At Our Meeting:
Monday, November 14, 2005
Program: "Maastrichtian Dinosaur
Ecology of the Hell Creek Formation of Eastern Montana"
 |
|
Joseph Hatcher, Paleontologist and Curator of
Paleontology at the Garfield
County Museum, paid us a visit to present to us his latest research. (Left:
Joseph Hatcher, aka "Paleo Joe") |
Program Review: Our renowned Guest Speaker,
Paleontologist Joseph Hatcher, charged us up with his presentation of his latest Montana
dinosaur research.
Covering first the history of the Jordan, Montana area along with its
geology, Joseph continued onto newly derived ideas about the K-T (Cretaceous-Tertiary) Boundary in
the Hell Creek Formation. He noted that both Barnum
Brown (finder of the first Tyrannosaurus Rex credited to him in 1905, and the Lewis
& Clark expedition (about 1806), were the first to discover sauropods in the Hell
Creek area. Pompey's Pillar National Monument
marks the Voyage of Discovery site.
Modern discoveries in science hypothesize on the great dinosaur extinction
of 65 million years ago.
His studies encompass not just dinosaurs, however; he gathers and
interprets data on the flora and fauna of the swampy paleoenvironment. From turtles
to microfossils, Mr. Hatcher is attempting to gain a full understanding of how his
dinosaur fossils came to be. From this, he can ascertain more about their lifestyle
and other aspects of their being.
We were wowwed on the pictures of his recent 2005 digging season finds,
and how he and a team are now preparing them at the Philadelphia
Academy of Natural Sciences for study and exhibit in the Jordan museum.
He shared with us stories about the use of both his high tech and low tech
tools. For example, in his macrostudies, he uses the GPS (Global Positioning System)
and GIS data for mapping within the RockWorks
geology software package.
Most interesting were the results of his dinosaur inventory to date.
Among his counts are: 17 Triceratops
skeletons, 9 Edmontosaurus
individuals, and velociraptors,
crocodillians, dome heads, and T.
Rex.
For perspective, he described to us what remains of the ancient climate in
which his dinos dined. Today's fine-grained mudstone with ironstone and gypsum acts
as matrix to preserve the once lumbering beasts of this formerly swampy paleoworld.
One could almost picture parts of their environs. Today's buttes were once marshland
upon which the animals grazed or predated--and died.
Joseph will complete his preparatory work and depart our area for Montana
in May 2006. He invites us to join him on a dino dig under the banner of his
non-profit organization, the PaleoWorld Research
Foundation. Special excursions are planned for the 2006 Digging Season.
All fees cover expenses of the dig, so this is a chance to support and work closely with
the professionals in official dinosaur excavations. You could be part of the
exciting advancement of science and contribute toward the development of the Montana Dinosaur Trail.
"Paleo Joe" offers us a rare opportunity to be a part of the
discovery and history into our phenomenal world of Dinosaurs. Registration is now open for
the 2006 Season. I know I would like to go!
Thanks for your informative presentation on your cutting edge research
into Paleontology!
[Ken Casey] |
