Park Paleontology 1

National Park Service

U.S. Department of the Interior

Park Paleontology

Geologic Resources Division, Paleontology Program

Volume 6, Number 3

Fall-Winter 2002

Table of Contents

New Dinosaur Film Distributed to National

Parks .....................................................1

Fossils as an Investment Strategy ...............2

Railroads, Tourism and Fossils .................. 4

Pleistocene Vertebrate Fossils from

Slaughter Canyon Cave, Carlsbad Caverns

National Park ............................................5

Field Note: The Halgaito Shale of Glen Canyon

National Monument September 2002 ........6

NPS Paleontologists Visit Site in Hungary ..7

Carbon 14 Date Back on Walrus Skull from

Cape Hatteras .......................................... 8

Recent Literature on Park Paleontology

Resources .................................................8

New Dinosaur Film Distributed

to National Parks

Eddie Gonzalez

Director, Grants and Programs

National Park Foundation

11 Dupont Circle, NW, Suite 600

Washington D.C. 20036-1224

egonzalez@nationalparks.org

Last summer, the Discovery Channel released

a new animated special, WHEN DINOSAURS

ROAMED AMERICA, where each species

came to life through cutting-edge animation.

With the help of the NPS Geologic Resources

Division and Dinosaur National Monument,

Discovery Channel, a Proud Partner of

America’s National Parks, has modified the

film for use by dinosaur related National Parks

across the county. This animated special gives

a guided tour of North American dinosaurs

from the Triassic Period (220-200 million

years ago) through the upper Jurassic Period

(150 million years ago) to the middle Cretaceous Period (92 million years ago) and the

late Cretaceous Period (65 million years ago).

Intended to be shown at visitor center kiosks,

auditorium presentations, and ranger-led

seminars, the film informs visitors about the

wide array of dinosaur fossils found in our

National Parks. The film also draws on lessons learned from the demise of the dinosaurs

to teach visitors about the importance of land

preservation in preventing species extinction.

In addition, the film reminds visitors to leave

all fossils in the park so that we can continue

to further our knowledge of dinosaurs and

their evolution.

The film was produced at Dinosaur National

Monument in consultation with Greg

McDonald, Paleontology Program Coordinator, NPS Geologic Resources Division, and

hosted by Ingrid Nixon, Glacier Bay National

Park. To receive the film, Parks were required

to submit a short application detailing the

extent of their dinosaur related programs and

visitations. The National Park Foundation and

the Discovery Channel hope the film educates

and informs visitors about the importance of

National Parks in dinosaur research, in addition to enhancing their overall National Park

experience. The new dinosaur-themed film

was made available by the National Park Foundation through the generous support

of Discovery Communications, Inc., a Proud

Partner of America’s National Parks.

Discovery Communications, Inc.

As a Proud Partner of America’s National

Parks, Discovery Communications, Inc. is

harnessing its core business skills to bring new

and varied National Park experiences to the

public, particularly to a public that might not

visit a Park in any other way. Reaching over

650 million subscribers worldwide through its

14 global television brands, Discovery Communications, Inc. is the ideal visual-media

partner for the National Parks.

A herd of Triceratops one of the scences from the video When Dinosaurs Roamed America.

Courtesy of Discovery Communications.

Ingrid Nixon, a ranger at Glacier Bay

National Park, shown here with a string of

dinosaur vertebrae, was the host for the

video. Courtesy of Discovery Communications.

Discovery’s mission as a global, real-world

media company is not just to entertain, but

also to educate. Part of the Discovery experience includes a public mission dedicated to

harnessing the tools of the Information Age

and bringing its full potential to people all

around the world.

To learn more about Discovery Channel and

other Proud Partners of America National

Parks, visit www.nationalparks.org.
2 Park Paleontology

Since 1990 the number of commercial fossil

dealers and the availability of fossils to private

collectors has increased substantially. Commercial dealers have long claimed that fossils are an

excellent investment opportunity, and other

sources, including The New York Times (September 15, 1996; “Natural History at Unnatural

Prices”), have remarked that fossils outperformed other investment options between

1970 and 1995. In 1990 a commercial dealer

printed a catalog listing “Four Good Reasons to

Invest in Fossils”. These reasons included: “As

a straightforward investment opportunity,

fossils outperform many other options”. The

primary focus of our research was to compare

fossils, as an investment, to several other common investment strategies.

We collected over 800 selling prices in 1991,

1996, and 2001 from commercial dealers and

private sellers to establish a mean commercial

value for five different fossils. We compare this

change in value to the performance of a certificate of deposit and the SNP 500.

Why did you follow these fossils?

Each fossil was chosen for study because it met

the following criteria: 1) the fossil was commercially abundant during each time period

and the fossils were numerous enough to

permit comparison with fossils of similar size

and condition (and furthermore, the influence

of taphonomy on the value could be eliminated); 2) the fossils were, and are, in demand

by collectors but not necessarily by universities

and museums. Research-quality fossils tend to

be rare enough that determining a value is

difficult.

Several commercial dealers advertise these

particular fossils as being ideal for display and

investment, making the selected fossils a representative portfolio.

What fossils were included in this study?

The Diplomystus sp. fish fossil was selected for

study because it is commercially available and

commonly used as a display fossil by interior

decorators. All fossils in this study were from

the Green River Formation in Lincoln County,

Wyoming. Selling price varies directly with

fossil length and only complete specimens

between 5.5- and 6.5 inches in length were

recorded.

Figure 1. The fossils tracked in this study: A) Diplomystus sp., B) “Phacops africanus”, C)

Spinosaurus tooth, D) 6-inch C. megalodon tooth, E) 4-inch C. megalodon tooth.

