Park Paleontology, Spring 1998  Page 1

Table of Contents

Surfers Discover Park Fossils ......................... 1

Fairy Tales Can Come True ........................... 2

Aquarium in Stone .......................................... 2

Florissant Compiles New Database ............... 3

John Day yields unique primate tooth ............ 3

Teaching Fossils Through the Mail ................ 3

Dinosaur bonebed discovered at Big Bend .... 4

Paleo at Delaware Water Gap NRA ............... 4

PARK PALEO Recognition Pin ..................... 4

FOSSIL FORUM ............................................ 5

PARK

PALEONTOLOGY

Volume 4, No. 2 Spring 1998

I

n the last four months Web surfers

visiting the Park Geology website

at http://www.aqd.nps.gov/grd

have discovered a great deal of new information, especially in the area of park

paleontology. Park Geology is a

website designed by the Geologic Resources Division to serve as a central hub

for information about geoparks and

to link parks from across the System

through common

geologic themes.

The original design was tested

using information

from fossil parks, and now that a basic

framework is in place we would like to

see park paleontology features continue

to grow.

The bulk of the websites pages are

park focused content pages called geology fieldnotes. There are currently

more than 150 individual park geology

fieldnote pages posted on the sites tour

of park geology. The initial content for

these pages was taken from park brochures and site bulletins, with the scanning and editing done by students and a

contractor. However, many of the park

brochures are weak in their coverage of

geology, so the work of locating or creating additional text and photos for each

park is just beginning. If you can contribute any geologic information for the

NPS website, please contact

Surfers Discover Park Fossils

jim_f._wood@nps.gov.

The website also attempts to highlight the educational value of park geology by using broad themes to link park

sites throughout the System. However,

most of the material from brochures is

park-specific and doesnt take advantage

of the multi-park approach to explaining complex geology. One exception is

the Age of Mammals: Life in the

Cenozoic Era,

which is used on

several park brochures. Using

this illustration

rich material, designers were able to experiment with a thematic feature, creating a model for other themes (see http:/

/www.aqd.nps.gov/grd/parks/

Age_of_Mammals.htm).

Yahoo! The Park Geology

website has recently become more visible to Web users. In December the site

was listed by the Yahoo search engine

and since then it has been added by other

search engines. Park Geology is growing in popularity among teachers, students, and visitors that use the Web. The

server that hosts Park Geology and

NatureNet now records more than

100,000 hits each week. Linking a

parks home page to the geology

fieldnotes or to other parks that share

geologic themes is encouraged. The

geology fieldnotes already link to each

parks website in several places.

Under Construction

There are several projects in the works

that could enhance the park paleontology information on the Web:

 We are currently testing an on-line

searchable photo database that will

have more than 400 USGS photographs of park geologic features

with descriptions. Photographs of

fossils and paleontology projects

would be welcome additions.

 A web-based park geology timeline

designed by Vince Santucci is being expanded into a National Park

Park Geology website at

http://www.aqd.nps.gov/grd

see Website, page 2
Page 2  Park Paleontology, Spring 1998

geology time machine, where earth

history and the history of life on

earth can be experienced through

fossil parks.

 The USGS National Mapping Program is supporting the development

of park geology pages for several

parks. Part of this work will include

general geology pages explaining

the geologic time scale and providing of plate reconstruction diagrams.

Ideally, the paleontology sections of

the website would help to conserve

park fossil resources by creating more

informed visitors. A few ideas that still

need authors include:

 Information about collecting and research permits;

 Alternatives to collecting: Museums

that hold NPS fossil collections;

 Arranging field trips;

 The work of paleontologists and curators;

 How to get involved: Meetings,

preservation issues, general interest

publications.

Send

Please get involved in the park geology website by sending in ideas, reports, articles, photos, meeting announcements, and corrections. Expert

review and additional material will have

to come from people like yourself. The

Geologic Resources Division can scan

text, photos and slides, and prepare new

webpages for posting on our server or

yours. If you dont have web access but

would like to be involved, we can make

a CD-ROM with the current website for

you to review.

