Master Field Notebook 2009

Day 1 (6/15/09) By: Olivia Verma
            We are currently located in the Wind River Basin and the Wind River Formation. Today, we will be going to two locations Buck Springs Type and Lysite.
Background Information:
  • Sedimentary: Sediment deposits.
  • Igneous: Cooled magma.
  • Metamorphic: Heated sediment pushed together.
 
Conglomerate: Large Clast. Pebbles mashed together to make bigger rocks. Can be moved by streams.
  • Sandstone: Sand clast. Gritty.
  • Mudstone: The ground around camp that we walk on. Fossils often found in the gray or red bed.
  • Clay stone: Fine-grained.
  • Carb Shale: Places to find organic matter.
Buck Springs Reflection:
 
The students began to see and observe what a fossil is. Everyone was excited and ready to find teeth and jaws. I found a lot there! A lot of different teeth, vertebrae, and bone fragments!
Lysite Reflection:
It was nice searching for fossils on my own. I found FOUR jaws (mostly between the red and gray bed), it was AMAZING! I’m very excited for tomorrow to find more and I hope the other students do too.
Day 2 (6/16/09) By: Hannah O’Neill
            Two new localities today- Sullivan’s Ranch and Hiland.
Sullivan’s Ranch: “Richest locality in North America”. The area we first went to was red and flat, “Lizard Hill”. We found tons of scoots and Lance even found a lizard jaw. We then hiked to “Insectivore Alcove” where we found even more jaws. We hiked back to the truck for lunch.
P.M.: Hiland: Really warmed up. Nolan and Beau found an almost complete set of tiger teeth (Patriofelis) and Bre and I found a big lambdotherium jaw. I was really excited. This was a really good site. We returned to camp around five and looked over the specimens with Richard.
 
Day 3 (6/17/09) By: Breanna Dodge 
Muskrat Creek
A.M.: Today we went to Muskrat Creek Area, we drove down to Shoshoni and then on the northern side of the creek on Davis Ranch Rd. In the morning, we searched for plant fossils in the hillside and I think most everyone found some sort of fossil. None were taken back though.
P.M.: This afternoon everyone broke up and went searching for any type of specimen. Only a few were found. Beau and Jasmine and I found plant fossils along the canyons while others found large pieces of turtle and a few bones. Also a pile of ant hill was collected to bring back to museum. It was slow but also a very relaxing day.
 
Day 4 (6/18/09) By: Breanna Carpenter  
 
Quarrying
            A.M.: Today we walked down to the quarrying and began to dig under the surface rather than just looking on the top of rocks for fossils. Beau decided to make up his own words for the things he found. Bre found a complete humorous, Olivia found a skull, Jasmine found a complete lower jaw, and Hannah found a pelvis.
 
            P.M.: Kirk, Richard, and Breanna went to get water and that was when the weather started to turn. It began to pour! We all huddled in one of the big tents and Richard taught us some poker games. As the rain continued, we were out digging trenches around the tents to keep the water out. The ground was all muddy and some students decided to use it as a slip-and-slide. We will try to continue where we left of tomorrow but I don’t know if the ground will dry up so we just have to wait and see.  
“Paleontology is about friendship and honesty.” – Olivia Verma
 