“Phacops africanus”, a large Moroccan trilobite, was also identified by sellers as Phacops

rana africanus, Drotops megalomanicus, and

Phacops megalomanicus. Our data set included

only trilobites on matrix with full articulation,

visible eyes, and minimal enrollment. All specimens were between 4.5 and 6-inches in length

and were in good condition with minimal

restoration. Commercial dealers consider this

trilobite the “most marketable” of all trilobite

taxa (http://www. geocities.com/ trilobitologist/

Mar2001.html).

The Spinosaurus dinosaur teeth are also Moroccan. These are currently the most abundant

dinosaur teeth at trade shows. When fossils

were encased in a Riker Mount the value of the

mount was deducted from the price. All dinosaur teeth were between 1.5 and 2-inches in

length and unrestored.

C. megalodon teeth formed two sub-groups in

this study: those varying in size between 3.5

and 4.5-inches in length and those between

5.5 and 6.5-inches in length. C. megalodon is

the most common marine vertebrate fossil at

trade shows. Commercial dealers commonly

grade the fossils according to size, tip damage,

enamel condition, root loss and source. All

prices in this study came from teeth with excellent root and enamel condition with welldefined serrations and no tip damage. The

New York Times (September 15, 1996) cited C.

megalodon as an example of a fossil that outperformed equivalent investments in the stock

market for the period 1970 – 1996.

How well did the fossils compete with

other investments?

An investment in any of the fossil groups

would have had a negative return after 10

Fossils as an

Investment Strategy

Scott Hippensteel

Department of Geography and Earth Sciences

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Charlotte, NC 28223

Simon Condliffe

Department of Economics

University of Delaware

Newark, DE 19711
Park Paleontology 3

years. The trilobite suffered the largest decrease in selling price, falling steadily from $338

in 1991 to $275 in 1996 to $223 in 2001.

While the dinosaur and larger shark teeth fell

approximately 10% in value the other fossils

returned only 75 cents for each dollar invested.

The total “assemblage” value of the fossils (one

fossil purchased from each category) fell from

$1052 in 1991 to $932 in 1996 to $788 in

2001. In comparison, a stock investment of

$1052 in 1991 (based on the SNP 500) would

have returned $1876.05 in 1996 and $3333.78

in 2001. Had the initial investment been used

to purchase a certificate of deposit at a 5%

rate of return the $1052 would have yielded

$1342.64 in 1996 and $1713.59 in 2001.

Why the decrease in fossil values?

The largest misconception held by many private

fossil collectors and potential investors is that

the supply of fossils is severely constrained—

perfectly inelastic, in economic terms— and

that this supply constraint will lead to rising

values.

However, the supply of fossils, that is the number of fossils available in the marketplace, is

actually increasing, which is having the opposite

effect on values. Although The New York

Times (February 15, 1994; “Clash on Fossil

Sales Shadows a Trade Fair”) described a

“boom in fossil sales and prices”, the increased

supply of many fossils has driven prices down.

The supply of C. megalodon teeth has increased in the past decade as commercial

collectors have recovered vast quantities from

the rivers around Charleston, South Carolina.

Both supply and availability of the Moroccan

trilobite have also increased. Before 1991 the

supply of such fossils was limited to a few large

commercial dealers (e.g., Paleosearch, Inc.,

Black Hills Institute of Geological Research, and

Prehistoric Journeys, Inc.) and sales were primarily through printed catalogs and trade shows.

The existence of a relatively small number of

suppliers can produce a monopoly effect

wherein higher prices result from “take it or

leave it” approach to selling.

By 2001, however, the Internet made such

fossils significantly easier to find and compare,

and greatly increased the number of sellers and

buyers in the marketplace. Sellers and buyers

may now trade across great distances in a

relatively costless environment. This is analogous to an increase in the market supply of

fossils, which exerts downward pressure on

prices. Furthermore, the Internet has significantly lowered the search costs involved in the

purchase of fossils. Buyers may now gather

price information from greater numbers of

potential sellers without incurring significant

cost. This breaks any potential supply monopolies, and brings greater competition to the

marketplace as sellers now compete with each

other not just locally or regionally, but nationally and even internationally. As sellers compete for business, greater competition leads to

lower prices for buyers.

Despite the general downward trend in fossil

values, there are instances where dramatic

gains may occur. However, these gains are

typically short-lived, and often traceable to a

particular occurrence that temporarily raises

demand for that fossil class. For example, the

value of insects preserved in amber spiked with

Fossils vs. Other Investment Options

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002

Value ($)

SNP 500

CD (5%)

 Fossil

“Assemblage””

Fossil

“Assemblage”

the release of Universal Studios’ Jurassic Park,

but has now returned to the point where they

perform on par with the SNP 500.

In 1995 The New York Times (September 15)

compared the change in selling price between a

C. megalodon tooth and fragments of the

African Zagami (Mars) meteorite. Both prices

increased remarkably compared with stock

investments between 1970 and 1995. The

value of the shark tooth increased dramatically,

thanks to the release of the Peter Benchley

novel and Universal Studios’ movie Jaws. The

meteorite price remained consistent with the

stock values until 1995 and the NASA press

release concerning the possible discovery of

Martian microfossils. However, the meteorite

value is distinct from the shark tooth due to

the extremely limited number of fragments

(from a single meteorite source) that are available.

Fossils are inherently a limited resource and, as

such, their supply will eventually be reduced.

However, the degree to which this supply is

limited remains difficult to quantify. As shown

with the C. megalodon teeth, amber specimens, and meteorite fragments, the attention

of the fossil-buying public shifts rapidly. Fossils

may yield high, short-term returns but their

long-term investment potential appears to be

poor. Even short-term investing is dangerous

as media sources may drive up fossil prices in

one circumstance (amber and Jurassic Park) but

not another (Spinosaurus teeth and Jurassic

Park III).

