Cretaceous Dinosaurs from Korea

Korea may be a productive country of the Cretaceous dinosaurs. The dinosaur skeletons were found at three localities and many footprints at several localities. These dinosaur fossils are examined as they are exposed in the weathered surfaces, and are not excavated deeply in the rocks. The first locality is in the road side cliff near Bongam pass, 1.6 km southwest of the Tabri station, Geumseong-myeon, Euiseong-gun, North Gyeongsang-do, South Korea. The second discovery was made at the valley floor of the Ong-gidoma, 1.4 km southwest of the Tabri station. These two sites of dinosaur bones are in the different stratigraphic horizons to each other. The third discovery was made at the valley floor of the Eoyang Village, Noyangri, Yulgog-myeon, Habcheon-gun, South Gyeonsang-do. At the first locality a large part of ulna, a part of neural spine of the caudal vertebra, and a femur were collected from the light gray granite cobble-bearing paraconglomerate with very coarse lime concretion pebbles in the Gugyedong Formation of the Hayang Group. The paraconglomerate is an exceptional intercalation in the red beds of the Cretaceous System in Korea. Judging from the large size of the ulna the animal may belong to the sauropod dinosaur, which is much bigger than Supersaurus. A new name Ultrasaurus tabriensis is proposed for the convenience of the further study. The neural spine of caudal vertebra also is inferred to belong to Ultrasaurus on the basis of its size. The femur may belong to a hypsilophodontid of ornithopod. At the second locality a rib bone was collected from the grayish red calcareous nodular shale of the Iljig Formation of the Hayang group. It may belong to a sauropod. At the third locality a part of the cervic bone, mid-part of a rib bone, a mold of mid-part of a rib bone, an unclassified oint bone, and a lot of minute bone fragments were collected from the light gray limy mudstone, the uppermost part of the Nagdong Formation of the Sindong Group. These fossil remains are referred to a sauropod.