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Utah BYU Idaho Field Trip Geology 112


Fossil-Hound

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Well I finally had the opportunity to head out to Millard Co. with my Geology professor, the esteemed Forest Gahn. He is one of the worlds leading experts in Echinoderms and he specializes in Crinoids. The guy goes diving a lot to study Echinoderms in their natural habitat and he's managed to keep some Crinoids thriving in a tank at BYU in Rexburg, Idaho. Here's some pictures of the trip to some special Geology and Paleontology sights in south western Utah. I had a blast.

 

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Students sitting on the edge of Fossil Mountain, one of the richest Ordovician deposits in the world learning about it's geology from Forest Gahn. The major fossiliferous formations are the Juab and Kanosh Shale

formations.

 

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In a remnant of the last ice age lake, Lake Bonneville forest scopes up a handful of algae and cyanobacteria rich mud along with Playa (dried up lake).

 

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This is an extinct marine animal known as a Graptolite discovered at a nearby Ordovician road cut in Millard Co. UT.

 

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No trip is complete without trilobites. Here's a large Asaphiscus wheeleri molt from U-Dig near Delta, UT.

 

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This Native American arrowhead was recovered in Millard CO Utah during one of our hikes. My professor claims its origins may be from the Shoshone Tribe.

 

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Forest teaches students about the Cambrian marine fauna at U-Dig near Delta, UT.

 

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Forest shows students the fossilized remains of a Stromatolite (just above his knee) colony alongside the Lake Bonneville Playa (dried lake) near Notch Peak UT.

 

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Here is the view of Fossil Mountain in Millard CO, UT at sunrise.

 

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At dusk on the first night we camped at the dunes of Little Sahara which are composed of ancient sand deposits from the Sevier River dumping into Lake Bonneville.

 

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Perhaps one of my favorite parts of the trip was being let into the collections archive room at the BYU museum of paleontology in Provo, UT. A lot of the dinosaurs in the collections here are from the Saints and Sinners Quarry in Colorado. Lots of neat therapods including a near complete Allosaurus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do or do not. There is no try. - Yoda

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Here's a few more pictures.

 

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Here is the Utahraptor (Robber from Utah) cast at the BYU museum of paleontology. These guys would have put the Velociraptors of Jurassic Park to shame.

 

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U-Dig was awesome. The owner Shayne Crapo just cleared exposed a bunch of large slabs of shale. What a nice guy. Here's a bag full of trilobites to take home.

 

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Students busy collecting from the U-Dig Wheeler shale.

 

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We stopped by Notch Peak the second highest vertical in the USA. The metamorphic structures here were very interesting.

 

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Fossil Mountain had layer upon layer of Ordovician fossils to examine. Within the Kanosh shale there were some interesting discoveries including this quarter sized pygidium of a Kanoshia kanoshensis.

 

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Forest teaches students about the paleontology at an Ordovician road cut in Millard Co. This site was littered with crinoid hash plates.

 

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An arrowhead found as is.

 

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Having fun around the campfire at Little Sahara.

 

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Standing in front of Fossil Mountain with Dr. Greg and Dr. Forest Gahn of the BYU Idaho Geology department. I graduated with the class of 2011.

Do or do not. There is no try. - Yoda

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Great report with some wonderful photographs and splendid specimens! 

You clearly had a super time. 

Thanks for posting. :)

Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

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Great read! Thanks for taking us with you!

“...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin

Happy hunting,

Mason

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Awesome photo-essay journey, Jason! Some very lovely views out there in open sky country. :) 

...How to Philosophize with a Hammer

 

 

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Wonderful trip report. It was nice to see pictures of Forest Gahn. I love collecting crinoids from the Burlington Limestone and whenever I research the crinoids, his name comes up. He looks much younger than I envisioned.

 

Mike

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Thanks for the post about your trip. I want to visit Fossil Mountain someday but keep getting distracted by other sites in the area.

-Dave

__________________________________________________

Geologists on the whole are inconsistent drivers. When a roadcut presents itself, they tend to lurch and weave. To them, the roadcut is a portal, a fragment of a regional story, a proscenium arch that leads their imaginations into the earth and through the surrounding terrain. - John McPhee

If I'm going to drive safely, I can't do geology. - John McPhee

Check out my Blog for more fossils I've found: http://viewsofthemahantango.blogspot.com/

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Great report and pics! Glad to see you getting out and about! Love that arrowhead!

Dipleurawhisperer5.jpg

I like Trilo-butts and I cannot lie.

 

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8 hours ago, minnbuckeye said:

Wonderful trip report. It was nice to see pictures of Forest Gahn. I love collecting crinoids from the Burlington Limestone and whenever I research the crinoids, his name comes up. He looks much younger than I envisioned.

 

Mike

 

Yeah he really is a gifted individual. He knows more about crinoids than anyone I know. He's heading out to Iowa this summer for a three month field study of new crinoid species. I believe he is around his mid-40's but I'm not sure.

Do or do not. There is no try. - Yoda

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On 4/10/2018 at 5:29 PM, minnbuckeye said:

@Fossil-HoundDrop my name if he could use some manual assistance!!!!

Will do. If you're heading out to Iowa for crinoids this summer I'm sure he would like to dig with you. He's pretty easy to find on Facebook. Not very many guys with that first and last name.

Do or do not. There is no try. - Yoda

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