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Show 4 Energy Guide March 2004 CEU Museum continues to grow and expand The story revealed by fossils found in Utah is intertwined with the minerals and fossil fuels abundant in our area. Illustrations for this story can be found at the College of Eastern Utah Prehistoric Museum, where the main focus is on the fossils and prehistoric artifacts of eastern Utah. Coal has been king in Carbon and Emerv counties for more than a hundred years, but the reigning dinosaur during the time that much of the coal in this area was forming was the mighty tyrannosaurus dinosaur, the most notable of whom our children affectionately call Coal was formed from the wood and plant debris deposited in the T-rc-x. back-wat- er swamps near ancient ocean shorelines. In the middle of the Cretaceous Period between 100 and 75 million years ago, a vast shallow sea spread across the heartland of North America, creating ocean front property all along the eastern part of the state of Utah. dinosaurs roamed the vast, lush swamps along this coastline as witnessed by the thousands of footprints and trackways found along coal mine roofs each year. The association of dinosaurs with coal in the United States is unique to the west. Along the East Coast, coal beds were formed along swamps that were ocr 200 million years Duck-bille- d older than those in Utah and well fore the first dinosaur graced the planet. Those eastern coal beds were completed prior to the formation of the supercontinent Pangea, when the United States was still joined to Europe and northern Africa, and the Ap- palachians were equivalent to the Iimalayas in elevation. Gas and oil fields abundant in Texas and Oklahoma are the result of the great productivity and abundance of ocean life during the same period of time that the coal swamps in Utah were nourishing. Indeed, there were times during the Cretaceous that as much as half of Utah was covered by this seaway. Thus dinosaurs did not contribute to our oil reserves at all but did leave their traces in our coal beds. Methane gas production in Utah has been on the increase for years and is increasingly utilized to heat the homes of America. This gas production is generally not associated with the oil production from the seaway but rather is associated with the coal beds that formed along its margins. Methane gas was created from the decaying plant and other organic material associated with these coal forming beds, in other words, true swamp gas. Dinosaurs in Utah have also been I x-- I be- associated with the exploration of other minerals in the state. As dinosaur bones were fossilized, they attracted other minerals found in soils and ground water. Jurassic dinosaur bones found in the Morrison Formation of Utah and Colorado were often found to have a concentration of uranium within them. The concentration within these bones was so great that for a short period of time during World War 1, uranium was mined from dinolarge bones of the saurs for the production of atomic bombs. Many times the exploration for uranium reserves led to the discovery of dinosaur bone localities. The drive for energy led to the development of large dinosaur exhibits at major museums around the world. Although uranium prospecting is not the industry it once w'as, dinosaur bones are continually being discovered in eastern Utah. The College of Eastern Utah Prehistoric Museum has been in the lead discovering new dinosaur species in this area. Appropriately, the museum is also seeking to expand its exhibit areas so that these new dinosaurs will be available for the people of eastern Utah. Children from our region should not have to travel to big cities around the country to see the 1 long-necke- d dinosaurs from their ovv n backyards. New space will allow the museum to add exhibits on the geologic history and resources of eastern Utah. The museum is moving forward with expansion plans. A generous grant from the Carbon County Restaurant Tax Committee is funding a study that will determine the space, staffing and fundraising needs for the new museum as well as building and operational costs. Following will be the conceptual design phase, architectural and major The result will be a facility dedicated to the education and service of our area as well as an attractive tourism g, V g. destination. This will not be the first expansion the Prehistoric Museum which forof mally opened in 1961 in a room on the second floor of city hall. Almost immediately the space was too small and the museum moved into the hallway. In the early 70s the museum moved in to the old city gymnasium but outgrew that space also. By 1991 the museum had a new Hall of Dinosaurs, a remodeled Hall of Archaeology, a traveling exhibition gallery, classroom and lab space, and an attractive lobby. The museum expansion promises to make a good thing better. Watch us grow! College v fund-raisin- off i, 4? H 1 r" Prehistoric t Museum Explore a part of our past 155 East Main, Price Hours: 9:00 to 6:00 Daily 9:00 to 5:00 Monday-Saturda- y April-Septemb- er October-Marc- h Cheek out the gift shop |