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Home , Eutypomyidae, Fauna of Saskatchewan, Fossil preparation

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Volume 8 Number 2 Park Fall 2 0 0 4 Geologic Resources Division, Paleontology Program Two New Paleontologists Join the NPS Table of Contents We welcome two new paleontologists to Two New Paleontologist Join the NPS...... 1 the National Park Service. Pete Reser has joined the staff at Petrified Forest National Documentation of Paleontology Resources at New River Gorge National River ...... 2 Park as a preparator and Mary Carpenter is the new preparator at Hagerman New Discoveries of Fossil at Beds National Monument. Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument...... 2

Pete Reser - I was hooked at the age of New Paleo Center at John DayFossil Beds seven when my mother took me to the National Monument nearing Completion ...... 3 Field Museum in Chicago, where I saw a large block of red sandstone on exhibit Planned Widening of East Entrance Road containing the skull of something Reveals Important Geological Resources ...... 4 obviously reptilian. But what really Report of the 2004 field collections and captured my attention was the network mapping of mammoth (Mammuthus exilis and of chisel marks across the block from Mammuthus columbi) remains: Santa Rosa which I understood that someone could Island, Channel Islands National Park (CHIS), California ...... 5 actually shape and remove stone to reveal what the rocks contained. I was Directed Discovery and the Partnership between transfixed. the National Parks and the GeoCorps America Program ...... 6 Other than that, I have led a relatively Pete Reser Paleontologist at Florissant Beds normal life for someone of my revealing and understanding the other Awarded NSF Grant...... 7 generation. I served in Vietnam, 90%. experienced “the Sixties”, and was a Mary C. Carpenter - I was born and Fun in the Sun: The 2004 Paleontological Survey of Colorado National Monument ...... 8 perennial “returning student” at the raised in central Wisconsin, I received an University of New Mexico. It was here I Associate Degree in Graphic Arts in 1984. paleontological site in northern Sonora, met the young Spencer Lucas who was I discovered paleontology in the late Mexico with a crew from Northern an undergraduate in the Anthropology 1980’s on a motorcycle trip to the Hot Arizona University. Department. He assembled a nucleus of Springs Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, students who were very interested in South Dakota. After several summers as My paleontological interests are wide, Paleontology and we proceeded to an EarthWatch volunteer at the but I am especially interested in faunal research the rich and varied fossil Mammoth Site, I moved to Flagstaff, identifications and morphological resources of New Mexico. Arizona to begin my academic career. characters of the bones of artiodactyls, One of the things that we accomplished While at Northern Arizona University, raptors, and vulturids. In my spare time I happened to be a very large survey, for Flagstaff, Arizona I completed my enjoy exploring, outdoor activities of all the BLM, of the fossil resources of the Bachelor of Arts, with a major in kinds, travel, and reading. I am looking San Juan Basin. This resulted in a large Anthropology and a minor in Geology. I forward to the variety of work and voucher collection in the New Mexico complted by Master of Science in professional research potential that Museum of Natural History and I made it December 2003 through the Quaternary HAFO has to offer. Certainly the fossil my business to learn fossil preparation Sciences Program. preparation will be a fun (yes, fun) job techniques to deal with that collection. I and keep me extremely busy. have been a preparator, off and on, ever My master’s thesis involved the since. identifications of , , , bighorn sheep, and extinct mountain I spent fifteen years as the Chief goat bones from Rampart Cave, Grand Preparator at the New Mexico Museum Canyon National Park. During my 12 of Natural History and started as the years in Flagstaff, I was involved in fossil preparator at Petrified Forest numerous archeological and National Park in June. The Park’s paleontological projects, including a stint incredible fossil resources have always during the summer of 1998 as a fossil intrigued me and I have thought that, preparator at Hagerman Fossil Beds like an iceberg, we’ve only seen National Monument. Most recently, I approximately 10% of what is really have been involved in ongoing there. Accordingly, I am delighted to be excavations and research at a , part of the team that will work on and possible late Pliocene, Mary Carpenter

Park Paleontology 1 Documentation of New Discoveries of Paleontology Resources Fossil Vertebrates at at New River Gorge Florissant Fossil Beds National River National Monument

