Primary Fossil Parks

A mounted cast of an Allosaurus fragilis is on display at the Quarry Exhibit Hall, Dinosaur
National Monument.

NPS photo.

Introduction

Primary fossil parks have fossil resources or paleontology identified in their enabling legislation or, in the case of some national monuments, in the presidential proclamation that established them as part of the National Park System.

These primary fossil parks include diverse paleontological resources. Some were named for the fossils that they contain. Others, like White Sands National Park and Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, include a range of significant natural and cultural resources of which paleontology is but one part.

Fossils in these parks range in age from Precambrian to Holocene. They include many that are important in understanding the evolution of life and the geologic history of North America. Seven of these parks contain Lagerstätten (exceptionally rich fossil deposits).

Many more units of the National Park System contain important fossil resources. Fossils have been identified in a total of 287 parks, including 55 parks that have important paleontological resources, although fossils or paleontology was not specified in their enabling legislation or proclamation.

Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, Nebraska

An ash deposit exposed in a white cliff near the Visitor Center.

NPS photo.

Agate Fossil Beds National Monument is one of the most important paleontological sites in the world for Miocene-age mammals. Several quarries in the monument, especially the bone beds at Carnegie and University Hills, include dense concentrations of bones that are both well-preserved and yielded many nearly complete skeletons. Fossils of Menoceras (a small rhino), the pig-like Daeodon, Daphoenodon (bear dogs), Moropus (a distant relative of the horse), and Stenomylus, a diminutive gazelle-like camel, have been recovered from the monument. Burrows of Daphoenodon and Palaeocastor (ancient beaver) are also present at the site, with the latter being known as Daemonelix, or “Devil’s Corkscrews,” for their spiral shapes.

Located in the Niobara River Valley in northwestern Nebraska, Agate Fossil Beds National Monument is also home to a thriving plains ecosystem and a large collection of Plains Indian relics.

Related Links

• NPS—Vertebrate Fossils

• Mammals

• NPS—Lagerstätten

• NPS—Cenozoic Era

• NPS—Recrystallization

• Agate Fossil Beds—Fossils and Paleontology of Agate Fossil Beds

• Agate Fossil Beds—What Animals Roamed Here?

• Agate Fossil Beds—Agate Bonebed

Channel Islands National Park, California

Ancient sea cow fossil discovered on the Channel Islands.

NPS photo

Made up of five islands on the southern coast of California, Channel Islands National Park protects unique island-based and marine ecosystems as well as valuable paleontological and archeological resources. The park’s most well-known fossils discovered are Quaternary pygmy mammoths. The animals appear to have swum to Santa Rose Island before dwarfing over time in response to island factors such as a restricted land area and lack of predation.

The Channel Islands also have rich records of marine invertebrate fossils, particularly of mollusks, and microfossils. Miocene-aged fossils of marine mammals have also been recovered on the islands, as well as fossils of a variety of bird species and terrestrial small mammals. Plant fossils include the remarkable caliche forests, which are casts of tree roots and trunks made by calcium carbonate precipitated by shallow groundwater.

Related Links

• NPS—Vertebrate Fossils

• Mammals

• Birds

• NPS—Invertebrate Fossils

• NPS—Other Fossils

• NPS—Cenozoic Era

• NPS—Quaternary Period

• Channel Islands—Paleontological Resources

• Park Paleontology News—Paleontology of Channel Islands National Park

• Park Paleontology News—A New Resource for Researching America's Elephants

Death Valley National Park, California

Ammonite specimens in the Death Valley fossil collection.

NPS photo.

Death Valley has one of the most extensive and diverse fossil records within the National Park System. Fossils in Death Valley range from stromatolites preserved in Precambrian (Mesoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic) rocks to Pleistocene body fossils of mammoths, horses, and camels. More than 30 different stratigraphic units in the park are fossiliferous, with Paleozoic strata containing a wide array of marine invertebrate fossils. Extensive exposures of Late Eocene units have produced a large number of mammal body fossils. The park also has a particularly important Pliocene fossil track site with exceptionally well-preserved tracks of birds, camels, cats, horses, and other animals.

