When Dinosaurs Roamed New Jersey
Did you know that Benjamin Franklin examined the first dinosaur bone in America from Woodbury, Gloucester County, in 1787--decades before the word dinosaur was even coined? Or that when the first reasonably complete dinosaur skeleton in the world was unearthed in Haddonfield, Camden County, in 1858, it was a major scientific breakthrough which forced paleontologists to completely revise their picture of dinosaur anatomy? Few people know that New Jersey is the nursery of American vertebrate paleontology!
When Dinosaurs Roamed New Jersey provides a succinct and readable history of the geology and paleontology of New Jersey from the time the region was covered by Cambrian seas, 543 million years ago, to the Pleistocene Ice Age only 10-15,000 years ago. William Gallagher tells the stories of professional and amateur fossil hunters, their discoveries, and their impact on the history of paleontological thought. He points out places in New Jersey and nearby where specimens characteristic of each era were found. He shows how fossil evidence found in the state is helping paleontologists uncover the ecological interactions and behavior of dinosaurs, and discusses such ongoing scientific controversies as the reason for the extinction of the dinosaurs.
From tracking dinosaur footprints across the Newark basin, to digging for the last dinosaurs in the greensands of South Jersey, to finding a mushroom in ancient amber in East Brunswick, this book is the ideal introduction to the Garden State's fossils and prehistory.
Ever since the beginnings of paleontology in America, New Jersey has been 'the place,' and William Gallagher--who terrorized his South Jersey mother by traipsing home green mud, marl, and fossils--is the ideal guide to the wonderful dinosaurs and other fossils of the region. High school and college students, their teachers, interested general readers and professional paleontologists will all enjoy this book!
William Gallagher shows all New Jerseyans why they can be proud of their state's role in dinosaur paleontology and in science as a whole.
A very enjoyable read--and an ambitious work that not only deals with dinosaurs of the New Jersey region, but much more besides. The hard-core dinosaur crowd will certainly want it, no matter where they live.
Ever since the beginnings of paleontology in America, New Jersey has been 'the place,' and William Gallagher--who terrorized his South Jersey mother by traipsing home green mud, marl, and fossils--is the ideal guide to the wonderful dinosaurs and other fossils of the region. High school and college students, their teachers, interested general readers and professional paleontologists will all enjoy this book!
William Gallagher shows all New Jerseyans why they can be proud of their state's role in dinosaur paleontology and in science as a whole.
A very enjoyable read--and an ambitious work that not only deals with dinosaurs of the New Jersey region, but much more besides. The hard-core dinosaur crowd will certainly want it, no matter where they live.
Preface and Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. Fossils, Strata, and Time
Chapter 2. The Deep Past: New Jersey Before the Dinosaurs
Chapter 3. Who Are the Dinosaurs?
Chapter 4. New Jersey: Birthplace of American Dinosaur Paleontology
Chapter 5. The Earliest Dinosaurs
Chapter 6. Heyday of the Dinosaurs
Chapter 7. Cretaceous Sea Life
Chapter 8. The Last Dinosaurs
Chapter 9. The Great Extinction
Chapter 10. After the Dinosaurs
Appendix A: Where to See Dinosaurs and Other Fossils in and around New Jersey
Appendix B: Methods for Studying Dinosaur Footprints
Appendix C: How to Find Fossils in New Jersey
Notes
Glossary
Annotated Bibliography
Index
