U.S.-Korea Cooperative Research: Comparative Stratigraphic/Paleontological Studies of the Cretaceous Period in the Colorado Plateau and the Jindong Formation of South Korea

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This proposal requests funds to permit Dr. Martin G. Lockley, Department of Geology, University of Colorado at Denver, to pursue with Dr. Seong-Young Yang, Department of Geology, Kyungpook National University, Korea, for a period of 24 months, a program of cooperative research to complete the study of the dinosaur track-bearing beds of the Cretaceous, Jindong Formation of South Korea. The study is broad based, involving the analysis of the stratigraphy, depositional environments, and paleontology of the Jindong Formation. Previous work by Dr. Yang has revealed that there are in excess of 150 track-bearing layers in a formation that is a little more than 300 meters in thickness. Current information suggests that the Jindong Formation has a greater concentration of dinosaur tracks than any comparable deposit. This site represents a unique lacustrine depositional environment. Previous studies have demonstrated that the Korean tracks represent a very unusual dinosaur community in which brontosaurs and large ornithopods frequented the same area. Most other tracksites worldwide show these two groups to be mutually exclusive. This project will provide a unique research opportunity for the U.S. scientist. It also will allow him to compare the results of his studies of dinosaur tracks in the Colorado plateau region with those obtained in studies of the Jindong Formation on the southern coast of South Korea. The U.S. and Korean collaborators are highly respected scientists who have a record of successful collaboration. This project will allow them to combine their knowledge and skills for mutual benefit. This project is relevant to the objectives of the U.S.-Korea Cooperative Science Program which seeks to increase the level of cooperation between U.S. and Korean scientists and engineers through the exchange of scientific information, ideas, skills, and techniques and through collaboration on problems of mutual benefit. Dr. Yang's participation in the project is supported by the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation (KOSEF). This project will add an international cooperative dimension to Dr. Lockley's research under NSF Grant No. EAR-8618206.