Related Links

• NPS—Vertebrate Fossils

• Mammals

• NPS—Plant Fossils

• NPS—Invertebrate Fossils

• NPS—Other Fossils

• Vertebrate Tracks

• NPS—Precambrian

• NPS—Paleozoic Era

• NPS—Mesozoic Era

• NPS—Cenozoic Era

• NPS—Quaternary Period

• NPHistory—Death Valley National Park Paleontological Survey

• Park Paleontology News—Ancient Springs Reveal a Pleistocene Vertebrate Fauna and a 100,000 Year Record of Paleoclimate in Death Valley National Park

• Park Paleontology News—A New Resource for Researching America's Elephants

Dinosaur National Monument, Utah and Colorado

NPS photo by Jacob W. Frank.

Dinosaur National Monument is one of the best places in the world for people to see dinosaur fossils in situ. The Quarry Exhibit Hall includes approximately dinosaur bones exposed in a rock wall that was incorporated into the exhibit space, including some bones that people can even touch. The exhibit hall contains bones of Allosaurus, Apatosaurus, Camarasaurus, Diplodocus, Stegosaurus, and other species.

The fossils in the exhibit hall are in the Morrison Formation, which was deposited in a terrestrial environment including rivers, floodplains, and lakes during the Jurassic Era. The Morrison has a particularly rich fossil record, which in addition to abundant dinosaurs, includes mammals, other reptiles, plants, and freshwater bivalves.

Other rock units exposed in the monument range in age from Cambrian to Miocene, many of which are fossiliferous.

Related Links

• NPS—Vertebrate Fossils

• NPS—Age of Dinosaurs

• NPS—Lagerstätten

• Mammals

• NPS—Plant Fossils

• NPS—Invertebrate Fossils

• NPS—Other Fossils

• Vertebrate Tracks

• NPS—Paleozoic Era

• NPS—Mesozoic Era

• Dinosaur—Morrison Formation

• Dinosaur—Dinosaur Contemporaries

• Dinosaur—The Dinosaurs of Dinosaur

• Dinosaur—Quarry Exhibit Hall

• Park Paleontology News—Fantastic Camarasauruses (from Dinosaur National Monument) and Where to Find Them

• Park Paleontology News—Preventative Conservation of an 'Allosaurus' skull from Dinosaur National Monument

• Park Paleontology News—Dinosaurs of the National Park Service

Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, Colorado

View of Florissant valley through a shelter that covers a petrified redwood.

NPS photo.

Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument protects and preserves one of the richest Eocene fossil deposits in the world. Florissant is best known for the delicate insect fossils that have been preserved in paper shales in the Forissant Formation. It also has some of the largest petrified tree stumps that have ever been found. The stumps formed after volcanic mudflows (lahars) buried forests about 34 million years ago.

The Lagerstätten in Florissant Fossil Beds has great scientific significance as it contains fossils that are rare in the rock record. In addition to impressions and compressions of insects and spiders, the Florissant Formation has fossils of flowers, fruits, leaves, fish, and small mammals. Type specimens of at least 432 fossil species are from the monument.

Related Links

• NPS—Invertebrate Fossils

• NPS—Plant Fossils

• NPS—Lagerstätten

• NPS—Vertebrate Fossils

• Mammals

• NPS—Other Fossils

• NPS—Cenozoic Era

• NPS—Impressions and Compressions

• Florissant Fossil Beds—Eocene Florissant

• Florissant Fossil Beds—Hidden Treasures

• Florissant Fossil Beds—Fossils and FAQs

• Florissant Fossil Beds—Fossil Vertebrates

• Florissant Fossil Beds Lesson Plan—Clay Fossils

• Florissant Fossil Beds—Photo Gallery

Fossil Butte National Monument, Wyoming

Over 2000 fossils are on display in the Fossil Butte visitor center.

NPS photo.

Fossil Butte National Monument protects a remarkable assemblage of Eocene-aged fossils from the Green River Formation. The 52-million-year-old Fossil Butte Member of the Green River Formation contains abundant fossils that provide best record of Cenozoic aquatic communities in North America. It was deposited in Fossil Lake, was a shallow alkaline lake where rapid sediment help preserve fish and other animals such as turtles, reptiles, birds, and mammals so that they were articulated, meaning that the bones are same position as they would have been during life. Plant fossils (leaf impressions, seeds, and flowers) and those of insects and other invertebrates have also been recovered from the park. Additionally, more than 10,000 different coprolites (fossil dung) have been found.

