Marmarth Research Foundation: In the Hell Creek formation of North Dakota

Prenocephale skull
Hell Creek Formation
2006

Torosaurus removal
Torosaurus
2005

It's one frill after another!

Norman Gardiner
Retired English Professor

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Our Goals

Excavations

Field Program

Staff

Staff

Mosasaur
Tom Tucker
Tom Tucker guides the Bobcat into place to flip the field jackets.

Removing the excess field jacket
An angle grinder was used to trim the flipped field jacket.

Flipped field jackets
Once the jackets were flipped, matrix from the bottom was removed to reduce the weight of the field jacket and the excess jacket, including the rebar rods, were cut away.

Mosasaur back paddle
Volunteers uncovered an articulated hind paddle at the Mosasaur site.

Mosasaur pelvis and back paddle
An articulated pelvis and both back paddles were uncovered.

Articulated tail vertebrae
Over 80 vertebrae, many of which were articulated, were uncovered at the Mosasaur site.

Lou Tremblay
Lou Tremblay works around the articulated pelvis and back paddle.

The crew
A large crew worked on the Mosasaur site.

Mosasaur excavation
A large crew of volunteers worked on the Mosasaur excavation.

Large field jackets
The Mosasaur was taken out in two large field jackets. The jackets were reinforced with steel rods and 2X4's.

Brett Woodward
Preparator Brett Woodward works around a series of articulated tail vertebrae.

Jacket retrieval
Ranse used the Bobcat to load the two large jackets onto a trailer.

Float material
A number of Mosasaur vertebrae were found on the surface.

Flipped field jacket
A novel technique was used to collect the field jackets. Holes were drilled underneath the jacket and rebar was inserted and jacketed into each hole creating a metal cage underneath the jacket.

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