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Glen Rose Formation

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The Glen Rose Formation is a shallow marine to shoreline geological formation from the lower Cretaceous period exposed over a large area from South Central to North Central Texas. The formation is most widely known for the dinosaur footprints and trackways found in the Dinosaur Valley State Park near the town of Glen Rose, Texas , southwest of Fort Worth and at other localities in Central Texas.

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36-598: The Glen Rose is the uppermost, thickest and most extensively exposed formation of the Trinity Group , a series of shallow-water marine formations deposited on a southeastward flank of the Llano Uplift , through a number of sea regressions and transgressions. Wells drilled in eastern Travis County have encountered over 1,000 feet of the Glen Rose. In the northern part, the Glen Rose is laterally continuous with

72-651: A tidal flat or a lagoon . Large slabs of the trackways were excavated and are on display at the AMNH and the Texas Memorial Museum in Austin, Texas, among other institutions. The sauropod tracks, now given the ichnogenus name Brontopodus , were made by an animal of 30 to 50 feet in length, perhaps a brachiosaurid such as Pleurocoelus , and the theropod tracks by an animal of 20 to 30 feet in length, perhaps an Acrocanthosaurus . A variety of scenarios

108-525: A fossil collecting trip to Nebraska and South Dakota in the summer of 1894. Williston would become Brown's advisor and primary professor at KU, and invited him on another summer expedition to Wyoming in 1895. While working in South Dakota with Williston in 1894, Brown met a crew from the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), led by paleontologist Jacob Wortman. In 1896, Wortman needed

144-532: A freight line of ox-drawn wagons. In 1867, the Browns gave birth to their first son, Frank, who, in a few years, would be the one to suggest P.T. Barnum as a namesake for his little brother. As a young boy, Brown helped with household chores around the farm and began his first fossil collection while following the stripping plow, which unearthed fossil corals and Native American arrowheads . Recognizing Brown's interest in science, his parents elected to send him to

180-474: A herd, followed somewhat later by three theropods that may or may not have been stalking -- but that certainly were not attacking." Lockley notes that there are other similar group trackways and that the evidence sauropods moved in herds "in general, seems good." He takes issue, however, with Robert Bakker 's theory that the Davenport Ranch trackway (another Glen Rose trackway) reflects large adults on

216-575: A memoir about her father, Let's Call Him Barnum, in 1987. In 1920, Brown met socialite Lillian MacLaughlin Brown while traveling in Egypt, and the couple were married in Calcutta , India in 1922. She wrote three memoirs about her expeditions with her husband, I Married a Dinosaur (1950), Bring 'em Back Petrified (1950), and Cleopatra Slept Here (1951) In early February of 1963, Brown slipped into

252-534: A one-foot layer of Corbula shells, a small bivalve. The formation was named in 1891 for the town of Glen Rose , Texas, by paleontologist Robert T. Hill . The type locality is a near shore section exposed in the Paluxy River near the town of Glen Rose. The stratigraphy of the formation was most recently revised in a 1971 study. A stratigraphic column at the Mount Bonnell location starts with

288-616: A primate and the lack of fossils compounds this issue. Brown lived at the tail end of an unprecedented age of scientific discovery, and was one of its more colorful practitioners. At dig sites in Canada, Brown was frequently photographed wearing a large fur coat. During World War I and World War II , he worked as an "intelligence asset" for the Office of Strategic Services and the Bureau of Economic Warfare . During his many trips abroad, he

324-587: A replacement for an assistant, and Williston suggested Brown; he left his classes at the University of Kansas before the semester ended to accompany Wortman on an expedition to the Morrison Formation in Wyoming. Brown impressed Wortman and the head curator of the AMNH's Vertebrate Paleontology Department, Henry Fairfield Osborn , with the discovery of a nearly complete Coryphodon skeleton near

360-1020: Is named for the Trinity River of Texas. A stratigraphic column at the Mount Bonnell Fault location starts with the Lower Cretaceous Trinity Group overlain by the Edwards Group . Upper Cretaceous formations follow, starting with the Del Rio Clay , Buda Limestone , and then the Eagle Ford Group . Formations within the Trinity Group include the Hammett Formation , Cow Creek Formation, Hensel Formation , and Lower and Upper Glen Rose Formation . The Hammett and

396-506: Is replaced by sandy facies shoreward (to the northwest). Because of the differing strengths of the layers, the limestone weathers to form a staircase profile on hills. Individual steps that form this distinctive stair-step topography extend for many miles without any apparent change in expression. These strata were originally referred to as the "Alternating Beds", which term included the overlying Fredericksburg formations. The Glen Rose has been divided into upper and lower portions, separated by

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432-480: The American Museum of Natural History ("AMNH") in New York, New York, discovered a dozen sauropod and four theropod or carnosaur trackways all following the same general direction. These were the first sauropod footprints scientifically documented, and were designated a National Natural Landmark in 1969. Some are as large as about 3 feet (1 m) across. The prints are thought to have been preserved originally in

