Here are some photos from my research trip. I spent a week in Montana studying a limestone formation from the Mississippian. The Mississippian is a period of geologic time that began about 360 million years ago and was the period of time from which most of our oil, natural gas, and coal deposits were formed.The professor that I was with, Dr. Forest Gahn, has expertise in the field of paleontology, with a particular interest in crinoids. The Mississippian also happens to be known as the "age of crinoids," and there were plenty of crinoid specimens to be found in this formation.
I realize that most of you don't care about any of this, so I'll just end this blog post. I hope that you enjoy the pictures. We were doing the majority of our work at roughly 11,000 ft above sea level.
If you want to know more about my research, just ask me. For the rest of you; don't worry, we'll post some more pictures of Sally soon.
Later,
Martell
11 comments:
What a beautiful area! Did you find a good fossil to take home, or is that allowed?
wonderful pix! thanks for giving me an opportunity to learn, martel! i admittedly don't know much about rocks!
It looks like it was cold. Looks like it was pretty great trip. When I was a girl, the Kansas playground had some gravelled areas where we used to find lots of crinoids in the gravel. What was the coolest think about the trip?
We saw some cool rocks on Saturday too.
There were supposed to be some fossils, but.... well I think we passed by the area that they were at thinking it was a well graffittied wall. We did some some amazing non fossil rocks though along a rocky waterfront the rocks eroded in a rather amazing fashion. I guess there were salt deposits that rock formed around and then the salt dissoves so you get these rocks riddled with holes right along the waterfront.
Martell, what is a crinoid? I have been trying to figure it out from reading your post, but I am lost.
Tres interessant mon beau-frere. Who wrote that article on crinoids?
I like your rocks almost as much as I like seeing pictures of Sally. Keep them coming!
ME TOO. Love a good adventure story! I really like the first picture with the rocks and fog. Did you get paid to go on that trip?
Mom Strong: I brought home a few fossils, but I left the majority at our campsite as I didn't have room for them in my pack.
Mom Rasmussen: The coolest thing? Actually, coming home to Katie and Sally was probably the coolest thing about the trip. I don't know if there was one part of the trip that I would label "the coolest" though. I just liked being part of an actual research trip and making a contribution to science.
Natalie: Their is a link to an article about crinoids in the text of my post, but as a primer, an crinoid is related to starfish, sea urchins and sea cucumbers. They kind of look like a fern or a lily. In fact, sometimes crinoids are referred to as sea lilies. If you want to know more, you can read about it on the link in the blog post.
Seth: I don't know who wrote that article. I just googled "crinoids" and picked the first non-wikipedia link that had legitimate information.
Melinda: I didn't get paid to go on the trip, but I didn't have to pay for it either. I have the option of either doing an internship or a senior project as part of my graduation requirement, and this will most likely become a part of my senior project. I will probably present my findings at a Geological Society of America meeting before I graduate.
I'm pretty sure you just made up the Mississipian Period...
Hey, Mar! When you present your findings to the Geological Society of America, make sure that you slide your glasses back up your nose using your index finger several times during the presentation. And bringing a rock for each member of the panel to lick while you make your presentation will ensure high marks.
Good idea Tim... except I think that I'll use a different finger to slide my glasses up my nose, if you know what I mean ;-)
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