Contacts: jim_f._wood@nps.gov

or tim_connors@nps.govn

Website

continued from page 1

During the summer of 1996, a

guided hike to an active research

quarry was added to the weekend programs at FOBU. The purpose

of this program is to give visitors an opportunity to visit an active site on the

monument and interact with a working

paleontologist. Because the Monument

is surrounded by active commercial fossil quarries (many allow visitors to pay

a fee to collect and keep fossils), this

program provides an opportunity to introduce the visitor to concepts associated with the scientific study of fossils.

At the quarry, visitors are provided

with a background and history of the site

and how it fits into the larger stratigraphic context of Fossil Basin. The

park paleontologist or a research assistant describes the scientific methods of

collecting fossil specimens and associated scientific data. Visitors are then invited to assist the scientist in the collection of specimens and recording data.

The two hour quarry program attracted 65 participants in 1996 and in

1997, program participation more than

doubled with 158 visitors.n

Aquarium in stone

Marcia Fagnant

FOBU

Between 1990 and 1996 the pale

ontology staff at Dinosaur Na

tional Monument excavated and

prepared the skeleton of a new species

of meat-eating dinosaur. This spectacular specimen is one of the most important ever found in the Monument and

one of the best from rocks of Late Jurassic age anywhere in the world. Even

so, it was, unfortunately, another headless wonder  a skeleton missing the

skull; something which happens all too

frequently in paleontology. There was

no clue as to what had happened to the

skull. Was it still buried deep within the

rocks of the quarry? Had it been washed

away by the river before the skeleton had

been buried in sand? Or had the skull

been destroyed even before the skeleton

had been washed into the river? No one

knew and all hope had been lost that the

skull would ever be found.

Enter the knight on a white horse,

Ray Jones, a radiologist at the University of Utah, with an interest in dinosaurs. Ray knew that small particles,

known as gamma particles, can be emitted from fossilized bone and he had developed a machine for detecting these

emissions. Ray had used his dinosaur

dowser successfully with other paleontologists and he came to Dinosaur hoping that he could help us solve our problem. Ray gridded off the quarry and

systematically measured gamma emissions over a 30 by 6 foot area. Back at

the lab he analyzed the data to remove

the emissions from the rock itself. This

done, there remained one high reading

 a hopeful sign. Was it a fragment of

a bone....a piece of petrified wood...or

the missing skull? To answer that question, Ray returned to Dinosaur in July

1996 and relocated the spot. He told us

the emission reading suggested that

whatever was there was close to the surface and that we should proceed carefully. Incredibly, the first hammer blow

hit bone, and within an hour it was clear

that we were looking at the back of the

missing skull. At the end of the day Ray

rode off into the sunset with a smile on

Fairy Tales Can Come True

Dan ChureDINO

his face. The staff, needless to say, was

ecstatic.

It took many weeks to excavate the

skull and ultimately helicopter it back

to the lab. By the beginning of 1997

one side of the skull was completely exposed and its was a site to behold; a twofoot long skull, complete with a toothy

smile. The remarkable dinosaur

dowser had lived up to its reputation

and we now had the missing piece to our

great dinosaur puzzle.

Rays machine will not find all fossil bones, since some do not emit gamma

particles, and others are buried too deep

to detect. However, in the right situation, with the right conditions (and a little

bit of luck), it can work wonders and

we have the skull to prove it!n
Park Paleontology, Spring 1998  Page 3

Fossil plants and insects have

been collected from the

Florissant fossil beds since the

1870s, long before the establishment of

the National Monument in 1969. These

large collections of fossils are housed

in museums throughout the country and

include thousands of published type

specimens upon which 1200-1500 new

species were based. These new species

often originally were described without

illustrations, or those that were illustrated were done with line drawings or

artistic renditions. The publications in

which they were described number in

the hundreds, and only limited information has been available to draw this vast

array of information into a single format. Some of the museums do not maintain their own computerized databases.