468-490: The Greybull River . In early 1897, Osborn offered Brown a job as an assistant curator at the AMNH as well as a scholarship for graduate work at Columbia University . Sponsored by the AMNH, Brown traversed the country bargaining and trading for fossils. His field was not limited to dinosaurs. He was known to collect or obtain anything of possible scientific value. Often, he simply sent money to have fossils shipped to

504-609: The Hell Creek Formation of southeastern Montana , where, in 1902, he discovered and excavated the first documented remains of Tyrannosaurus rex . In 1910, Brown was promoted to Associate Curator in the Vertebrate Paleontology Department at the AMNH. The Hell Creek digs produced extravagant quantities of fossils, enough to fill up whole train cars. As was common practice then, Brown's crews used controlled blasts of dynamite to remove

540-599: The Lower Cretaceous Trinity Group overlain by the Edwards Group . Upper Cretaceous formations follow, starting with the Del Rio Clay , Buda Limestone , and then the Eagle Ford Group . Formations within the Trinity Group include the Hammett Formation , Cow Creek Formation, Hensel Formation , and Lower and Upper Glen Rose Formation. The Hammett and the lower portion of the Upper Glen Rose act as confining units (or aquitard ) for

576-662: The Paluxy Formation . The Glen Rose overlies the Hensel Sand and is overlain in turn by formations of the Fredericksburg division . In 1974, Keith Young concluded, based on ammonite zonation, that the formation ranges from late Upper Aptian into the Lower Albian , about 115-105 million years old. The formation consists mostly of hard limestone strata alternating with marl or marly limestone, but

612-885: The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology , as well as a fellow of the Geological Society of America , the Royal Geographical Society , the American Association of Petroleum Geologists , the New York Academy of Sciences , and the Paleontological Society . In early 1923, Brown travelled with his then-wife Lilian to Yangon , the capital of what was then Burma . Brown focused his fossil prospection along areas of Pondaung Sandstone . A mandible with three teeth

648-508: The 1905 trip to the Hell Creek Formation during which Brown discovered two additional Tyrannosaurus rex specimens. The couple had a daughter, Frances R. Brown , in 1908. After Marion died of scarlet fever in 1910, Frances was raised primarily by her maternal grandparents. She would go on to become a dean at Radcliffe College and Longwood College , as well as the president of Chevy Chase Junior College . She also wrote

684-528: The AMNH, and any new specimen of interest often resulted in a flurry of letters between the discoverer and Brown. With respect to nomenclature, Brown often named fossils after people or events that were relevant to his life at the time of discovery. Brown worked a handful of years in Como Bluff, Wyoming for AMNH in the late 1890s, discovering a prominent Diplodocus specimen and introducing new jacketing and collecting procedures. He also led an expedition to

720-777: The Middle Trinity Aquifer . The Upper Glen Rose contains the Upper Trinity Aquifer, which appears to have inter-aquifer groundwater flow with the Edwards Aquifer as water levels are at the same elevation. There are a number of caves in the Glen Rose, some of which are open to the public, including Cascade Caverns and Cave Without a Name , both in Kendall County, Texas and Natural Bridge Caverns in Comal County, Texas ,

756-663: The Tyrrell Museum's auspices lasted until August, 2005. However, after Currie took a new job at the University of Alberta , a new crew began working at the site in 2006, intending to continue for several years. Brown conducted his last formal field work season at the age of 83, when he returned to the Claggett Shale in Montana in 1955, where he collected a plesiosaur skeleton. He was a member of Sigma Xi and

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792-532: The fossils were largely forgotten in the recesses of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City . In the 1990s, Dr. Phil Currie , then head of dinosaur research at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Canada, relocated the site of the bones using only an old photograph as a guide. He recommenced excavations there in the summer of 1998, and examination of the site under

828-579: The largest foraminifera ever found. Dinosaur footprints and trackways are found in at least 50 localities in the Glen Rose, primarily at the top of the Upper Glen Rose and a smaller number at the top of the Lower Glen Rose. The most famous of these sites is the Paluxy River site in Dinosaur Valley State Park near the town of Glen Rose, Texas, southwest of Fort Worth. In 1938, Roland T. Bird, assistant to Barnum Brown of

864-426: The lower parts of which are in the Glen Rose. A variety of fossils are found in the Glen Rose, more abundantly in the lower Glen Rose than the upper, including numerous gastropods , clams and echinoids . Many species in the lower portion are not found in the upper portion. Dinosaur tracks have been found in many localities, as well as isolated vertebrate remains. Microfossils also are present, including one of

