APS Bulletin September 1998
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Palæontological Society Bulletin VOLUMEAbertaA 13 • NUMBER l3 berta SEPTEMBER 1998 ALBERTA PALÆONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY OFFICERS President Wayne Braunberger 278-5154 Program Coordinator Kris Vasudevan 288-7955 Vice-President Vaclav Marsovsky 547-0182 Curator Harvey Negrich 249-4497 Treasurer * (Les Adler 289-9972) Librarian Dr. Gerry Morgan 241-0963 Secretary Don Sabo 278-8045 Events Coordinator Keith Mychaluk 228-3211 Past-President Les Adler 289-9972 Director at Large Dr. David Mundy 281-3668 DIRECTORS Editor Howard Allen 274-1858 Social Director Cory Gross 720-5725 Membership Geoff Barrett 279-1838 †APAC Representative Don Sabo 278-8045 * This position is currently unfilled. Person listed is acting officer on an interim basis only. †APAC is the Alberta Palaeontological Advisory Committee The Society was incorporated in 1986, as a non-profit organization formed to: a. Promote the science of palaeontology through study and education. b. Make contributions to the science by: 1) discovery 4) education of the general public 2) collection 5) preservation of material for study and the future 3) description c. Provide information and expertise to other collectors. d. Work with professionals at museums and universities to add to the palaeontological collections of the province (preserve Alberta’s heritage). MEMBERSHIP: Any person with a sincere interest in palaeontology is eligible to present their application for membership in the Society. (Please enclose membership dues with your request for application.) Single membership $15.00 annually Family or Institution $20.00 annually THE BULLETIN WILL BE PUBLISHED QUARTERLY: March, June, September and December. Deadline for submitting material for publication is the 15th of the month prior to publication. Society Mailing Address: Material for Bulletin: Alberta Palaeontological Society Howard Allen, Editor, APS P.O. Box 35111, Sarcee Postal Outlet 7828 Hunterslea Crescent, N.W. Calgary, Alberta, Canada T3E 7C7 Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2K 4M2 (E-mail [email protected]) NOTICE: Readers are advised that opinions expressed in the articles are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of the Society. Except for articles marked “Copyright ©,” reprinting of articles by exchange bulletins is permitted, as long as appropriate credit is given. Requests for missing issues of the Bulletin should be addressed to the editor. UPCOMING APS MEETINGS Meetings take place at 7:30 p.m., in Room B108, Mount Royal College: 4825 Richard Way SW, Calgary, Alberta September 18, 1998—Annual “Show-and-Tell” session: bring your finds and photos from the summer! October 16, 1998—Dr. Betsy Nicholls, Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology: Triassic marine reptiles from the mountains of British Columbia. November 20, 1998—Dr. M.V.H. Wilson, University of Alberta: An Eocene lake and its fossil fishes. December 18, 1998—(Tentative) Dr. Ann Katzenberg, University of Calgary: Physical Anthropology ON THE COVER: Extinct mammal, Brontotherium sp., Tertiary (Oligocene), North America. Art by APS Member Cory Gross © 1998. APS Bulletin 1 September 1998 This year promises to be very exciting. A President’s Message number of interesting guest speakers will be at our by Wayne F. Braunberger meetings over the course of the year. As well, some special events are planned. I hope to see you out at nce again I think that the Society had a good the meetings. ❏ summer. Three well-attended field trips Ovisited localities in the Rocky Mountains near Blairmore and the badlands near Manyberries and Mark your calendar now! along the Milk River. The trip to the Milk River, led by Dr. Len Hills of the Department of Geology Here are the scheduled dates for General and and Geophysics at the University of Calgary, Executive meetings and Field Trips, for the concentrated on the geology, palaeontology, next year. Program topics, some of which are natural history, and archaeology of the area. Our tentative, are listed on Page 1. field trips continue to be quite popular and over General Meetings the next few months we will be working on ways to improve them. Any suggestions would be September 18, 1998 appreciated. October 16 As I mentioned in June, Keith Mychaluk was November 20 elected to the position of events director. Keith December 18 takes over from Les Fazekas who was in the January 15, 1999 position for several years. Over the years Les February 19 worked very hard to arrange field trips for the March 19 Society and was able to secure access to a number April 16 of sites not available to individuals. On behalf of May 28* the executive and directors as well as all of us who June, July, August (no meetings) attended field trips over the years I would like to September 17 thank Les very much for his efforts. Seminars will again be held this year, provided a October 15 meeting