In some instances, entire collections

have been moved to different museums

since their original citation in publication, making it difficult for researchers

to locate needed specimens.

Beginning in 1995, Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument initiated a

project to develop a new integrated database that will document all of the published specimens from Florissant in order to facilitate future research and provide a meaningful taxonomic inventory

of Florissants diversity. The project is

still underway, and to date 3500 specimen records have been added. In all

cases, new original photographic transparencies are being taken and eventually will be digitized. Time-consuming

on-site visits have been necessary to

record specimen data and to complete

photography. Museums that have been

visited so far include University of Colorado Museum, Denver Museum of Natural History, University of California Museum of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, U.S. National

Museum of Natural History, Natural

History Museum of London, Harvard

Museum of Comparative Zoology, Yale

Peabody Museum, Florida Museum of

Natural History, San Diego Museum of

Natural History, California Academy of

Sciences, and National Museum of Scotland. We are striving to establish a close

working relationship with each of these

museums, and all of them have been

very generously supportive of the

project.

Florissant Fossil Beds compiles new database

Herb Meyer FLFO

The database includes information

inherent to each individual specimen

(taxon, museum numbers, collector, locality, etc.) as well as all information

pertaining to the publication history of

the specimen (original publication and

all subsequent citations in publication).

Many cataloguing problems are being

recognized and corrected in the process,

and publication inconsistencies are often resolved according to the International Codes of Botanical and Zoological Nomenclature. We expect that the

project will be on-going for another two

to three years. Internet access to the database is one of our long range objectives. For more information, contact

Florissants paleontologist:

 <Herb_Meyer@nps.gov>n

John Day Fossil Beds yields unique primate tooth

www article

A tiny tooth recently found on an

isolated peak in central Oregon

represents the youngest known

fossil primate in North America.

The 4mm (0.15 inch) specimen was

found within John Day Fossil Beds National Monument during routine prospecting under the direction of the parks

paleontologist Ted Fremd. It was discovered by John Zancanella of the Bureau of Land Management who was

working in the park on an interagency

team.

During cataloguing this fall, when

several other new kinds of animal fossils were also identified, this tooth

jumped out as something weve been

looking for with very little hope, for

many years, Fremd said. After 130

Fossil Butte National Monuments

most successful outreach program

involves teachers and students

from all over the United States. Teaching Paleontology in the National Parks,

Monuments, and Public Lands is a curriculum guide that travels with many

teaching aids, such as; replicas, slide

shows, posters, a computer game, fossil

rubbing plate, and a fossil preparation

kit (a replica). It is designed to aid teachers presenting concepts of time, past life,

and fossils to students in the second and

third grades.

The program began in the fall of

1994. Through the generous support of

the Dinosaur Nature Association, fifteen

kits over the last four years have reached

approximately 4,000 children from the

first through ninth grades in thirty states

and Canada. One hundred and sixty

teachers have requested that the kit be

sent to them. It has been a wonderful

way for the keepers of our fossil heritage to spread understanding of a very

unique resource.n

Teaching fossils

through the mail

Marcia Fagnant

FOBU

years of collecting in the John Day Basin, this is the only one of its kind. This

is about as rare as fossils get, Fremd

added.

The isolated lower molar is unique

because it is the only North American

primate fossil of the late Oligocene Epoch (28 to 24 million years ago) to be

found in proximity to volcanic ash layers. Using new, high precision argon

isotopes, scientists are able to date these

ash tuffs. Previously described evidence

of this animal in the Pacific Northwest

was limited to a fragmentary maxilla

with minimal stratigraphic data.

We try to continuously examine

fossil-bearing rocks to collect scientifically significant fossils on federal lands.