Links to:

• Fishes

• Mammals

• NPS—Vertebrate Fossils

• NPS—Plant Fossils

• NPS—Lagerstätten

• NPS—Invertebrate Fossils

• Coprolites

• NPS—Trace Fossils

• NPS—Cenozoic Era

• NPS—Impressions and Compressions

• Fossil Butte—Fossils

• Fossil Butte—Museum Exhibits

• Fossil Butte—Fossil Butte Research Quarry Data

• Fossil Butte—Geology

• Fossil Butte Photos—Green River Formation Fossils

• Fossil Butte Photos—Donated Fossils

Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument, Idaho

Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument is one of the most important localities in North America for fossils that provide information about horse evolution. Fossils of more than 200 individuals of the Hagerman Horse (Equus simplicidens), a species more closely related to zebras than modern domesticated horses, have been recovered from the Horse Quarry.

The monument also contains fossils of at least 140 other species that lived during the Pliocene between about 4 and 3 million years ago, making it one of the most important Pliocene fossil sites in the world.

Related Links

• Fishes

• Mammals

• NPS—Vertebrate Fossils

• NPS—Plant Fossils

• NPS—Lagerstätten

• NPS—Cenozoic Era

• Hagerman Fossil Beds—What is Paleontology?

• Park Paleontology News—The Importance of Paleontology Collections

• Park Paleontology News—From the Ashes: how volcanologists can help paleontologists reconstruct the ancient past at Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument

• Hagerman Fossil Beds—The Hagerman Horse (Equus simplicidens)

• Hagerman Fossil Beds—History & Culture

John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, Oregon

Painted Hills Unit at John Day Fossil Beds.

NPS photo.

The age of fossils found in John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in Oregon spans more than 40 million years, providing an incredibly important record of Cenozoic life in the Pacific Northwest. Important fossil deposits are found in several different stratigraphic units, most predominantly in the Clarno and John Day formations.

The Clarno Formation includes the Clarno Nut Beds and the Hancock Mammal Quarry. The Clarno Nut Beds are a 44-million-year-old Lagerstätte with one of the most diverse fossil floras in the world with more than 175 species of fruit and seeds that have been described. The 40-million-year-old Hancock Mammal Quarry contains fossils of both plants and animals, including Haplohippus, a small 3-toed, leaf-eating horse.

The Bridge Creek Assemblage (33 million years old), Turtle Cove Assemblage (30 to 25 million years old), and Upper John Day Assemblage (24 to 20 million years old) in the John Day Formation yield diverse plant and mammal fossils that provide information about changing climates, depositional environments, and floras and faunas during that time interval.

Related Links

• Mammals

• NPS—Vertebrate Fossils

• NPS—Plant Fossils

• NPS—Lagerstätten

• NPS—Invertebrate Fossils

• NPS—Cenozoic Era

• NPS—Impressions and Compressions

• John Day Fossil Beds—Fossils

• Park Paleontology News—A New Resource for Researching America's Elephants

Joshua Tree National Park, California

Pinto Basin and Eagle Mountain in Joshua Tree National Park.

NPS photo by Robb Hannawacker.

Joshua Tree National Park possesses a rich array of Pleistocene fossils in the Pinto Basin in the eastern part of the park. The Pinto Basin was formed by downfaulting and, during the Pleistocene, contained lakes, swamps, and grasslands that were home to a variety of Pleistocene megafauna. Fossils of horses and camels are the most common, but those of Columbian mammoths, llamas, bison, pronghorn, gophers, giant ground sloths, dire wolfs, and saber-toothed cats have also been found.

