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Category Archives: General Geology
Will fame corrupt our sweet bugs-next-door, the Solite insects?
Well, our beloved Triassic insects have been making some science news as there have been a few recent papers published regarding the Solite fossils. Which begs the question- will fame corrupt these sweet fossils? Fortunately, no. They have been … Continue reading
The Paleo Lab Welcomes A New Intern! (A guest blog by Madison Pullis)
Hello everyone! I am one of the new interns invading the Virginia Museum of Natural History this summer. My name is Madison Pullis and I can be found in the Paleontology lab most days. I am from Mt. Pleasant, Iowa … Continue reading
New stromatolite donation
A frequent activity in my job is responding to public requests for identification of possible fossils. The majority of these turn out to not be fossils at all, but a few are, and some of those eventually make their way … Continue reading
Posted in General Geology
3 Comments
Carmel Church, Day 3
A moderate amount of bone has started showing up in both pits, although since we’re mostly working in deeply weathered material we usually can’t tell yet what kinds of bones we have. But we are getting some interesting – and … Continue reading
Sorry, it’s not an egg
As a government-employed paleontologist, one aspect of my job is answer inquiries from the public about paleontology. This often includes identifying potential fossils, and that means the dreaded “dinosaur egg”.
Posted in General Geology
3 Comments
The Black Hills, Part 4
If you’ve been following my first three installments on the Black Hills (Mesozoic, Paleozoic, and Proterozoic rocks) it should be clear by now that the Black Hills rocks are layer out in a series of concentric rings that get progressively … Continue reading
The Black Hills, Part 3
As we saw in the last post, the Black Hills are surrounded by a ring of Mesozoic and Paleozoic sedimentary rocks that get progressively older toward the interior of the Black Hills. However, after just a few kilometers we’ve passed … Continue reading
The Black Hills, Part 2
In Part 1, we saw that the Black Hills are surrounded by the Red Valley, which gains its color from the Triassic Spearfish Formation. The outer wall of the Red Valley is made of Jurassic and Cretaceous sediments. But what … Continue reading
The Black Hills, Part 1
After leaving the Badlands, Brett, Tim and I headed west toward the Black Hills. As the Google Earth image above shows, the Black Hills are an isolated mountain range, roughly elliptical in shape with the long axis running northwest-southeast. The … Continue reading
Badlands National Park, Part 2-Cretaceous fossils
In the last post we looked at the sediments, paleosols, and some of the structures in the Badlands. But while the park is famous for its scenery, it is also one of the world’s great vertebrate fossil localities. While we … Continue reading
Posted in General Geology, Museums
1 Comment