The Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds

We need your photos!

The Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds, Inc. — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:00:28 +0000

Have you taken some great photos of

Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument
Summer seminars
Special events at the park
Local wildlife and flora?

We’d love to feature your photos on the Friends website or in the newsletter! You can email your digital photos to Melissa Barton at webmaster@fossilbeds.org, or contact her to arrange to mail prints for scanning (prints will be returned) or a CD-ROM.

You will be given full credit for your photography, and this is an easy way to contribute to the Friends! We are particularly in need of photographs from this year’s summer seminar series.

Florissant diatoms in the news

The Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds, Inc. — Thu, 14 May 2009 23:12:53 +0000

University of Colorado at Boulder doctoral candidate Mary Ellen Benson’s research is in the news at Boulder’s Nanomaterials Characterization Facility.

Diatoms may someday play a role in microelectronics and other nanotechnological devices by growing nano-scale structures. The trick is getting the diatoms, a type of microscopic algae, to build the right structures.

Read more about Benson’s research on the fossil diatoms of Florissant and how researchers may use diatoms for nanotechnological applications in Dan Ray’s article, Nanotechnology in Nature: Ancient Algae Hints at Earthâ€™s Past, Nanotechnologyâ€™s Future.

Oldest North American mole found at Florissant

The Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds, Inc. — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 03:53:44 +0000

Despite over 120 years of fossil discoveries, the Florissant Fossil Beds are still producing new discoveries.

A new genus and species of fossil mole has been described from Florissant, published in September 2007 in Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. Karen Lloyd, who graduated in 2007 from the University of Colorado with an M.S. in Museum and Field Studies, discovered a partial jaw with three teeth among material collected from Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument.

Lloyd named the fossil mole Oreotalpa florissantensis, which means “mountain mole from Florissant” (oreo = mountain, talpa = mole). In addition to representing a new genus and species, Oreotalpa is the first evidence that moles lived around ancient Lake Florissant, as well as the oldest known specimen of a mole from North America. While moles were previously believed to have originated in Europe, Oreotalpa suggests the possibility of a North American origin for moles.

Research since 2003 by Lloyd, her advisor Dr. Jaelyn Eberle, and another Museum and Field Studies graduate and former park intern, Marie Worley-Georg, has more than tripled the number of known fossil mammals from Florissant.

The list now includes rodents (relatives of squirrels, mice, and the “mountain beaver” Aplodontia), rabbits, shrews and other insectivores, the small three-toed horse Mesohippus, deer-like Leptomeryx, sheep-sized oreodonts, a pigmy opossum, a rhinoceros-like brontothere, and a tapir-like ancestor of the rhinoceroses. Although less abundant at Florissant than fossil plants and insects, mammals are an important part of the ecological picture of ancient Lake Florissant.

You can read an abstract and download a copy of Lloyd and Eberle’s paper at Acta Palaeontologica Polonica.

-Melissa Barton

Image Credit: Walter Heubach (German, 1865-1923) (European mole, Talpa europaea)

Notes From the Lab: Yale Peabody Museum

The Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds, Inc. — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:00:24 +0000

Last spring I applied for and received a Schuchert and Dunbar Grant-in-Aid to visit Yale University’s Peabody Museum of Natural History and study their collection of insects from the Antero Formation of South Park, Colorado, as part of my thesis on ecological changes during the Eocene and Oligocene. Yale’s collection of Antero insects and plants, while small, is currently the most significant Antero collection in any museum. My advisor at the University of Colorado–Boulder, Dr. Dena Smith, and I thought it was important to examine this historical collection. While we had already borrowed most of the plant specimens, the Peabody has approximately 400 insect specimens (a lot to pack up), and this was a great opportunity to study both those and the plant specimens which were too fragile to loan.

I spent a week photographing and examining the insect fossils with a microscope, and was also able to see the other plant fossils. The trip was very productive for me, as in addition to having a better idea of the insect diversity and sizes, I now have a far better understanding of the lithology (geological characteristics) of the lake shales.