Related Links

• NPS—Vertebrate Fossils

• Mammals

• NPS—Plant Fossils

• NPS—Invertebrate Fossils

• NPS—Cenozoic Era

• NPS—Quaternary Period

• Joshua Tree—Fossils

• Joshua Tree—Fossils in Joshua Tree

• Joshua Tree—Prehistoric Animals (Pinto Basin Pullout)

• Park Paleontology News—Studying the Past and Predicting the Future Using Rat Nests

• Park Paleontology News—A New Resource for Researching America's Elephants

Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, Maine

Brachiopod fossil in Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument.

NPS photo by Vincent Santucci

Fossils found in Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument provides information that the Northeast once an ancient reef teeming with life. The monument contains a rich fossil record consisting of Paleozoic invertebrate body and trace fossils, including trilobites, sponges, corals, gastropods (snails), bivalves, brachiopods, and crinoids.

Related Links

• NPS—Invertebrate Fossils

• NPS—Trace Fossils

• NPS—Paleozoic Era

• Park Paleontology News—Paleontology of Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument

• Katahdin Woods and Waters—Paleontological Resource Inventory (Public Version)

Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, Arizona

NPS photo by R. Seely.

Grand Canyon Parashant National Monument contains extensive exposures of Paleozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary rocks, many of which are fossiliferous. The monument is located north of the western part of Grand Canyon National Park and extends north to the Arizona Strip.Grand Canyon-Parashant shares a Paleozoic stratigraphy in common with the rest of Grand Canyon, but has much more extensive exposures of Mesozoic rocks. The Permian units, particularly the Toroweap and Kaibab formations, also have extensive exposures in the monument.

Most of the fossils identified in Grand Canyon-Parashant are Paleozoic marine invertebrate fossils, particularly in the Redwall Limestone, Toroweap Formation, and Kaibab Formation. Fossils in these units include brachiopods, bivalves, corals, and bryozoans. Plant fossils are known from the Hermit Formation. Petrified wood is known from Mesozoic units, particularly the Chinle Formation.Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument also has a significant record of Pleistocene and Holocene fossils in caves, including deposits of bat guano and fossils preserved in packrat middens.The monument is comanaged by National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management.

Related Links

• NPS—Invertebrate Fossils

• Mammals

• NPS—Plant Fossils

• Vertebrate Tracks

• NPS—Paleozoic Era

• NPS—Mesozoic Era

• NPS—Cenozoic Era

• NPS—Quaternary Period

• Grand Canyon-Parashant—Fossils

• Park Paleontology News—Paleontology in Parashant: No Bones About It

• Park Paleontology News—Studying the Past and Predicting the Future Using Rat Nests

• Park Paleontology News—A New Resource for Researching America's Elephants

Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona

Giant Logs site at Petrified Forest National Park.

NPS photo by Hallie Larsen.

The Chinle Formation exposed in Petrified Forest National Park contains the most continuous sections of Triassic rocks in the world and a diverse assemblage of reptile, amphibian, and dinosaur body fossils, as well as extensive deposits of colorful petrified logs. The petrified logs were deposited when the area was part of a large river system. Logs were transported by streams and quickly buried by river sediment where they were preserved through permineralization and replacement by silica. Major concentrations of petrified wood in the park are at the sites of ancient log jams.

The park provides comprehensive record of Late Triassic vertebrate evolution in North America. Many specimens of the crocodile-like phytosaur, aquatic reptiles including metoposaurs, turtles, frogs, and fish provide important information of life at the time. Early dinosaurs such as Coelophysis and Chindesaurus have also been recovered.

Related Links

• NPS—Vertebrate Fossils

• Reptiles

• NPS—Age of Dinosaurs

• Mammals

• NPS—Plant Fossils

• Petrified Wood

• NPS—Mesozoic Era

• NPS—Permineralization and Replacement

• Petrified Forest—Paleontology

• Petrified Forest—Triassic Park

• Petrified Forest—Research Activities

• Petrified Forest—Fossils

• Petrified Forest—Petrified Wood

• Petrified Forest—Paleoenvironments

Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument, Nevada

Tule Springs Fossil Beds.

Photo by Andrew Cattoir.

