Field Work Favorites

Dave over at Geology News is hosting the November issue of the Accretionary Wedge and is looking for post on your favorite place to do field work. Now this is something I can talk about!! But it is also hard to do - I love alot of the places I have had a chance to work at. I can't pick just one place.... I can narrow it down to two. To those who know me best, this will not be a surprise: Big Bend National Park and Glacier National Park.

Big Bend is just a wonder - its such an odd place. Every plant there wants to poke, prick or stick you, and with the intention of making you bleed. Its hot. Not just hot. It can be ungodly hot - its awesome. There is really no shade there, so it is all sun, all the time, which is great! It does rain every now and then, that is true. Its remote, which it nice because it keeps your normal human away - you really have to want to go there to go there, because there is really no other reason to be in that part of the world. The general lack of humans can be nice (avoid spring break season however). All of the areas in the park I have worked are nice and off the beaten path so encounters with humans is at a nice all time low, which is always a plus. The geology though of Big Bend is just spectacular! It is everywhere and just so in your face (just like at Glacier). I think that may be one of the things that really caught my heart. Every way you look you just wonder - "now why is that there" or "what does this mean" - it really keeps your mind working IMO.






I went down to the park my first time for a spring break geology field trip in 2001 when I was an undergraduate at the University of Arkansas. It was a wonderful trip! There were these two van full of geology students and we just descended upon the place full of excitement. Many adventures took place, including having one van's fuel filter bust (the nearest parts store was about 2-3 hours away, at least), climbing the second highest peak in Texas (Emory Peak - 7,795 feet, picture) and canoeing the Rio Grande through Santa Elena Canyon. But I digress....To go on the trip you had to do the typical geology student thing and write a research paper and give a short presentation on it while you were in the park. I, naturally (as the only vert paleo student at U of AR at the time), gave my talk on the fossils known from the park. Little did I know then that this would be a big part of my future...........


When the time came to look for grad schools I found the website of Dr. Tom Lehman who teaches at Texas Tech in Lubbock. He worked on ceratopsid dinosaurs, which was something I was very interested in working on, and worked in Big Bend. I thought that sounded pretty darn good, so applied, and got in. He had a ceratopsian that needed worked on, from the Javelina Formation (late Maastrichtian), and that also sounded pretty great, so that is what I worked on. It had been excavated in 1969-1970 by Dr. Wann Langston and crew from the University of Texas at Austin and had never been worked on (other than two elements from the site figured in a thesis). I got the material from the Texas Memorial Museum and full prepared it. We also relocated the site and surface prospected (some success), then reexcavated to see if we could find more material (nada). It was a great project and I really enjoyed my time in the field, both working at my site and helping other graduate students with their field projects. I have also returned to the park several times for field work, geology/paleo trips and canoeing. It was a great time and a wonderful place to work! The result of my thesis work was recently published in the latest issue of the Journal of Paleontology.






I first went to Glacier National Park when I was still in high school (picture). From the moment I first saw the place I immediately feel in love with it! The place is just magic! It was something I thought could only exist in paintings. You just feel totally connected with nature there. Its a great place. I never thought that eight years later I would get to do something I love in a place that I love. Never in a million years did I think I would have an opportunity like that. Part of that thinking was that I knew the majority of the rocks in the park are Precambrian in age, something, at the time, I was not *that* interested in, fossil wise. As grad school was finishing, I was pretty exhausted and looking for something to do. A GeoCorps position at Glacier was listed and I really felt like the job posting had been written for someone like me. So I applied. Immediately. And called them. And stayed on it until I found out I had the job. The job was to write a paleontology report on the fossils known from the park. I was excited to get the job and drove right into my work when I got there. I did an intensive literature search and started to try and relocate old fossil localities first identified by Walcott and others from the early part of the 1900's. I got to go to some really beautiful places in search of these fossils.


The fossils mostly include billion year old stromatolites, with the rare eucaryote (Horodyskia moniliformis), and the occasional Cretaceous bivalve thrown in for good measure. Along the way I found some new sites and documented many of the old locations. The shear number of fossils in Glacier in mind boggling (even if they are almost all stromatolites - they are still cool!)! If you know what you are looking for you can see them all over the place. Huge long bioherms, colorful red and green laminated hunks, and circular cross sections are some of the more common you will see.