900-1650: The lower portion of the Upper Glen Rose act as confining units (or aquitard ) for the Middle Trinity Aquifer . The Upper Glen Rose contains the Upper Trinity Aquifer, which appears to have intra-aquifer groundwater flow with the Edwards Aquifer as water levels are at the same elevation. Pachycheilosuchus P. trinquei Glen Rose Formation A neosuchian related to Eusuchia . Had procoelous vertebrae. Paluxysuchus P. newmani Twin Mountains Formation A neosuchian related to Eusuchia Acrocanthosaurus A. atokensis Twin Mountains Formation A carcharodontosaurid Arkansaurus A. fridayi An ornithomimosaur Astrophocaudia A. slaughteri Paluxy Formation A member of Somphospondyli Cedarosaurus C. weiskopfae Paluxy Formation A brachiosaurid Paluxysaurus P. jonesi Twin Mountains Formation Junior synonym of Sauroposeidon proteles Sauroposeidon S. proteles Twin Mountains Formation A member of Somphospondyli Tenontosaurus T. dossi Twin Mountains Formation An iguanodont Convolosaurus C. marri Twin Mountains Formation A basal ornithopod Radiodactylus R. langstoni Glen Rose Formation An azhdarchoid pterosaur Barnum Brown Barnum Brown (February 12, 1873 – February 5, 1963), commonly referred to as Mr. Bones ,

936-534: The only formal education available in Carbondale. He finished the highest level of schooling there in 1889, at the age of 16, and embarked on a four-month wagon journey to Montana with his father. Sources claim multiple purposes for the trip, including William's desire to give Brown traveling experience, evaluating possibilities for a new homestead, or to avoid a legal complaint of incest filed against William by Brown's oldest sister, Melissa. Upon returning from

972-468: The outside, protecting younger sauropods in the center, stating that the trackways merely show smaller animals following the larger ones. The fact that some of the Glen Rose trackways primarily include marks of the fore feet led Bird and others to suggest that the sauropods were semi-aquatic and made the tracks when partially swimming, a scenario that "has become deeply entrenched in the popular literature..." Again, Lockley discounts that theory, stating that

1008-562: The same stretch of river was the famous Sternberg family of fossil hunters. A playful, friendly rivalry arose between the Browns and the Sternbergs, and their competing discoveries went down in the annals of paleontology. In 1910, in one of their most significant finds, Brown's team uncovered several hind feet from a group of Albertosaurus in Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park . For years,

1044-578: The tons of rock covering their fossil discoveries. Everything was moved with horse-drawn wagons and pure manpower. Seldom were any site data recorded. After nearly a decade in Montana , Brown headed to Alberta, Canada , and the Red Deer River near Drumheller . There, Brown and his crew spent the middle 1910s floating down the river on a flatboat , stopping along the way to prospect for fossils at promising-looking sites. Trying to outdo them along

1080-575: The tracks were not well preserved or studied and that the view of sauropods as swimming "can not be supported using any convincing line of available evidence." Claims that human footprints have been found in the Glen Rose is discussed in the Dinosaur Valley State Park article. Trinity Group (geologic formation) The Trinity Group is a group (sequence of rock strata ) in the Lower Cretaceous lithostratigraphy of Texas , Arkansas , Mississippi , Louisiana and Oklahoma . It

1116-467: The trip in the fall, Brown began attending high school in Lawrence , then matriculated at the University of Kansas in 1893. After graduating from high school, Brown attended the University of Kansas and took an early interest in archaeology and paleontology. As a freshman, he took a course with Samuel Wendell Williston , who then invited Brown, along with Ermine Cowles Case and Elmer S. Riggs , on

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1152-577: Was an American paleontologist. Named after the circus showman P. T. Barnum , he discovered the first documented remains of Tyrannosaurus during a career that made him one of the most famous fossil hunters working from the late Victorian era into the early 20th century. Barnum Brown was born in Carbondale, Kansas on February 12, 1873 to William and Clara Silver Brown. Brown's parents moved to Kansas in 1859, traveling by covered wagon with their daughter, Melissa. Their second daughter, Alice Elizabeth,

1188-530: Was born in 1860 in Osage County, Kansas , where the family would build a one-room cabin on top of a coal seam . William made a living in Kansas first by raising corn, hogs, and cattle, but the political turmoil of Bleeding Kansas in the late 1850s and 1860s led to arson and theft of crops and livestock; he supported the family by digging and selling coal, as well as hauling supplies for the government with

1224-536: Was not above picking up spare cash acting as a corporate spy for oil companies. Sinclair Oil funded many of Brown's expeditions and research, particularly during the Great Depression , and the company continues to use Diplodocus , discovered by Brown, as its logo. On February 13, 1904, Brown married school teacher Marion Raymond in Oxford, New York. She accompanied him on several expeditions, including

1260-512: Was proposed to explain the tracks. Some believed that they recorded a herd of sauropods, including young animals protected by their parents, being followed by a group of theropods and argued that the apparent disappearance of one of the sauropod trackways indicated a fatal attack by the theropods. Scientists today generally discount this explanation. Martin Lockley (1995) concludes that the tracks most likely represent twelve sauropods "probably as

1296-476: Was recorded and catalogued at an exposure of sandstone outside of the town of Mogaung . He did not recognize the significance of his find until 14 years later, when vertebrate paleontologist Edwin H. Colbert , of the AMNH, identified the fossil as a new species of primate and the earliest known anthropoid in the world. He named the holotype Amphipithecus mogaungensis , or the "ape-like creature of Mogaung", but considerable debate remains regarding its status as

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