Located in the desert near Las Vegas, Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument was once a spring-fed environment with lush marshes, streams, meadows, and shallow pools that was populated by Pleistocene megafauna. The monument, established in 2014, is one of the best Late Pleistocene fossil sites in the world. The Tule Springs Local Fauna consists of Columbian mammoths, early camels, ground sloths, three species of horses, two species of bison, pronghorn, sabre-tooth cats, dire wolves, the fearsome 11-foot long American lion, and other species. Smaller vertebrates like frogs and lizards, as well as the teratorn, an enormous bird of prey with a 12-foot wingspan. Fossils in the monument range from about 100,000 to 12,500 years old.

Related Links

• NPS—Vertebrate Fossils

• Mammals

• NPS—Plant Fossils

• NPS—Cenozoic Era

• NPS—Quaternary Period

• Tule Springs—Tule Springs Local Fauna

• Tule Springs—Prehistoric Life of Tule Springs

• Tule Springs—The Geology and Paleontology of Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument, Nevada [PDF]

• Tule Springs—Paleontology

• Utah Geological Association—Vertebrate paleontology, stratigraphy, and paleohydrology of Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument, Nevada (USA)

• Park Paleontology News—A New Resource for Researching America's Elephants

Waco Mammoth National Monument, Texas

Fossilized mammals from the Ice Age.

Image courtesy of City of Waco Parks and Recreation.

The dig shelter in Waco Mammoth National Monument provides an opportunity for people to view fossils of Columbian mammoths in situ and learn about the work of paleontologists. The monument was established in 2015 to preserve the site of the nation’s first and only recorded evidence of a nursery herd of Pleistocene Columbian mammoths. The nursery herd of adult female and juveniles died about 67,000 years ago, most likely in a catastrophic flood event.

Related Links

• NPS—Vertebrate Fossils

• Mammals

• NPS—Plant Fossils

• NPS—Cenozoic Era

• NPS—Quaternary Period

• Waco Mammoth—Paleontology

• Park Paleontology News—Bringing The Past Alive: Mammoth Behavior Seen Through Waco Mammoth National Monument and its Impact on Interpretation

• Waco Mammoth—National Park Getaway: Waco Mammoth National Monument

• Waco Mammoth—History & Culture

• Park Paleontology News—A New Resource for Researching America's Elephants

White Sands National Park, New Mexico

Fossilized human footprints embedded in the gypsum sediment.

NPS photo.

The Pleistocene fossil tracks of both humans and large mammals such as ancient camels, Columbian mammoths, Harlan’s ground sloths, and predators in White Sands National Park is one of the most important fossil track sites in the world. These tracks were left during the Late Pleistocene near the shoreline of an ancient lakebed. The soft playa sediments were an excellent surface for track formation, but tracks break down quickly once they are exposed at the surface.

The site contains the oldest known human footprints in North America, which are about 23,000 years old, which revises the understanding of when humans arrived on the continent.

Related Links

• NPS—Vertebrate Fossils

• Mammals

• NPS—Plant Fossils

• NPS—Cenozoic Era

• NPS—Quaternary Period

• White Sands—Paleontology

• White Sands—Fossilized Footprints

• Park Paleontology News—Much More than a Sand Box: Fossil Tracks from the Lakes of the World’s Largest Gypsum Dune Field

• White Sands Photo Album—Fossilized Trackways

• White Sands—Paleo Hunting

• White Sands—How Scientists Study the White Sands National Monument Fossil Tracks

• Park Paleontology News—A New Resource for Researching America's Elephants

Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, Alaska

Calico Bluff viewed from the air.

NPS photo.

The fossil record at Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve ranges from Precambrian (Proterozoic) microfossils and stromatolites to the Cretaceous when dinosaurs walked across this part of Alaska and even to the Pleistocene with bones of megafauna having been recovered from the preserve. Paleozoic strata in the preserve contain many marine invertebrate fossils.

Related Links

• NPS—Vertebrate Fossils

• NPS—Age of Dinosaurs

• NPS—Plant Fossils

• NPS—Invertebrate Fossils

• NPS—Other Fossils

• Vertebrate Tracks

• NPS—Precambrian

• NPS—Paleozoic Era

• NPS—Mesozoic Era

• NPS—Quaternary Period

• Yukon-Charley Rivers—Geology On the Yukon River

• Yukon-Charley Rivers—Geology Down The Yukon Guide

• NPS—A New Resource for Researching America's Elephants

Zion National Park, Utah

Zion's sedimentary rock layers.