I also determined that Dr. Christopher Durden, who collected the fossils as a student at Yale in the 1960s, was not sorting in the field, as the majority of the insects are extremely tiny, and a few specimens turned out not to be specimens at all, but simply discoloration on the rocks. It was clear that Durden collected anything that looked like it might be a fossil. This is important, as it reassures me that the insect collection will be useful for ecological analysis. However, since Durden was collecting insects and insects and plants are rarely found in equal abundance in the same layers, that explains the small size of the plant collection relative to the insect collection. Unfortunately, while the plants provide an important species list, the sample is too small for statistical analysis.

Unlike Florissant, the majority of the insects present are extremely tiny, hardly visible with the naked eye. Fly larvae and aquatic insects were extremely common. The preservation is often extremely good, showing fine detail of wing venation and patterns on beetle carapaces. Among the plants, I also observed a species previously undescribed in the Antero literature, which may in fact be a new genus or species.

The chance to visit the Peabody was also exciting for other reasons–the collections and workspaces are housed in the new environmental science building, in purpose-built spaces designed for museum collections. The collections spaces are spacious and climate-controlled, with separate air-handling systems to keep down dust and movable shelving with room for further expansion of collections. It was truly inspiring to see what museum collections spaces can look like when built according to modern standards.

Sadly, it is challenging to convey the importance of collections to the public, given their behind-the-scenes nature, and most museums have difficulty obtaining the funding and public support necessary to renovate collections spaces. Museum collections contain a vast amount of our scientific and cultural heritage, and provide invaluable resources for research, education, and exhibit. I believe that ensuring that they receive proper care should be a public priority.

I am extremely grateful to Dr. Derek Briggs, curator of invertebrate paleontology, Dr. Susan Butts, invertebrate paleontology collections manager, and Dr. Leo Hickey, curator of paleobotany, for this opportunity and their assistance during my visit.

Redwoods in Colorado?

The Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds, Inc. — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 18:00:43 +0000

Artist’s reconstruction of the ancient Florissant forest by Rob Wood. NPS.

The July August issue of The Interpreter, a magazine for professional and volunteer interpretive educators, features as its cover story an article by Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument Volunteer Interpretive Specialist Heidi Bailey called “Are Your Stories Lost in Space? Interpret the Geography of a Place.”

In the article, Bailey uses Florissant as a vivid example of how telling the geographic as well as historical story of a place can enrich interpretation and engage visitors.

Bailey writes

Geography is about visualizing large spaces, getting acquainted with special places, and connecting to the Earth as a whole. The places and spaces around us are integral to our lives and should play a significant role in the stories we tell.

Bailey provides concrete activities that interpreters can use in their work. She can be contacted at hbailey@fossilbeds.org.

Tickets for Richard Louv presentation available August 1

The Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds, Inc. — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 18:00:18 +0000

Thanks to partnerships with the Catamount Institute and other local organization, Colorado residents will have the chance to hear Richard Louv, author of the award-winning book Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder and recipient of the 2008 Audubon Medal, speak at the Pikes Peak Center this October.

Tickets go on sale August 1 at 10 a.m. This event is part of No Child Left Inside Weekend, a collaboration between many Pikes Peak area parks and nature centers. For more information about scheduled activities and events as it becomes available, visit Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument’s No Child Left Inside website.

Who: Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder
When: 7:00 p.m., Friday, October 3, 2008 (doors open at 5:30 p.m. for exhibits)
Where: Pikes Peak Center, Colorado Springs, CO

For more information, email info@catamountinstitute.org or call 719-471-0910, Ext. 106. Tickets go on sale August 1 at 10 a.m. Adults $10, Educators $7, Students $5. Contact Tickets West at 719-520-SHOW.