And in the process of working in Glacier I discovered that I can work on things outside of my comfort zone! I learned more working those 4 short months in the park that I have in a long while I think. It was excited to dive into something new and different and I developed a good skill for that type of project which has led me to continue writing and developing these types of reports for different National Park Service networks. To date I have written the Pacific Islands, Great Lakes, and Heartlands Network Paleontology Resource Reports and just recently started to work on my 4th Network Report on the Cumberland Piedmont Network! I only wish the network reports had a field component like Glacier did!

You can see some of my past post on the Geology of Glacier here (and here, here, here, and here).

Update on the "Stolen" Dinosaur Tracks

Here is an update on the "stolen" tracks...

Hi folks,

I have new information for everyone on this. First of all, thanks for everyone's comments, concerns, etc! Ive contacted the auction house, have spoken with the owner of this track slab, and will be contacting the land owner. Turns out that several loads of rock from land north of the museum (now SGDS property) were transported to another property about a mile away. SGDS staff and volunteers were collecting from these rock piles about two years ago. Since that time, the former land owner who is one of our foundation members and donors has sold the land. Tracks were found there by the new land owners while moving rocks around, and they have sold specimens. A paper trail is being provided, and I'm going to talk to people involved about donating the tracks to our museum for possible tax right-offs. I'm also hoping to obtain photographs of specimens they find so that I have a record of what they've found and no one is falsely accused of doing anything wrong. No one ever accused anyone in this case, although some may have misinterpreted/assumed I was saying otherwise.

Turns out I don't have photos of the specimen up for auction, although it does look very much like another example we have from the same stratigraphic unit. The specimen owner is going to email me photos of others that he has. I'm hoping that it might be retracted from the auction somehow. One of my growing concerns is that seeing tracks from SGDS properties for sale, even though in this case the specimen doesn't belong to the City of St. George and the owner has the legal right to sell it, will tempt people to steal more tracks and vandalize tracksites/specimens to make a "fast buck". As I mentioned before, this has happened on at least two occasions in the past year.

Anyhow, everything's good between all parties and no hard feelings. Happy to see that people involved clearly understand where I was coming from and my concerns, and they seem to respect it!

We do have a list of stolen tracks and I'm hoping to post those on the internet one of these days so we can try and "track" them down. ;)

Thanks for listening!
Andrew

On Becoming a Domestic and Laboratory Goddess : The Totally Hot December Scientiae

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Stolen Dinosaur Tracks?

I would like to pass this message on from Andrew Milner, who is the St. George [Utah] City Paleontologist and St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm Museum Curator. This is very sad and disturbing to see more fossils up for auction, especially when they are taken from private land illegally [suspected in this case]. Please feel free to pass this along!

Hi folks,

Dr. Martin Lockley from the Dinosaur Tracks Museum at the University of Colorado at Denver sent me a link to an auction site where some theropod dinosaur footprints are for sale next month. His message simply says, "St. George Theropod tracks for sale!!!!"

Here's the link:

http://historical.ha.com/common/view_item.php?SaleNo=6012&LotIdNo=8001&txtSearch=&hdnSearch=true


There is very little doubt in my mind that this particular specimen was stolen from across the street from the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm museum (SGDS) from one of four track surfaces we call the Stewart-Walker Tracksites. To top it off, this specimen looks very familiar to us. Good thing we have detailed descriptions and photographic records of all specimens found exposed on private and City of St. George properties around the museum, so it shouldn't take us too long to figure out if the specimen in question was stolen. If it was then we can do something about it. By the way, we have had a few thefts and vandalisms in the last couple of years.

Don't know if everyone knows this, but they should. If fossils were collected from private land without the landowners permission then it is theft and trespassing. All of the properties around the SGDS museum are private properties or belong the City of St. George. The SGDS are the only ones with permission to collect from these surrounding properties. You should also know that collecting or replicating vertebrate traces fossils (vertebrate body fossils as well) is illegal on federal and state lands if you don't hold a permit.