The value of the five fossils in this study decreased by 24% over the ten-year sampling

interval. Increased supply and availability,

especially via the Internet, are primarily responsible for this decline. Although the highly

publicized sale of unique fossils such as the

Tyrannosaurus “Sue” leads the public to believe

fossils are increasing in value, our findings

suggest that the fossils most in demand by

collectors have decreased in value over the past

10 years.
4 Park Paleontology

RAILROADS, TOURISM

AND FOSSILS

Vincent L. Santucci,

Chief Ranger / Paleontologist,

Fossil Butte National Monument

Kemmerer, WY 83101

vincent_santucci@nps.gov

Early historical archives associated with western

exploration and expansion in North America are

punctuated with a few isolated references to

fossil discoveries. Mountain man Jim Bridger

first reported on the “peetrified birds, a singin’

peetrified songs, in peetrified trees” in

Yellowstone. Fur traders such as Alexander

Culbertson collected fossil mammal remains

from the mauvaises terres (badlands) in the Dakota Territory. In a few pioneer diaries there are

brief entries regarding fossils and other petrifications that were observed on the westward

journeys. Likewise, the construction of transcontinental railroads resulted in the discovery of

new fossil localities.

During the construction of the Union Pacific

Railroad in 1868, fossilized fish were unearthed

along a cut four miles west of Green River City,

Wyoming. Two Union Pacific Railroad employees, A.W. Hillard and L. E. Rickseeker, are credited for the discovery of the site referred to as

“Fish Cut”. Fossils from this locality were originally presented to Ferdinand Hayden and later

forwarded to paleontologist E.D. Cope. The

“Fish Cut” is referenced in Hayden’s 1871 report along with Cope’s description of the fossil

fish (Cope, 1870; Hayden, 1871).

The 1884 publication The Pacific Tourist both

describes and illustrates the “Fish Cut” stating,

“This place will eventually be a popular resort

for those who are seeking for fossiliferous remains...” (Shearer, 1884). The publication further reports the sale of the abundant fossil

specimens by local businesses in Green River

City. An exhibit currently at the Sweetwater

County Historical Museum in Green River, Wyoming, displays a small card from the 1870s advertising the sale of fossil specimens by the businessman S.I. Field.

In an effort to link the Union Pacific Railroad to

the Pacific Northwest, the Oregon Shortline Railroad began laying track from Granger, Wyoming in 1881. During that year a section of

track was extended as far as Sage, Wyoming,

and the town of Fossil was founded as a station

for servicing the trains near Twin Creek, Wyoming. Settlers began to arrive at Fossil in 1884

claiming land and constructing buildings. Eventually a hotel, saloon, train station and a store

with post office were built at Fossil. By the turn

of the century the Fossil train stop was known

as a place to purchase fossils. Today the town

of Fossil is a ghost town just outside the boundary of Fossil Butte National Monument.

In northern Arizona the Sante Fe Railroad established a depot at the small town of Adamana, a

stop once referenced as “The Gateway to the

Petrified Forest”. At its peak, the town boasted

thirty families, a post office, school, trading

post, and the Adamana Hotel. Railroad passengers and cross-country travelers would spend

the night at the hotel and visit the “Petrified

Forest” by touring car.

In 1905, conservationist John Muir visited

Adamana and the surrounding “Painted Desert”

and “Petrified Forest”. Muir observed

wagonloads of petrified wood emerge from the

“Forest”. According to biographer Thurman

Wilkins (1995), “Muir was disturbed by the

Santa Fe Railroad’s practice of carting petrified

logs away to be hacked and polished into

baubles for the tourist trade.” A second Muir

biographer, Frederick Turner (2000) wrote, “...

vandals dynamited the petrified logs to get at

their crystallized innards, and at Adamana a mill

had been set up to crush logs into abrasives.”

After Muir’s visit to Adamana and the “Petrified

Forest”, he wrote to President Teddy Roosevelt

regarding the commercial exploitation of the

petrified wood. A few months after Congress

passed the Antiquities Act, Roosevelt used this

legislation to proclaim Petrified Forest National

Monument. This was the second national

monument established under the Antiquities

Act.

Today the Sante Fe Railroad bisects Petrified Forest National Park, the train stop at Adamana is

now a ghost town, and the old Adamana Hotel

was destroyed in a fire during 1965. Whereas,

the National Park Service strives to protect the

“Petrified Forest” for future generations. There

are likely other examples of fossil discovery related to the expansion of railroads across the

American West.

Additional Reading

Cope, Edward D., 1870. Observations on the

fishes of the Tertiary shales of Green River, Wyoming Territory. Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc.., XI, p. 380-

384.

Hayden, F.V., 1871. Preliminary report of the U.S.

Geological Survey of Wyoming and portions of

contiguous territories. 511 p.

Shearer, Frederick, 1884. The Pacific Tourist.

Bounty Books, Crown Publishers, Inc., New York,

NY, p. 100-101.

Turner, Frederick, 2000. John Muir: Rediscovering

America. Merloyd Lawrence Book, Perseus Publishing, Cambridge, MA.

Wilkins, Thurman, 1995. John Muir: Apostle of

Nature. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman,

OK, 336 p.

Fossil, Wyoming, with Fossil Butte (now within the Monument named after it) in the background. Photo taken around late 1800’s or early 1900’s. Courtesy of Green River Historical

Museum.

The excavation of the railroad bed in 1868,

just west of Green River City, Wyoming.

