Utah announces 'major' dinosaur find by Illinois scientists

SALT LAKE CITY -- A newly discovered batch of well-preserved dinosaur bones, petrified trees and even freshwater clams in southeastern Utah may provide fresh clues about life in the region some 150 million years ago.

The Bureau of Land Management announced the find Monday, calling the quarry near Hanksville "a major dinosaur fossil discovery."

Several weeks of excavation by a team from the Burpee Museum of Natural History in Rockford, Ill., have revealed at least four long-necked sauropods, two carnivorous dinosaurs and possibly a stegosaurus, according to the BLM. Nearby, there are also animal burrows and petrified tree trunks six feet in diameter. It doesn't contain any new species -- at least not yet -- but offers the chance to learn more about the ecology of that time, said Scott Foss, a BLM paleontologist.

The fossilized dinosaurs are from the same late Jurassic period of those at Dinosaur National Monument and the Cleveland-Lloyd quarry near Price.

It could be a decade or so before the full importance of the Hanksville quarry is known, Foss said.

"It does have the potential to match the other major quarries in Utah," Foss said. "Or it may not."

Burpee Museum officials visited the site for about a week last summer and returned this year for a three-week excavation.

The area, part of the Morrison formation, has long been known to locals and BLM officials as a dinosaur haven. No one knew of the site's magnitude until excavation began.

The dinosaur bones were found in a sandstone channel of an ancient river.

"The preservation of these dinosaurs is excellent," Foss said.

The Hanksville-Burpee site, as it's being called, is roughly 50 yards wide by 200 yards long.

The mix of dinosaurs, trees and other species in the area may help scientists piece together what life was like 145 million to 150 million, including details about the ancient climate, Foss said.

The site will be closed in the next week or so as the BLM begins an environmental assessment for continued work in the area. The agency and the Burpee Museum are also developing long-term plans for research and education at the site.

The BLM isn't disclosing the exact location of the find out of concern for its security.