Sorry for posting this, but it really upsets me when scientifically significant fossils like the one for auction go missing, and when most likely it is from the site we have all worked so hard to protect! Why protect it? Simply for research and public education purposes, and to preserve it for future generation to observe, enjoy, and study. The SGDS is one of a kind and cannot be duplicated! By the way, one of the track types on this block is extremely rare and we are presently describing them in detail.

Please feel free to pass this along to others and/or post it on groups, listservers, etc.

Thanks
Andrew R. C. Milner
St. George City Paleontologist and SGDS Curator

The 5-56 Meme

Brian over at Laelaps tagged me for this book meme. The rules are that you have to pick 10 books (of whatever genre, chosen any way you see fit) and transcribe the 5th sentence on page 56 of each book. Here are my books - can you guess where the passages came from?

1. "He came alongside my boat and told me the flats was still closed."
2. "The problem that concerns us here is one that has received little consideration: What happens to those incredibly numerous and vitally necessary inhabitants of the soil when poisonous chemicals are carried down into their world, either introduced directly as soil "sterilants" or borne on the rain that has picked up a lethal contamination as it filters through the leaf canopy or forest and orchard and cropland?"
3. "Such elevations are common on large neoceratopsian squamosals, Centrosaurus and Chasmosaurus usually displaying two or more."
4. "So the world of the Late Triassic had some of the same groups as we see in the Morrioson Formation but overall was rather diffrent."
5. "Their huge heads, bristling with sharp spikes and luxuriant bony frills, their solid, four-legged bodies, all suggest rhinoceros-like body plans run amok in the Cretaceous."
6. "The ossified braincase (better preserved in related forms from the later Devonian) was a relatively long and slender structure, conrasting in shape with that of arthrodires."
7. "He didn't phone, but two days later she was out walking with a friend when they bumped into Ed, who was on a training run."
8. "The buckeye, light as it was, felt like it weighed a hundred pounds."
9. "In Walcott's time, the slate of Precambian life was absolutely blank."
10. "The rock of the fossil is shaped, down to the tiniest detail, like the original bone."

I tag Silver Fox (when she gets back from her trip), Traumador, Laura, Zach and I owe one to Amanda ;)

Boneyard 26

The 26th Boneyard is now up over at The Tyrannosaur Chronicles. Check it out!

Another job!

Here is another job posting for those looking for a good paleo job:

Project Paleontologist/Field Supervisor, Utah

SWCA Environmental Consultants is an employee-owned consulting firm specializing in environmental regulatory compliance, cultural resource management, and related research. We
are a company of biologists, geologists, archaeologists, paleontologists and planners with 27 years of experience and with more than 600 employees located in 26 offices throughout the western contiguous United States, Alaska, Hawaii and Guam. We have a growing paleontological resources program with full-time staff based in California, Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, and with projects located throughout the western United States. We offer a casual work environment and a generous benefits package, including a stock ownership plan.


We are seeking an experienced and motivated paleontologist to join our paleontological resources team and oversee paleontological projects in Utah (and assist with projects in adjacent states as needed). This position will be based in either our Vernal or Salt Lake City Office (subject to negotiation). Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience, and the successful candidate will be a full-time, hourly or salaried employee (subject to negotiation).

Position Description
The purpose of this position is largely to assist our clients with obtaining paleontological clearances for their projects. In summary, this involves the discovery, documentation, identification, collection, assessment, and analysis of paleontological resources. It includes the mitigation of adverse impacts to scientifically significant fossils via surveys, monitoring, salvage, avoidance, screenwashing, and other techniques in compliance with Federal, Tribal, State and or
local regulations protecting paleontological resources.


The Project Paleontologist/Field Director will perform all aspects of paleontological work for projects located within the state of Utah, the majority of which are situated in the Uinta Basin. Assistance with projects in other states may also be required. Specific responsibilities are listed below, but will generally include planning, undertaking and oversight of paleontological projects, and will involve a combination of field, lab and office work.

