Name: Lindsey Rusch May 13, 2008

Lab title: Oregon Fossils

Lab Objectives:  Students will know where to locate John Day Fossil Beds in Oregon  Students will experiment with how cast fossils are formed, and uncovered in Oregon  Students will understand the age of some fossils in Oregon  Students will make their own fossil  Students will understand what types of fossils are found in Oregon  Understand fossils are evidence of living organisms from long ago, and also possible weather conditions at that time

Benchmarks: CCG: Diversity/Interdependence: Understand the relationships among living things and between living things and their environments.

Materials: For each student:

 paper plate  small cup to mix plaster  measuring spoons  plastic spoon to mix plaster  plaster of Paris (enough to fill plate) 2-3 tablespoons per student  water 2:1 ratio with plaster (2 tablespsoons plaster, 1 tablespoon water)  natural object that can be used for making a fossil (Note: See description in Before the Lesson.) Leaves work best.  Fossil Word Search http://www.nps.gov/joda/forteachers/upload/teacher %20packet.pdf

Procedure:

1. (Optional) On the board or on a sheet of chart paper, write the word fossil and ask students to define the term. Record their responses. Then have students answer the following questions to help define the term:

a. What is a fossil? b. What can become a fossil? c. How do fossils form?

Go through powerpoint and discuss John Day Fossil beds.

2. Tell students that they will now create their own fossils. Begin by giving each student a paper plate filled with wet plaster of Paris. Have them take the natural objects that they brought from home (or that you have provided to them) and press them into the plaster. Once the impressions have been made, they can remove the objects from the plaster. Remind the students to be careful not to touch the plaster, as it will need time to harden and dry. Then ask students to write down some initial observations about their fossils. For example, they should consider which parts of the objects made very visible impressions in the plaster, and which ones are harder to see. When they are finished recording their observations, have students set aside both their fossils and their notes so they can refer to them later in the lesson. (See website for parts 2 & 3)

 Divide plaster into Ziploc bags, one per student with 2 tablespoons of plaster in each  Gather up leaves to bring in case students forget, or you want extra  Instruct students to gather a Ziploc with plaster, 1 tablespoon of water into a cup, a plastic spoon to stir and a paper plate to spread the plaster  Mix plaster and water in the paper cup and spoon out onto paper plate  Press leaf onto plaster and let sit for 7-10 minutes with leaf pressed onto plaster in one spot  Do word search while leaf sets  Pull off leaf and have students discuss what they see, show slide of how this experiment relates to real fossils we have found in Oregon  How do they think an animal fossil would look?

3. Have students complete Fossil Word Search about fossils found in John Day at home if not enough in class time

Before the Lesson

Tell students that they are going to make models of fossils. If students aren't familiar with the modeling process, you may want to discuss it with them prior to the lesson. They should have an understanding of how modeling is similar to and different from the actual process of fossilization.

Ask students to bring in a few natural objects from home to "fossilize"; for example, twigs, leaves, shells, flower petals, or plant stems. (They will need these for Step 2 of the lesson.) You may also want to bring in some objects to keep on hand in case extras are needed.

Just before the lesson, prepare the plaster of Paris so that you can spread the wet mixture easily onto a paper plate for each student. Here is the website for this lesson if you want to extend and do all parts. This is only part 1. http://www.teachersdomain.org/resources/ess05/sci/ess/earthsys/lp_funfossils/index.html

Materials and Costs: Almost everything in this lesson we use and throw away since it was in contact with plaster. Measuring spoons………………………………………………$1.00 at Dollar Tree Estimated total, one-time, start-up cost:……..$1-$5 depending how many spoons you want to have in class

