Junior Explorer: Geology of the Gold Belt Byway
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This publication was produced by a collaboration between the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Royal Gorge Field Office, the National Park Service (NPS) at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, the Gold Belt Byway Association and the Geocorps America program of the Geological Society of America. The activities and content address Colorado Academic Standards (CAS) in Earth and Life Science. Written by Michael R. Johnson Illustrated by Paige A. Latendresse Public Lands Belong to You! The BLM is a federal government agency that takes care of more than 245 million acres of land. Most of these lands are in the western part of the United States. These lands are America’s public lands, and they belong to all Americans. These public lands are almost equal in area to all the land in the states of Texas and California put together. The BLM manages public lands for many uses. The lands supply natural resources, such as coal, oil, natural gas and other minerals. The lands provide habitats for plants and animals. People enjoy the big open spaces on public lands. BLM lands also contain evidence of our country’s past, ranging from fossils to Indian artifacts to ghost towns. On BLM lands, fossil bones, teeth, turtle shells and other vertebrate fossils must be left where they are, but clams, snails and other invertebrates may be collected. When it doubt, leave it be! Junior Explorers The BLM’s Junior Explorer program helps introduce young explorers like you to the lands and resources the BLM manages. This guide to the Gold Belt Tour National Scenic Byway will help you to understand what rocks and fossils tell us about Earth’s past. You will also visit several spectacular locations, and learn where to find even more. Earning Your Junior Explorer Badge You can work through the activities with an older sibling, parent, or an adult you know. If you are 9-12 years old, you can try them on your own. If you are 10 to 12 years old, complete fifteen activities. If you are 8 to 9 years old, complete nine activities. If you are 4 to 7 years old, complete five activities. At least one activity should be a special Onsite Activity (at Florissant or Skyline Drive). When you complete the activities, check them against the Answer Key in the back of the booklet. Then say the Junior Explorer pledge on page 28 and sign the certificate. You can take the certificate to the Visitor Center at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, or bring it or mail it to: BLM Royal Gorge Field Office | 3028 E Main St., Cañon City, CO 81212 | phone: 719-269-8500. 2 Be a Scientist! Visiting Rocks and fossils are a record of the BLM Lands past. Geologists are scientists who Many of these locations are on know how to read rocks like a book to 7 public lands managed by the BLM. learn about the ancient surface of the Gold Belt Byway You are welcome to visit, but please Earth. Paleontologists are scientists You will visit seven different places remember that these lands belong who find fossils, and learn about life in this book that you can also see in to all of us! As you read this book, on Earth long ago. In this guide, you person. These sites are part of the you will learn that there are rules for will learn how to read the rocks and Gold Belt Tour National Scenic Byway, collecting fossils on public lands. Be study fossils just like those scientists, which is named for Colorado’s rich sure to follow those rules so others and then you can tell the story of how mining history. But these rocks have can enjoy the land too! Colorado has changed through time! more than just gold to offer! Maps can show not just where to go, but also what you’ll find there. Each site in this book has a certain color that matches the age of the rocks at that site. Color each site with its special color as you read about it. *Adults! Detailed direc- tions to each location can be found in the back of this book. 3 FUN FACTS Each of the seven places in this book has its own story to tell. Florissant National Monument Shelf Road Royal Gorge The Florissant Fossil Beds were The narrow, winding, Shelf Road Royal Gorge was discovered in discovered in the 1860s, but only was the first road connecting 1806 by Lt. Zebulon Pike, who became a National Monument Cripple Creek to the Arkansas thought the gorge was completely in 1969 after a campaign led by River Valley. Imagine traveling that impassable. Today the gorge can scientists and environmentalists road with just a horse and wagon! be crossed by bridge, train, cable like Estella Leopold, Beatrice car, or zipline. Willard, and Vim Wright. Garden Park Area The Marsh-Felch Quarry and the Cope Quarries were discovered in the late 19th Century as part of Indian Springs Cripple Creek and Victor the “Bone Wars,” a