We had a BYU film team come out to Saints and Sinners a few weeks ago. The first link is a video they made to promote our work on the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences website. Included in this video is also some footage taken last summer at DNM 16 where Abydosaurus mcintoshi was found. The others are interviews with a co-worker and my boss.
http://vimeo.com/13470559
http://vimeo.com/13401318
http://vimeo.com/13399593
Friday, July 23, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
More of Saints & Sinners Quarry.
Below are more pictures of the Saints & Sinners quarry. In most of them, I am standing on a ledge-ish thing overlooking the quarry and the valleys around it.
Dig site and safety fence. In the top right corner you can see a green square. That's the air compressor.
The highway in the distance is Highway 40. Colorado is to the left. We don't actually drive on this stretch of higway very often. The entrance to the quarry and Jensen, UT is to the right.
Standing in the back of the Supertruck.
Be sure to check out the next post as well. It's new, too!
Dig site and safety fence. In the top right corner you can see a green square. That's the air compressor.
The highway in the distance is Highway 40. Colorado is to the left. We don't actually drive on this stretch of higway very often. The entrance to the quarry and Jensen, UT is to the right.
Standing in the back of the Supertruck.Be sure to check out the next post as well. It's new, too!
Meet Marty and the 2nd to Last Week in the Field.
This last week in Vernal was... different. I guess that's the only way to put it. In order to get more done, and find more bones than we have over the past few weeks, we started pulling large blocks to take back to the lab and work on there. They did this last summer and decided to do it again this summer.
We took the Supertruck down again this week. Mariah and Brayden drove the pick-up and Marty and I got to spend some more quality time together. (Yes, I named him. He has officially earned a special place in my heart.)
Marty is a Ford F550. And I was informed by my co-worker Brayden that I looked small driving it. That thing is a beast. These pictures were taken on Thursday and Friday of last week.
As an unofficial birthday present (at least, I like to call it that considering I didn't make a big deal about the fact that it was my birthday...), I got to operate the crane for awhile.
The red box surrounds where the air compressor is sitting and where the other vehicles are parked. We had to do a little "off roading" to get the Supertruck to the quarry.
Driving a block up to the pick-up.
Almost there!
Loading another pallet of blocks.
Success!
We took the Supertruck down again this week. Mariah and Brayden drove the pick-up and Marty and I got to spend some more quality time together. (Yes, I named him. He has officially earned a special place in my heart.)
Marty is a Ford F550. And I was informed by my co-worker Brayden that I looked small driving it. That thing is a beast. These pictures were taken on Thursday and Friday of last week.
As an unofficial birthday present (at least, I like to call it that considering I didn't make a big deal about the fact that it was my birthday...), I got to operate the crane for awhile.
The red box surrounds where the air compressor is sitting and where the other vehicles are parked. We had to do a little "off roading" to get the Supertruck to the quarry.
Driving a block up to the pick-up.
Almost there!
Loading another pallet of blocks.
Success!
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Tut, Tut, it Looks Like Rain!
This last week in Vernal was a pretty interesting one. I don't have much to post right now, but here's what I do have. We worked Tuesday to Friday this last week. On Tuesday night, my co-workers and I went exploring in an area close to our campsite in Dinosaur National Monument. We climbed some rocks, watched for deer, and were eaten, once again, (at least I was) by bugs. Below are some of the rocks we climbed on and some shots of the Green River. It was getting late in the evening so I didn't have much light to work with, but I still like the way they turned out.
Wednesday night, Dr. Britt came out with a couple of guys from his Geol 100 class and a guy from his ward. They stayed at the campsite with us that night and spent the day with us in the field on Thursday. We also got hit with a pretty nasty thunderstorm on Thursday afternoon. We had thunder and lightning right above us on the cliff-edge and headed for the cars. I'm glad we did because shortly after, it started DUMPING rain on us. Below are some pictures of the storm from inside the Yukon. After a while, we started seeing little streams running through the mud outside the car. The storm lasted about a half an hour, during which, I did take a short cat-nap, which was welcome indeed. Crazy stuff! Clean-up was rough and we didn't get much done for the rest of the day. When the bosses said "Head for the cars!" it was a "drop everything and go" type situation. All of our tools were wet, streams of mud had filled in some of the holes we had been working in, and the ground was soaked, making working with exposed bones nearly impossible without destroying them. I admit it was fun being in a storm that big. Thunder and lightning like you wouldn't believe and tons of rain on top of that.