List the consumable supplies and estimated cost for presenting to a class of 30 students Item...... $ Art Plaster …………………………………………………………..5 pounds @ $7.49 Water ………………………………………………………………..Free Paper plates ………………………………………………………….pack of 30 @ $1.50 Plastic Spoons ……………………………………………………….2 sets of 24 @ $1.00 Plastic cups or Dixie Cups…………………………………………..2 boxes @ $1.00 Leaves ……………………………………………………………….Free from yard Word find ……………………………………………………………Copies are free Ziploc sandwich bags………………………………………..1 box @ $3.00 Estimated total cost each year:……………………………………….$ 15.99

Time: Initial prep time: 1 hour to prepare powerpoint and gather supplies Preparation time: 1 hour to divide plaster into Ziplocs and gather leaves Instruction time: 30 minutes – could be extended to longer, or another day. Clean-up time: 10 minutes Assessment: Students will pick a fossil from the list on the word search to research and create a poster to present and hang in class telling about the fossil, where it was found, what it is, what time period and why it is important for us to understand what happened to this creature and how we discover them.

Background

COMMON FOSSILS in the John Day Basin http://www.paleolands.org/find/time/here/C51

CRETACEOUS: About 100 million years ago, in the heyday of the dinosaurs, this was a rugged beach. The most abundant inhabitant was a coiled-shell mollusk known at an ammonite. Theses animals, relatives of the modern chambered nautilus, died out in the same extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs, 65 million years ago.

PALEOCENE: Paleocene fossils, 65-57 million years in age, are rare, but some have been found east of Pendleton. These plants are even more tropical that the Eocene Clarno plants (below). Magnolia (?), Paleocene age.

EOCENE: Mudflows and stream deposits of the Clarno Formation, 57-35 million years old, yield fossil leaves of subtropical plants. Some of the most common fossil found in the mudflow deposits are simply casts of branches or limbs caught in fast-moving mudflows. In places where quieted waters prevailed, (lakes, ponds, and sluggish streams) common fossils include magnolia leaves, palm fronds and walnuts and walnut leaves. Older Eocene lakebeds and tuffs can yield bald cyprus needles and wood. Walnut leaf, Clarno Formation

Cypress leaves, Herren Fm.

OLIGOCENE The best place to collect fossils in Wheeler County is at the Wheeler High School Fossil Beds in Fossil. Here, you’ll find well -preserved fossil leaves 32.5 million years old that fell into a shallow lake. The site is publicly accessible, and the small fee ($3.00) supports the fossil Public Schools. Common finds include Metasequoia, the Oregon Stat fossil and a deciduous conifer, a as well as oak, alder, maple, and sycamore leaves.

Metasequoia, Bridge Creek Beds, Wheeler High School Locale.

LINKS/PDFs: Link to “Fossil Flora of the John Day Basin, Oregon”, a publication by Frank Knowlton, 1902. Historically interesting, and a foundation for subsequent paleobotany. http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/joda/index.htm

Link to current catalogue of most plant fossils recognized on the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument and other portions of the John Day Basin. http://www.nps.gov/archive/joda/floraslist.htm

Link to current catalogue of most common animal fossils found at the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument: http://www.nps.gov/archive/joda/faunaslist.htm

Clarno Trails Trail of the Fossils [1/4 mile hike] – This is the only trail in the park where one can readily see fossils in the rocks. Large boulders strewn below The Palisades cliff contain hundreds of visible plant fossils from jungle-like forests that blanketed the region about 44 million years ago. http://www.nps.gov/joda/planyourvisit/clarno-trails.htm

John Day Fossil Beds National Monument is a 14,000 acre (57 km²) park in eastern Oregon. Located within the John Day River Basin, this U.S. National Monument is world-renowned for its well-preserved, remarkably complete record of fossil plants and animals, a record that spans more than 40 of the 65 million years of the Cenozoic Era (also known as the Age of Mammals and Flowering Plants). The monument is divided into three units: Painted Hills (named for the delicately colored stratifications) northwest of Mitchell, Sheep Rock which is northwest of Dayville, and Clarno which is 20 miles west of Fossil. Blue Basin is a volcanic ash bowl transformed into claystone by eons of erosion, colored pastel blue by minerals.