NPS photo by Adrienne Fitzgerald.

Although Zion National Park preserve a variety of different types of body fossils including of both vertebrates and invertebrates, its record of vertebrate trackways is particularly impressive. Most of the stratigraphic units in the park contain trackways. Bird and mammal tracks have even been found in Quaternary lake deposits in the park.

Most of the rocks exposed in Zion National Park are Triassic or Jurassic in age. The Triassic Moenkopi Formation contains marine invertebrate fossils as well as tracks of a variety of reptiles and stem mammals (synapsids). The Triassic Chinle Formation has abundant petrified wood as well as a body fossils of a variety of reptiles including phytosaurs.

The late Triassic-early Jurassic Moenave Formation, and the Jurassic Kayenta Formation and Navajo Sandstone all contain abundant dinosaur tracks.

Related Links

• NPS—Vertebrate Fossils

• NPS—Age of Dinosaurs

• NPS—Plant Fossils

• NPS—Invertebrate Fossils

• Vertebrate Tracks

• NPS—Mesozoic Era

• NPS—Quaternary Period

• Zion—Paleontology

• Zion—Footprints to Fossils

• Park Paleontology News—A 20-year Partnership between the Utah Geological Survey and the National Park Service to Inventory and Monitor Fossil Resources in Utah's National Parks

Featured Parks

• Agate Fossil Beds National Monument (AGFO), Nebraska—[AGFO Geodiversity Atlas] [AGFO Park Home] [AGFO npshistory.com]

• Bering Land Bridge National Preserve (BELA), Alaska—[BELA Geodiversity Atlas] [BELA Park Home] [BELA npshistory.com]

• Channel Islands National Park (CHIS), California—[CHIS Geodiversity Atlas] [CHIS Park Home] [CHIS npshistory.com]

• Death Valley National Park (DEVA), California and Nevada—[DEVA Geodiversity Atlas] [DEVA Park Home] [DEVA npshistory.com]

• Dinosaur National Monument (DINO), Colorado and Utah—[DINO Geodiversity Atlas] [DINO Park Home] [DINO npshistory.com]

• Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument (FLFO), Colorado—[FLFO Geodiversity Atlas] [FLFO Park Home] [FLFO npshistory.com]

• Fossil Butte National Monument (FOBU), Wyoming—[FOBU Geodiversity Atlas] [FOBU Park Home] [FOBU npshistory.com]

• Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument (HAFO), Idaho—[HAFO Geodiversity Atlas] [HAFO Park Home] [HAFO npshistory.com]

• John Day Fossil Beds National Monument (JODA), Oregon—[JODA Geodiversity Atlas] [JODA Park Home] [JODA Npshistory.com]

• Joshua Tree National Park (JOTR), California—[JOTR Geodiversity Atlas] [JOTR Park Home] [JOTR npshistory.com]

• Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument (KAWW), Maine—[KAWW Geodiversity Atlas] [KAWW Park Home] [KAWW npshistory.com]

• Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument (PARA), Arizona—[PARA Geodiversity Atlas] [PARA Park Home] [PARA npshistory.com]

• Petrified Forest National Park (PEFO), Arizona—[PEFO Geodiversity Atlas] [PEFO Park Home] [PEFO npshistory.com]

• Tule Springs National Monument (TUSK), Nevada—[TUSK Geodiversity Atlas] [TUSK Park Home] [TUSK npshistory.com]

• Waco Mammoth National Monument (WACO), Texas—[WACO Geodiversity Atlas] [WACO Park Home] [WACO npshistory.com]

• White Sands National Monument (WHSA), New Mexico—[WHSA Geodiversity Atlas] [WHSA Park Home] [WHSA npshistory.com]

• Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve (YUCH), Alaska—[YUCH Geodiversity Atlas] [YUCH Park Home] [YUCH npshistory.com]

• Zion National Park (ZION), Utah—[ZION Geodiversity Atlas] [ZION Park Home] [ZION npshistory.com]