next meeting: wednesday, feb 14 · 2018-02-02 · brought food to share with the rest of us, while...

Dallas

Paleontological

Society

FEBRUARY 2018

Volume 34, Issue 2

Next Meeting: Wednesday, FEB 14

Small Survivors The DPS will meet at 7:30 PM on Wednesday, February 14, at the Brookhaven College Geotechnology Institute (Building H) of Brookhaven Col-lege (3939 Valley View Ln, Farmers Branch). Logan Wiest, PhD candidate at Baylor University, will speak on “The Lilliput Effect in the Aftermath of the End-Cretaceous Mass Extinction Event.”

The “Lilliput effect” is when surviving organisms are dwarfed in the aftermath of a mass extinction. Planktic foraminif-era, coccolithophores, marine mollusks, vermiform organisms, decapod crusta-ceans, and lamniform sharks experi-enced a reduction in body size after the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) extinction event. This reveals that the Lilliput effect occurred at all tropic levels in the marine

realm. Logan studied the trace fossils across the K-Pg boundary in Big Bend National Park and determined that the Lilliput effect also occurred in terrestrial settings after the K-Pg mass extinction and affected the soil dwelling communi-ty. Logan will show the evidence for the Lilliput effect from both marine and ter-restrial environments, and also discuss potential driving mechanisms for the phenomenon.

Logan earned a BS Ed in 2011 from Mansfield University and a MS in Geology in 2014 from Temple University. He and Don Esker delivered a fantastic presentation to DPS in October 2017 on their reinterpretation of the cause of death at Waco Mammoth National Monument, and we have invited him back to hear about the main topic of his PhD research.

Our meetings are potluck, so members should bring something to add to a main dish provided by DPS. Salads, chips, veggie trays, desserts, sides, casseroles, fruits, cheese and crackers, will all be welcome and enjoyed by all. Members and guests are welcome to bring fossils for sharing, bragging, identification help (if needed), and group enjoyment. DPS meetings are always free and open to the public, so invite your friends and neighbors. We hope to see you there!

www.dallaspaleo.org Hotline 817-355-4693

Upcoming Events

Feb 14 Monthly Meeting

Mar 7 Monthly Meeting

Mar 29 Chuck Finsley Lecture Series

presents Dr. Mary Schweitzer

What’s InsIde:

Summary of January DPS Meeting

Spotlight on Judah Epstein

Inside the Perot Museum Fossil Prep Lab

http://www.dallaspaleo.org

Dallas Paleontological Society FEBRUARY 2018

2

FEBRUARY-MARCH 2018

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

Jan 28 29 30 31 Feb 1 2 3

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 DPS

Monthly

Meeting

15 16 17

18 19 20 21 Executive

Meeting

22 23 24

25 26 27 28 Mar 1 2 3

4 5 6 7 DPS

Monthly

Meeting

8 9 10

11 12 13 14

15 16 17

SAVE THE DATE: MARCH 29

Charles Finsley Lecture Series presents:

Dr. Mary Schweitzer, North Carolina State University

“T.rex Under the Microscope”

Modern biology has undergone a sea change with the advent of molecular studies. Molecular data have

changed the way we think about biology, physiology, diseases, and relationships between organisms. However,

these data are surely not recoverable from dinosaurs, right? In 2003, the remains of an exceptionally well-

preserved Tyrannosaurus rex were recovered from the Hell Creek formation in eastern Montana and brought to

the Museum of the Rockies for study. Fragments of dense cortical bone were set aside for molecular studies.

The results are surprising and summarized in this presentation.

Location: Brookhaven College, regular DPS meeting room

Tickets: Seating is limited. Tickets will be available to members before being open to the public.

Date: Thursday, March 29

Time: TBD in the evening

We will likely communicate with members via email because of the shorter notice.

Reception will be included. More details to follow.

http://www.dallaspaleo.org/


3

JANUARY MEETING SUMMARY By Lee Higginbotham

The January meeting was well attended with several folks showing off their latest fossil finds. Quite a few members brought food to share with the rest of us, while Dan Eley manned the promotions table. Our speaker, Pat Kline, had quite a bit of levity as he spoke about turtles and their amazing longevity in the fossil record. Pat also talked about their use of Ultraviolet Light in the preparation of Tootsie. He spoke about the benefits and the risks of different UV lights. He also spoke about how being able to see differentiation, that the light was able to bring about, allowed his group to better prep what would have been difficult fossils. All in all a great night with the DPS. Photos below by Lee Higginbotham