During the excavation, fossil fish were found

in the ancient lake sediments (now referred

to as the Green River Fm.). The site has been

referred to as “Fish Cut” since its discovery

and is referenced in both scientific reports

(Hayden Survey Reports) and popular publications. Courtesy of Green River Historical

Museum.
Park Paleontology 5

PLEISTOCENE

VERTEBRATE FOSSILS

FROM SLAUGHTER

CANYON CAVE,

CARLSBAD CAVERNS

NATIONAL PARK

Gary S. Morgan

New Mexico Museum of Natural History

1801 Mountain Rd. NW

Albuquerque, NM 87104-1375

morgan@nmmnh.state.nm.us

Over the weekend of April 12-14, 2002, a field

crew led by Gary Morgan, curator of paleontology at the New Mexico Museum of Natural

History (NMMNH), conducted excavations of

the richly fossiliferous Pleistocene bat guano

deposits in Slaughter Canyon Cave (also known

as New Cave) in Carlsbad Caverns National

Park (CAVE) in southern New Mexico. In addition to Gary, the field crew consisted of Carol

Belski, Patty Daw, Glenda Dawson, and Rick

Toomey. Rick is the cave specialist at Kartchner

Caverns State Park in Arizona and a well

known expert on Pleistocene cave faunas. We

were ably assisted by three CAVE employees,

cave specialist Dale Pate and rangers Tom Bemis

and Stan Allison. The crew collected a total of

21 bags of fossiliferous sediment from two test

pits in different areas of the cave. Because the

fossils consist primarily of tiny bat bones, the

loose guano was carefully excavated and put

into nylon bags for transport to the NMMNH in

Albuquerque for screenwashing.

The fossiliferous guano deposits in Slaughter

Canyon Cave are well known, and are mentioned by CAVE rangers during public tours of

the cave. Cave visitors are led through one of

the deep trenchs left behind by miners in the

1950s who dug the guano for fertilizer, which

was sent in rail cars to southern California to

be used on the citrus groves. Despite the abundance of fossil bones, surprisingly little paleontological research has been conducted in

Slaughter Canyon Cave. The most important

paper on fossils from this cave was written in

1960 for the Journal of Mammalogy by Barbara

Lawrence (she called it New Cave) in which she

described an extinct species of free-tailed bat

Tadarida constantinei. The fossils were collected

by and named for a well-known bat expert,

Denny Constantine.

The vast majority of fossils from Slaughter

Canyon Cave, numbering in the thousands of

bones, belong to the extinct bat Tadarida

constantinei. However, there are ten other

species of vertebrates represented in the fauna,

including: the desert tortoise Gopherus agassizi,

a lizard, a snake, a large raptorial bird, a species

of the bat Myotis, the desert cottontail rabbit

Sylvilagus auduboni, the pocket mouse

Perognathus, the woodrat Neotoma, the extinct pronghorn antelope Capromeryx minor,

and a large canivore-possibly the short-faced

bear Arctodus simus. Gary Morgan and several

volunteers at the NMMNH are still

screenwashing and sorting fossiliferous sediment from the cave, so more species should be

added to the faunal list. Other ongoing research in Slaughter Canyon Cave by Victor

Polyak, Donald McFarlane, and Joyce Lundberg

indicates that the fossil deposits are older than

40,000 years Before Present, which is much

older than was previously thought.

Additional Reading

Baker, J.K. 1963. Fossilization of bat skeletons in

the Carlsbad Caverns. National Speleological

Society Bulletin 25(1):37-44.

Black, D.M. 1953. Fossil deposits under the

entrance of Carlsbad Caverns. Science 118:308-

309.

Lawrence, B. 1960. Fossil Tadarida from New

Mexico. Journal of Mammalogy 41(3):320-322.

Rick Toomey, Gary Morgan, and Dale Pate

(left to right) measuring the stratigraphic

section of the guano in Slaughter Canyon

Cave.

Closeup showing bat bones preserved in the guano at Slaughter Canyon Cave in Carlsbad

Caverns National Park. These include the bones of the extinct free-tail bat Tadarida

constantinei.

DID YOU KNOW?

The oldest skeleton of a bat is from

Icaronycteris. It was found in the Eocene

Green River Formation which is the same

formation famous for its fossil fish such as

those found at Fossil Butte National

Monument in Wyoming.
6 Park Paleontology

Field Note: The Halgaito

Shale of Glen Canyon

National Monument

September 2002

Kim Scott

Department of Biology

California State University, San Bernardino

5500 University Parkway

San Bernadino, CA 92407-2307

hominids@earthlink.com

Numerous exposures of the Pennsylvanian- Permian Cutler Group are known from throughout

the Four Corners region of the United States.

Some of the most dramatic outcrops are located

just outside the small town of Mexican Hat in

southeastern Utah, as well as in Monument Valley

in nearby northeastern Arizona. In this region, the

white to pale brown, bluff forming Cedar Mesa

Formation is underlain by the less resistant, red,

sandy siltstones and shales of the Halgaito Shale

(Figure 1). During the first two weeks of September 2002, paleontologists from southern California ventured into the portions of Glen Canyon

National National Recreation Area north of the

San Juan River in southeastern Utah, near Mexican

Hat, to search for new localities within the

Halgaito.

The Halgaito Shale was originally thought to be

Permian in age, but recent publications have

reinterpreted the Halgaito as spanning the Pennsylvanian- Permian boundary (Baars, 1991, 1995).

The 2002 Valley of the Gods Expedition was the

first field component of an ongoing study that will

attempt to determine where the PennsylvanianPermian boundary can be defined faunally

throughout the exposed Halgaito. With data from

this and subsequent field excursions to the region,

we hope to better understand the early radiation

and diversification of amniotes.

During the 2002 visit, our field team identified

several vertebrate fossil localities while enjoying

some of the most spectacular vistas North America

has to offer. One new fossil locality was discovered within the boundaries of the Glen Canyon

National Recreation Area, in a limestone pebble

conglomerate channel near the base of the

Halgaito Shale. This locality contained abundant

teeth of the extinct xenacanth shark Orthacanthus.

Dr. Stuart Sumida from the Department of Biology

at California State University, San Bernardino

(CSUSB) located the channel and provided preliminary identifications of the fossils therein. The

locality was immediately nicknamed “Darwin’s

Shark Tooth Bed” in honor of Dr. Sumida’s 14

month old son, Darwin, who made his first-ever

fossil find at the site: a tooth of Orthacanthus

(Figure 2).

