Flaming Cliffs

The Flaming Cliffs site, also known as Bayanzag, sometimes Bain-Dzak, (Mongolian: Баянзаг rich in saxaul), with the alternative Mongolian name of Mongolian: Улаан Эрэг (red cliffs), is a region of the Gobi Desert in the Ömnögovi Province of Mongolia, in which important fossil finds have been made. It was given this name by American paleontologist Roy Chapman Andrews, who visited in the 1920s. The area is most famous for yielding the first discovery of dinosaur eggs. Other finds in the area include specimens of Velociraptor and eutherian mammals. It is illegal here to remove fossils without appropriate permits.

The red or orange color of the sandstone cliffs (especially at a sunset), hence the nickname.

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Dinosaur fossils

The following are dinosaur fossils that have been found in the Flaming Cliffs.

Theropods:

• Ornithomimids: Gallimimus, Deinocheirus
• Tyrannosaurids: Alioramus, Tarbosaurus
• Maniraptorans: Velociraptor, Saurornithoides, Mononykus
• Therizinosaurid: Therizinosaurus
• Oviraptorids: Oviraptor.

Ornithischians

• Hadrosaurids: Charonosaurus, Saurolophus
• Ceratopsians: Protoceratops

Further reading

• Carpenter, Kenneth (1999) Eggs, nests, and baby dinosaurs: a look at dinosaur reproduction Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana, ISBN 978-0-253-33497-8
• Colbert, Edwin Harris (1984) The great dinosaur hunters and their discoveries Dover, New York, ISBN 978-0-486-24701-4
• Novacek, Michael J. (1997) Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs Anchor, New York, ISBN 978-0-385-47775-8
• Novacek, Michael J.; Norell, Mark; McKenna, Malcolm C. and Clark, James (2004) "Fossils of the Flaming Cliffs" Dinosaurs and other Monsters (special edition of Scientific American 14(2):) Scientific American, New York, OCLC 60524033