Milton ‘Gene’ Clare Marie Worley Geologist Geological Sciences University of Colorado New River Gorge National River Seed of of the seed fern, Neuropteris Boulder, Colorado 80309 P.O. Box 246 pocahontas, also known as Holcospermum. Glen Jean, West Virginia 25846 Last summer I was a paleontology intern River Gorge is comprised of rock layers at Florissant Fossil Beds National The New River Gorge National River is from the Period (Coal- Monument in Colorado, sponsored by starting the documentation of bearing) - specifically, the late the GeoCorps program of the Geological paleontology resources which may exist Mississippian and early Pennsylvanian. Society of America. Although Florissant in or near the gorge area. This process Rocks from the early Pennsylvanian are is famous for its plant and insect fossils, a began in October 2003 and begins with dated to about 300 million years before few fossils had been discovered research of the existing literature which present time. Fossils from this period of over the years. Because I am interested has already documented areas that are time are generally limited to invertebrate in mammalian paleontology, I revisited known to contain fossils. Another aspect ( without backbones) and plant the site where a jaw of the early horse of the initial inventory is to research the fossils. Plant fossils at the very earliest Mesohippus had been discovered in 1992 location of collections which may have part of the Pennsylvanian system include (Evanoff and De Toledo 1999). After exhibits of fossils from this area. This one that is used as a boundary marker weeks of crawling the surface and portion of the inventory should be between the earlier Mississippian and screening sediment, the project yielded completed by mid summer. Then the later Pennsylvanian rock layers – 20 teeth and four jaws of , in second part of the inventory should be Neuropteris pocahontas. addition to hundreds of bone fragments. planned – actually going out and seeing This new material, which has added if rock layers mentioned in the literature Neuropteris pocahontas is classified as a considerably to the diversity of the search contain fossils. Once verified seed fern. The indicates that known mammalian fauna of the which rock layers contain fossils and the leaf pattern terminates into a single Florissant Formation, forms the core of where these rock layers may be found leaflet attached to the stem at a single my master’s thesis in Museum and Field the third step in the inventory process point and that the stem pattern shows a Studies at the University of Colorado at can be planned - protecting the fossils tri-pinnate geometry. The N. pocahontas Boulder. from being lost and preserving a sample produces a seed – Holcospermum sp. and of fossils for public education. pollen bearing organ – Aulacotheca sp. In addition to the Mesohippus, other The latest portion of the Mississippian prior known mammals include a full It is already known what types of fossils system contains the Hinton Formation, skeleton of the mouse opossum ought to be found in this area. The New the Princeton Sandstone, and the Peratherium found in lake shales in the Bluestone Formation. A short 1930s (Gazin 1936), an upper jaw transitional sequence is encountered fragment of the artiodactyl (even-toed before starting into the first formation of ) , and a vertebra the Pennsylvanian system – an un-named of a large rhino-like called a ‘early member’ of the Pocahontas brontothere (Evanoff and De Toledo formation. N. pocahontas is first 1999). New material I discovered in encountered in this transitional area and 2003 includes a large molar tooth of a occurs throughout the early brontothere, which confirms the the Pennsylvanian until it became extinct. continued on page 3 What is a Seed Fern?

Seed ferns (Pteridospermales) are an extinct group of gymnosperms distantly related to living pine, spruce and cycads. Although their foliage resembled that of modern ferns, they reproduced by means of seeds. This distinguishes them from true ferns which reproduce by spores. Seed ferns were large, spongy-wooded trees that grew in swampy forests during the Carboniferous. Tooth of Eutypomys parvus, an and helped form many of our major coal deposits. Some seed ferns continued into extinct relative of , from Leaf of the seed fern Neuropteris the Mesozoic. Florissant Fossil Beds. Scale is in pocahontas. http://taggart.glg.msu.edu/bot335/sfern.htm millimeters.