Otherwise, weathering and other factors

will destroy them, said Fremd.n
Page 4  Park Paleontology, Spring 1998

I

n the summer of 1997 the paleonto

logical resource data from Dela

ware Water Gap National Recreation

Area were incorporated into the parks

geographic information system. Using

data from a comprehensive survey conducted from 1979 to 1980 of the

paleonotological resources of the park,

a database was populated and the locations of the fossil sites were digitized.

This survey identified 130 sites

which contained fossil bearing rocks.

Most of the fossils found in the park are

Ordovician and Silurian invertebrates,

including brachiopods, sponges, bryozoans, corals and trilobites. In addition

to the invertebrates the dermal plates of

I

n an effort to acknowledge indi

viduals making positive contribu

tions to the National Park Service Paleontological Resource Program, two

recognition pins have been created to reward these individuals. Both pins are

modeled after the PARK PALEONTOLOGY Newsletter logo.

The first version of the pin is black

and gold and will be presented to individuals making noteworthy contributions

to promote paleontology in the national

parks. A solid gold version of the pin

will be presented to individuals making

significant contributions to the National

Park Service Paleontology Program.

The first recipient of the gold PARK

PALEO pin is Rachel Benton, paleontologist at Badlands National Park.

Among the many accomplishments by

Rachel, she has coordinated two Fossil

Resource Conferences.

The second pin recipient is Greg

McDonald, paleontologist at Hagerman

Fossil Beds National Monument. During 1997, Greg obtained a $50,000 grant

from Cannon Corporation to conduct an

excavation of the Hagerman Horse

Quarry.

The third pin recipient is Diann Gese,

geologist in the Geologic Resources Division. Through her efforts with the Geologists-In-The-Park Program, Diann

has successfully promoted paleontology

by placing geology and paleontology student interns in National Park Service

areas.n

Recent excavations at Big Bend

National Park have unearthed a

bonebed of Alamosaurus, a sauropod dinosaur from the late Cretaceous

of North America. Anthony Fiorillo of

the Dallas Museum of Natural History

says that the bonebed is believed to consist of three individuals, an adult and two

juveniles, both of which are half of the

adults size. The bones at the sight show

signs of being trampled, such as abrasions, and some bones being on end

rather than laying flat. It is believed that

the bonebed may represent an ancient

watering hole.

Dinosaur bonebed discovered at Big Bend

National Park

Andrew Stanton

 FOBU

Park Paleontology

Recognition Pin

staff writer

Paleontology at Delaware Water Gap

 National Recreation Area

Christian George

Franklin & Marshall University

Devonian fishes are preserved in several locations.

This information was used to create

a database which was then linked to the

geographic information in ArcView.

This gives the park a digital record of

the paleontological resources and makes

it quickly accessible to any personnel

who may need it. An interpretive display was then developed to show examples of some of the fossils found in

the park.

This project was undertaken by

Christian George an intern in archeology and GIS. He was advised by John

Wright, park archeologist and Keith

High, resource management.n

According to Fiorillo, the bonebed

offers new insights into the life history

of Alamosaurus. The site is significant

because it has yielded new material,

giving portions of Alamosaurus

anatomy that have never been seen before. It is also the first time a group

has been found together, as well as a

juvenile being found with an adult.

Fiorillo believes that may indicate social behavior in Alamosaurus.

Alamosaurus is the only sauropod

dinosaur known from the late Cretaceous of North America. It was a

Titanosaur, a family of sauropods that

mostly inhabited the southern continents

of Africa, South America, and India.

After other families became extinct in

North America earlier in the Cretaceous,

Titanosaurs entered from a land bridge

to South America just before the dinosaurs became extinct at the close of the

Mesozoic.n
Park Paleontology, Spring 1998  Page 5

FOSSIL FORUM

The need for increased public awareness of the

value of geoscience research has become a mantra across our community in this time of tight

federal budgets. The recent threat of elimination faced by federal geoscience agencies

stemmed largely from a genuine lack of understanding of what they do. Short-term efforts to

inform congress must continue, but long-tern

support for the geosciences will depend on convincing the public that geology truly matters.