Day 5 (6/19/09) By: Beau Vrbas
            It rained very intensely last night; me, Hannah, and Bre went sliding in the mud and got very dirty! We then had an excellent dinner which was roast beef and potatoes.
            Our first site for the day was Raptor Heights. A rodent jaw and fine skull were found. Our next stop is the Hiland, in the Hiland we found some very good specimens. Tomorrow we go to town to take shower. We all can’t wait!
Day 6 (6/20/09) By: Nolan Trenchik
            Today we woke up late and lazed about in camp and had lots of bacon for breakfast. Left for Thermopolis around 9:30 a.m. and there got into Thermopolis and ate lunch at Subway and McDonald’s. We arrived at the museum and a tour guide taught us about geologic time and led us around. We learned about:
The first colonial organisms, which wore the source of multi-cellular organisms (Arthropods i.e. crabs). Trilobites cool little bugs. Ammonites- nautilus type things. Echinoderms-starfish. Early chordates back boned creatures. Placodorms early jawed fish. Lobe finned fish- fish with legs. Modern fish ancestors. Early amphibians. An early proto mammal, proto mammal is a general term. Learned about the dividing of group. Learned about Archosaur- dinosaur ancestors. We learned about dinosaurs and how they are divided by their hip type. We were disappointed to find out that velociraptors are the size of a medium dog. Early feathers may have been used to assist turning.
We did laundry at a hot (temperature wise of course) little Laundromat. We arrived at our hotel and hung out. We had a fantastic meal then took a walk. We watched a bit of a movie together then most of us went to bed.
Day 7 (6/21/09) By: Kirk Hamilton
            This morning we woke up and went downstairs to eat breakfast at the hotel at about 9:00 a.m. After breakfast some people went swimming and others just relaxed. We left the hotel at about 11:00 a.m. Before we headed out at town, we stopped at the rock shop. Then we headed down the canyon at about noon. We ate lunch in Shoshoni. After lunch we headed back to camp and just hung out and relaxed for the rest of the day. Many people filtered in camp and set up in the afternoon too.
Day 8 (6/22/09) By: Hannah O’Neill
            A.M.: 1st day back in camp! We woke up and ate some cereal and packed some huge lunches. We met all the new people and Richard talked to everyone about the basics of fossil hunting. We traveled to Buck Springs Type and pairs of scholars led the students around. Nolan and I were a team and we had fun meeting the new students. I found a ton of teeth! We snacked on the way to a few geology sites and had lunch in Lysite. The rest of the day was more stops and introductions for the certification students.
Day 9 (6/23/09) By: Breanna Dodge
            Buck Springs Type: 121
            A.M. & P.M.: Sunny
Today, Bob Reynolds took us on our first stratograph experience. It was quite different than anything else we have done. We hiked down to Buck Springs Type past the quarries through the gully. Bob taught us how to use the Jacob’s staff and a level to get accurate measurements of different beds. We also described the color/texture/type of the soil found within the beds. The whole group of scholars’ stratographed a section then went off in groups of three to do our own. The day was hot and we all got very tired and thirsty. That night Bob compiled all of our data.Beginning Stratographing
Day 10 (6/24/09) By: Breanna Carpenter
            Today we went quarrying to look for plant fossils. When we first got to the site, we started using pick-axes, hoes, and shovels to dig our own quarry. After we had to top layer of dirt out of the way we started to break rocks apart in search of fossils, we found some nice specimens including a Staghorn fern. This particular plant died when exposed to too much sunlight so it indicates a closed canopy forest. Today we found many fossils but only a few were good enough to take back to the lab. The students decided to name our quarry, GO HONK BB² (GO-HONK-B-B-squared) because that’s all of our initials! Our position was:
 
(Stratograph section of GO HONK BB² (see photocopy or actual journal)
Day 11 (6/25/09) By: Beau Vrbas
            We awake to the morning sun’s first light. The smell of sage as we exit our tents is inevitable. We carry ourselves like some sort of heavy burden to our morning destination… As we gather round for our morning assignment thoughts clouds our mind. At last present circumstances hit us, we have two days left. As the sands of time move against us we began to realize the fast approaching, bitter tasting of parting one another. Richard sparks himself a new one and plays it cool. However deep in his heart he feels the same. As I take a walk into Olivia’s site under the baking heat of the Wyoming sun, I stumbled upon a rock. As I look down, dumbfounded, I lay my eyes upon the most beautiful site amongst dry, dead, and lot dirt, I pick up a jewel with such elegant and breathtaking features, my heart cannot resist its beauty. Her name is Bella.
                Under the hot Wyoming sun, love sparks the air. Olivia hopeless and lost wanders the dead lands for eternal love… Suddenly, average Joe after average Joe, Olivia finds her Romeo.
 
Day 12 (6/26/09) By: Nolan Trenchik
            In the morning, Richard, Bob, and I discussed the projects they would be leading. Bob’s was to complete his cross sections of the quarry and Buck Springs Type. Ian’s was to find new quarry sites. Richard’s was to prospect and extract a turtle named, Ernest. The students went with Richard. We went to four sites: the first was a cattle watering site, the second was a bit new the road, and the third was called Brenda’s Lost Croc. BLC contains a turtle named Ernest that we had planned to extract but due to the rain we were unable to do so. The next site was called Kirk’s poop because Kirk found a Croc coprolite filled with Garr scales. Finds were minimal due to short search times and low light which improved bone sightings but lowered tooth sightings. Rain forced us to cut short our exploration of BLC. KP was a fluke, we just left Lysite where we had sheltered from the storm and we began to seek a nearby site to prospect. On the edge at the road we saw a place that seemed good. Kirk found his coprolite on a hill. Most finds were tooth and small pieces of post cranial.
Day 13 (6/27/09) By: Kirk Hamilton
            This morning we woke up at about the normal time and ate breakfast. After eating we started taking camp down. Brenda, Doug, and I left at 9:40 a.m. to dump the trash. We met the rest of the group back at camp about 10:40 a.m., that’s when we left. Our first stop was at Casper, where we ate at Wendy’s and fueled up. We left Casper at about one. We made one stop at a rest stop on our way to Cheyenne. After that I said bye to everyone and Brenda dropped me off at the Windsor exit to meet my parents. The rest of the group (Richard and Paul) pushed on to the museum. Student Scholars at Plant Locality

 

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