James Kirkland
Encyclopedia
James Ian Kirkland is an American
paleontologist and geologist
. He has worked with dinosaur
remains from the south west United States
of America and Mexico and has been responsible for discovering new and important genera
. He named (or worked with others in naming) Animantarx
, Cedarpelta
, Eohadrosaurus, [nomen nudum]), now named Eolambia
, Jeyawati
, Gastonia
, Mymoorapelta
, Nedcolbertia
, Utahraptor
, Zuniceratops
and Diabloceratops
. At the same site where he found Gastonia
and Utahraptor
, Kirkland has also excavated fossils of the therizinosaurs Nothronychus
and Falcarius
.
at Mesa State College
, Grand Junction
, Colorado
, USA adjunct Associate Professor at University of Utah
, Salt Lake City, Utah
and a Research Associate of the Denver Museum of Natural History in the Denver Museum of Nature and Science
, Colorado Boulevard, Denver, Colorado.
For the past decade he has been the Utah State Paleontologist for Utah Geological Survey
. He issues permits for paleontological research on Utah state lands, keeps tabs on paleontological research and issues across the state, and promotes Utah’s paleontological resources for the public good.
, he has written a Star Trek
novel, First Frontier.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
paleontologist and geologist
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
. He has worked with dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
remains from the south west United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
of America and Mexico and has been responsible for discovering new and important genera
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
. He named (or worked with others in naming) Animantarx
Animantarx
Animantarx is a genus of nodosaurid ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of western North America. Like other nodosaurs, it would have been a slow-moving quadrupedal herbivore covered in heavy armor scutes, but without a tail club...
, Cedarpelta
Cedarpelta
Cedarpelta is an extinct genus of basal ankylosaurid ankylosaur, based on material recovered from the Lower Cretaceous of North America. The skull lacks extensive cranial ornamentation, a trait which has been interpreted as plesiomorphic for ankylosaurs....
, Eohadrosaurus, [nomen nudum]), now named Eolambia
Eolambia
Eolambia is a genus of herbivorous iguanodontian dinosaur from the mid-Cretaceous Period of the USA.In 1992 Carole Jones and her husband Ramal Jones near Castle Dale in Emery County, Utah, on the San Rafael Swell Anticline discovered a fossil site which would be named the Carol Quarry in her honour...
, Jeyawati
Jeyawati
Jeyawati is a genus of hadrosauroid dinosaur which lived during the Turonian stage of the Late Cretaceous. The type species, J. rugoculus, was described in 2010, based on fossils recovered in the U.S. state of New Mexico....
, Gastonia
Gastonia (dinosaur)
Gastonia is a genus of nodosaurid dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of North America, around 125 million years ago. Closely related to Polacanthus, it has a sacral shield and large shoulder spikes. It is also the first polacanthine dinosaur to have been mounted for display at the Denver Museum of...
, Mymoorapelta
Mymoorapelta
Mymoorapelta is an ankylosaur from the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation of western Colorado. The taxon is known from portions of a disarticulated skull, parts of three different skeletons and other postcranial remains...
, Nedcolbertia
Nedcolbertia
Nedcolbertia is a genus of dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Period. It was a coelurosaur which lived in North America during the Barremian. Kirkland, Britt, Madsen and Burge in 1995 reported its discovery in the basal Cedar Mountain Formation in Utah. The type species, N...
, Utahraptor
Utahraptor
Utahraptor is a genus of theropod dinosaurs, including the largest known members of the family Dromaeosauridae. Fossil specimens date to the upper Barremian stage of the early Cretaceous period...
, Zuniceratops
Zuniceratops
Zuniceratops was a ceratopsian dinosaur from the mid Turonian of the Late Cretaceous Period of what is now New Mexico, United States...
and Diabloceratops
Diabloceratops
Diabloceratops is a genus of herbivorous dinosaur in the infraorder Ceratopsia. It lived in and around Utah during the Campanian stage.-Name:...
. At the same site where he found Gastonia
Gastonia
Gastonia may refer to:Places:*Gastonia, North Carolina, United StatesIn biology:*Gastonia , a genus in the ivy or ginseng family*Gastonia , a genus of ankylosaur...
and Utahraptor
Utahraptor
Utahraptor is a genus of theropod dinosaurs, including the largest known members of the family Dromaeosauridae. Fossil specimens date to the upper Barremian stage of the early Cretaceous period...
, Kirkland has also excavated fossils of the therizinosaurs Nothronychus
Nothronychus
Nothronychus is a genus of theropod dinosaur classified in the group Therizinosauria, from the Cretaceous of North America.The type species of this dinosaur, Nothronychus mckinleyi, was described by James Kirkland and Douglas G. Wolfe in 2001...
and Falcarius
Falcarius
Falcarius is a genus of therizinosaurian dinosaur found in east-central Utah, United States. Its name is derived from the word sickle , which scientists have used to describe its unwieldy clawed hands...
.
Career
Kirkland's career has been distinguished. He is 'adjunct' Professor of GeologyGeology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
at Mesa State College
Mesa State College
Colorado Mesa University is a public comprehensive university in Grand Junction, Colorado. The university has its primary campus in central Grand Junction. The university also has other campuses as well; Bishop Campus, which houses Western Colorado Community College in northwestern Grand Junction...
, Grand Junction
Grand Junction
Grand Junction is the name of several places:United States*Grand Junction, Colorado*Grand Junction, Iowa*Grand Junction, Michigan*Grand Junction, Tennessee*The Grand Junction Railroad in the Boston, Massachusetts areaUnited Kingdom...
, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, USA adjunct Associate Professor at University of Utah
University of Utah
The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...
, Salt Lake City, Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
and a Research Associate of the Denver Museum of Natural History in the Denver Museum of Nature and Science
Denver Museum of Nature and Science
The Denver Museum of Nature & Science is a municipal natural history and science museum in Denver, Colorado. It is a resource for informal science education in the Rocky Mountain region. A variety of exhibitions, programs, and activities help museum visitors learn about the natural history of...
, Colorado Boulevard, Denver, Colorado.
For the past decade he has been the Utah State Paleontologist for Utah Geological Survey
Utah Geological Survey
The Utah Geological Survey is based in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. It also has an office in Cedar City, Utah.It is a division of the Utah Department of Natural Resources and is an applied scientific agency, which creates, interprets, and provides information about Utah's geological environment,...
. He issues permits for paleontological research on Utah state lands, keeps tabs on paleontological research and issues across the state, and promotes Utah’s paleontological resources for the public good.
Mesozoic
An expert on the Mesozoic, he has spent more than thirty years excavating fossils across the southwestern US and Mexico authoring and coauthoring more than 75 professional papers. The reconstruction of ancient marine and terrestrial environments, biostratigraphy, paleoecology, and mass extinctions are some of his interests. In addition to dinosaurs, he has described and named many fossil mollusks and fish.Cretaceous
His researches in the middle Cretaceous of Utah indicate that the origins of Alaska and the first great Asian-North American faunal interchange occurred about 100 million years ago, which his numerous trips to China and Mongolia have substantiated.Star Trek
Together with Diane CareyDiane Carey
Diane Carey is primarily a science fiction author best known for her work in the Star Trek franchise. She has been the lead-off writer for two Star Trek spin-off book series: Star Trek The Next Generation with Star Trek: Ghost Ship, and the novelization of the Star Trek: Enterprise pilot, Broken...
, he has written a Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
novel, First Frontier.