University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Robert F. Diffendal, Jr., Publications Natural Resources, School of 6-2003 Ash Fall Historic Park: Field Trip 5 Robert Diffendal, Jr. [compiler] University of Nebraska - Lincoln, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/diffendal Part of the Geology Commons, Geomorphology Commons, Hydrology Commons, Paleobiology Commons, Paleontology Commons, Sedimentology Commons, Stratigraphy Commons, and the Volcanology Commons Diffendal, Jr., Robert [compiler], "Ash Fall Historic Park: Field Trip 5" (2003). Robert F. Diffendal, Jr., Publications. 71. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/diffendal/71 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Natural Resources, School of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Robert F. Diffendal, Jr., Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. FIELD TRIP 5 ASH FALL HISTORIC PARK Bob Diffendal June 19, 2003 Association of American State Geologists 95th Annual Meeting Lincoln, Nebraska o 10 20 30 Miles I , 'I i' I o 10 20 30 Kilometers SOUTH SIOUX CITY ~I OPERATING SCHEDULE Memorial Weekend through Labor Day Some 10 million years ago, hundreds of 9 a.m.-S p.m. Monday through Saturday rhinos, three-toed horses, camels and other 11 a.m.-S p.m. Sunday animals died and were buried by volcanic ash May before Memorial Day Weekend around the edges of a watering hole in what is 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday ASHFALL now northeast ebraska. Sti ll locked in their Closed Sunday and Monday death poses, the amazingly well-preserved skele­ Labor Day through 2nd Weekend In October tons of these prehistoric beasts lay undisturbed, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday w rapped in a blanket of jagged glassy particles, 1-4 p.m. Sunday / Closed Monday FOSSIL until the 19 70s, w hen scientific st udy of the By Reservation fossilized remains began. School and tour groups may make special arrangements Loca ted 6 miles north of U.S. 20 between to visit Ashfall between April 1 and Oct. 20 with Roya l and Orchard in northern Antelope advance reservations. For details and to make reser­ County, Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park vations, call the park al 402-893-2000. BEDS . is a joint project of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and the University of Ne­ braska State Museum. The park offers a fascinat­ ing and educational experience for the entire A State Historical Park family - a chance to step back in time and see About Your Visit what Nebraska wildlife was like long before Your first stop should be the Visitor Center modern man ventured onto the Great Plains. to see the interpretive displays and the working fossil preparation laboratory. You are invited to ask the paleontologists about their work. Educa­ tional programs are presented on regular basis. From the Visitor Ce nter, it is but a short stroll to the Rhino Barn, where new discoveries con­ tinue to be unearthed. Ashfa ll is situated on 360 acres of rugged rangeland in the scenic Verdigre Creek va lley. ature trai ls are being developed to help inter­ pret the geology as well as the fl ora and fauna of the area. Picnicking is permitted on the park, and campers ca n use nea rby Grove Lake Wild­ life Management Area nea r Royal. Pl ease do not smoke in the buildings or on the trails. Grassland fires are dangerous and spread rapidly. Pets are permitted, but they Royal must be kept on a leash. Collecting fossils or other specimens on the park grounds is strictly prohibited. (If every visi tor took a "souvenir," one of ebraska's natural historic treasures would soon be gone forever.) Visitors are invited to watch the ongoing Preservation of Ashfall now and for future excavation of this unique " time capsule." A genenitions is made possible by the generoSity of 2,000 square foot " Rhino Barn" protects part of the Nebraska Game and Parks Foundation, which the deposit, where skeletons are uncovered and purchased the land in 1986, and the Burlington displayed exactly where they are found. Walk­ orthern Foundation, which supplied a grant ways give visitors a close- up view as paleon­ for construction of facilities. Paleontologists tologists carefully brush away the volcanic ash and interpretive staff at the site are provided by from the massive skulls of native American the UniverSity of Nebraska State Museum. rhinos and the delicate side hooves of tiny ASHFALL FOSSIL BEDS ancestral horses. The Ashfall site is of national importance This agency receives grants from the National Park Service. State Historical Park and has been