Why Dinosaur Bones Have Never Been Discovered In Michigan

It's been a while since dinosaurs roamed the Earth—about 65 million years, to be exact (a moment of silence for the Cretaceous Period). The dinosaurs were around for about 165 million years before being unceremoniously blasted by a giant asteroid that killed all the dinosaurs that couldn't fly.

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Since then, the only evidence of dinosaurs is the discovery of dinosaur bones on all seven continents, with nearly every state having dinosaur fossils found in it. I say almost because there are a few exceptions. One of those exceptions? Michigan. 

Where Dinosaur Fossils Have Been Discovered

The first complete dinosaur skeleton, Hadrosaurus foulkii, was discovered in America in New Jersey in 1858. Since then, fossils have been found all around the country, especially in the region surrounding Montana, North Dakota, Arizona, and Texas.

READ MORE: North America's Oldest Mines Can Be Found In Michigan |

However, Michigan, the states bordering Lake Michigan, states along the Ohio River, the northern portion of New England, Florida, and Hawaii are part of a small group of states that have never discovered any dinosaur fossils. The question is, why is Michigan part of this group?

Why Fossils Didn’t Survive in Michigan

According to Danita Brandt, an adjunct curator of the Michigan State University museum, Michigan was not an ideal environment for fossil formation. When an animal dies, it has to be buried rather quickly by sediment minerals like mud or sand that cover the bones and keep them from decomposing. This quick burial helps solidify the bones into rock, and eventually, erosion helps these fossils resurface. That’s why places like Wyoming and Arizona are fossil hotspots with their rocky, arid climates.

Michigan had dinosaurs roaming and living on its lands during this period. However, the sediments were eroded over time by "natural forces" like rainfall and Glaciers during the Ice Age. Michigan does, however, still make ancient discoveries, as wholly mammoths and mastodon bones like those found in 2023 were prevalent during the Ice Age.