Visitors can follow trails into the badlands and examine fossils displayed at the visitor center while scientists continue field investigations and the painstaking analysis of the monument's vast fossil record.

Exploration and study of the John Day fossil beds continues today. In many of the beds, the fossils are widely scattered, and their occurrence cannot be predicted. Many types of fossils deteriorate rapidly once erosion exposes them to the elements. Thus the fossil beds are continually canvassed by paleontologists. Visitors often take rocks as souvenirs, which is a federal crime.[1]

The fossil beds contain vestiges of the actual soils, rivers, ponds, watering holes, mudslides, ashfalls, floodplains, middens, trackways, prairies, and forests, in an unbroken sequence that is one of the longest continuous geological records. The rocks are rich with the evidence of ancient habitats and the dynamic processes that shaped them; they tell of sweeping changes in the John Day Basin. Great changes, too, have taken place in this area's landscape, climate, and in the kinds of plants and animals that have inhabited it. http://www.fossils-facts-and-finds.com/how_are_fossils_formed.html

Species of Miohippus gave rise to the first burst of diversity in the horse family. Until Miohippus, there were few side branches, but the descendants of Miohippus were numerous and distinct. During the Miocene, over a dozen genera existed.

Today, only one genus of horses survives: Equus.

Where & When? Fossils of Miohippus are found at many Oligocene localities in the Great Plains, the western US and a few places in Florida. Species in this genus lived from about 32-25 million years ago. http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/vertpaleo/fhc/mioh.htm

http://www.nps.gov/joda/planyourvisit/maps.htm http://geology.com/cities-map/oregon.shtml

Finding fossils in John Day Mary Caperton Morton

On the surface, the painted hills of the John Day Fossil Beds National Memorial in eastern Oregon are spectacular, but it is what lies beneath the rolling red landscape that makes this desert region famous. Buried within the underlying layers of volcanic tuff are the world’s richest fossil beds from the Cenozoic Era, also known as the “Age of Mammals.” Fossil National Park Service The painted hills of John Day Fossil Beds National Memorial are filled with fossils from millions of years ago. beds that span more than a few million years are rare. Yet, these layers extend across more than 40 million years of history, making the beds at John Day one of the most complete records of ancient life anywhere on Earth — and definitely worth a visit.

The John Day fossil beds lie in the rain shadow east of Oregon’s two towering mountain ranges, the Coast Range and the Cascades. The mountains to the west are what make this region an arid desert today, but the layers of rock that formed the fossil beds were actually deposited from ancient volcanic eruptions to the east long ago. Thirty million years ago, prevailing winds blew tons of ash onto John Day’s once lush grasslands, marshlands and forests, burying foraging rhinos, horses and giant ground sloths. Now, every summer, vicious thunderstorms sweep the region, eroding the fragile aquamarine- colored tuff and washing fossils from more than 100 different species of mammals from the steep hillsides.

The fossil beds are protected within the John Day National Monument, which is divided into three separate parks: the Painted Hills, Sheep Rock and the Clarno units. To visit the beds, start at the Sheep Rock unit, which lies just northwest of Mitchell, Ore., which is about two hours east of Bend. Here you can visit the park’s main facilities and fossil museum at the Thomas Condon Paleontology Center. The museum features many beautiful fossils, interactive displays, audiovisual presentations and even a window into the park’s paleontology lab where scientists prepare and study fossil specimens. Knowledgeable park rangers and Mary Caperton Morton paleontologists give regular talks Hiking the Island in Time Trail and the Blue Basin Overlook about the displays and geology of Trail are great ways to experience the John Day sites and the region and are always willing to scenery. recommend the best hikes to see the fossil beds firsthand.

