I will be off camping for the night in the Kaibab National Forest. Going to try for Locust Point which overlooks the Grand Canyon. Hope to post pics tomorrow.
Have a great day!
.jpg)
You probably think this is just a bunch of rocks. Maybe even leverites, as in leave it right there. But you’d be wrong.
.jpg)
OK, I’ve been promising fossils for a while. It’s only been a week and a half since I went camping and fossil hunting at Marble View in the Kaibab National Forest.
.jpg)
Worm castings on veranda wall
After I give a geology talk I encourage Grand Canyon visitors to look for fossils on the walls of the lodge and veranda while I put props away. Then I lead a fossil walk part way out Bright Angel trail.
.jpg)
Bright Angel Trail
Kaibab limestone makes up the top layer of rock walked on here at Grand Canyon National Park. It was deposited about 270 million years ago when an ocean covered southern New Mexico and most of Arizona, Utah and Nevada. Many marine fossils can be seen.
.jpg)
Brachiopods are ocean bottom dwelling bi-valves yet are not related to clams or oysters. They were the most plentiful fossil on earth from the Paleozoic Era yet are rare in today’s oceans having never fully recovered from the devastation that occurred during the end of the Permian.
.jpg)
Kaibab limestone makes up the top layer of rock walked on here at Grand Canyon National Park. It was deposited about 270 million years ago when an ocean covered southern New Mexico and most of Arizona, Utah and Nevada. Many marine fossils can be seen.
.jpg)
Brachiopods are ocean bottom dwelling bi-valves yet are not related to clams or oysters. They were the most plentiful fossil on earth from the Paleozoic Era yet are rare in today’s oceans having never fully recovered from the devastation that occurred during the end of the Permian.
.jpg)
Sponge fossil in limestone and small fan coral on lower left corner
Sponges are also bottom dwellers and the simplest form of multi-cellular animals. Sponges feed, breath, reproduce and excrete by pumping water through the pores in their bodies. They vary in color, shape and size.
.jpg)
Crinoids, also known as sea lilies or feather-stars, have a stem formed of many stacked discs and grow in colonies on the ocean floor. The stem is topped with multiple feather-like feeding arms that filter small particles of food from the water.
.jpg)
The button-like crinoids have long been gathered and used for beads. Archeologists excavating at the Grand Canyon discovered crinoids strung by the Ancestral Puebloan Native Americans that lived here about 1000 years ago.
.jpg)
A work in progress
So I’m going to string some of my fossil finds along with some turquoise. That is if I ever get off the computer long enough.
For more glimpses into life around the world go to My World Tuesday by clicking here.
Sponges are also bottom dwellers and the simplest form of multi-cellular animals. Sponges feed, breath, reproduce and excrete by pumping water through the pores in their bodies. They vary in color, shape and size.
.jpg)
Crinoids, also known as sea lilies or feather-stars, have a stem formed of many stacked discs and grow in colonies on the ocean floor. The stem is topped with multiple feather-like feeding arms that filter small particles of food from the water.
.jpg)
The button-like crinoids have long been gathered and used for beads. Archeologists excavating at the Grand Canyon discovered crinoids strung by the Ancestral Puebloan Native Americans that lived here about 1000 years ago.
.jpg)
A work in progress
So I’m going to string some of my fossil finds along with some turquoise. That is if I ever get off the computer long enough.
For more glimpses into life around the world go to My World Tuesday by clicking here.
.jpg)
Storm over Dog Point
When I was out fossil hunting last week (I know, still haven’t posted the fossils but I’m working on it) the sky changed so rapidly I could barely keep up taking photos. This is what it looked like when I arrived at my camp spot overlooking North Canyon, one of many side canyons, this one out of the park but still part of the Grand Canyon.
When I was out fossil hunting last week (I know, still haven’t posted the fossils but I’m working on it) the sky changed so rapidly I could barely keep up taking photos. This is what it looked like when I arrived at my camp spot overlooking North Canyon, one of many side canyons, this one out of the park but still part of the Grand Canyon.
To see more skies from around the world go to Sky Watch Friday by clicking here.