New Jersey Dinosaurs

Hadrosaurus

Cretaceous Park Jersey? My home state is not the first one to come to mind when talking about dinosaurs. There is New Jersey’s official state dinosaur - Hadrosaurus foulkii - the first nearly complete dinosaur skeleton ever found in North America. It was discovered in 1858 in a marl pit in Haddonfield, NJ by William Parker Foulke, and it helped revolutionize scientific understanding of dinosaur posture because it suggested that some dinosaurs could walk upright. It lived about 70–100 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous period.

We also have the first recognized Tyrannosaur, known as Dryptosaurus. Its name means “Tearing lizard” or “Slashing reptile.” It is also from the Late Cretaceous, around 67–66 million years ago. It grew up to 25 feet (7.5 meters) long and was carnivorous. It belongs to the Eutyrannosaurian theropod group, which was an early relative of Tyrannosaurus rex.

Dryptosaurus

It was first described by Edward Drinker Cope in 1866 as Laelaps aquilunguis, later renamed Dryptosaurus by rival paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh due to naming conflicts. It was one of the first theropods ever discovered in North America. The discovery was made in a marl pit near Barnsboro, NJ, making it a local legend in paleontology.

Marl is a type of sedimentary material that's rich in calcium carbonate, clay, and silt. It forms in freshwater or marine environments, often through the accumulation of microscopic organisms like algae or the breakdown of shells and skeletons of marine life, and is common in post-glacial lake beds, coastal plains, and marine deposits.

In Mantua Township (behind a shopping center!), paleontologists have uncovered one of the most remarkable fossil sites in the country. The Edelman Fossil Park & Museum at Rowan University has taken that site and built it into a destination for dinosaur enthusiasts and families alike. 

Dr. Kenneth Lacovara, a South Jersey native and world-renowned paleontologist, has traveled across the globe digging for dinosaurs, but his most astonishing finds came from the quarry near where he grew up. Over the last 18 years, more than 100,000 fossils from over 100 species have been unearthed at the Mantua site. The site officially opened to the public in March as the Jean & Ric Edelman Fossil Park & Museum, inviting visitors to dig for real fossils, tour exhibits, and learn how prehistoric history can shape the future. 

A local news report on the Edelman Fossil Park & Museum of Rowan University before it opened in March 2025.

Dinosaur Highways

Where is a "dinosaur highway," and what does that mean?

The term "Dinosaur Highway" typically refers to a stretch of land or road where a large number of dinosaur footprints have been preserved and discovered, often in the beds of ancient river systems or floodplains. It's not a formal highway in the modern sense, but rather a nickname given to regions where dinosaur tracks are abundant and accessible.

The term "Dinosaur Highway" most commonly refers to U.S. Route 160 in western Colorado and eastern Utah, particularly the stretch that runs through or near Dinosaur National Monument and other areas rich in dinosaur fossils and footprints.

Want to drive this highway? A route from Vernal, Utah to Fruita, Colorado, which hits major dinosaur sites, is one possibilty.

There are other possible routes: Connecticut River Valley (Massachusetts and Connecticut) – famous for Early Jurassic dinosaur tracks; Glen Rose, Texas – known for Paluxy River dinosaur tracks; Dinosaur Valley State Park – sometimes called part of the “Texas Dinosaur Highway.”

How about one in Britain? see ox.ac.uk/news/2025...dinosaur-highway

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/paleontologists-are-still-unraveling-the-mystery-of-the-first-dinosaur-180983672/ 

Da Vinci and Geology, Fossils and the Bible

Leonardo da Vinci understood geology based on physical evidence he found. His studies of rocks, fossils, and river erosion led him to the conclusion that the world is far older than stated in the book of Genesis, and he argued that marine fossils found in the mountains were the result of falling sea levels, not the Great Flood.

He wrote:

And a little beyond the sandstone conglomerate, a tufa has been formed, where it turned towards Castel Florentino; farther on, the mud was deposited in which the shells lived, and which rose in layers according to the levels at which the turbid Arno flowed into that sea. And from time to time the bottom of the sea was raised, depositing these shells in layers, as may be seen in the cutting at Colle Gonzoli, laid open by the Arno which is wearing away the base of it; in which cutting the said layers of shells are very plainly to be seen in clay of a bluish colour, and various marine objects are found there.

A page of Leonardo's Paris Manuscript I is covered in sketches of marine fossils.

Among them is a honeycomb-like array of hexagons that palaeontologists think might constitute the first recorded observation of an enigmatic trace fossil called Paleodictyon.




He recognized fossils as petrified remains of former living organisms and even applied paleoecological principles to reconstruct the deposition of sedimentary rocks. Of course, he never published his notebooks and his theories were not well known during and for many years after his death.

Later, Nicolas Steno (1638-1686), with his stratigraphic principles, Robert Hooke (1635-1703), with his paleontological interpretation of fossils, and finally James Hutton (1726-1797), with his earth-theory, would make discoveries and theories that would have an impact on scientific thinking.