2 Park Paleontology which has thus far not been identified, and may be a member of the proscalopidae.

This mammalian fauna is consistent with the Chadronian North American Land Mammal Age (NALMA), which agrees with the 40Ar/39Ar age of 34.07 ± 0.10 Ma of the Florissant Formation (Evanoff et al. 2001). The Florissant fauna appears to be most similar to the middle Lower jaw of Domninia, the earliest Chadronian Pipestone Springs Local Fauna of Montana and also closely General view of the Thomas Condon known shrew, from Florissant Paleontological Center. Fossils Beds. Scale in millimeters. resembles the middle Chadronian Calf Creek Local Fauna of , and presence of the group in the Park. I also fauna of the Chadronian section at New Paleo Center at recovered lower molars of two different Flagstaff Rim, Wyoming. The similarity to artiodactyls. The smaller artiodactyl these particular faunas stems from a John DayFossil Beds tooth has been identified as similar age, but also supports an cf L. speciosus, which was a very tiny emerging Rocky Mountain region faunal National Monument hoofed creature. The larger belongs to coherence. the family merycoidodontidae, the same nearing Completion as that of Merycoidodon. Six It is especially exciting for me to have lagomorph teeth were found, the first made these discoveries in a National Ted Fremd rabbit fossils from the park. Four belong Monument because the possibility of John Day Fossil Beds National to the genus Megalagus, while the using the information to inform and Monument others may be from the smaller inspire the public is so much more 32651 Hwy 19 Paleolagus. immediate. I am confident that further Kimberly, Oregon 97848-9701 investigation of the Florissant formation The diversity of extinct includes will uncover even more mammalian The Thomas Condon Paleontology Ischyromys cf I. douglassi, and a second diversity. large species of Ischyromys, as well as Center (TCPC) is a new facility devoted to two different species of the genus curation, research, and education. Additional Reading th Pelycomys, which may not be referable Named for 19 -century Oregon pioneer, to any known species. Eutypomys parvus, minister, and geologist Thomas Condon, Evanoff, E. and P. de Toledo 1999, Fossil known from the latest of the 11,000 square-foot facility houses Mammals and Biting Insects from the Montana and Saskatchewan, is a more than 40,000 paleontological and Upper Eocene Florissant Formation of member of the family eutypomyidae, geological objects that represent over 45 Colorado. Journal of which later gave rise to the , million years of evolutionary history in Paleontology 19, suppl no. 3:43A. the family of the modern beavers (Korth the John Day region. Consisting of 1994). The eomyid Adjidaumo minimus museum collections storage, research Evanoff, E., W.C. McIntosh, and P. C. is also represented. One jaw of the tiny areas, a paleontology preparation Murphey 2001, Stratigraphic Summary shrew Domnina cf D. thompsoni was laboratory, a research library, an and 40Ar/39Ar of the recovered, in addition to the geolabidid audiovisual theater, classroom, multiple Florissant Formation, Colorado. Centetodon magnus. An temporary exhibits, and a 2,500 square- Proceedings of the Denver Museum of additional insectivoran jaw was found, foot museum exhibition gallery, the new Nature and Science, ser. 4, no. 1:1-16. building effectively introduces students and the general public to paleontology Gazin, C.L. 1936, A from the research processes and the knowledge Florissant beds (Tertiary) of Colorado. gained from study of the John Day Journal of Paleontology 9:57-62. region.

Korth, W.W. 1994, The Tertiary Record of The TCPC opened to the public with Rodents in North America. Topics in limited operation in December (2003), Geobiology 12:1-319. and the museum collections move was completed in May 2004. The museum gallery exhibits will be completed in time for a grand opening during the summer of 2005.

Left - View of the new paleontology laboratory at the Thomas Condon Paleontological Center at John Day Fossil Tooth of a large species of the Beds , Ischyromys, from Florissant Fossil Beds. Scale in millimeters.