area and instructors can be secured. With November 19 the number of new members increasing it may be December 17 timely to repeat past seminars that were held on Curation and Field Methods. If there is interest the Field Trips seminar on Vertebrate Microsites may be held June 19 & 20, 1999 again. If anyone has a particular topic they think July 17 & 18 would make a good seminar please contact me. It August 21 & 22 would also be very helpful if someone would volunteer to coordinate seminars. Executive Meetings September 9, 1998 October 7 November 18 PINS! December 9 • B ackground: whit e January 6, 1999 • Logo: royal blue February 10 • Lettering: gold March 10 pins are 1" (25 mm) high, April 7 with safety clasp May 19* Price: $3.00 each September 8 (no GST) PPick yours up at the next meeting, October 6 or send your orders to: November 10 Alberta Palaeontological Society December 8 P.O. Box 35111, Sarcee Postal Outlet Calgary, AB, Canada T3E 7C7 *Please note that the May meetings are the third (cheque or money order only: do not send cash) Wednesday and fourth Friday. APS Bulletin 2 September 1998 Manyberries area, Alberta (July 18) 1998 Field Trip Reports n July 18, 1998, over 20 APS members ex- plored the microsites in the upper Dinosaur Grassy Mountain, Alberta (June 20) OPark Formation near Manyberries, Alberta. The e enjoyed a good turnout and variable con- microsites contained a wide variety of fossils, such Wditions for our first trip of the season, to the as sturgeon scutes; turtle, champsosaur, crocodile, site of an abandoned open-pit coal mine north of frog and salamander remains; garpike scales, fish Blairmore, Alberta, in the Crowsnest Pass region of vertebrae, and Myledaphus (ray) teeth. the Rocky Mountains. Hadrosaur, ceratopsian, ankylosaur, alberto- Our goal—the furthest of a number of aban- saur and troödontid teeth were also found. doned coal pits—was approached by a long, Members also saw badly weathered, fragmentary switchbacking uphill climb across open slopes, remains of hadrosaur and theropod bones. An affording fine views to the south, east and west unusual find of the day was an angiosperm leaf im- (unfortunately, the view of Frank Slide, directly pression. A large oyster, clam and gastropod bed south, is totally obscured by a tall hill). indicated the presence of brackish water at one After a hike of about 2–3 hours in mainly sunny spot on the site. weather, we arrived at our destination just in time At about 3:00, part of the group left to explore to be drenched by a sudden, intense hail-and- the Bearpaw Formation, across the valley. They rainstorm that blew in across the ridge. Our leader, found ammonites, baculites and bivalves. Vaclav Marsovsky, who initially garnered looks of Everyone enjoyed the sun, heat (30°C), and (espe- envy for his cleverness in packing an aluminum- cially) the occasional breezes. Luckily, the only shafted umbrella, instantly became as popular as a encounter with snakes was the shed snake skin that leper when a terrific bolt of thunder crashed above, Wayne Braunberger found. sending us crouching into the wet boulders. – Mona Marsovsky Within fifteen minutes, the sun was once again with us, and the little drifts of pea-sized hail were shrinking into history. Milk River Valley/Pinhorn Ranch, The pit we visited exposes the mined-out “No. Alberta (August 22 & 23) 2” coal seam, comprising the base of the Mutz Member of the Mist Mountain Formation r. Len Hills, semi-retired professor of geology (Kootenay Group, latest Jurassic in age). The over- Dand palaeontology at the University of lying rocks, a series of interbedded shales, silt- Calgary was our guide for this very informative stones and sandstones were deposited on a coastal field trip to the badlands of southeastern Alberta. alluvial plain, where ferns, cycads and other plants On Saturday, after an introductory talk at the grew in profusion. Excellently preserved plant university, we made our way in a convoy to the fossils, occurring as carbon films and impressions Pinhorn Ranch via Highway 2, Lethbridge and on the surfaces of slabs were found in abundance, Foremost, stopping at several roadside points of and participants spread out across the quarry to interest to observe glacial landforms, bedrock fea- investigate the diversity of the flora. The most tures, and some structural geology (Monarch fault common species at this locality is probably the zone). The weather was for the most part clear and large, broad-needled gymnosperm Podozamites warm, with scattered thundershowers around lanceolatus, followed by ferns, such as Coniopteris, Foremost. Cladophlebis and Sphenopteris, and cycads, Arriving at the ranch in the Milk River Valley, including Nilssonia, Ptilophyllum and Ptero- we set up camp among the cottonwoods and wil- phyllum. Other, less common plants included lows on the floodplain of the river. The younger Ginkgo, Equisitites (horsetail) and some other members of our contingent were soon scrambling gymnosperms.