Health Advisory: Plague in Teller Co. Prairie Dogs

The Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds, Inc. — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:00:04 +0000

Plague has been found in prairie dog populations in Teller County. Due to the high rodent population around the Hornbek Homestead at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, this area is currently closed. However, the rest of the park remains open.

Please remember not to feed any wildlife, both for your health and theirs. For more information on health and safety at the park, call 719-748-3253.

Photo: Wing-Chi Poon (Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 License)

Scientists continue fossil mammoth study

The Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds, Inc. — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 04:48:10 +0000

Scientists, including Friends president Steven W. Veatch, will be continuing research on the Ice Age mammoth discovered at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument in 2002. Veatch, who has an M.S. in geology from Emporia State University, presented a paper on the Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) at the Geological Society of America annual meeting in 2004. The mammoth, informally dubbed “Milo,” is at least 33 million years younger than the other fossils of Florissant, dating to the Pleistocene period.

Now Veatch and Dr. David M. Jarzen of the Paleobotany and Palynology Laboratory at the Florida Museum of Natural History will be studying the environment the mammoth lived in using some very tiny clues–fossil pollen from the sediments surrounding the mammoth bones.

The tough coatings of pollen grains hold up well in the fossil record, so pollen often provides important clues to past environments even when larger plant fossils are absent. Pollen can often be identified to at least a family or generic level. Since no other large fossils were found with the mammoth, Veatch applied for and received a grant to study fossil pollen, which was extracted from the sediment and prepared on slides by a Canadian palynology lab.

Veatch is excited to be continuing work on the Florissant mammoth, and hopes to present the findings of this new study at the Geological Society of America annual meeting in 2010.

For more information on Milo the Mammoth, read High elevation Mammuthus from the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, Colorado.

-Melissa Barton

Last of new exhibits installed

The Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds, Inc. — Sun, 25 May 2008 18:00:07 +0000

The last of the new Visitor Center exhibits at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument have been installed. They include a diagram of a stratigraphic column showing the different types of rocks in the park, touchable samples of rock and fossil wood, and an changing board showcasing currently research at the park and partnership projects like the conservation of the Sexi Petrified Forest in Peru.

These exhibits greatly enhance the park’s ability to educate visitors, and display some of the park’s most spectacular fossil specimens along with hands-on activities for kids. The free Junior Ranger Program is a great complement to the new exhibits.

-Melissa Barton

“Paleontology of the Upper Eocene Florissant Formation, Colorado” available from GSA bookstore

The Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds, Inc. — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 01:41:47 +0000

Paleontology of the Upper Eocene Florissant Formation, Colorado (ISBN 9780813724355), a Geological Society of America special paper, is now available from the GSA Bookstore ($42 GSA members, $60 nonmembers).

This 177-page volume, edited by Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument paleontologist Dr. Herbert W. Meyer and University of Colorado Museum of Natural History professor Dr. Dena M. Smith, collects 11 papers on research, resource management, and history at the Fossil Beds.

These papers include, among others a history of the paleontological study of the site; new models for the role of biofilms in fossil preservation; plant-insect associations during the Eocene; a summary of the mammalian fauna; the mineralogical preservation of the fossil woods and conservation strategies for the petrified forest; and the development of a new database to compile a complete inventory of the fossils and their taxonomy.

While aimed at a scientific audience, this volume is a must-have for the library of any serious enthusiast of the Florissant fossils.

The Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds

We need your photos!

Florissant diatoms in the news

More on Mary Ellen Benson’s research…

Oldest North American mole found at Florissant

Notes From the Lab: Yale Peabody Museum

Read more about the Antero project…

Redwoods in Colorado?

Tickets for Richard Louv presentation available August 1

Health Advisory: Plague in Teller Co. Prairie Dogs

Scientists continue fossil mammoth study

Last of new exhibits installed

Related Stories

“Paleontology of the Upper Eocene Florissant Formation, Colorado” available from GSA bookstore