Mount Augustana

A peak in the Transantarctic Mountains has been named in honor of my former employer (Augustana College and Bill Hammer)!! It is the larger mountain in the center of this photo.


You can read more about Dr. Hammer and his work in Antarctica here.

From the Augustana College Press Release:

"A 9,000-foot peak in Antarctica has been christened Mount Augustana in honor of Dr. William R. Hammer and Augustana College.


The National Board on Geographic Names, which made the designation, describes the location of Mount Augustana as between the heads of LaPrade Valley and Cheu Valley in the northern Cumulus hills, Queen Maud Mountains.


Hammer was in the Antarctic working in this area on his first trip there in 1977-78 and again in 1995-96. He has made seven expeditions to the Antarctic. He and his team are known for discovering the first dinosaur bones ever found on the icy continent in 1991.


"Augustana College has a long history in polar and glacial geology, with strong ties to Antarctic research," said the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names in its citation. "The Fryxell Geology Museum at Augustana College is the home of the only fossils of Cryolophosaurus, the largest carnivorous dinosaur found to date in Antarctica."


"It is a recognition of the 30 years that I have been involved in Antarctic research," said Hammer. "Since I have been at Augustana for 26 of those 30 years it also recognizes that the college has strongly supported my work. In addition I have worked closely for those 30 years with Jim Collinson, a geologist from Ohio State who is an Augustana alum. In fact, Jim talked me into applying for this job 26 years ago."


Another long-time colleague of Hammer's nominated Mount Augustana to the National Board on Geographic Names.


"The board approves the name if they feel the person or institution has made substantial contributions to Antarctic science," said Hammer.


"Offhand, I don't know of any other Antarctic features named after a liberal arts college, but there could be a few," he added. "There are not many from liberal arts colleges working there today."


However, it's not the first time a name has linked Augustana and Antarctica. Last year the U.S. Board on Geographic Names voted to christen an ice-covered col (glacial ridge) in the Antarctic's Ellsworth Mountains as "Hammer Col" in honor of the Augustana paleontologist [see picture above: Hammer Col is high ridge coming off of the Vincent Massif which is the highest peak in the picture (it is also the highest peak in Antarctica!!)]. The col is at 12,467 feet between the Vinson Massif and the Craddock Massif in the Sentinel Range, Ellsworth Mountains. It is 1.5-miles wide and visually separates the two massifs (mountain groups) when viewed from the east or west.


Also, Hammer said, there is a Lake Fryxell in the Dry Valleys region of Antarctica near the coast (named for 1922 Augustana graduate Fritiof M. Fryxell, first chair of the department of geology) and a Lake Hoare (named for Dick Hoare, an undergraduate at Augustana who was a professor and researcher at Bowling Green State University). Those features were named in the International Geophysical year of 1957-58. Glacial geologist Dr. Troy Pewey named the lakes for Fryxell and Hoare. Pewey was a student at Augustana before doing his PhD glacial work and was one of the scientists funded for that year.


The northern slopes of Mount Augustana are rugged, largely ice-free terrain that descends 4,900 feet to McCregor Glacier. The southern part is ice-covered and descends gradually to the head of Logie Glacier.


Research seasons in Antarctica run from November-January. Hammer's last trip was in the 2003-04 season. He said he has a proposal in for another trip in either 2009-10 or 2010-11."

Story in the Quad-City Times
Another link to the story
And a link to the Chicago Tribune story

Photo courtesy of Bill Hammer

Badlands Trip Notes: Part 3

My field work fun had come to an end. I woke up with no voice and a horrible sore throat and plugged nose. I opted to stay in that day - I just felt rotten. I went inside and crashed out on one of the bunks, then went into town (Harrison - about 10 miles to the south) later that day. Soup and hot chocolat...The next morning was the beginning of the ende helped some, but the next day I was not any better and it had moved into my nose/sinuses and set up camp. So, once again, I missed another day in the field, plus the trip to Agate Fossil Beds National Monument. I had a fever and spent most of the day sleeping in the bunk house. The next day my throat was better, but my head felt miserable. This was the day the student got to take a trip to Mount Rushmore and Hill City to visit the Black Hills Institute of Geologic Research. I felt like crap on a stick but went so I could get meds and cell service so I could call the doctor to make an appointment for the day after we returned. I spent most of the day sleeping in th van, but did make it inside to see Pete Larson's cool Triceratops they are working on. Some great stuff coming from it and I can't wait to see it published! I then returned to the van for more sleeping. The next day was the last day of field work and I missed it!!! Being sick in the field sucks!!! I was none to happy about this, but I also had no energy to walk to my tent, let alone prospect. I stuck close to the bunk house, rested and read (see post on books, the best thing to come from being sick!).

