The dinosaur-bearing rocks of Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve: A fossil resource of global interest

Abstract

The first discovery of any dinosaur remains in a US National Park Service unit in Alaska occurred in 2001 in Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve. The record consisted of the track of a pes impression, or track made by the foot of a hadrosaur (duck-billed dinosaur) and an associated manus impression, or track made by a hand. Subsequent work has shown the original track discovery was not unique, and that the coastal exposures of the Cretaceous Chignik Formation in Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve contain a remarkable number of tracks. Further, because of the limited faulting, the several hundred meters of section found along this coastal set of exposures provide a remarkably complete look at an ancient high-latitude dinosaurian ecosystem and are of outstanding universal value.