Administratively, this position will report to the Salt Lake City or Vernal Office Program Director, but the scientific and technical aspects of the position will be overseen by the Paleontology Principal Investigator, with whom the Project Paleontologist/Field Director will coordinate and communicate with on a regular basis. The Project Paleontologist/Field Director will also interact with clients, agencies and museums, and will work closely with other SWCA paleontologists and SWCA staff in other offices as needed. For larger and more complex projects in Utah, the Project Paleontologist/Field Director will be responsible for coordinating and directing the activities of paleontological staff who may be required to assist.


Duties and Responsibilities:

1. Plans, conducts and oversees paleontological projects
2. Undertakes literature searches, geologic map reviews, museum and agency paleontological record searches as needed
3. Writes technical reports documenting the results of projects including survey and monitoring reports, assessments, mitigation plans, research designs, and NEPA document sections as assigned
4. Conducts paleontological surveys, mitigation projects including construction monitoring, fossil excavations and salvages, and other field activities as needed with an emphasis on stratigraphic data collection
5. Laboratory preparation of fossils
6. Analysis of stratigraphic and paleontologic data (including fossil identifications), depending upon the specific expertise of the successful applicant
7. Effectively coordinates with clients, land management agencies, museums, and other paleontologists as required, including visiting paleontological staff that are assisting with Utah projects
8. Project Management: manages logistical and financial aspects of projects as assigned
9. Assists with the preparation of project budgets, scopes of work, and proposals as needed
10. Works closely with the Salt Lake City and Vernal Office staff, the Paleontology Principal Investigator, and other paleontological staff to promote SWCA’s interests in adherence to its mission, vision, and values

Applicants shall be evaluated on the basis of the following criteria:

• Education and professional experience in paleontology: possession of a graduate degree with an emphasis in paleontology or demonstrated equivalent experience is required
• Knowledge of the sedimentary geology of the western interior of the United States with paleontological field experience in the intermountain west. Must meet the criteria to be approved as a “Field Agent” on BLM Paleontological Resource Use permits.
• Field skills including ability to locate, document, excavate, and identify fossils and their stratigraphic context. Prior experience with paleontological mitigation projects including construction monitoring is highly desirable.
• Fossil preparation and museum curation experience
• Supervisory experience, effective written and verbal communications skills, organizational and data management skills, problem solving and critical thinking skills, and ability to work independently
• Ability to undertake field work that includes hiking and working in rough terrain in extreme temperatures; possession of a drivers license and good driving record
• Ability to be able to work closely with paleontological staff in other offices under the oversight of the Principal Investigator
• Ability to work in an interdisciplinary team with cultural and natural resource specialists, coordinate with land managers, and communicate with clients. Must be self-motivated and maintain a positive and professional approach.
• Project management experience: ability to effectively design project scopes of work, develop associated tasks, cost proposals, and successfully manage projects through completion

Application Deadline: December 15th, 2008.
Candidates must have current eligibility to work in the United States. SWCA does not provide sponsorship for work visas at this time. SWCA is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer and encourages women and minorities to apply.

Email a cover letter, curriculum vitae, two writing samples, and contact information for three
references to Jason Gerster, Recruiter (jgerster@swca.com). Address cover letter to: Paul C.
Murphey, Ph.D., Principal Investigator, Paleontology.

2009 GeoCorps America Positions

There are several jobs/internships opening up right now (some of them paleo related), so I will be posting them over the next few days!

To start off with, the 2009 GeoCorps America Positions have been listed today. You can check out the full list here. I did one of these back in 2005 at Glacier National Park (which was FANTASTIC!) and I really recommend them! I know a certain few of you out there who should particularly look into these ;)

Here is a list of the Paleo positions:

• Paleontologist, BLM Royal Gorge Field Office Canon City, CO
• Paleontologist, BLM Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area & Wilderness Montrose, CO
• Paleontologist, Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument Florissant, CO
• Paleontologist / Education Specialist, BLM Price Field Office Price, UT
• Paleontology Technician, BLM Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Kanab, UT
• Geosciences Research Assistant / Paleontologist, Center for Urban Ecology, National Capital Region, National Park Service Washington, DC
• Field Paleontologist, Bryce Canyon National Park Bryce, UT
• Field Paleontologist, Badlands National Park Interior, SD
• Field Paleontologist, Guadalupe Mountains National Park Pine Springs, TX
• Field Paleontologist (2 positions), Dinosaur National Monument Jensen, UT
• Field Geologist / Paleo Technician (2 Positions), Denali National Park Denali Park, AK

