Salinas Pueblo Missions – Quarai Mission

(To read the narrative for each set of images, just click on them to enlarge them!)

Enjoy!

Meanwhile, back at the Lab…

After we got back from hiking the trail to the actual dig site of the dinosaur that was first discovered in New Mexico back in the 1800’s, we got to check out what I’m calling the lab where the paleontologist was busy working away excavating the ceolophysis and another dinosaur from their burial site in a block of ground.

Ceolophysis Skull

Alex, the paleontologist, showed us a skull of a Ceolophysis that he had already excavated, as well as one still in the ground (viewed thru a magnifying glass to see the teeth up close).  Check out those teeth!  Scientists believe that the Ceolophysis was a carnivore, and those teeth were probably what helped them arrive at that conclusion!

Back of Ceolophysis Skull

This is the same skull, just flipped over so we’re sort of seeing the back (or “wrong”) side of its skull.  You can see its teeth are pretty much intact on this side as well.

Three Ceolophysis Skulls

Now, we’re looking at 3 Ceolophysis skulls, still in the ground.  It’s hard to see them, so I lightened the area where they are all sort of laying on top of one another.  I’ve also numbered them to make it easier.  Numbers 1 & 2 are laying sideways, so you can actually see their jaws open.  The 3^rd one is a little tricky.  He’s laying with his “chin”, so to speak, on the ground, so you’re actually looking at the top of his head.  Of course, neither Jeff nor I would have spotted any of these if Alex hadn’t pointed them out to us!!

Only Complete Dinosaur Skeleton

This is NOT a Ceolophysis, but neither Jeff nor I can remember the name of this guy – darn!  Still, he is kind of interesting.  The drawing that we saw of this guy shows that he looked like kind of a cross between an alligator and a lizard.  His body looked more like a lizard, but the tail really looked like an alligator’s.  I’ve also highlighted his skeleton.  Also, what look like scales were actually rather soft and kind of fuzzy.  The head has already been excavated, and is in a drawer, wrapped protectively.  We did get to see it, but no touching!  The remarkable thing about this fossil is that this is the ONLY complete skeleton of this dinosaur in the world!  I guess this dinosaur has been found throughout the world, but no one has a complete skeleton except the Ghost Ranch Paleontology Museum in New Mexico!

Enjoy!

Views from Ghost Ranch Trail

A few months ago, Jeff & I discovered that a specific type of dinosaur was discovered here in New Mexico a few hundred years ago on the land that is now part of Ghost Ranch.  When we heard that a tour was offered to take us to the dig site, and then to the lab to see these bones up close and personal, well, we couldn’t resist.  Jeff was particularly excited about seeing this piece of natural history!

View along Paleontology Tour Trail

One of the great things about doing this tour is that we got to see some views of and from the trail that we hadn’t seen before.  This view gives you a good view of the different layers of rock formations that exist throughout the area (New Mexico and Arizona).  The top most sort of grey layer is the Todilto Formation.  These are the saline deposits left over from when this area was covered by an inland sea during the late Middle Jurassic period.  The orange and yellow layer below that were sand dunes of the Entrada Formation, and are from about 165 million years ago.  The rosy colored stones below that are from what is called the Chinle (pronounced CHIN-lee) Formation.  This refers to a time in earth’s history dating back 200 – 300 million years ago.  The dinosaur bones we were about to see dated back to that time.  It is believed that the dinosaurs were killed during a flash flood.

View of Pedernal  from Paleontology Tour Trail

This view really doesn’t have anything to do with dinosaurs, but I do love any view I can get of the Pedernal (the flat top formation in the distance)!

View of Dig Site

Here’s the first view of the dig site.  Before we get into info about the dig site, let’s chat a bit about the dinosaur that was discovered here.  The dinosaur is called a Coelophysis (pronounced CEEL-lo-phy-sis).  It does have a “nickname” of sorts – Rioarribasaurous.  This nickname was to acknowledge that this dinosaur was first discovered in this area, in Rio Arriba County of New Mexico.  Still, the tour guide didn’t seem to like it when Jeff mentioned this name!  The Coelophysis grew to be between 6 – 10 feet long, and weighed between 50 – 100 pounds.  They had very small front legs, so that they looked a bit like Tyrannosaurus Rex.  However, they had a long tail and neck and a very narrow skull.  They would flock together like birds, and it’s believed they had what are called proto-feathers or “dino-fuzz”!  It is the state fossil of New Mexico, too.

Overview of Coelophysis Dig Site

This is a view of the dig site as it looks today.  It was much more level when it was an active site, but for now, the scientists have enough bones so that it’s no longer being actively dug.   It was interesting to find out that the way excavations of this type are done today.  Entire blocks of ground are dug up and sent to various museums for the paleontologists at each museum to do the excavating in an enclosed environment – a lab, as I think of it.  The blocks are actually quite large.  The one that they are working on at Ghost Ranch looked to be about 8’ x 8’ x 4’ thick.

View from Top of Dig Site

We continued up the trail just a bit beyond the dig site to check out the view on the other side of the rise.  Quite a lovely view, with excellent displays of the types of rock formations that I described above!  After this, we made our way back down the trail and into the lab (next post).

Enjoy!