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Researchers
Collections
Field Projects Research News
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Kaiparowits Formation Project In 2006, the museum was granted a 3-year extension on its permit to collect dinosaurs and other fossils from the Late Cretaceous Kaipirowits Formation. Because much of the monument is inaccessible by vehicle, the Kaipirowits Formation is relatively unexplored. In 2004, an Alf Museum crew collected a hadrosaur or duck-billed dinosaur skull that was found by vlounteer Duncan Everhart. The skull was removed by helicopter and taken to the University of Utah where it was prepared and studied by university paleontologists. Because very few hadrosaur skulls have been recovered from the Kaiparowits Formation, the specimen discovered by Everhart is both extremely rare and scientifically important. The researchers at the University of Utah determined that the skull belonged to a new species of hadrosaur. In 2005, Webb student Jeff Cripe '08 made the next big discovery when he found a phalanx (toe bone) of a medium-sized theropod dinosaur at the bottom of a hill. Jeff and Duncan Everhart traced the bone up to its source where, in addition to hadrosaur remains, they discovered another phalanx and two ankle bones of this theropod dinosaur. Back at the museum, Jeff and Dr. Lofgren determined that the bones belonged to a mid-sized tyrannosaur, and review of scientific reports from the Kaiparowits Formation revealed that no one had described a tyrannosaur from the formation. In 2006, an Alf Museum crew returned to the tyrannosaur site, which was named the Cripe Site in honor of its discoverer, to search for more of the tyrannosaur. Excavation of the Cripe Site has continued during the 2007 and 2008 field seasons as well. Publications Gates, T. A., and S. D. Sampson. 2007. A new species of Gryposaurus (Dinosauria: Hadrosauridae) from the late Campanian Kaiparowits Formation, southern Utah, USA. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 151:351-376.
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