Macrofossils recovered from “Darwin’s Shark

Tooth Bed”, along with fossil material from the

nearby Valley of the Gods, is currently undergoing

preparation and more detailed identification in

southern California. The matrix from this material

is being saved for later acid reduction in an

attempt to recover conodonts and fusilinids

that will assist us in determining where the

Pennsylvanian-Permian boundary falls in the

Halgaito Shale. Future field expeditions will

endeavor to more fully document the stratigraphy of the region, as well as identifying

additional fossil-bearing horizons in the

Halgaito Shale.

Acknowledgements:

Grateful thanks are extended to the field team

of the 2002 Valley of the Gods Expedition,

including: Dr. Stuart S. Sumida, Dr. Elizabeth

Rega, Gavan Albright and Ken C. Noriega of

CSUSB; Eric Scott of the San Bernardino

County Museum; Henry C. Ballard of the

ERA PERIOD MILLION OF FOUR COURNERS FM. NAME

 YEARS AGO

CENOZOIC Quaternary 0-1.6 -NA- soil, sand, and gravel

Tertiary 1.6-65 -NA- terrace gravels, diatremes, igneous intrusions

 MESOZOIC Cretaceous 65-135 Mesaverde Group

Mancos Shale

Dakota Sandstone

Cedar Mtn./ Burro Canyon

Jurassic 135-205 Morrison Fm.

Entrada Sandstone

Carmel/Wanakah Fm.

Kayenta Fm.

Moenave Fm.

Wingate Fm.

Triassic 205-250 Chinle Fm.

Moenkopi Fm.

PALEOZOIC Permian 250-290 Cutler Group

DeChelly Sandstone

Organ Rock Shale

Cedar Mesa Sandstone

Pennsylvanian 325-290 Halgaito Shale

Hermosa Group

Honaker Trail Fm.

 (Rocks not exposed) Paradox Fm.

 Pinkerton Trail Fm.

 Molas Fm.

Mississippian 325-355 Leadville/Redwall Fm.

Devonian 355-410 Ouray Limestone

 Elbert Fm.

Silurian 410-438 rocks missing

Ordovician 438-510 rocks missing

Cambrian 510-570 Ignacio-Lynch Fms.

PRECAMBRIAN Upper 570-2,500 -NA - quartzite/granite

Lower 2,500-4,500? -NA- metamorphic/granite

Figure 1: Geologic time scale showing formations of the Four Corners area, the Halgaito

Shale is highlighted. From Baars, 1995.

George C. Page Museum; and of course Darwin

Sumida of Clan Sumida. All of these individuals

provided invaluable help in the field. Special

thanks go to Dr. Sumida for his mentoring.

Additional Reading

Baars, D.L., 1991. Redefinition of the

Pennsylvanian-Permian boundary in Kansas,

Midcontinent, U.S.A.: Program with

Abstracts, International Congress of the

Permian System of the World, Perm USSR, p.

A3.

Baars, D.L., 1995. Navajo Country, A

geology and natural history of the Four

Corners Region: Albuquerque, University

of New Mexico Press, 255 p.
Park Paleontology 7

Future paleontologist, Darwin Sumida, in

the field at Glen Canyon National Recreation

area.

Orthacanthus was an ancient freshwater shark.

It belongs to a group of sharks known as the

Xenthacanths (strange spine) that are distinguished by a long dorsal spine protruding from

the back of the head. The double forked teeth

are another unique characteristic of the group.

The body is long and ribbon-like giving it the

appearance of an eel. A full grown

Orthacanthus is believed to have grown to 10

feet in length.

http://www.sharkfriends.com/paleo3.html

http://www.discovery.com/exp/prehistoricsharks/

gallery3.html

WHAT IS AN

ORTHACANTHUS?

NPS Paleontologists Visit Site in Hungary

Ted Fremd

John Day Fossil Beds National Monument

HC 82 Box 126

Kimberly OR 97848-9701

ted_fremd@nps.gov

The Hungarian National Park Directorates are a

complex system of 10 regions managing hundreds of properties with varying levels of oversight. Some of these enjoy full national protection while others are largely run by local authorities, often with a lesser interest in preservation.

As a result of a request from the Hungarian government, Greg McDonald and Ted Fremd travelled to a remote area near the Slovakian border

to visit Hungary’s only park established for fossil

resources. Tuff samples were collected for accurate dating, the exhibits and display media were

scrutinized, curatorial programs were analyzed,

and a variety of cooperative efforts initiated.

The Ipolytarnoc localities, managed within the

Bukk National Park Directorate, are an important component of geological history that have

been preserved and made available for public

appreciation. Attempts to preserve and

intrepret these sites go back over 160 years.

More recent preservation work included constructing large buildings to cover the trackways

during the soviet occupation. In addition to the

myriad of fossil localities, the area is encapsulated by excellent forests and natural beauty accessible by a variety of trails. The Geological

Study Trail itself, leading as it does to the footprint sandstone through a beautiful natural ravine, heavily vegetated by trees and many forms

of understory plants and fungi, would in and of

itself command attention as a worthwhile natural trail. This, in turn, is on the inner circumference of a large area for which natural walkways

have been developed that meander through the

forest where one can encounter deer, wild boar,

native vegetation, birds, and evidence of much

more. These are made more accessible from

observation towers and a variety of comfortable

picnic groves from which one can contemplate

the present natural scene and contrast the modern ecosystems with those entombed in the

sediments underfoot. Modern deer and boars

bound over the petrified remnants of their ancestral clades.

The state of preservation of the materials is excellent. Some of the plant fossils are amongst

the finest to be found anywhere. While it is the

case that the largest of the trees (an enormous

pine which was the first to be discovered) has

been sampled extensively, it has been enhanced

by the earliest cultural remnants of attempts to

preserve it, dating from 1866 and earlier (itself

an interesting historical footnote in the conservation of fossils in situ). It must be emphasized

that this specimen is only one of many such fossil trees and the fact that this particular speciSite Director Imre Szarvas at the entrance to the excellent Geological Study Path at

Ipolytarnoc.

.

