Fossil turtle shell fragments (left) and other bone material, possibly a leg bone? (right).
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David Irwin (one of the Middle School teachers who was participating in the Radius program), gets "deeply" involved in a fossil leaf excavation. Cheryl's Festoon locality (Paleocene, D1 sequence).
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Rod & Jim at Cheryl's Festoon (Paleocene, D1 Sequence)
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Adrienne DeBall (one of the Middle School teachers who was participating in the Radius program), helps excavate a fossil leaf excavation. Cheryl's Festoon locality (Paleocene, D1 sequence).
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David Irwin & Adrienne DeBall (Middle School teachers participating in the Radius program).
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Bob Raynolds, Mary & Alicia drawing geologic diagrams in the field books from across the gully.
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The field school excavating two additional fossil leaf localities (Paleocene, D1 Sequence).
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Steve Wagner next to a fossil tree trunk buried in its upright, growing position (in-situ). Paleocene, D1 Sequence.
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A beautiful "outcrop bouquet" courtesy of increased Front Range rainfall. Being in the cut bank of this gully, these flowers stand a good chance of finding their way into the gully sediments - under the best of circumstances, they may become future fossils for paleontologists millions of years from now. (D-"present" sequence)
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On other field trips in the Paleontology Certification Program, we examined ancient mudcracks in rock. The cracks had been filled in with sand, but were easily identified in the rock record. In this gully, we were treated to these mudcracks. This was a small pond in the gully earlier in the spring which has since dried up. All it takes is another hard rain and the cracks will be filled in by upstream sediments. A flash flood could provide the proper burial needed to solidify these mudrocks in the rock record from today.
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Circular markings from raindrops which previously fell on then soft muds. Again, we have seen ancient mudcracks and sand ripples on previous field trips that record this exact phenomenon. (D-"present" sequence)
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Looking for bone fragments and teeth in the nearby badlands deposits (Cretaceous, D1 Sequence)
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A fossil palm frond found in the gully. GPS coordinates censored in respect of the private land owner. (Paleocene, D1 Sequence)
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Fossil leaf found in the gully (Paleocene, D1 Sequence)
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Rest break atop a fossil leaf locality in the gully below.
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Resting after wrapping the day's finds. Temps were in the high 90's and clouds were always hiding out on the horizon. The bad thing about a gully is it doesn't provide any protection from the sun at midday and it completely blocks an wind.
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A rewarding Colorado sunset!
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