Amy Atwater is the Paleontology Collections Manager/Registrar at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana – and more importantly, is an amazing scientist. Her discussion of archaeology/paleontology, deep time, stratigraphy, etc., with the “cowboys of science” in episode #5 of their Life In Ruins podcast series (embedded below) is a must listen! More information…
Category: paleontology
Tertiary geology and paleontology of the central Gravelly Range – a project update
It’s time for our yearly update talk on field work and data compilation for the Tertiary geology and paleontology of the central Gravelly Range project in southwestern Montana. The Madison Ranger District in Ennis, Montana (5 Forest Service Road) will be hosting my talk on Monday, April 2nd at 10am in the Madison Ranger District conference room….
Tertiary Geology and Paleontology in the Gravelly Range, Southwestern Montana
A part of my recent geological field work includes working on high elevation Tertiary strata in the Gravelly Range, southwestern Montana. The Gravelly Range is located in southwest Montana, about 10 miles southwest of Ennis, Montana. For some background on this area and what my field work is about, see an older blog that I…
Canadian Rockies – Alberta Badlands Geology Guidebook
The Association for Women Geoscientists (AWG) published their first geology field trip guidebook in late 2016 and it is now available for sale to the general public. This guideboook is a collection of geology road logs, associated geological information, and local cultural history of areas within the Canadian Rockies and the Alberta Badlands. The following…
Cenozoic Sequence Stratigraphy of Southwestern Montana
Much of my research has been focused on Cenozoic sequence stratigraphy of continental basin-fill in southwestern Montana. This approach to the stratigraphy of continental deposits has facilitated correlation of stratigraphic units both within and among the various basins of this area. I recently gave a talk about my work in this area at Montana Tech…
The Field Season Is Going Strong in Southwestern Montana
My field season is in full swing. I recently spent time with students from the Webb Schools in Claremont, CA, during their annual sojourn to southwestern Montana. We prospected a few Tertiary localities, with the students making some good fossil mammal and fossil invertebrate finds. We were also extremely lucky to have a southwest Montana…
A High-Elevation Eocene Fossil Vertebrate Site in the Elkhorn Mountains, Southwestern Montana
The Dog Town Mine Tertiary fossil vertebrate locality is nestled on private property within the southern extent of the Elkhorn Mountains, southwestern Montana. The locality is about 20 miles southwest of Townsend, Montana, where Mesozoic and Paleozoic carbonate, quartzite, and red-colored mudstone, siltstone, and sandstone rocks underlie Eocene (Chadronian) strata. These unconformable Eocene strata contain…
Earl Douglass and the Tertiary Geology of Southwest Montana’s Madison Bluffs
Most vertebrate paleontologists probably think of the spectacular dinosaur finds near Jensen, Utah, when the name Earl Douglass is mentioned. Douglass’s discovery of a partial Apatosaurus near Jensen in 1909 did spark the beginning of his long career with finding more dinosaur material in what we now know as Dinosaur National Monument. But Douglass began his quest for…
Canadian Rockies AWG Field Trip – A Summary
The AWG 2014 Canadian Rockies Field Trip took place from August 28 to September 7, 2014, with a Calgary-area geology pre-trip for early arrivals on August 27. The main part of the field trip commenced with a mid-morning departure on the 28th from Calgary, and we all headed west along Canada Highway 1 to Lake…
Paleontology Podcasts
Palaeocast hosts podcasts on varied aspects of paleontology, including podcasts on mass extinctions, early vertebrate evolution, trilobites, trace fossils, and the fossil forests of Gilboa – just to name a few. Currently there are 24 podcasts posted on the Palaeocast website, with today’s podcast focusing on marsupial evolution. In this latest podcast, Laura Sol does…