So what is GeoCorps anyway? "GeoCorps America is a program of the Geological Society of America, in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the National Park Service. The program offers paid short-term geoscience positions...Discreet project areas include geology, hydrology, paleontology, mapping and GIS, minerals, soils, glaciology, geo-hazards, karst, and education....Geoscience professionals, retirees, and college students are eligible and encouraged to apply." [link]

The application deadline is February 2, 2009!!

Paleontology is "Hotter" than Dr. Isis's Naughty Monkeys Because...

Thanks to Silver Fox for the heads up on this months Scientiae Carnival, which is being hosted by Isis the Scientist. The point of this Carnival is to tell "all the reasons your science is hot, or advice on how to improve the fabulousness of our own science." I do not feel like I am one to say how paleo could be improved really (not in public at least lol), so I will stick to the reasons I love it. I am behind of blog postings due to trip delays/lack of internet, so sorry for the double posting.

1. I get to wear shorts and tank tops as my regular attire for at least 6 months of the year (if not more, depending on location).
2. I can wear a shirt with dinosaurs and other fossils on it and not be ashamed.
3. Travel. If you want to you can go to some pretty awesome places!
4. I get to play with rocks all day.
   
5. Sun. I often get to soak up as much sun as I like for a majority of the year.
   
6. Sandals. I can also get away with wearing sandals alot, although I love my recently deceased boots, who will be hard to replace!
7. I have more pictures of rocks and fossils than I do of my family lol.
8. I get to hang out with cool live animals along with the fossilized ones.
9. I look for rocks in the background of movies and get lost thinking about the stratigraphy instead of the movie.
10. I learn something new (if not multiple things) every day!
    
11. I get to know Geology & Biology!
12. I can get paid to look at dinosaurs/fossils/rocks!
13. I can get paid to hike!
14. I got away without having to take Organic Chemistry in college!
15. I can cause traffic accidents by driving erratically around outcrops and can stop traffic simply by wearing an orange vest and staring at rocks.
16. One word: Lagerstatten.
17. I can deal with dead animals that don't stink.
18. I get to work with great people.
19. Did I mention Sun.
20. Research. It's fun!
    

I can't think of anything else right now...What are some of your reasons for thinking paleontology is "Hot" (or whatever your field might be)? Be sure to swing by the Scientiae Carnival tomorrow and see what others have to say about their field.

Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History

Traumador of the Tyrannosaur Chronicles is hosting this month's Boneyard carnival and asked for submissions on "My Favorite Museum."


Here is what I have for him - my recent trip to the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, located on the University of Oklahoma campus in Norman, Oklahoma.



The first time I had a chance to visit this museum was in 2002 when the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Annual Meeting was held in Norman, Oklahoma. I can't remember if we had the meet and greet there or not, but I do remember that the auction was there! The museum was so full I did not get to see many of the exhibits well. So this visit was a long time coming!

I went down to look at their beautiful Pentaceratops sternbergi for some continued research I am doing with chasmosaurine ceratopsids. They have wonderful collections if you ever have the chance to visit them (this is the way all museum collections should be!). It was great to spend the entire day in the museum and get to tour their exhibits (which you can do virtually here). They have a new Paleozoic exhibit (many pictures of that above, click here if they are not working for you or for larger views). They also had a traveling exhibit "Hatching the Past," about dinosaur eggs and discoveries with many nice Lui Ray prints. And as always, it was nice to see their other paleo exhibits and the Karen Carr murals throughout the displays. Saurophaganax and Apatosaurus are fun to see, even if it is impossible to get a good photo of them ;)

I remember going to the museum at OU (University of Oklahoma) when I was a kid and it was the still the Stovall Museum. The Stovall is now gone, but this 'new' museum is definitley worth a visit if you are ever in (or near!) Oklahoma!!