 The recent crop of dinosaur and volcano disaster movies that feature climatic scenes in

which the hero, in time of crisis, shouts Get me

a geologist! are great. But we cannot rely on

Hollywood to keep delivering the goods  or

much reality for that matter.

 So where should our educational efforts begin? Many of us treasure the geology field trip

as our favorite learning experience. The prospect of millions of our fellow citizens voluntarily going on field trips certainly would be a good

start! And millions already do. Each year, large

numbers of Americans travel to type sections,

unique fossil localities, and other prime examples

of geology at its most splendid. Our national

park system presents a tremendous opportunity

for public education about the geosciences, but

it is an opportunity largely untapped.

GEOLOGY BUT NO GEOLOGISTS

One big obstacle is the overly low profile held

by the geosciences within the National Park Service, which employs only 40 geologists. Compare that to the agencys 900 biologists, a number that was even higher before the creation of

the National Biological Survey (now the Biological Resources Division of the U.S. Geological

Survey) absorbed many of the Park Services biological research staff. The scarcity of geoscientists means that in even the most geologically

spectacular parks including the Grand Canyon,

none are available to train interpreters, develop

educational materials, and provide resource and

hazard evaluations.

 Fully one quarter of the 874 units in the national park system  which includes national

parks, monuments, seashores, historical parks,

recreation areas, and other sites  were created

solely for their geologic qualities, and 140 of the

units contain significant geologic features. Geology and the parks should have a special relationship, but where are the geologists?

 As an agency within the Department of the

Interior, the Park Service relies on geoscientists

at the U.S. Geological Survey, whose principal

mission is to meet the research and information

needs of its sister agencies. This separation of

science from management and regulatory functions is, of course, designed to ensure credibility

and objectivity. But it can also leave managers

and regulators unaware of what scientists have

to offer and scientists unclear about the needs of

managers and regulators. Although individual

projects have been successful and the relationship should be strengthened, the lack of daily contact and resulting familiarity may limit the

arrangements effectiveness.

SMALL STEPS FORWARD

The need for better communication between scientists and managers was one of many issues

raised by a 1992 National Research Council study

titled Science and the National Parks. The report noted scientists lack of influence among

policy-makers and the lack of a coordinated approach to research in support of research management. In response to the latter criticism, the

Park Service created Natural Resources Program

Center to provide scientific assistance in the

management and protection of natural resources

in the parks.

 Geologists in the National Park Service were

consolidated into the centers Geologic Resources

division. They are working with the geoscience

societies to raise awareness of the divisions activities and promote collaboration in research and

public education.

 In partnership with the Geological Society of

America (GSA), division geologists have developed a summer internship program that allows

undergraduate geoscience students to spend several months in a national park working on research projects, cataloging collections, or developing interpretive materials. GSA sponsored two

internships this summer with matching funds

from the division, which is funding several additional internships itself. Projects include developing a paleontological database for Denali

National Park in Alaska and working on public

education projects at Badlands National Park in

South Dakota.

 A promising new science scholars program

funded by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Canon, and the National

Park Foundation invites graduate students in the

biological, physical, and cultural sciences to investigate specific research topics using the parks

as laboratories. Unfortunately, this years program failed to designate any topics related to the

geosciences. Efforts are underway to correct that

omission.

A CALL FOR ACTION

In the November 1995 issue of GSA Today, Paul

and Heidi Doss urge academic geoscientists

working in national parks to assign a higher priority to educating the public about their research.

Although many geoscientists conduct research

in units of the national park system, their interaction with park personnel is often limited filling out an annual Investigators report or collecting permit.

 The Dosses suggest ways to incorporate outside scientists into the parks educational process, working with interpreters and other park

staff. They describe their own success in developing training programs at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and Acadia National Park, and

argue that such programs can effectively inform

the public and park service interpreters about

geologic research and geology. They point out

that these educational efforts may be the publics

first and only direct exposure to taxpayer-funded

science.

