The
Hell Creek Formation is one of the most famous dinosaur fossil
locales in the World. Prominently exposed in Western North and
South Dakota and Eastern Montana, more dinosaur fossils, including
complete skeletons, have been preserved there than in any other
place in the United States.
The Hell Creek Formation is also unique in that it holds the
remains of life at the very end of the Mesozoic Era, right up
to the demise of non-avian dinosaurs. The actual Cretaceous-Tertiary
(K-T) boundary, an ash layer marking the extinction of the dinosaur
megafauna, can even be seen here.
During
Hell Creek times, some 65 million years ago, the interior West
was much different than today. Then, the region was a broad
expanse of rivers and floodplains, much like the modern Mississippi
River delta. Massive cypress trees shrouded the lowlands in
lush greenery. It was a haven for dinosaurs. Herds of regal
triceratops and graceful duckbilled hadrosaurs, and packs of
cunning raptors and ferocious tyrannosaurs, roamed the land.
When these dinosaurs died, their bones (along with those of
various reptiles, fish, birds, and other animals) were covered
with the sediment deposited in seasonal floods, eventually to
become fossilized. Millions of years later, geological uplift
and erosion exposed the fossil beds that we now call the Hell
Creek Formation.
Because of its spectacular dinosaur fossils, scientists have
been drawn to the Hell Creek Formation for well over a century.
Since the late 1800’s, when the famous “bone war”
between rival paleontologists O.C. Marsh and Edward Drinker
Cope thrust dinosaur excavation into the spotlight, prominent
scientists from all over the country (indeed, the world), have
journeyed to the remote Hell Creek Beds in search of magnificent
skeletons of Tyrannosaurus rex, Edmontosaurus, Triceratops,
and the many other dinosaurs buried there. Today, that same
irresistible urge for discovery brings us back to the Hell Creek,
again and again.
And,
now we open the door for you. Step through it and you have a
rare opportunity to follow in the footsteps of the great explorer-scientists
who came before, and there, to discover dinosaurs for yourself.
Just
imagine the adventure
—the experience of a lifetime—
that awaits you!
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