The student who had found the two oreodont skulls the first day seemed to have a good eye. He found a weird skull on one of the days that I was sick (left). We think it is maybe a bear dog (Daphoenodon) or a creodont. After I got it prep'ed I am now leaning toward creodont (see below). The teeth look off to me if it were a bear dog. Would anyone out there like to venture a guess (or just tell me the answer??).






The students had to take their final exam in the bunk house this year because we were having quite a bit of rain. Every day that I missed field work it rained. All the students had studied pretty hard for the test and they did pretty well. Some students also opt to write a paper over an aspect of the White River Badlands (picked from a list we have), for more credit. This was a really good bunch of students. They were all very nice, sober (for the most part) and well behaved (especially compared to past years) and it was a nice change! I didn't feel like I was babysitting!
The next day we headed back to the real world. The wind in Nebraska was horrible, out of the southeast, and we had Yakama racks on top of the vans, so it was awful trying to keep the vans on the road (and scary at times!) Come to find out there had been straight-line winds and tornadoes the day before and we saw some of that damage. When we stopped for dinner in Des Moines we were disturbed to see that they racks had actually been moved by the wind! They had been on the right side of the van but were now in the center! Not a fun thing to discover. I was happy to be home, but it was rather bitter sweet, since I had missed so many days of field work and knew it would be my last trip as Hammer's research assistant. He and I get along really well and it has been really nice working for him.

Badlands Trip Notes: Part 2

...The next day we worked an area called the "little badlands." This area has been good to us in the past, and I have gotten a good sized turtle from here. This day I was walking around and came across alot of coyote tracks (along with plenty of cow, pronghorn and smaller tracks - probably fox. It has been really wet there recently so the tracks were pretty fresh and well preserved). Alot of them, of varying size. I had been seeing some modern bones around, but had not thought much of it, since that had been common in this area before. I came around a corner and finally realized what I was seeing - definitly more than one individual in the area, multiple taxa, and probably some juveniles of one of them. I was cursing myself for not having taken my camera out that day. The curious part of me continued to follow the tracks and I rounded a corner and saw a nice medium-sized hole in the side of an embankment. It was pretty obviously a den, many tracks coming and going from the hole (but smaller tracks, probably fox). I stayed clear of it and kept going, following the larger tracks. I got a bit away and come across what was very obviously the coyote den! It was a mess. Lots of tracks of various size going an coming, once again, and a nice leg laying in the entrance. Not attached to anything, but a loose (probably pronghorn) leg, with plenty of scat all over the area. They were not very tidy. I really steared clear of this one!! No way did I want to piss off a coyote with little ones and fresh food!! I radioed it in and kept the students away from the area. I did score a nice pronghorn skull with both dentaries (probably had at least 20% of the rest of him there, but it is always hard enough to get modern stuff home in the van as it is). I am sure this gift was complements of the coyote family.

I caught up with Paul and spent the rest of the morning prospecting with him. We were not having much luck. I found a set of articulated ribs, but the rest of its body was long gone. I told Paul about the dens and we went back so he could see. We crested a hill just in time to see a little fuzzy head outside the medium-sized den! That was really exciting and it got the curious side of Paul and I interested so we headed towards the den. We sat pretty far away from it, but close enough that we could still see the entrance. We sat very still and waited. After a few minutes we saw some movement inside and for a split second I saw a fuzzy fox face that was only there for a moment before it faded back into the dark depths of its den. It was really exciting! We thanked her for the appearance and then left her to her day and we got about with our own.

About 10 minutes before it was time to round the group up and head out I looked down on the side of a gully and found a beautiful little oreodont skull! It is by far the smallest one I had ever found and is in great condition! (left- before prep, right - after prep)

That day we spent the the afternoon letting the students study for their test they would have at the end of the trip, clean their finds and generally relax (they have it so easy!). I headed into town with the TA's and Hammer for a trip to check my email at the library in Harrison (yes, I am addicted, but I had things that needed attention) while the others gathered supplies and watered themselves at the local bar. It had been a pretty good day. Little did I know that was all about to change!


Next post...wind, rain, and no fun.