STRATIGRAPHIC AND GEOCHEMICAL OBSERVATIONS WITH GROUND PENETRATING RADAR (GPR) OF THE UPPER MORRISON FORMATION NEAR THERMOPOLIS, WY, USA

The Upper Morrison Formation (Jurassic) near Thermopolis, Wyoming is known for its dinosaur bone beds. A noninvasive ground-penetrating radar (GPR) study was helpful for finding potential future bone bed sites and may provide new information to the vertebrate paleontology community. Various dinosaurs are known to be found at the sites in this study such as Camarasaurus, Diplodocus, and Apatosaurus. The objectives of this study were to characterize the geochemical and stratigraphic features of these sites and to correlate this information with observations seen in the GPR analysis. Stratigraphic and structural features were observed and measured in addition to strike and dip measurements at three sites with known dinosaur fossils. Various samples of limestone and shale were collected at these sites along with GPR data. Shale samples were analyzed for geochemical examination along with petrographic analysis. Correlation of the stratigraphic observations, geochemical and petrographic analysis and GPR scans was helpful in understanding the depositional environment for these sites, and results of this study also provide insight for future excavations and paleontological investigations.