An intriguing carnivore footprint, probably

an amphicyonid preserved at Ipolytarnoc.

men has been culturally altered does not reduce

the values inherent in the wood assemblages.

The footprints and associated trace fossils themselves are in excellent condition, needing little if

any additional treatment as a result of a foresighted effort to construct the shelters. In

twenty years the shelters themselves will be of

historical interest, given the surprising attention

and focus of resources on geological materials

in this place and time. Regarding the worldclass footprint sandstone, it is conceivable that

additional consolidants could be introduced into

portions of the matrix where some flaking and

spalling might be expected to occur, but that

does not appear to be necessary at this time.

All of the other fossil materials are to be found
8 Park Paleontology

Recent

Literature on

Park

Paleontology

Resources

The following papers based on fossils from

national parks were presented at the annual

meetings of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology at Norman, Oklahoma.

Carpenter, M.C. 2002. Vulpes vulpes (Red Fox)

remains from Stanton’s Cave, Arizona: first

known record from the Grand Canyon. Journal

of Vertebrate Paleontology 22(3):41A.

Cavin, J.L., D.B. Lien, C.L. Herbel, S.L. Johnson

and G.E. Knauss. 2002. A flora and faunal list

of specimens recovered from the Big Pig Dig,

Badlands National Park, South Dakota. Journal

of Vertebrate

Paleontology 22(3):42A.

Draus, E.R. and D.R. Prothero. 2002. Magnetic stratigraphy of the Middle Miocene (Early

Barstovian) Mascall Formation, Central Oregon.

Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 22(3):49A

in excellent condition and are eminently suitable

for greater recognition.

The site is exceptionally well managed. Public

facilities, including geological and biological discovery trails, picnic areas, interpretive signs, and

in situ displays of fossils are very well designed

and enjoyed by visitors. The majority of these

were developed with a bare minimum of funding, making up in creativity what has been lacking from appropriated funds.

An extremely well conceived center for research,

curation, and education has been newly refinished and is available for use. Comfortable

quarters, spatious lecture and conference facilities, and a large curatorial space are situated

within a beautifully landscaped area protected

from unauthorized use. These accomodations

would be counted amongst the finest of their

kind within the USNPS and will help facilitate

more scientific and educational work.

Finally, our host treated us to an absolutely exceptional visit. The gracious and courteous

manner in which we were hosted defies brief

description, but exceeds anything any of us have

experienced anywhere. Expecting typical housing conditions, we found deluxe

accomodations; fearing deteriorating fossil exposures, we found well-cared for materials and

facilities; anticipating normal interpretive media,

we observed outstanding exhibits. We learned

a great deal and were able to impart some of

the lessons we have learned from the development of the NPS paleontological programs. We

look forward to returning to these and other internationally renowned sites to further the global preservation and appreciation of fossil resources.

Ted Fremd and volunteer Skylar Rickabaugh

sampling “The Miraculous Andesite” for

Single Crystal Laser Fusion Argon dating.

A well-preserved Quercus leaf as found in

the associated tuffs at Ipolytarnoc.

Carbon 14 Date Back on

Walrus Skull from Cape

Hatteras

Thanks to a grant from the National Park

Foundationthe walrus skull from Cape

Hatteras National Seashore reported in the last

issue of the Park Paleontology Newsletter has

been dated using carbon 14. The skull was

sent to Stafford Research Laboratories in

Boulder, Colorado where a small sample of

the tusk was removed for analysis. The

sample was treatedto remove all impurities

and non organic material. The purified

sample was then sent to Lawrence Livermore

Laboratories. The age of the walrus is 36,760

+ 570 radiocarbon years before present.

Tom Stafford of Stafford Research Laboratories removing sample from the tusk of the

Cape Hatteras walrus for carbon 14 dating.

WHAT IS CARBON 14

DATING?

The most common form of carbon is carbon

12, it has 6 protons and 6 neutrons in the

nucleus of the atom. Carbon 14 differs by

having 8 neutrons which makes it unstable

or radioactive. Carbon 14 is formed when

a nitrogen 14 atom is hit by cosmic radiation. While alive, plants and animals incorporate these isotopes of carbon into their

tissues at the ratio found in the atmosphere. Carbon 12 makes up 99% of the

carbon and carbon 14 is less than 1%.

Upon death, the carbon 14 in their tissues

begins to decay. The half life or amount of

time it takes for half of the carbon 14 to

decay is 5, 570 years. By measuring the

remaining amount of carbon 14, the age of

the fossil can be determined. This method

can be used to date material ranging in age

from a few hundred years to about 50,000

years. The use of carbon 14 permits the

determination of age directly from a fossil.
Park Paleontology 9

Answer to Can You Identify the Fossil on Page

11.

These are stromatolites found in Glacier National Park.

Fiorillo, A.R. 2002. The first record of a Cretaceous dinosaur from western Alaska: implications for understanding the paleosrctic. Journal

of Vertebrate

Paleontology 22(3):53A.

Foss, S.E., T.J. Fremd, and M.E. Smith. 2002.

Integrating current curation concepts into the

design of a new paleontological curation and

research facility at John Day Fossil Beds National

Monument, Oregon. Journal of Vertebrate

Paleontology 22(3):54A

Fremd, T.J. 2002. Measuring local geographic

variability in early Arikareean mammalian assemblages. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology

22(3):55A.

Hadly, E. and M. Van Tuinen. 2002. Late

Holocene abundance patterns of grebes and

waterfowl from Lamar Cave, Yellowstone

National Park, Wyoming. Journal of Vertebrate

Paleontology 22(3):61A.

Haist, B., V. Santucci, and A. Aase. 2002. The

history of vertebrate paleontological fieldwork

in Fossil Basin, Wyoming. Journal of Vertebrate

Paleontology 22(3):62A.

Hoffman, J. and D. Prothero. 2002. Magnetic

stratigraphy of the Upper Miocene (Early

Hemphillian) Rattlesnake Formation, Central

Oregon. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology

22(3):66A.