Park Paleontology 3 along the road between the East Planned Widening of Entrance and Sylvan Pass is anything but East Entrance Road ordinary. Research on the geology of the East Entrance road revealed a cross- Reveals Important section through an ancient, now extinct volcano that was centered near Hoyt Geological Resources Peak, about a mile north of Sylvan Pass and was active about 45 million years Marc S. Hendrix ago during the Eocene Epoch. I have Department of Geology been working with Yellowstone scientific University of Montana and administrative personnel to evaluate Example of the casts Missoula, Montana 59812 the geologic and paleontologic resources preserved in the Tertiary debris flow that will be even better exposed by deposits. As most recent visitors to Yellowstone planned road improvement activities being injected into the cracks. Though it have noticed, the park’s road system has along the East Entrance road. As part of can’t be demonstrated yet, it is likely that been undergoing a lot of reconstruction this work, I mapped, studied, some of these subterranean magmatic lately. The Park’s aging network of paved photographed, and sampled each injections corresponded with actual roads not only is showing signs of natural outcrop and each artificial eruptions of material from the volcanic deterioration, but also is proving exposure between the East Entrance and vent. Viewed on a geologic map, the undersized to the more than 2 million Sylvan Pass. I am currently working with andesitic dikes form a radial pattern that people that visit the Park each year, many Park personnel to develop plans for a converges on the postulated site of the driving large vehicles. series of interpretive road-side pull-outs volcanic mouth just north of Sylvan Pass. designed to highlight various parts of the Moving east from Sylvan Pass, the road In order to improve accessibility to volcanic system. cuts through the breccia/dike complex Yellowstone’s natural treasures, the Park inferred to represent the nominal has begun a 20-year plan to reconstruct The stretch of highway between Sylvan volcanic center, through a series of east- and, in places, widen its extensive road Pass and the East Entrance passes by a tilted basalt and andesitic lava flows that system. This road improvement is a series of rocks that together represent a are also locally intruded by andesite dikes delicate operation. Like the old historic cross-section through the eastern flank and that likely represent the eastern road network, the new one is designed of an extinct Eocene volcano. Cropping flank of the volcano. Further along to ‘lie lightly on the land’ and thus to out at Sylvan Pass are layers of volcanic towards the East Entrance, layers of provide access to the Park’s beauty breccia, a rock type itself composed of brown conglomeratic rocks crop out. without dominating its landscapes. Part angular bits of volcanic rock probably These sedimentary rocks were deposited of the plan to integrate these road derived mostly from surface talus that by debris flows that slid down the side of improvements into the Park’s educational formed the steep sides of the volcano. the volcano. Although conglomeratic outreach program is a systematic effort Intruding and cross-cutting the breccia strata associated with the debris apron to study the paleontologic and geologic layers are vertically-oriented sheets of occurs within the park, the best resources that are revealed during the andesitic volcanic rock. The vertical exposures of this part of the volcano are reconstruction process. sheets, called dikes, formed by injection found outside of the park in the of molten magma into vertical cracks in impressive cliffs, canyons, and Current road improvement efforts are the interior of the volcano. Well-formed mountainsides of brown volcaniclastic focusing on a six-mile stretch of highway mineral crystals of hornblende and conglomerate on the road to Cody. that runs from the East Entrance west to plagioclase in the andesite suggest the Careful study of these debris flow layers Sylvan Pass. This stretch of road is one of magma cooled slowly underground after reveals that they commonly contain casts of fossil wood from forests that colonized the sides of the Eocene volcano. Due to the poor state of preservation, however, it has not yet been possible to identify the wood further.

Now that the initial site surveys and pre- reconstruction geologic assessments have been completed, crews are preparing to begin widening the highway between Sylvan Pass and the East Entrance. During the reconstruction process, trained personnel will be present to evaluate and catalog any fossil debris that the road crews recover. This material will be added to the collection I have started and will contribute to the development of the road-side information signs that will be posted along the route. Reconstruction of the Closeup of coarse boulders in an inferred paleo-valley fill on the Sylvan Pass- East Entrance road is scheduled to be East Entrance highway. Fossil wood casts are also present in the deposits. completed in 2006.

4 Park Paleontology Report of the 2004 field collections and mapping of mammoth (Mammuthus exilis and Mammuthus columbi) remains: Santa Rosa Island, Channel Islands National Park (CHIS), California.