Hiking the Blue Basin Overlook Trail, combined with the shorter, adjoining Island in Time Trail, is the best way to experience both the intrepid geology and spectacular scenery of John Day. Both trails begin five kilometers west of the museum on Highway 19. The four-kilometer Blue Basin Trail is a loop, more easily hiked clockwise, that ascends to the top of the basin and overlooks the blue-tinged fossil- rich outcrop where most of John Day’s fossils are found. The hike to the top is mildly strenuous, but rewarding. From here the views of the painted hills and surrounding landscape are breathtaking. The vantage point also provides a unique view overlooking the 40 million years of history preserved within the Blue Basin below. The trail then descends into the basin itself, where it meets up with the Island in Time Trail and explores the fossil outcrops up close. Several specimens, including a turtle shell and a saber-tooth-tiger-like oreodont skull, are displayed under plastic capsules where they were found protruding from the hillside. You might also run into a park paleontologist combing the walls of the Blue Basin for newly exposed fossils. If you are one of the lucky visitors who finds a fossil, don’t touch it! Make note of its location and report the find to a park ranger as soon as possible. Recording the exact location of the fossil within the layers of strata is just as important as recovering the fossil itself and best left to a professional. While the plethora of large mammal fossils is perhaps the most exciting relic found at John Day, the preservation of the National Park Service changes in forests and grasslands Be sure to stop by the Thomas Condon Paleontology Center in an unbroken sequence also to get an up-close view of some of the many mammal fossils makes these fossil beds that have washed out of the hillsides in this park. remarkable. This is one of the few places in the world where the evolution of an ancient habitat, along with the forces that brought sweeping ecological change, can be studied. Four distinct ecological eras divide the strata at John Day, each with its own unique set of fossils, which is why recording the exact location of a fossil find is imperative.

The oldest rocks at John Day, deposited between 50 million and 35 million years ago, make up the Clarno Formation, best preserved at the Clarno Unit. A bounty of fossilized nuts, seeds, leaves and other woody structures, including remains from a banana tree, indicates that this region of Oregon was covered by an evergreen tropical forest during this time period. Fossils of brontotheres and amynodonts, giant browsers that resemble horses and rhinos, can be found here, none of which left descendants to modern times. The Clarno strata give way to the John Day Unit strata around 37 million years ago, marked by the invasion of deciduous forests into the region. Recognizable mammals make their appearance here, including ancient relatives of wolves, pigs, large cats, horses, camels, rhinos and rodents. Thick deposits of basaltic lava mark the interval between the John Day and Mascall formations, starting around 20 million years ago. It took about 5 million years for the area to cool and regrow into warm, wet savannah grasslands with pockets of hardwood forests. Animals found here include massive grazers like gomphotheres (elephant-like creatures), rhinos and extinct bear- dogs. The youngest strata making up the Rattlesnake Formation begin around 8 million years ago. Here the climate became much drier with the rise of the great modern mountain ranges to the west, killing off the forests and allowing the grasslands to expand. Grazing mammals like horses, pronghorns, sloths, rhinos, camels and peccaries dominate the fossil layers during this time period.

Dozens of hiking trails snake through the park and river rafting and fishing for bass and trout on Service Creek are also popular ways to enjoy this beautiful region of eastern Oregon. Whether you are a fossil buff, a maven of deep geologic history, a river rat or a lover of spectacular desert scenery, the John Day fossil beds have something to offer everybody.

To get to John Day, which is in the middle of the vast eastern Oregon desert, drive northeast from Bend on scenic Highway 26. The route passes many notable natural attractions, including Smith Rock State Park, a rock climber’s Mary Caperton Morton Dozens of hiking trails snake through the park and due to summer and winter temperatures that can reach extremes, spring and fall are the best times to visit. paradise. Rustic park service campgrounds abound south of the highway, and Clyde Holliday Recreation Area, near the town of John Day, has full RV hookups, yurts and cabin rentals. Desert temperatures can be stifling in the summer and frigid in the winter so try to visit for a few days in the spring or fall. http://www.geotimes.org/mar08/article.html?id=Travels0308.html

http://www.britannica.com/eb/art/print?id=1650&articleTypeId=0 http://www.nps.gov/joda/forteachers/upload/teacher%20packet.pdf