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NPS Geodiversity Atlas—Waco Mammoth National Monument, Texas

Geodiversity refers to the full variety of natural geologic (rocks, minerals, sediments, fossils, landforms, and physical processes) and soil resources and processes that occur in the park. A product of the Geologic Resources Inventory, the NPS Geodiversity Atlas delivers information in support of education, Geoconservation, and integrated management of living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic) components of the ecosystem.

Photo of a person working with tools to clean a fossil bone murals of mammoths can be seen in the background
Geoscientist-in-the-Parks participant Marlee Yard preparing a fossil rib bone at the WACO site. Waco Mammoth National Monument, Texas.

NPS photo, 2020.

Introduction

Waco Mammoth National Monument was designated a unit of the national park system on July 10, 2015, an act that brought the National Park Service into partnership with the City of Waco, Texas, and Baylor University. The purpose of this partnership is to preserve and interpret the discovery site of an exceptionally well-preserved herd of Columbian mammoths and other Pleistocene-Epoch animals. The site’s designation as a national monument represents a culmination of nearly four decades of scientific research and community support.

The site consists of 108 acres within its authorized boundary, of which a 4.93-acre parcel around the discovery site is owned by the National Park Service. The remaining land is owned by the City of Waco. (NPS Foundation Document WACO, 2016)

Fossil Resources

The Waco site is located within the city limits of Waco, Texas, near the confluence of the Brazos and Bosque Rivers. The first mammoth fossils at the site were found in 1978 by two Waco residents, Paul Barron and Eddie Bufkin, who noticed a bone protruding from the sidewall while hiking through a ravine (now within the monument). Scientists at the Strecker Museum at Baylor University examined the bone and identified it as an upper leg bone from a Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi). Subsequent excavations led by Baylor University have identified no fewer than 24 Columbian mammoth individuals, including 19 members of a nursery herd (a herd consisting of female and young mammoths) which is thought to have perished in a catastrophic natural event more than 65,000 years ago. (NPS Foundation Document WACO, 2016)
Photo of Waco Mammoth National Monumnet site brochure with large mammoth and text too small to read
Waco Mammoth National Monument Brochure.

NPS image.

Mammoths in North America

Mammoths lived in North America during the Pleistocene epoch (more commonly known as the Ice Age) and are thought to have migrated across the Bering Land Bridge from northeastern Siberia approximately 1.7 million years ago. The Columbian mammoth evolved from these ancestral mammoths by the end of the middle Pleistocene, approximately 126,000 years ago. The Columbian mammoth ranged over much of North America, including most of today’s contiguous United States and reached as far south as Costa Rica. Standing more than 14 feet tall and weighing up to 20,000 pounds, the Columbian mammoth was the largest of three known mammoth species of that epoch and were larger than modern-day elephants. The Columbian mammoth and all other mammoth species in North America became extinct approximately 10,000 years ago. (NPS Foundation Document WACO, 2016)

Regional Geology

Waco Mammoth site is a part of the Coastal Plain Physiographic Province and shares its geologic history and some characteristic geologic formations with a region that extends well beyond park boundaries.

Maps and Reports

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Waco Mammoth National Monument

National Park Service Geodiversity Atlas

The servicewide Geodiversity Atlas provides information on geoheritage and geodiversity resources and values within the National Park System. This information supports science-based geoconservation and interpretation in the NPS, as well as STEM education in schools, museums, and field camps. The NPS Geologic Resources Division and many parks work with National and International geoconservation communities to ensure that NPS abiotic resources are managed using the highest standards and best practices available.

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Waco Mammoth National Monument

Last updated: January 23, 2025