Larry Agenbroad The Mammoth Site P.O. Box 692 Hot Springs, South Dakota 57747-0692 Map showing outline of the megaisland, Santarosae formed by the lowering Field mapping and collection of of sea level by 20 meters during the Pleistocene. Pygmy mammoths have mammoth remains was conducted from been found on San Miguel, Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz Islands. Modified May, 26-June, 2, 2004 by a four person team consisting of Kelly Minas (CHIS), from map made by Tom Rockwell, 1994. Sam Spauling (CHIS), Don Morris (CHIS- press. The importance of the paper is the Agenbroad, L.D., and D.P. Morris. 1999. retired), and Larry Agenbroad confirmation of accelerator-mass Giant Island/Pygmy mammoths: the late (Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, SD). The spectrometer (AMS) radiocarbon dates Pleistocene prehistory of Channel Islands field procedure was the same as indicative of temporal overlap of early National Park. National Park Service employed since the excavation and humans and mammoths at 11,030 BP Paleontological Research, V.L. Santucci and recovery of the 1994 skeleton of (uncorrected radiocarbon years) on Santa L. McClelland (eds.). Technical Report NPS/ Mammuthus exilis; i. e. pedestrian survey NRGRD?GRDTR-99/03:27-31. Rosa Island. This coincidence places a with GPS control of fossil discoveries. strong correlation for human hunting, The 2003 trip was cancelled due to Agenbroad, L.D., D. Morris, and L. Roth. rather than climate change, or 1999. Pygmy mammoths Mammuthus exilis storms, so the 2004 trip had a two-year hyperdisease, as the cause of erosion interval since the prior (2002) from Channel Islands National Park, of the island mammoths. No ‘smoking California USA. pp. 89-102 in G. Haynes, J. field season. A total of 60 localities were spear’ kill site has yet been discovered, documented. As in previous seasons, Klimowicz, and J.W.F. Reumer (eds.). however. It will take continued field work Mammoths and Mammoth Fauna: Studies only specimens of paleontological to locate and document potential kill of an Extinct Ecosystem. Deinsea 6. significance, or those threatened by sites. imminent erosional destruction were Orr, P.C. 1956. Radiocarbon mammoths, collected. Seven localities contained and man on Santa Rosa Island. Geological elements of Mammuthus columbi, the Society of America Bulletin 67:1777. remainder were Mammuthus exilis, Additional Reading maintaining an approximate 1:10 ratio Orr, P.C. 1956. Radiocarbon dates from of Me/Mc, as noted in prior field Santa Rosa Island. Bulletin of the Santa collections. Twenty specimens were Agenbroad, L.D. 1998. Pygmy (Dwarf) Barbara Museum of Natural History 2:1-10. collected, transported to the Santa mammoths of the Channel Islands of Barbara Museum of Natural History California. Mammoth Site of Hot Springs Orr, P.C. 1956. Dwarf mammoths and man (SBMNH) which is the repository for CHIS. SD, Inc.: 27 pp. on Santa Rosa Island. Anthropological There are currently no personnel at Papers No. 26, Department of Anthropology, SBMNH experienced in the preparation, Agenbroad, L.D. 2002. New Localities, University of Utah:75-81. preservation, and cataloging of the Chronology and Comparisons for the Pygmy mammoth remains, so an agreement was Mammoth (Mammuthus exilis):1994-1998. Stock, C. and E.L. Furlong. 1928. The Pleistocene elephants of Santa Rosa Island, made to take the specimens to The pp. 518-524 In H. Browne and H. Cheney (eds.). Proceedings of the Fifth Channel California. Science 68(1754):140-141. Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, South Islands Symposium. USDI-Mineral Dakota for those tasks, to be returned to Management Service and the Santa Barbara the SBMNH collections, upon completion. Museum of Natural History Vol. 2. A paper was presented on the contemporaneity of mammoths and Agenbroad, L. D. 2003. New absolute early human remains (Arlington Springs dates and comparisons for California’s Woman) on Santa Rosa, at the 6th Mammuthus exilis. pp. 1-16 in J.W.F. Channel Islands symposium in Ventura Reumer, J. de Vos and D. Mol (eds.). (12/1-3/03). The paper was submitted Advances in Mammoth Research, and accepted for inclusion in the Proceedings of the Second International symposium volume and is currently in Mammoth Conference. DEINSEA 9.

