Mountains Carson-Pegasus Castle Castle Wildland Chain Lakes Cold Lake Crimson Lake Cross Lake Crow Lake Cypress Hills Dillberry Lake Dinosaur Dry Island Buffalo Jump Dunvegan Eagle Point Fish Creek Garner Lake Glenbow Ranch Gooseberry Lake Greene Valley Gregoire Lake Hilliard's Bay Hay-Zama Lakes Jarvis Bay Kinbrook Island Kananaskis Country Lakeland Lesser Slave Lake Little Bow Little Fish Lois Hole Centennial Long Lake Midland Miquelon Lake Moonshine Lake Moose Lake Notikewin Obed Lake O'Brien Park Lake Pembina River Peter Lougheed Provincial Park Pierre Grey's Lakes Pigeon Lake Police Outpost Queen Elizabeth Ram Falls Red Lodge Rochon Sands Rock Lake Saskatoon Island Sheep River Sir Winston Churchill Spray Valley Strathcona Science Sundance Sylvan Lake Thunder Lake Tillebrook Two Lakes Vermilion Wabamun Lake Whitney Lakes William A. Switzer Williamson Willmore Wilderness Willow Creek Winagami Lake Woolford Writing-on-Stone Wyndham-Carseland Young's Point
Urban parks	Calgary Zoo Devonian Gardens Edmonton Valley Zoo Edworthy Park Mill Woods Park Muttart Conservatory North Saskatchewan River Valley Nose Hill Oldman River Valley Pearce Estate Park University of Alberta Botanic Garden Sylvan Lake
Museums and historic sites	Alberta Central Railway Museum Atlas Coal Mine Canadian Grain Elevator Discovery Centre Canadian Tractor Museum Cold Lake Air Force Ellis Bird Farm Fort Calgary Fort Edmonton Park Fort Victoria Fort Whoop-Up Frank Slide Galt Historic Railway Park Glenbow Museum Heritage Acres Farm Museum Heritage Park Krause Milling Co. Pioneer Acres Prairie Elevator Museum Remington Carriage Museum Reynolds Royal Alberta Royal Tyrrell Scandia Eastern Irrigation District Museum South Peace Centennial Museum Spruce Grove Grain Elevator Museum St. Albert Grain Elevator Park Ukrainian Village Warner elevator row Whyte National historic sites Provincial historic sites

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