Hunt, A.L. and V. Santucci. 2002. Reassessment of Late Paleozoic tetrapod tracks from

Gand Canyon National Park, Arizona. Journal

of Vertebrate Paleontology 22(3):68A.

Hunt, R.M. Jr. and E. Stepleton. 2002.

Lithostratigraphy and biochronology of the

Upper John Day Beds in the Haystack Valley

and Kimberly areas, John Day River Valley,

Oregon. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology

22(3):68A.

Johnson, S.L., J.L. Cavin, and D.B. Lien. 2002.

Age determination of Archaeotherium mortoni

from tooth measurements, Pig Dig Quarry,

Badlands National Park, South Dakota. Journal

of Vertebrate Paleontology 22(3):72A.

Parker, W.G., S. Clements, D.T. Woody, and K.

Beppler-Dorn. 2002. Triassic Park first year

results of the paleontological inventory of

Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona. Journal

of Vertebrate Paleontology 22(3):94A.

Retallack, G.J. 2002. Early Miocene

(Hemingfordian) appearance of sod grasslands

and arid, summer-dry climate in central Oregon. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology

22(3):99A.

Ruez, D.R. Jr. 2002. New specimens and new

interpretations of the Hagerman insectivorans.

Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 22(3):101A.

Smith, J.A., S. Sampson, M. Loewen and V.

Santucci. 2002. Trackway evidence of possible

gregarious behavior in large theropods from

the Lower Jurassic Moenave Formation of Zion

National Park. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 22(3):108A.

Spaeth, P., Y. Chan, C. Conroy, and E. Hadly.

2002. Ancient gene-flow: post-glacial colonization of Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming,

USA. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology

22(3):110A.

Steele, T.E. and E. A. Hadly. 2002. Ecological

differences between two late Holocene sites

from Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming,

USA. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology

22(3):111A.

Swift, S.L. 2002. A mid-Holocene fauna from

a Ringtail carnivore den, western Grand Canyon. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology

22(3):113A.

Other papers presented at the Society of

Vvertebrate Paleontology meetings by NPS

paleontologists.

Bell, G.L. Jr. 2002. The questionable monophyly of Mosasauridae. Journal of Vertebrate

Paleontology 22(3):35A.

Madsen, S.K. 2002. Work-related injuries and

illnesses related to preparation and fieldwork.

Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 22(3):82A.

Santucci, V.L. 2002. Theft and vandalism of

vertebrate tracksites: challenges of in situ management and protection. Journal of Vertebrate

Paleontology 22(3):103A.

Schubert, B.W., R.W. Graham, and H.G.

McDonald. 2002. The late Pleistocene paleoecology of two extinct taxa: Jefferson’s ground

sloth (Megalonyx jeffersonii) and elk-moose

(Cervalces scotti). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 22(3):104A.

The following papers were presented at the

annual meetings of the Geological Society of

America in Denver, Colorado

Amato, T.J. Jr., H.P. Buchheim, R.A. Cushman Jr.

and R.E. Biaggi. 2002. Climate change, salinity

gradient or marginal freshwater lagoon? The

story behind a unique fossiliferous unit of the

Green River Formation in Fossil Basin, Wyoming. Geological Society of America Abstracts

with Programs 34(6):555.

Austin, S.A. and K.P. Wise. 2002. Regionally

extensive mass kill of large orthocone nautiloids, Redwall Limestone (Lower Mississippian),

Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs

34(6):423.

Bell, G.L. Jr., C.J. Crow, J.K. Rigby, and D.

Derickson. 2002. Newly recognized reef fabric

from the Middle Capitan reefs (Middle Permian), Guadalupe Mountains, Texas. Geological

Society of America Abstracts with Programs

34(6):356.

Benton, R.C. 2002. Emergency salvage collection of fossils at the Titanothere bone bed,

Badlands National Park. Geological Society of

America Abstracts with Programs 34(6):539.

Biaggi, R.E., H.P. Buchheim, and R.A. Cushman

Jr. 2002. Paleoecology and depositional environments during the early depostional phase of

Fossil Lake, Green River Formation, Wyoming.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with

Programs 34(6):557.

Brezinski, D.K., J.E. Repetski and J.F. Taylor.

2002. Middle Cambrian to Upper Ordovician

stratigraphy and paleontology along the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park,

western Maryland. Geological Society of

America Abstracts with Programs 34(6):423.

Cushman, R.A. Jr. 2002. Vegetational history

and age of the Green River Formation in Fossil

Basin, Wyoming. Geological Society of America

Abstracts with Programs 34(6):480.

Foss, S.E. and V.J. Naylor. 2002. Paleontology

at Scotts Bluff National Monument: a recent

paleontological survey of the Orellan White

River Beds. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 34(6):539.

Fremd, T. 2002. Paleontological landscape and

timescape management in the National Park

Service. Geological Society of America Abstracts

with Programs 34(6):539.

Gunnell, G.F., W.S. Bartels, and J.-P. Zonneveld.

2002. Stratigraphy, vertebrate paleontology,

and paleoecology of the Wastach Formation,

Fossil Butte National Monument, Wyoming.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with

Programs 34(6):557.

Herbel, C.L., R.C. Benton and S.A. Black.

2002. Bone Bed surveys: making use of the

data. Geological Society of America Abstracts

with Programs 34(6):539.

Jennings, D.S., V.L. Santucci, H.P. Buchheim,

and S.T. Hasiotis. 2002. A preliminary inventory and assessment of ichnofossils from the

Green River Formation. Geological Society of

America Abstracts with Programs 34(6):556.

Karlstrom, K.E. L.J. Crossey and M.L. Williams.

2002. The Trail of Time at Grand Canyon: a

progress report. Geological Society of America

Abstracts with Programs 34(6):540.
10 Park Paleontology

Courtesy of American Geological Institute

DID YOU KNOW?