Park Paleontology 5 fossil potential of Wupatki National Directed Discovery and Monument. Because of the time the Partnership between constraints involved in my position, I narrowed this research to consist of an the National Parks and evaluation of vertebrate the GeoCorps America potential of the lower Wupatki member of the Moenkopi formation. Based on Program my research of the literature, the trace fossil collection at MNA, and examination K. Alden Peterson of the WUPA P1 trace fossil, I defined my research parameters to include only the Interpretive Ranger lowest units of the Lower Wupatki Chaco Culture National Historical Park Tracks of Chirotherium from Member (defined as those units above Wupatki National Monument P.O. Box 220 the Kaibab Formation and a below the Nageezi, New Mexico 87037-0220 Lower Massive Sandstone unit of the 15cm. This measurement, however, was Wupatki member). Vertebrate trace only for the digit portion of the hind In the spring of 2003 I applied to the fossil in the Wupatki unit form as sand- foot (pes) track. Descriptions of C. rex Geologic Society of America, GeoCorps cast impressions of the tracks and traces and C. moquiensis pes tracks from the America Program and received a position rather than from preservation of the literature list a length in excess of 30 cm as a Geoscientist in the Park at Wupatki impressions themselves. As a result, the for complete tracks, showing both digit National Monument for the summer. My trace fossils are found on the underside and sole imprints. The digit portion of supervisor, Mary Blasing, defined this of massive sandstone ledges. Through these described imprints represent a little position as 1/2 geology research and 1/2 my initial field work, I quickly confirmed less than half the overall length of the interpretive ranger. The interpretive that the most likely vertebrate trace fossil track. Following this line of reasoning, ranger aspects of my position included potential for these units resides in the the entire track length (including both operation of the fees desk and thin, massively bedded sandstone ledge digit and sole imprints) of the trace answering general and interpretive forming units, which crop-out directly fossils would exceed 30 cms, thereby question for on site and off site visitors. below the Lower Massive Sandstone unit. placing it within the size range of either Interpretive activities also included C. rex or C. moquiensis. A distinguishing creation and execution of formal and This research and investigation at feature that separates both C. rex and C. informal interpretation on a wide variety Wupatki National Monument resulted in moquiensis from the other species of of subjects. Roving front country sites the discovery on 21 June 2003 of an Chirotherium, is the rather blunt and and participation in and leading of important early trackway that stubby toe impressions. This unique backcountry hikes rounded out the included very large Chirotherium trace feature of the digits matches the interpretive aspect of my position. fossils. The largest trace fossils have been observed imprints of the trackway. tentatively assigned to the trace fossil Several imprints of C. rex in the literature Paul Whitefield, Chief of Natural ichnogenus Chirotherium with a possible are described as lcaking the fifth digit in Resources at the Flagstaff Area affiliation to the C. rex or C. moquiensis. the fossil impression. This digit is also Monuments, defined the research The bases for this assignment resides absent from the new imprints. aspects of my position as a with the size and shape of the imprints. paleontological investigation of the trace The largest dimension was measured at The new locality includes a rather rare occurrence of a trackway, which presents a series of sequential tracks preserved in the stratigraphic record. This trackway runs parallel to the erosional face of the cliff along a stratigraphic unit showing nearly 20 meters of exposed and eroded fossil tracks. Approximately twenty tracks of a large archosauromorph have been observed at the locality, both in situ in the exposed strata and in fragments eroded from the strata and lying atop the talus below the exposure. Numerous smaller, unidentified tracks are visible along with the archosauromorph tracks, possibly created by either or .

Trackways provide important evidence for scientific study of the geometry of movement of long extinct animals. Trackways also reveal compelling clues to associations and environments for extinct fauna. The newly discovered trackway offers a strong potential for furthering Outcrop of the early Triassic Wupatki Member of the Moenkopi Formation the scientific understanding of this early at Wupatki in which the fossil tracks were found. Triassic fauna. The proximity of the