Guest Speaker Pat Kline receives a certificate from DPS President Tom Dill


4

REPORT FROM TUCSON by Roger Farish

The largest gem, mineral, and fossil show began this weekend in Tucson, AZ. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this event, thousands of dealers from all over the world invade Tucson, totally occupying every room of every large hotel/motel in town. Even the courtyards, ballrooms, and driveways are taken up with large tents. It’s a spec-tacle. Literally have to see to believe. I’ll present a wrap-up at the next meeting. On the fossil side, each year there seems to be a certain ‘buzz’ of some new finds or situations that are happening in the paleo world. This year seems to focus on the Eocene (50myo) Green River Formation that’s now exposed in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah. I believe that most of us are familiar with the fossil fish found in the sedimentation of these ancient intermountain lakes. It seems that two of the earliest horses (Eohippus) in North America have been found in this fresh water environ-ment. The one prepped specimen at the show this year has been taken from a vault where it had been for 15 years and offered for sale. When asked the price, the owner responds ‘one’ - meaning more money than many of us will ever have. This early horse has four digits on its front legs and three digits on its rear legs WITH A HOOF ON EACH TOE. This, of course, evolved into a single hoof on each leg. In response to an inquiry I made in the last newsletter about a fossil fish workshop, I have acquired 20 fish kits from Warfield Fossil Quar-ries, Inc. - one of the most prestigious compa-nies involved in this area. We’ll be selecting a date for the workshop (probably a Saturday at Brookhaven) soon. If you have not notified me about participating in the workshop, please do so at [email protected] just to keep on the list for the workshop date announcement. The kits not spoken for once the workshop is an-nounced will be available to the membership.

Above: framed example of fish kit Right: Eohippus on sale in Tucson


5

POP TOPS by Ming and Jordan Lee

Thank you to all of you who have diligently helped in amassing about 15 lbs of pop tops. It was enough to mold into three prosthetic legs! Alas, this past sum-mer, we found out that the local Malaysian temples are phasing out the collection of the pop tops. They are now encouraging collection of funds/mullah in-stead in the future. Ever since the passing of the Queen Mother of Thailand (the Founder of the Prosthetic Foundation of Asia) and recently her son, the late King of Bumiphol of Thailand, there has been a lag in interest in the collec-tion of the said tops. So we will no longer be collecting these pop tops anymore. Once again, thank you so much for all your kind help.

Preparation of Tusk Complete by Rocky Manning

Preparation of the tusk donated by Holland Austin is complete. Darlene Sumerfelt and her crew at the DPS supported Heard Museum fossil lab prepared it. The crew consisted of Fletcher Wise, Richard Shepard, and Joan Shepard. We appreciate all of their great work. Lee Higginbotham will now take on the task of preparing a carrying and display case. Eventually it will be used in the DPS booth at shows and events.

Darlene Sumerfelt holds the completed tusk


6

PEROT MUSEUM FOSSIL LAB Wedge and Feathers Technique

by Rocky Manning

Tim Brys collected several large blocks of plant fossils from the Woodbine sandstone and donated them to the Perot Museum. The blocks were too large to store, so it was decided to break them down into much smaller pieces. The rock is unusually hard sandstone that proved very difficult to break into pieces. To has-ten the process, a Hilti hammer drill and wedge and feathers were borrowed from Wayne Furstenwerth. The hammer drill was used to make a line of holes into the rock (photo 1). The line was drilled along the path where the break was desired. The wedge and feathers tool, also known as wedge and shim or plug and wedge, is a wedge-shaped piece of metal with two metal feathers on each side (2). The wedge and feathers were inserted perpendicularly in each hole (3). Each wedge was tapped in turn with a hammer driving the wedge slightly further into the rock and increasing the outside pressure along the line of holes (4). Eventually, the rock broke (5) (6). The entire process was completed in about 15 minutes, which saved

much time compared to using an air scribe to slowly shave down the rock. The wedge and feathers tool is an ancient technology for working rock that still comes in handy today.

Perot Museum of Nature and Science Fossil Lab employee Roary Leahy

makes use of the wedge and feathers technique


7

PIT CREW FIELD JOURNAL

February 2018 by Joseph O’Neil

Plans are coming together for the PIT Crew. There is no January meeting. Things did not come together in time, and it is just too cold and unpredictable to plan an outdoor event. We will kick off the 2018 year with a classroom adventure! The wonderful folks at the Elm Fork Education Center at the University of North Texas have agreed to let us use their classroom this year, so we have a home base for classroom work. Thank

you, Marti Lathrop and the Elm Fork team.

We will begin a curriculum in paleontology that is designed for the PIT Crew Field Agents, ages 7 to 15, with a simultaneous activity for Paleo Pups, ages 4 to 6. If you feel that your Pup can do the work and take it seriously, they are welcome to join the Field Agents. The plan is to have monthly meetings at Elm Fork supplemented with field trips and in-situ visits.

I would love some help from the Field Agents and Paleo Pups on the following projects: Submit your paleo-art to me. I want to see your original artwork, drawings, paintings, sculpture, model

building, coloring pages, and dioramas - whatever you create. Take a picture, scan it in to the computer, and email it to me at Education @DallasPaleo.org. I will showcase artwork in issues of The Fossil Rec-ord, the DPS newsletter, each month.

Write me a review. Did you go to a muse-

um? Watch a documentary? Go fossil hunting, with or without PIT Crew? Read a paleo-related book? Write me a review. I will post it on our PIT Crew Facebook page and showcase some of them in The Fossil Record.

Let me know what you want to do in PIT

Crew. Is there something you want to learn about? Let me know! I’ll find a guest instructor to tackle that topic. Is there a place you want to visit? Let me know! I’ll see if we can arrange a field trip. PIT Crew is about you, so I want your input.

