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APS Bulletin December 1996

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APS Bulletin December 1996 ALBERTA • PALAEONTOLOG I CAL • SOC I ETY ULUULLETINLLLLLEEIETININ VOLUMEBB 11 NUMBER 4 DECEMBER 1996 1 ALBERTA PALAEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY OFFICERS President Wayne Braunberger 278-5154 Program Coordinator Kris Vasudevan 288-7955 Vice-President Peter Meyer 289-4135 Curator Harvey Negrich 249-4497 Treasurer Joe LeBlanc 246-7601 Librarian Dr. Gerry Morgan 241-0963 Secretary Don Sabo 278-8045 Field Trip Coordinator Les Fazekas 248-7245 Past-President Les Adler 289-9972 Director at Large Dr. David Mundy 281-3668 DIRECTORS Editor Howard Allen 274-1858 APAC† Representative Don Sabo 278-8045 Membership Vaclav Marsovsky 547-0182 †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]) Requests for missing issues of the Bulletin should be addressed to the editor. 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. UPCOMING APS MEETINGS Meetings take place at 7:30 p.m., in Room B108, Mount Royal College: 4825 Richard Way SW, Calgary, Alberta Friday, December 20—Cretaceous fossils of the Northwest Territories, with Holger Hartmaier. Friday, January 17—Four display/poster seminars by APS members. Friday, February 21—Paleoartist Mike Skrepnick, on Mesozoic dinosaur art. Friday, March 21—An introduction to blastoids, with Howard Allen (tentative). ******** ON THE COVER: The Lower Permian amphibian, Diplocaulus sp., USA. Art by APS member Cory Gross. ©1996. Reproduced by permission. 2 advertise much more. If anyone has suggestions as President’s Message to where we should or could advertise please let me know. by Wayne Braunberger Once again cold and dark descends across the 3) Workshops - Seminars land. Time to head south? For some, yes. The rest Several seminars were held last year which by of us head into the basement to prepare and cata- all accounts were very successful. We would like logue all our finds from the summer. The winter to hold more in the new year and suggestions for provides the perfect opportunity to document our topics would be appreciated. A new idea is to hold fossils and prepare for the coming spring and a workshops on the meeting nights rather than a new season. If you’re really keen to keep collect- program. Our first is tentatively planned for the ing, a broom or snow blower may come in handy January 17 meeting. The theme will revolve at this time of year, but personally I would wait around introducing several fossil groups. for a Chinook. Discussions at our last executive meeting fo- 4) Professional Liaison cused on how to improve the Society and what di- At the present time we have no real relation- rection we should take. After much discussion ship with any of the professional palaeontology four priority items were decided upon. These pri- organizations in the province (Universities, orities include both short and long-term objec- Geological Survey, or Tyrrell Museum). One of tives. our long term objectives is to improve relations with these groups. Exactly what form this rela- 1) Membership tionship would take is unknown at this time. Several items are included under membership: meeting structure, member participation, attract- These are areas that we think we could do bet- ing new members, and the Bulletin. ter in. I’m sure that there are some folks who The structure of the general meetings will be think that we do nothing right and if you’re one of adjusted to streamline the procedure. These these please voice your concerns or join the exec- changes, which are minor, will provide opportuni- utive and board of directors. Overall I think the ties for everyone to participate and hopefully Society is in good shape but we need to move for- make for a more dynamic meeting. ward. Part of the problem may be that the same Participation of the membership concerns two people (myself included) have been on the board issues. The first is getting people out to the meet- for a long time and are content to do the same ings. Part of the problem of low turnout may be things . I think there is an opportunity to become a the meeting night. Unfortunately we are restricted “serious” group and make a worthwhile contribu- to Fridays, as the room is in use on other nights. If tion to palaeontology in Alberta as well as main- you’re unhappy with the programs or would like taining the social aspect for those interested in to see other things please let us know. The second fossils. participation issue concerns volunteering to serve I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a on committees and on the executive. At the pre- ❏ sent time most of the directors and executive have Happy and Prosperous New Year. served for several years and some would like to step down. Volunteering for these positions is im- Welcome New Members! portant as new ideas are injected into the Society and it spreads the workload amongst several Greg Osiowy, Calgary, AB rather than a few. As many of our members are out of town we would like to see more articles in the Bulletin. We’re assuming that out-of-province people have joined because they are interested in Alberta Don’t forget– palaeontology. At the present time we may not be as informative as we could be. Once again this is probably a participation issue. pay your dues! 2) Advertising A coloured renewal slip is included One area where an improvement could be made is in the area of advertising. Over the years we with this Bulletin for those whose have advertised very little, generally relying on memberships are due to expire. word-of-mouth. In the near future we plan to 3 APS Monthly Seminars Program Summary and Workshops October 19, 1996: Scenery, Geology and by Kris Vasudevan Palynology of the High Arctic with Andrew MacRae, University of Calgary As Programs Coordinator, I have the Andrew MacRae gave the APS an excellent responsibility to arrange for speakers for the slide presentation of the scenery and the geology APS monthly meetings. As I took over the of the High Arctic. He captivated the audience by reins from Les Adler in September of this talking about the palynology of late Early year, I soon found out that Les had already Cretaceous (mostly) marine rocks in the Canadian done the bulk of my work for the coming Arctic (Axel Heiberg Island and Ellesmere Island) season. I do thank Les Adler for his efforts. in a non-technical fashion. Andrew MacRae grew up in Dartmouth, Nova Upcoming General Meeting topics Scotia and became interested in natural history, particularly fossils, at an early age. The attic of his • December 13, 1996: Holger Hartmaier, APS parents’ house is still filled with rocks. He Member: Fossils of the North West received his B.Sc. in geology from Dalhousie Territories University, which included a study of Cretaceous palynology (the study of fossil pollen, spores, and • January 17, 1997: APS Workshop: four algae) in volcanic rocks of the Canadian Arctic. volunteers from the APS will be setting up Since that time, he has continued his palyno- display areas with their collections, posters, logical studies in the arctic, particularly where etc. Members and guests attending the macrofossil techniques are impractical. He meeting will be encouraged to visit all four received his M.Sc. from the University of Calgary booths on a time-equitable basis. In the in 1993 for such a study, and is currently finishing December meeting, names of the volunteers his Ph.D., also at the University of Calgary, under and poster-titles will be announced. Although the supervision of Dr. Len Hills. In addition to no competition is intended, there will be a palynological work, Andrew has also applied 3- prize for the best display/poster presentation. dimensional computer modelling techniques to the understanding of conodonts, and he has worked • February 21, 1997: Mike Skrepnick, APS on Silurian-age crinoids from Nova Scotia. Member: Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous Andrew MacRae can be reached at: Paleo Art [email protected]. His home page, at • March 21, 1997: Howard Allen, APS http://www.geo.ucalgary.ca/~macrae is full of Member: An Introduction to Blastoids scientific information and colourful pictures. – Kris Vasudevan • April 18,1997: Vaclav Marsovsky, APS Member: Dinotour to Mongolia November 15, 1996: Dinosaurs, Classifica- • May 23, 1997: Dr. Gerry Morgan, APS tion and Cladistics: an Introduction, with Member: Fossil Fish—Evolutionary Path Les Adler, APS Past President.
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