6 Park Paleontology trackway to the /Triassic border Paleontologist at Florissant adds another component of interest to these trace fossils. The fossil forming Fossils Beds Awarded NSF stratagraphic unit occurs only 18 to 20 Grant meters above the Permian boundary, placing the dates on these track firmly in Herb Meyer the early Triassic, approximately 137 to Florissant Fossil Beds 240 million years ago. The Permian/ P.O. Box 185 Triassic border represents an event of 15807 Teller County 1 unprecedented extinction in the history of the Earth. The trace fossils at the Florissant, Colorado 80816-0185 locality provide potential insights into the recovery and evolutionary radiation of The National Science Foundation has fauna after this catastrophic event. My awarded a grant to Dr. Deborah Geocorps America position at Wupatki Woodcock (Clark University) and Dr. National Monument provided me with Herbert Meyer (National Park Service, an extraordinary opportunity to extend Florissant Fossil Beds) to complete a my experience as a geoscientist beyond research and conservation project for the the boundaries of the academic petrified forest site at Sexi, Peru. The This project will facilitate international environment, participate in the discovery project is “The Peruvian Fossil Forest exchange of ideas and analytical of an important paleontological resource Piedra Chamana: A Record of techniques between US and Peruvian for the park system, and fulfill a life-time Continental Conditions during the scientists, enhance the conservation of interest in natural history and education Middle Eocene.” The grant provides important scientific specimens, and as an interpretive park ranger. It is my funds of $146,000. hope that the GeoCorp America provide a unique learning experience for a graduate student. In addition, the program will continue providing this The research aspects of the project will project represents a strong and unique partnership between the National involve a combination of field and supportive collaboration between the US Parks and geoscientists for many more laboratory studies to reconstruct the National Science Foundation, Clark generations. environment and climate of a Middle University, the US National Park Service, Eocene low-latitude site, using fossil and the National University San Marcos wood (i.e., monocots and dicots) from in Peru that will help the research and the northern Peruvian Andes. The conservation efforts progress effectively. scientific premise for the research is that while continental and oceanic proxy records have established the existence of warm climates at high latitudes during the Middle Eocene, conditions at tropical latitudes during this period are not as well documented. It has, in addition, been difficult for climate models to simulate the degree of high-latitude warmth indicated for the Eocene and also the much lesser extent of warming Petrified Wood in the lower latitudes. The fossil forest is thereby an important record of tropical conditions during a time of notable warmth worldwide and before the Most types of fossil wood that we refer to as changes of the latter part of the Eocene. “petrified” or turned to stone is formed by a The diversity of taxa at the Peru site is process called . Fossils ideally suited for paleoclimate that are permineralized when spaces in the reconstructions. wood (or bone) become filled with mineral- Trackway of Chirotherium from rich water. As water rich in minerals passes Wupatki National Monument. The project also provides assistance for through the wood, concentrations of the conservation of the site, and it will minerals increase and eventually the include establishing a site inventory and minerals precipitate out, filling the voids and surrounding the original cell walls and cell monitoring project. The grant will membranes. The types of minerals that are provide the funding for developing a deposited depends on the mineral content of museum in the small community of Sexi, the sediments that buried the tree. Some as well as educational and interpretive examples of minerals that commonly dissolve information for the local school and for and saturate in solution include silica (SiO2), visitors. The site currently remains very calcium carbonate(CaCO3), and iron ores remote and generally unvisited, although like pyrite (FeS2). Each type of mineral a Answer to Name the Fossil Park: the community is eager to develop distinctive color and this is what makes fossil Hancock Mammal Quarry and Clarno Nut ecotourism. The fossil forest was formally wood so colorful. designated for protection by the Beds, in the Clarno Unit, John Day Fossil Peruvian government in 1997 under the http://paleo.cortland.edu/tutorial/ Beds, Oregon Cultural Patrimony of the Nation. &Pres/preservation.htm

Park Paleontology 7 Fun in the Sun: The The information gathered would then be used to help manage the fossil 2004 Paleontological resources of COLM.