PIT Crew Parents: If you are not yet on our Facebook group, it is because I can’t access you on Facebook. You can either add me as a friend, or let me know how to reach you on Facebook (via [email protected]) so that I can send you the invitation to the group page. It is a hidden page with all privacy settings on full. It is only for us, so we may share pictures and talk freely about PIT Crew without having the world watch. If you don’t use Facebook, that’s okay. Just let me know, and I will make sure you get the same updates in your email. I’m looking forward to looking into the past with you!

The PIT Crew (Paleontologists In Training) is the educational outreach program of the Dallas Paleontological Society (DPS). The PIT Crew is a benefit of a Family Level Membership in DPS for ages 4 through 15. For more information, visit the website for upcoming events, announcements, and membership information.

PIT Crew Field Agents found a great seat in a Glen Rose creek

http://www.dallaspaleo.org/PIT_Crew


8

PIT CREW FIELD JOURNAL CONTINUED

In addition to classroom work at Elm Fork, In Situ visits, and field trips, the PIT Crew and parents volunteer at events to help promote paleontology and STEM, DPS, and PIT Crew. In 2016 and 2017, we helped run tables at a variety of events. We hope you can join us at similar event volunteer opportunities this year! Below are a few examples. Keep an eye out for others including Glen Rose Fossil Mania, Fossil Day at the Heard Museum, and Fossil Day in Ladonia at the NSR.

Brookhaven STEM Fair in Feb 2016

Grapevine Fossil Fest in September 2017

Audubon Summer Camp in Aug 2017

Perot Discovery Day in March 2017

Earth Day at Fair Park in April 2017


9

WHO’S WHO IN DPS by Lee Higginbotham

Judah Epstein was the Fossil Record and DPS Editor. Fossils are just one of Judah’s loves. It looks to me that Judah may have gone off the deep end by climbing this tree. Who wants to tell him that he will find no fossils where he is looking?

DPS Needs You! Do you find yourself wishing you could give more to the DPS but just don’t know

how? Wish no longer! The DPS needs volunteers for ALL committees. Don’t

wait! Call the DPS officer of your choice, and sign up today. Don’t let this excit-

ing opportunity pass you by!

Pot Luck Meetings Please bring a treat, a snack or your favorite crowd-pleasing dish to share at

DPS meetings. Bring your own drinks (no alcohol, please). If you are interested

in volunteering for the Hospitality Committee, contact Tom Dill.


10

EVENTS OF INTEREST

Myria Perez is a student at SMU. Her advisor is Dr. Louis Jacobs. She will be talking about the Smithsonian exhibit that SMU is preparing. DPS is considering putting together a field trip to see it next year, so it will be a good pre-view of what’s to come. Come find out what she and SMU have been up to. Lunch provided, but you must RSVP.


11

Dallas Paleontological Society Officers, Committee Chairs, and Advisors

Elected Offices:

President Tom Dill [email protected]

Vice President Judi Altstatt [email protected]

Secretary Ming and Jordan Lee [email protected]

Treasurer Pam Lowers [email protected]

Editor Estée Easley [email protected]

Chairs:

Education Chair Joseph O’Neil [email protected]

Field Trips Chair Linda and Nathan Van Vranken [email protected]

Historian Chair Virginia Friedman [email protected]

Hospitality Chair [Group Effort]

Membership Chair Kathryn Zornig [email protected]

Programs Chair Tom Dill [email protected]

Promotions Chair [Vacant] [email protected]

Publications Chair [Group Effort] [email protected]

Scholarships Chair Roland Gooch [email protected]

Webmaster Rodney Wise [email protected]

DPS Advisors:

Roger Farish, Lee Higginbotham, Rocky Manning

Professional Advisors:

Dr. Tony Fiorillo, Perot Museum of Nature and Science

Dr. Louis Jacobs, SMU Shuler Museum

Dr. Merlynd Nestell, University of Texas at Arlington

The Dallas Paleontological Society was founded in 1984 for the purpose of promoting interest in and

knowledge of the science of paleontology. It was intended by the founding members that the Society

would be a network for the exchange of data between professionals and serious amateurs in this field.

www.dallaspaleo.org

The Dallas Paleontological Society normally meets the second Wednesday of every month at 7:30pm at Brookhaven Col-lege, unless we have something special happening that month. Please check our Calendar for exact dates. Come meet with us, hear a speaker, learn about paleontology, and bring your unidentified fossils and unique finds to share with the group. You will be welcome, and we will enjoy meeting you. For a map of our meeting location visit www.dallaspaleo.org/Contact. No portion of these materials may be reproduced in any form or stored in any system without the written permission of the Dallas Paleontological Society. © 2018

mailto:[email protected]














http://www.dallaspaleo.org

http://www.dallaspaleo.org/events

http://www.dallaspaleo.org/Contact

http://www.dallaspaleo.org/Contact


12

Dallas Paleontological Society

PO Box 223846

Dallas, TX 75222-3846

next meeting: wednesday, feb 14 · 2018-02-02 · brought food to share with the rest of us, while...

Documents