featured on the NBC Nightly Federal regulations prohibit federally assisted programs from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, P.O. Box 66 ews, in National Geographic magazine, sex or handicap. If you believe you have been discriminated A Joint Project Of Ranger Rick magazine and in newspapers world­ against by th is agency, contact the EOP Officer, Nebraska Royal, NE 68773 NEBRASKA GAME AND PARKS COMMISSION wide. ational Geographic also profiled the Game and Parks Commission, P.O. Box 30370, Lincoln, NE 68503, or the EOP Director. National Park Service, P.O. Box Phone: 402-893-2000 UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA STATE MUSEUM area in its book, Giants from the Past. 37127, Wash ington, DC 20013-7127. their carcasses remain largely intact, as has The Victims - I . Barrel-bodied rhino, 2. Crowned ing in size from a sheep to a Shetland pony; three kinds of The Ashfall Story happened at AshJall. In the ash bed some rhinos crane, 3. Giant tortoise. [n addition to those shown, fos­ camel ; a hornless, sabertooth deer, and small predators In 1971 , heavy spring rains eroded a deep were literally buried in their tracks, with their sils found in the ash include five species of horses, rang- resembling foxes and raccoons. gully at the edge of Melvin Colson's cornfie.ld. last footprints clearly visible. Some females have Later that year, paleontologist Mike VoorhI es calves next to them, while others have unborn happened to find the skull of a complete baby young inside. Many contain the fossilized rhino protruding from the side of thc gully. It remains of their last mouthful of grass. lay near the bottom of a newly-exposcd bed of --~ sparkling gray ash and turned out to bc the first of more than 100 rhino skeletons excavated by University of ebraska State Museum crews at what bec'a me known as the AshJa ll Site. This wasn't thc fIrst time fossils had bcen found on the Colson farm. Long before the ash bed and its trove of skeletons wcre cxposed to dn\', scattered bones had been collected from a bed of sandstonc which forms a ledge beneath the ash bed. As earlv as the I 920s, local yo ung­ If a time machine were to transport you sters found bone fragments on the roc.ky hill ­ sides. Then, in 1953, Donald Peterson found a back 10 million years, you would find a ebras­ partial rhino skull in the sandstone and re­ ka covered with sub-tropical grasses and of northern ebraska, then it began to blow patches of jungle. Discoveries at AshJall give a tures such as pond turtle , birds, musk deer, ported it to the Museum. TIlis i~llportant spec­ around like fresh snow. Eventually the high detailed picture of what you'd see on such an and small carnivores, which probably died imcn is no\v on display 111 the VIsItor Center at ground was blown free of ash, but low-Iyi?g imaginary safari. Only a fraction of the site has almost immediately. Just above these remains in areas like the marshy pond at the AshJall sIte the park. been excavated, so, much remains to be learned. the ash are skeletons of horses and camels that The isolated shIll found by Mr. Peterson IS were fill ed to depths of eight feet or more. However, it is clear that before the catastrophic died next. Many of these early victims were a good example of the sort of fossils that have Like detectives at the cene of a crime, ashJall occurred, the area was inhabited by a chewed on by scavengers or were cru hed and paleontologists are trying to discover exactly made Nebraska'S iobrara River va lley famous rich variety of life reminiscent of modern East trampled by larger animals that survived longer. in the world of paleontology. For more than a what happened at the AshJall site by studying African savannas. More than 40 species of ani­ Finally, above the horse and camel skeleton are the arrangement of the bodies of the victims. At hundred yea rs, bone hunters have s~arc h.e d the mals and plants have been identified from fos­ the rhinos. Along with occasional giant tor­ sandstone walls of the Niobrara and ItS tnbutar­ the very bottom of the ash bed are small crea- sils collected just below the ash bed. toi es, they were the last to die. ies for remains of ancient mammals. This area Disaster Strikes Elusive Predators cQntains North Ameri ca's most complete As excavation of the site continues, hopes rccord of the 20-million-year history of grass­ Sweeping across the plains like a gray bliz­ are high that a skeleton of one of the large land animals. zard, the sudden fall of volcanic ash must have extinct predators, like a sabertooth cat or bear­ devastated the landscape. Confused and chok­ dog, will be found.