race between The trace fossils at Indian Springs th When first mined in the late 19 Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward are the best in North America! th to early 20 Centuries, the mines Drinker Cope to find the most Because they are so unique, the near Cripple Creek produced 22 dinosaurs. site was made a National Natural million ounces of gold. That’s more Landmark in 1979. than 100 elephants, and it would take 28 semi-trucks to move all that gold! Mining for gold continues in the area today! Skyline Drive The rocks at the top of Skyline Drive were formed on an ancient beach. If you looked to the east in the Cretaceous Period (150 to 65 million years ago), you would be looking across a sea! 4 Activity - Public and Private Lands This book takes you to lands owned by many different agencies and people. There are different rules and laws for collecting fossils on public lands (BLM), national parks (NPS), city property and private land. Read the chart to learn the different rules, and look at the colors on the map to see who owns what land. Then, match each location in this book to its owner and rules. OWNERSHIP RULES LOCATIONS BLM You must have a permit from the BLM to collect fossil bones and teeth, but you may collect fossil ___________________________________ shells and plants. NPS You may not collect fossils or even rocks. ___________________________________ City of You must have a permit from the Cañon City city to collect fossil bones and teeth, but you may collect fossil ___________________________________ shells and plants. Private You must ask the landowner’s permission. ___________________________________ Florissant BLM NPS City Private Cripple Creek Victor Shelf Road This map is a simple picture of land Red Canyon Park ownership for the places in this Indian Springs book. Check an official map if you Garden Park want to visit other places. Royal Gorge Skyline Drive 5 Words to Know cale – How geologists Geologic Time Geologic Time S ast history into order Earth’s v t acts lik e a When a geologist studies a rock, it is like smaller periods of time. I huge calendar. reading one chapter in a very long book. ticular period of time Geologic Age – A par Usually, a geologist can only read one or two ime Scale. Each on the Geologic T s own special chapters at a time. How do they figure out Geologic Age has it color. what order the chapters go in? They use the viation that means “billions Ga – An abbre .” Geologic Time Scale! The Geologic Time Scale of years ago viation that means “millions is like a table of contents that allows geologists Ma – An abbre of y ears ago.” to figure out which rocks are older and which Eon Era Period rocks are younger. Each location that you visit Today in this book has its own Geologic Age that you Quaternary can use to put them in order. Neogene enozoic C Paleogene 65 Ma Cretaceous Jurassic Mesozoic Triassic 251 Ma Permian anerozoic Ph Pennsylvanian Mississippian Devonian aleozoic P Silurian Ordovician Cambrian 542 Ma Precambrian 4.6 Ga 6 Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument Paleogene (34 Ma) Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument is famous for its fossils. These fossils belong to a smaller geologic age in the Paleogene called the Eocene Epoch. Some of the fossils you can find include spiders, wasps, birds, and even giant petrified tree stumps. Fossils are very difficult to make. An animal or plant has to be buried before anything comes along to eat it Paleogene or step on it, and then survive millions of years of weathering and erosion. Even then, we usually only find the “hard parts:” bones, teeth and shells. The Florissant Fossil Beds are a very special kind of fossil discovery called a lagerstätten (LAH-ger-SHTAH-ten). This means they contain many Words to Know fossils that are very well-preserved, and even include fragile insect Fossil – The remains or signs of a livingo thing that have been turned t wings, leaf impressions and feathers! stone. Petrified – Turned to stone. Weathering – Breaking apart a rock. May happen by cracking and shatter- ing the rock, or dissolving it. ay sediment by Erosion – Carrying aw wind, water, or ice. Lagerstätten – A rich deposit of very well-preserved fossils. ONSITE Activity 1 – Visiting the Visitor Center The Visitor Center can show you a lot of fossils, and explain what they tell us about the past. As you explore the center, answer these questions about Florissant: How old are the Florissant Fossil Beds? What are “diatoms?” How was the climate of Lake Florissant different from today? What clues do paleontologists use to figure out past climate? What is a “regurgitalite”? What kinds of rocks preserve the fossils at Florissant? 7 How Do You Make a Fossil? The fish dies and sinks to the Its flesh rots away, but the The bones are buried, The bones are later exposed bottom of the lake.