The 1922 movie “Monsters of the Past”

documenting the Carnegie excavations at

Dinosaur National Monument is the earliest

film footage ever taken of collecting fossil

vertebrates.

The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, the

Paleontological Society, and the American

Geological Institute have just published a book

entitled - Dinosaurs: The Science Behind

The Stories. Edited by Judith G. Scotchmoor,

Dale A. Springer, Brent H. Breithaupt, and

Anthony R. Fiorillo

Using dinosaurs to illustrate the nature and

methods of science, leading paleontologists

relate how we know what we know. Follow

their fascinating journey as they work through

multiple lines of evidence that have led to new

hypotheses, discoveries, and understandings of

the history of life on Earth.

This a popular book provides non-technical

information aimed at treachers and educators

as well as the general reader. Dan Chure,

paleontologist at Dinosaur National Monument,

contributed a chapter entitled:

Raising the Dead: Excavating Dinosaurs.

ISBN 0-922152-62-4. Paperback,

 186 pp.

Cost S29.95

The book can be ordered from the American

Geological Institute, 4220 King Street, Alexandria, Virginia 22302. (703) 379-2480. It

can also be ordered through their web site at

www.agiweb.org.

Other Recent Publications on

Fossils from National Parks

Agenbroad, L.D. 2002. New Localities,

Chronology and Comparisons for the Pygmy

Mammoth (Mammuthus exilis):1994-1998.

Pp. 518-524 In H. Browne and H. Cheney

(eds.). Proceedings of the Fifth Channel

Islands Symposium. USDI-Mineral Management Service and the Santa Barbara Museum

of Natural History Vol. 2.

Lehman, T.M. and A.B. Coulson. 2002. A

juvenile specimen of the sauropod dinosaur

Alamosaurus sanjuanensis from the Upper

Cretaceous of Big Bend National Park, Texas.

Journal of Paleontology 76(1):156-172.

O’Brien, N.R., H.W. Meyer, K. Reilly, A.M.

Ross, and S. Maguire. 2002. Microbial

taphonomic processes in the fossilization of

insects and plants in the late Eocene

Florissant Formation, Colorado. Rocky

Mountain Geology 37(1):1-11.

Schwimmer, D.R. 2002. King of the

Crocodylians. The Paleobiology of

Deinosuchus. Indiana University Press,

Bloomington and Indianapolis: 221 pp.

Tykoski, R.S., Rowe, T.B., Ketcham, R.A., and

Colbert, M.W. 2002. Calsoyasuchus

valliceps: a new crocodyliform from the Early

Jurassic Kayenta Formation of Arizona. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 22(3): 593-

611.

Wheeler, E.A. and S.R. Manchester. 2002.

Woods of the Eocene Nut Beds Flora,

Clarno Formation, Oregon, USA. International Association of Wood Anatomists

Journal, Supplement 3, 188 pp.

Koch, A.L., V.L. Santucci, and H.G. McDonald.

2002. Developing paleontological resource

monitoring strategies for the National Park

Service. Geological Society of America Abstracts

with Programs 34(6):422.

Main, D.J. and A.R. Fiorillo. 2002. Results of

the ground penetrting radar mapping technique at a dinosaur quarry in Big Bend National

Park. Geological Society of America Abstracts

with Programs 34(6):539.

Manchester, S.R., and P.R. Kester Jr. 2002.

Paleobotanical investigation of the Green River

lacustrine flora of Fossil Butte, Wyoming. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 34(6):480.

Meyer, H.W., L. Lutz-Ryan, M.S. Wasson, A.

Cook, A.E. Kinchloe, and B.A. Drummond III.

2002. Research and educational applications of

a web-based paleontological database for

Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 34(6):423.

Moe, A.P., and D.M. Smith. 2002. Using

fossilized diptera from the Florissant Formation

as paleoenvironmental indicators. Geological

Society of America Abstracts with Programs

34(6):102.

Parker, W.G, S. Clements, D.T. Woody and K.

Beppler-Dorn. 2002. First year results of the

ongoing paleontological inventory of Petrified

Forest National Park, Arizona. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs

34(6):539.

Stefos, M. and R. Jorstad. 2002. A palynological investigation in Yellowstone National Park:

the undergraduate perspective. Geological

Society of America Abstracts with Programs

34(6):540.

Tracy, K.H. 2002. Grand Teton National Park

paleontological survey. Geological Society of

America Abstracts with Programs 34(6):423.

Whitmore, J.h., L. Brand, and H.P. Buchheim.

2002. Implications of modern fish taphonomy

for the preservation states and depositional

environments of fossil fish, Fossil Butte Member, Green River Formation, southwestern

Wyoming. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 34(6):556.

Woodcock, D.W. and N. Kalodimos. 2002.

The tree molds at Pu’Uhonua O Honaunau: late

persistence of coastal loulu (Pritcharia) palms.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with

Programs 34(6):540.
Park Paleontology 11

EXPERIENCE YOUR AMERICATM

Park Paleontology is published intermittently each

year by the Geologic Resources Division. It is

available as a PDF file on the Internet at

http:www2.nature.nps.gov/grd/geology/paleo/

news/newsletter.htm

Copies may be printed from the internet for free

distribution.

Editor

Greg McDonald

Contributors

Simon Condliffe

Ted Fremd

 Eddie Gonzalez

 Scott Hippensteel

 Gary Morgan

 Vincent L. Santucci

 Kim Scott

Comments? Write to:

Greg McDonald

Geologic Resources Division

National Park Service

P.O. Box 25287

Denver, Colorado 80225

National Park Service

U.S. Department of the Interior

Natural Resource Program Center

Geologic Resources Division

Paleontology Program

P.O. Box 25287

Denver, Colorado 80225

303 969-2821

First Class Mail

Postage and Fees

P A I D

Denver, CO

G-83

 CAN YOU IDENTIFY THE FOSSIL?

Name the fossil and the park

Answer on page 9