Oregon is a magical place with deep roots . . . quite literally. Our old-growth forests harken back hundreds and hundreds of years, and our volcanoes and rock formations even further. Oregon has even more connections to prehistoric times. Near Mitchell, you'll find a mystical place in Oregon where dinosaurs once roamed. This area is known as a hotbed for fossils, and recent discoveries have unearthed some truly remarkable paleontological findings, too.
Central Oregon is a known hotbed for fossils.
In Oregon's Wheeler and Grant counties, the painted hills of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument hold layers and layers of geological history.
The park is known for its well-preserved layers of fossilized plants and animals that lived in the region between the late Eocene and late Miocene periods, which took place 45 million years ago and 5 million years ago, respectively.
Paleontologists have been unearthing and studying the fossils in the region since 1864, when Thomas Condon, a local geologist, discovered their importance.
The University of Oregon's Vertebrate Paleontology Lab is well-known for its extensive research in the field.
But until recently, these fossil findings were of prehistoric marine reptiles, as Oregon used to be underwater.
So when a research group from the University of Oregon, led by science professor Greg Retallack, unearthed what appeared to be a terrestrial formation in 2015, it changed everything.
Retallack and his team found a toe bone belonging to a 17-foot long, land-dwelling dinosaur known as an ornithopod. The fossil dates back roughly 103 million years ago, to the Cretaceous period.
What Retallack believes happened to this particular fossil is something known as "bloat and float" -- the ornithopod likely died close to the ocean, became engorged with gases as it decomposed, and eventually drifted into the sea.
Fast-forward a hundred million years. Mountains formed, oceans receded, and one of the dinosaur’s toes was unearthed in a central Oregon desert known for its fossils.
In fact, the shale this dinosaur toe was found in is full of fossilized mollusks and aquatic reptiles, but, no land-dwelling dinosaurs . . . until Retallack's groundbreaking discovery.
The fossil, now known as the Mitchell Ornithopod, is Oregon's first dinosaur find.
This finding adds another unique layer (literally) to Oregon's geological history. A state already known for its volcanoes and unique formations, it seems Oregon was also a place where the wild things roamed, hundreds of millions of years ago.
So the next time you're wandering around the Beaver State, know you're walking along the very place in Oregon where dinosaurs once floated and swam.
And the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument isn't *just* a paleontological treasure trove; it's also one of the most spectacular parks in Oregon!
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