Penny Higgins - Storyteller • Artist • Scientist
Combining Science and Joyful Creativity
What’s it about?
The authors demonstrate the utility of satellite imagery combined with surface observations and GIS software to make predictions about where fossil localities may be located. Continue reading “Long Distance Prospecting – #365papers – 2018 – 61”
The morning started out brilliantly, with some great fossil finds.
Today’s plan was developed with the day’s forecast in mind: ridiculously hot and sunny (but a dry heat, right?).
We started in the morning at a locality we hadn’t been to before and spent two hours finding nothing (in the way of fossils), until we stumbled upon this lovely fossil horse.
This morning was spent looking for fossil soils low in the Uinta Formation. No shock, but we didn’t find any.
We did, however find a creepy scarecrow of sorts…
Continue reading “The Search for Soil – #Paleontology Field Work 2018 – Day 12”
Today was our weekly “town” day, which means we got showers last night and the day today to re-stock for another week in the field.
It was also coincidentally the 4th of July, which is kind of a big deal in the United States.
There was a parade. Here are some highlights:Continue reading “Everyone Loves a Parade – #Paleontology Field Work 2018 – Day 11”
One challenge of doing field work in the high desert is the risk of fire, and this is what we have right now.
The Dollar Ridge Fire started two days ago, unbeknownst to us, about 80 miles from our field area. Late last night, we noticed the smell of smoke in camp.
Continue reading “On FIRE! – #Paleontology Field Work 2018 – Days 9 and 10”
The past three days, I’ve caught myself in a wireless signal vacuum, which is why I’m only now writing something.
Two days ago (day 3, for those counting), I drove through the rest of Nebraska and into Wyoming until my stopping point at the Virginian Hotel in Medicine Bow, Wyoming. There I met up with colleagues and spent the evening drinking beers and talking about the Paleocene-Eocene Boundary. Continue reading “There and Back Again – #Paleontology Field Work 2018 – Days 3, 4, and 5”
Well, I was going to write a clever post about the ‘joys’ of driving three days to get to the field, but then the completely expected happened.
Today is my first ‘work’ day out of the office. So naturally, the mass spectrometer decided to – um – yeah: stop working right.Continue reading “Miles and Miles – #Paleontology Field Work 2018 – Day 2”
Here it is. Day one. The day I leave the house and begin the three-day drive to my old stomping grounds near Laramie, Wyoming.
Oh, but the getting there. But I’m ready.
Meet Christine, our new (to us) Volvo, now outfitted for proper paleontological expeditioning.
Continue reading “The Voyage Begins – #Paleontology Field Work 2018 – Day 1”
Though it was nearly two weeks ago that I left Natural Trap Cave, there are still things I’d like to post about it.
One of the fascinating things about the cave is that it is, in fact, a natural trap. Though there is a grate over the top preventing large animals from falling in, small animals still drop in regularly.
Case in point: Packy le Pew, a poor packrat that fell in during the field season in 2014.
The #NTCave14 mascot, Packy le Pew, who shows how the cave is still accumulating a record of life and death. pic.twitter.com/0LdK43jCT7
— Brian Switek (@Laelaps) August 5, 2014
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsContinue reading “Fieldwork Travelogue: The Mummified Fauna of Natural Trap Cave #NTCave15”
Penny Higgins - Storyteller • Artist • Scientist