The Coelophysis Quarry at Ghost Ranch

By Bill Parker on Tuesday, June 23, 2009
I'm back from a couple of days at the Hayden Quarry near Ghost Ranch, New Mexico. As usual it was a great experience with great people and absolutely amazing fossils. My student interns were able to meet quite a few paleontologists including Sterling Nesbitt, Randy Irmis, Nate Smith, Alan Turner, Alex Downs, Mike Getty, and Mark Loewen. Plus they got to get really dirty and find fossils. A great experience for them.

Another perk is that we took some time off to go visit the classic Coelophysis Quarry. For those of you who have never seen it....here it is in all of its glory. The main bone horizon is now a big flat area where the footprints going up end. This is the siltstone member of the Chinle Formation and the sandstone blocks are fallen blocks from the overlying Entrada Sandstone (Jurassic).

This is the famous "Barney-rock" that overlooks the quarry and all workers were always afraid of it possibly coming down on their heads while they were digging.

Here are the interns (Chuck, Adrian, and Rachel) relaxing after the hike up to the quarry and enjoying the view.

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2 comments:

  1. Mark WildmanJune 23, 2009 at 2:40 PM

    Thanks for the images Bill. This is a quarry that I've become familiar with over the years but have never seen. Looks great as well - wish I could have been there!

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  2. TanystropheusJune 25, 2009 at 8:54 PM

    Visiting such a historically significant quarry is quite an experience, and I'm glad that you've been able to visit the site with your students. Dr. Hungerbuehler took all of his students (including yours truly) there recently, and we quite enjoyed it.

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