Wednesday night, Dr. Britt came out with a couple of guys from his Geol 100 class and a guy from his ward. They stayed at the campsite with us that night and spent the day with us in the field on Thursday. We also got hit with a pretty nasty thunderstorm on Thursday afternoon. We had thunder and lightning right above us on the cliff-edge and headed for the cars. I'm glad we did because shortly after, it started DUMPING rain on us. Below are some pictures of the storm from inside the Yukon. After a while, we started seeing little streams running through the mud outside the car. The storm lasted about a half an hour, during which, I did take a short cat-nap, which was welcome indeed. Crazy stuff! Clean-up was rough and we didn't get much done for the rest of the day. When the bosses said "Head for the cars!" it was a "drop everything and go" type situation. All of our tools were wet, streams of mud had filled in some of the holes we had been working in, and the ground was soaked, making working with exposed bones nearly impossible without destroying them. I admit it was fun being in a storm that big. Thunder and lightning like you wouldn't believe and tons of rain on top of that.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Way Past Due...
At last! An update! Below are 6 new posts! (Start at "May and Beginning of June" post and work your way up. You may need to click on the "Older Posts" link to find the first one.) Enjoy!
Saints & Sinners Findings
The last two weeks have been exciting, but boring at the same time for me as far as discoveries at the quarry. Two weeks ago, I found the tip of this guy:
I finished uncovering the whole thing by the end of the first week and spent all of this last week working on pulling it out of the ground, finally popping it off at about 11:00 Thursday morning (the day we headed home). The sharpie is there for scale. This is an articulated pelvis from the small theropod we've been working on.
This is an artist's depiction of a coelophysis pelvis. In all dinosaurs, the pelvis is made up of these three bones, the ilium, ischium, and pubis. In this particular dinosaur, the three bones fuse together as the dinosaur ages, indicating that the one I found is from an adult specimen.
This was taken at the beginning of this last week. I hadn't dug too far into the rock at this point, but you can see how close I work to the ledge. In this area when you reach the edge, there is a 2 foot drop, another small ledge and then it slopes down into the valley. (You'll notice I'm in the shade in this picture. THANK YOU JEFF!! for the shade! It's nice to think about what a few poles, some special shade fabric, and some fans will do to the temperature!)
In the process of pulling the pelvis out of the ground, I found my first skull element!! This is a maxilla.
This is a skull of a mosasaur (large marine reptile), but the skull structure is very similar. The skull element labeled "max" is the maxilla and is a part of the upper jaw that houses some of the specimen's teeth. (The one I found is reversed from this one.)
Success!!! I felt so accomplished when I finally pulled this out of the ground. Small, but awesomely cool at the same time!! By far THE COOLEST thing I have ever found.
I finished uncovering the whole thing by the end of the first week and spent all of this last week working on pulling it out of the ground, finally popping it off at about 11:00 Thursday morning (the day we headed home). The sharpie is there for scale. This is an articulated pelvis from the small theropod we've been working on.
This is an artist's depiction of a coelophysis pelvis. In all dinosaurs, the pelvis is made up of these three bones, the ilium, ischium, and pubis. In this particular dinosaur, the three bones fuse together as the dinosaur ages, indicating that the one I found is from an adult specimen.
This was taken at the beginning of this last week. I hadn't dug too far into the rock at this point, but you can see how close I work to the ledge. In this area when you reach the edge, there is a 2 foot drop, another small ledge and then it slopes down into the valley. (You'll notice I'm in the shade in this picture. THANK YOU JEFF!! for the shade! It's nice to think about what a few poles, some special shade fabric, and some fans will do to the temperature!)In the process of pulling the pelvis out of the ground, I found my first skull element!! This is a maxilla.
This is a skull of a mosasaur (large marine reptile), but the skull structure is very similar. The skull element labeled "max" is the maxilla and is a part of the upper jaw that houses some of the specimen's teeth. (The one I found is reversed from this one.)
Success!!! I felt so accomplished when I finally pulled this out of the ground. Small, but awesomely cool at the same time!! By far THE COOLEST thing I have ever found.
Officially!
My coworker, Andrew, came up to the rest of us sometime last week and handed us these papers and told us to fill them out. So naturally, I did. I am now an Official Dinosaur Hunter. :O)
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