Early Life
Monthly Archive: December Earl
Unearthing the oldest dinosaur nesting site
Fig. 1. Reconstruction of a Massospondyus nesting site. Courtesy J. Csotonyi
Live Blogging from the Burgess Shale Virtual Museum of Canada Launch!
Join us Thursday, December 1 from 11 am to noon EST as we live blog from the ROM during the launch event for the Burgess Shale Virtual Museum of Canada. This online exhibition is the most current and comprehensive resource for knowledge on one of the world’s most important fossil sites.
From the Field: Farewell Churchill
July 27
The weather forecast was pretty much on the money, and a dismal dawn yields to thunder-squalls rolling across the tundra. But, after breakfast and a second cup of coffee, the rain eases and we are a shade more optimistic about our flight out later this morning. Time for one last walkabout of our temporary home.
From the Field: Last day before departure
July 26
From the Field: Hudson Bay’s Ancient Treasures
July 25
From the Field: Finding “Miss Piggy” and Late Ordovician fossil fragments
July 24
Away to the airport this morning to see Ed off to Winnipeg - there goes our ace bear protection and GPS expert! At least we had a chance to do the firearms familiarization before his departure, so all are up to speed on handling various pyrotechnic deterrents. I’ll ride shotgun in Ed’s absence, with Matt as backup, and incoming member Sean adds another pair of sharp eyes to the fossil team.
From the Field: Ancient Sea Scorpion Fossil Found
July 23
Clear skies at last! Down to the coast to catch good morning lighting and a fortuitously low tide, so we can see in detail how fossil-bearing Upper Ordovician carbonate deposits (445 million years old) at our main locality “lap” against the elevated flanks of a much more ancient rock mass. This highly resistant Proterozoic (about 2500 million-year-old) quartzite body is the remnant of a small island that formed part of an archipelago in shallow Ordovician subtropical seas.
From the Field: Digging for Fossils in Churchill’s Trenches
July 22
From the Field: Searching for Early Life in Churchill, MB
July 20
From the Field: Arrival in Churchill, Manitoba
July 18, 2011 – Welcome to Churchill!
We arrive from Winnipeg by twin turboprop early this evening, after the usual minor delays and frustrations,… pick up our 4×4 vehicle, get settled in at the wonderful new Churchill Northern Studies Centre facility and spend a few hours showing two novice crew members some of the nearby tundra features, including a splendid extended sunset (officially at 10:07 PM, but with a beautifully long prelude).
