Malta - Day 6
8-8-06
Why is it always so easy to wake up here? The very first sign of changing light, and I am wide awake and ready for the day. The little wind-up clock reads 4:45, so I force myself to stay in bed and drift till 5:30, but then I can't stand it any more. I get up and dress and start the coffee--the most important morning item. Then, it is eggs over the Coleman, and we are ready for the day. It is cool, with dark clouds in the sky and a breeze--maybe it will rain. My boss eyes the sky, and asks if he will need to stake the tent. Hmmmm. I don't think it will storm, so I say no, and we get ready to leave.
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Early sunrise, looking back toward the cabin from the entrance to the prospecting area
It was a great day for prospecting. We revisited most of the sites from last time, but also walked out the bluffs across the road from the cabin, a new site. I am glad my boss is here to help me interpret the geology a little. My one geology class was "Introduction to Earth Surface," a 101 class I took in 1987. I am a little shaky with interpretations and reading the rocks, but with help from lots of friends and colleagues, I think that I can understand what I see here now. The bone-producing units are sandstone river channel sediments, bounded at the base by grey muds and on the top by capstones of densely cemented sands. The bones weather out from the channels and are carried downhill as pieces of float, where a trained eye can recognize them as different from weathered rocks.
We are out in the field by 7am, walking across the dry grass, crunching underfoot. We head up the first bluff. I led for a while, but then my boss went in front---for about 30 yards, when he jumped and made this incomprehensible "gaaaa" sound. Then he turned and said, "Do you hear the rattlesnake?" It was hard to distinguish from the hoppers and dry grass until I was almost upon it, but there, coiled, with black tongue darting in and out to taste our smells, was a huge western diamond-back rattler. I truly didn't think about getting his picture until we were well past, and I wasn't going to go back with my camera. Note to self. Let boss lead. He may make the finds first, but he also makes more convenient snake bait.
We gingerly made our way around the angry snake, and his head on top of his tightly coiled body turned slowly to watch our progress. Phew. Now I see the difference easily between this rattler and the bull that invaded my outhouse last week. We did find dinosaur bone, and identified the layers from which it was weathering. I collected a few diagnostic pieces for teaching, but there is nothing in place, and by about 11 we have walked out all the exposures in the immediate area. However, as we rounded one bend, there was a concentration of bones weathering out, and unmistakable signs of an invader!
Someone else was looking along these bluffs. There was a very nice femur, just the front part weathering out from the hill, but both ends intact, and some other miscellaneous bones. Marks of a pick and a plastic bag filled with float and debris! Because this land is privately owned, only our team has permission here, so we will report this to the landowners.
Next, it is back to Fanny Hill, where I can show my boss the complete formation exposed, and hope that we can better interpret where we are in section. We revisit the old bone bed, a quarry my former student worked from which at least 7 dinosaurs had died and become disarticulated. The site also included large logs--fossil wood, against which the dinosaur bones had come to rest in some long ago river channel, building up behind the log and getting quickly buried. There are many microenvironments here so it will make a good study for differential preservation. Then, we return to the bluff for lunch and an incredible view of the badlands, and the Milk River wending its way through the shales of the Cretaceous Claggett Sea, cutting down into the muddy sediments of the Cretaceous inland sea, its banks lined with the only green out here.
!http://blogs.lib.ncsu.edu/resources/schweitzer/last_2.jpg!
Cottonwood Creek before it drains into the Milk--and the trees concentrate around the only water anywhere
It is still overcast, and cool, with a light breeze--perfect weather for dinosaur hunting! After lunch, we head to the Andisaurus site, walking out the ridge of sandstone that has been productive. I find another bone or two embedded in the sandstone wall, but they are not associated with anything else, and mostly fragmented. I think this is another case of "leverite" bone, and I do.
We walk out the backside bluffs. We have lost our cloud cover, and it is heating up intensely. Our presence causes major trauma to the cows watering there, and they make their displeasure known--loudly, and long. Again, we see more bone. There are lots of dinosaur bones here, but none that seem significant for collecting, as they are little more than isolated fragments. Then, we check out one more site, the one where both Andi and Paul found significant bones. The first thing I see as I walk down the draw is a large bone--the distal articulating end of a long bone-probably tibia, just at the base of where the others were. I don't know how we missed it before. I think that both sites bear much more exploration. All in all, a good day, and I am feeling more confident in understanding where we are in section, and what layers will be most productive. We had about 8.5 hours of solid walking, up and down bluffs and gullies, scrabbling across loose talus and grabbing on to sage or juniper to prevent unstoppable slides, with only 20 minutes or less for a lunch break. We have both taken a few falls, so it is probably safest to stop before they get worse.
So, we headed back to camp about 4, to find my boss' tent upside down and about 30 feet further away from the cabin. I forgot that I predicted no wind, and recommended no staking. Boss didn't forget. We relaxed and tried not to move more than necessary, until weather and we were cool enough for cooking. I decided once again to take my chances with the outhouse, and after today's encounter with the rattler, a bull snake wasn't quite so scary of a thought. But, no snake greeted me. Still I caught movement, and looked just in time to see a grey blur disappear into an abandoned toilet paper roll. A frightened deer mouse cautiously extended his nose out the other end, and when I tried to shoo him with the end of my rock hammer, he jumped inches off the ground, and tried to run up the seat instead of out the door. Finally, he got the message, and ran away. Safe. Until I sat down, THEN noticed the other mouse, frantically trying to follow his friend out the door, but getting disoriented and running right for my shoe--which was, of course, attached to my leg. Still, better mouse than snake. I am giving up on outhouses.
Next, a great meal of spaghetti with veggie sauce, fresh grapefruit, and cold drinks from the cooler. Now we are watching the sun go down and the dark clouds move in. Last night was a full moon, and the prairie grasses were silver. The coyotes sung us to sleep, and it was beautiful and peaceful. Tonite, I don't think we will be able to see the moon. It wasn't supposed to rain, but it sure looks threatening. I am not sure where we will explore tomorrow. But I think we will head back to Bozeman tomorrow evening, rather than Thursday morning. I will welcome the shower!
Posted at 01:15PM Aug 17, 2006 by tppeake in General | Comments[0]