Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument contains abundant fossil
material in most formations within its borders. These formations range
in age from Permian to Cretaceous. More than 800 individual fossil
localities are known so far, and almost all areas of the monument that
were examined contain at least some fossil material. Important new
findings of this survey include: several partial dinosaur skeletons in
the Kaiparowits Formation; a ceratopsian skull in the Wahweap Formation;
the previously unreported presence of many ammonoid and bivalve genera
in the monument in the Dakota, Tropic, and Straight Cliffs Formations;
the first fossils of any kind from the Entrada Sandstone within the
monument, including a dinosaur tracksite containing more than 250 tracks
of at least 30 individuals; previously unrecognized sites and
abundances of vertebrate ichnogenera in the Navajo, Kayenta, Moenave,
and Chinle Formations; the first ichnofossil material from the Wingate
Sandstone in the monument; and a previously unreported sponge genus from
the Kaibab Limestone. The Cretaceous rocks exposed within the monument
contain one of the best and most continuous records of Late Cretaceous
terrestrial life in the world. Research on these strata is still in its
earliest stages.