From Michelle: I thought it would be great to pass the word around about the 2nd annual Fossil Preparation and Collections Symposium, being hosted at the Tate Museum [...]]]> I am posting this at Michelle Pinsdorf’s request. There will be several people from here going, and again we should be able to provide transportation.

From Michelle: I thought it would be great to pass the word around about the 2nd annual Fossil Preparation and Collections Symposium, being hosted at the Tate Museum in Casper this summer. The conference runs from June 5-7th, is nice and close by, offers discounts on hotel rooms, and has a sliding scale of registration fees depending on the days and activities one wants to participate in.

The website for the symposium is here: http://www.caspercollege.edu/tate/index.html
(click the “Activities” tab and then click the “Annual Summer Conference” bar), while the schedule of events and speakers is here: http://www.caspercollege.edu/tate/downloads/2009_tateconf_schedule.pdf
and the registration form is here: http://www.caspercollege.edu/tate/downloads/2009_tate_registration.pdf

I’d very much like to go, and would be happy to make plans with others to split driving, rooms, etc., so I think this might be a good thing to announce in class and/or just around the department in general, before everyone goes everywhere for the summer.

The 8th Conference on Fossil Resources will be held May 19-21 in St. George, Utah. Information from their site is posted below. This will be immediately followed by a 2-day symposium on ‘Advances in Late Cretaceous paleontology in the Escalante/Grand Staircase National Monument’ in the same venue (May 22-23, the Dixie Center). The Museum [...]]]>

The 8th Conference on Fossil Resources will be held May 19-21 in St. George, Utah. Information from their site is posted below. This will be immediately followed by a 2-day symposium on ‘Advances in Late Cretaceous paleontology in the Escalante/Grand Staircase National Monument’ in the same venue (May 22-23, the Dixie Center). The Museum of Geology is taking a group of students to this. Only transportation costs for those students riding in the van can be covered by the Museum. Early registration unfortunately has ended, but there is room for 1 or 2 more students in the van. We will camp out on the way down and on the way back, and you are responsible for your gear, food, and lodging costs. It will be a great opportunity to see Utah geology and paleontology. If you are interested, please contact Sally.

About the Conferences on Fossil Resources:

The Conference on Fossil Resources convenes periodically to provide an opportunity for public land managers, professional scientists and interested amateurs to come together to discuss successes, discoveries and land management policy to protect and enhance our Nation’s paleontological resources. Through collaboration, we seek to maximize scientific, educational and recreational opportunities on our public lands.

The 2009 conference will be the eighth time this group has convened.

The 8th CFR will be attended by representatives from various
government agencies, professional paleontologists, students and interested parties from several countries. Sessions will be held on the following topics:

. Paleontological research on public lands
. Permitting and museum collections
. Partnerships in management and research
. Law enforcement and fossil protection
. Education stewardship and public involvement
. International perspectives

The conference will also include field trips and social / networking events.

More information at:
http://www.8cfr.org
http://www.learningfromtheland.org/cretaceousconference/

Mrs. Alderson and her find

The specimen was found by Mrs. Alderson’s husband in 1961 when he was digging a post [...]]]> At the Rock and Fossil ID day people brought in some interesting finds. Two in particular caught my attention. First was a concretion containing ammonite & clam fossils brought in by Mary Alderson of Rapid City.

Mrs. Alderson and her find

The specimen was found by Mrs. Alderson’s husband in 1961 when he was digging a post for a telephone pole. He brought it home and Mary has kept it ever since. The fossil itself dates back to the Campanian about 70-78 million years ago, when this part of North America was covered by the Western Interior Seaway.

Another interesting find brought in were these: 

A geode?

Looks like a galena coconut

The man who brought these in bought them in Morocco. It turns out they’re fake. The mineral inside is obviously galena, the cubic crystal shape and shiny metallic luster are a dead giveaway. But the crystals aren’t intergrown, and those spires in the middle aren’t like anything else seen in galena. The whole thing looks as if it were coated in glue and had galena sprinkled inside like glitter.

To top it all off, the bottom “geode” (the coconut-looking one) appears to be made of a ceramic material. All in all they’re interesting, but definitely man-made.

Thanks to SEG for hosting this [...]]]>

Thanks to SEG for hosting this event at the Museum of Geolgy. It was a great success and I hope to do it again.