 The call put out by the Dosses should be

echoed throughout our community, not just for

academic geoscientists but for professional geologists and all others with an interest in increasing public awareness of geology. For example,

volunteering to brief interpretive staff on the geologic history and processes at work in a park can

make them more comfortable sharing that information with the public.

 With a mission focused on preservation rather

than multiple use, the national parks have largely

been left out of the debates over fossils, mining,

and other public lands issues. But the parks represent a very different sort of resource in the form

of 268 million visitors a year. Because so many

of those visits could represent the geologic field

trip of a lifetime, no better opportunity exists for

increasing public awareness of the science and

capturing the publics imagination.

 Gazing over the edge of the Grand Canyon

for the first time is as awesome an experience as

most people are likely to get. Sciences like astronomy and oceanography have successfully

mobilized public support through the wow, or

wonder, factor. It is time for us to do the same.

David Applegate

AGI Director of Government Affairs

 n

 National Parks: Geology Matters

 The following two letters were published in GEOTIMES. The original letter by David Applegate was printed in the August 1997 issue.

The reply by Roland Gangloff was printed in the June 1998 issue. The letters do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the National Park

Service or any other agency, however, the letters address key issues related to the management of geologic/paleontologic resources on

federal lands.
Page 6  Park Paleontology, Spring 1998

Park Paleontology

c/o Fossil Butte NM

P.O. Box 592

Kemmerer, WY 83101

Superintendent B. Crat decided not to hire a paleontologist

at the park, but rather another biologist to study the adverse effects that fossils may have on the biological

resources.

Invitation for

contributions

To keep Park Paleontology News

letter fresh and informative we

would like to hear from you. If

you have paleontological news relevant

to the national parks please write a few

paragraphs and send to:

Vince Santucci

Fossil Butte National Monument

P.O. Box 592

Kemmerer, WY 83101

VINCENT_SANTUCCI@nps.gov

Park Paleontologys schedule is

quarterly. The summer issue is planned

for publication in July, 1998. Written

opinions regarding the Fossil Forum

topic are also welcomed.n

I read [the] article in Geotimes (August 1997) concerning the lack of geologists and

geological training within the National Park Service (NPS). I would also call your attention to

lack of same in the Bureau of Land Management

(BLM). I write from the perspective of over 25

years [of] work in the Mojave Desert, Alaska,

Wyoming, and Nevada. The situation is particularly bad in Alaska. There is not a single geologist or paleontologist based at BLM in the entire

state. Archaeologists have a lock on most positions remotely related to geoscience matters and

permit issuing, etc. In fact, there is only one partially trained paleontologist-archaeologist in the

entire western region at a managerial level. It is

a very low level at that. ... I have been working

on dinosaur fauna from Northern Alaska since

1987 and still find very little attention or support

available for geologic or paleontologic resources.

It is my conclusion that this [situation]

is a direct result of the tradition of relying on the

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) for most geoscience investigations until the last decade, when

the USGS was methodically gutted in such areas

of expertise. However, NPS and BLM have very

poor grasps of their geologic potentials and resources. This was very clear from presentations

given in 1994 at the Partners in Paleontology

Conference, held in Colorado Springs.

However, I have not seen much progress over

the last three years by any of the participating

agencies. Now that the USGS has enfolded

the biologic survey and has been directed toward

more pragmatic avenues,it will be interesting

to see if the balance of specialists within our NPS

and BLM divisions changes in response to this

reorganization of the USGS. I think we (American Geological Institute, Geological Society of

America, Paleontological Society, and the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology) should be more

activist and politically savvy and make our voices

heard. I commend you for pointing to steps now

being taken, small though they be. I also commend [the] article in general. You are right on!



Roland A. Gangloff

Curator, Earth Science Collections

University of Alaska Museum

and associate professor of geology

University of Alaska-Fairbanks.

Fossil Forum (continued)

 n