Survey of Colorado Over the past 30 years, several formal National Monument paleontological surveys were conducted at COLM. The first two surveys, by Dr. George L. Callison in Kelli C. Trujillo, Ph.D. 1977 and Dr. George F. Engelmann in Geology and Geophysics Department 1995, focused exclusively on the The University of Wyoming Morrison Formation (Late ). Laramie, Wyoming 82071 Both of these surveys found many Margaret Imhof and Zach Walke, occurrences of bone as well two GeoCorps volunteers, sitting Colorado National Monument is a as fossils of smaller vertebrates and on the Brushy Basin Member of the paradise for photographers, hikers, and invertebrates. A third study, by Dr. Morrison Formation at Colorado geologists. Sedimentary rocks ranging Rodney D. Scheetz in 2001 and 2002, National Monument. in age from Late Triassic to Late was based around the trails of COLM locality we took GPS coordinates and are exposed within the and surveyed most rock units in the photographs. In addition, we assessed boundaries of Colorado National monument. A preliminary study of the the condition of each locality with Monument (COLM), and they form Quaternary fossil resources in COLM regard to the numbers of fossils seen, many picturesque canyons and cliffs, was done in 1994 by Dr. Kirk Andersen weathering rates and stability of the towers and spires. But these rocks are from the Museum of Northern Arizona, site, and occurring or potential not just scenic – they also hold a and bones recovered from a fissure vandalism or theft. All of the data wealth of fossil resources. exposed by a rockfall were collected in collected is housed at COLM in both 2000 and identified by Dr. Jim Mead of print and electronic forms. During the summer of 2004, Margaret MNA. In addition to these studies, Imhof (Museum of Northern Arizona), scientists affiliated with the Museum of As a result of our summer’s work, we Zach Walke (recently graduated from Western Colorado have occasionally now know that all sedimentary rock Southern Oregon University), and I surveyed various areas and formations units exposed in COLM contain fossils. spent 11 weeks hiking the trails and in COLM. Several new dinosaur The types of fossil localities reported bushwacking through the backcountry tracksites have been located by Dr. from COLM include trace and body of Colorado National Monument in John Foster, Ryan King, and Josh Smith fossils of plants, invertebrates, and search of fossils. Our mission was over the past few years. threefold: 1) to assess fossil localities vertebrates. The most exciting finds include well-preserved sauropod bones that had previously been located, 2) to In our survey, we located 19 new fossil in fallen blocks of the Burro Canyon survey areas of COLM that had not yet localities and formally reported 57 Fm., a lungfish tooth from the Tidwell been prospected for fossils, and 3) to others that had been known previously. Member of the Morrison Formation, compile all this information into one Each of these 76 localities was given a the only known vertebrate bone from easily accessed database using GIS. COLM locality number, and at each the Kayenta Fm. of Colorado, and large numbers of dinosaur tracks from the Wingate Fm. We also learned about metoposaur scutes and teeth that had been collected from the Chinle Fm. (Late Triassic) in COLM about 50 years ago. The fossils were donated to the Museum of Western Colorado many years ago, and a search is underway to locate them.

All in all, we had a productive and fun summer. The information we provided will allow resource managers and others at COLM to keep track of their fossil resources in order to preserve and protect them. All of the folks at COLM were great to work with. And we got to spend our summer wandering around Colorado National Monument! For geologists and paleontologists, it doesn’t get any better than that! General overview of the geology of Colorado National Monument. Independence Monument in the center.

8 Park Paleontology Recent Literature on Park Paleontology Resources

The final report of a paleontological survey of Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area has just been completed by Alison Koch, Vince Santucci and Ted Weasma. The report provides an overview of the variety of paleontological resources present in the park.

Copies of Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area Paleontological Survey, Technical Report NPS/NRGRD/GRDTR-04-01 are available from the: Geologic Resources Division, National Park Service, P.O. Box 25287,Denver, Colorado 80227 Name the Fossil Park

PLEASE NOTE

Two of the most famous fossil quarries in North America are subtly visible in this landscape image from a small National Monument. Answer on page 7.

Park Paleontology 9 National Park Service First Class Mail U.S. Department of the Interior Postage and Fees P A I D Natural Resource Program Center City, State Geologic Resources Division Permit number Paleontology Program P.O. Box 25287 Denver, Colorado 80225 303 969-2821

EXPERIENCE YOUR AMERICA

Park Paleontology is published intermittently each year by the Geologic Resources Division. It is available as a PDF file on the Internet at http:www2.nature.nps.gov/grd/geology/ paleo/news/newsletter.htm Copies may be printed from the internet for free distribution.

Editor Greg McDonald

Contributors Larry Agenbroad Mary Carpenter Gene Clare Ted Fremd Marc S. Hendrix Herb Meyer K. Alden Peterson Pete Reser Kelli Trujillo Marie Worley

Echinoid from the Permian Bird Spring Formation, top of the Comments? Write to: Greg McDonald Providence Mountains, Mojave National Preserve, California. Geologic Resources Division Photograph by Ted R. Weasma National Park Service P.O. Box 25287 Denver, Colorado 80227

10 Park Paleontology