Yesterday marked the start of a new year of field work. The sky was threatening rain, so there was only enough time for one hour of quick prospecting. Attention was focused on examining a couple of sites where fossils have been found in previous years. Wedge was on this trip, looking for tennis balls that may have washed up with the tide. He’s an eternal optimist.
The dinosaur site did not show any new exposed bone. The cliff has eroded significantly though – so there is now some concern about the top part of the cliff. It looks like the cliff is slightly undercut up higher, which increases the risk of a rapid collapse. Further assessment is required, but it appears that the site is unsafe for field work until the profile of the cliff improves. The upper part of the cliff will have to let go before additional work is likely to occur below.
Further down the beach, another site seems to hold great potential for new discoveries. The site was discovered during last year’s field work, when Mary Leaman and Kathy Ogden found many small bone fragments among the sandstone which represents an ancient river channel. There has been considerable erosion over the winter but there are new bone fragment actively eroding from the cliff and the site is reasonably safe for field work.
Plans will be put in place to do several days of field work at this site this year. If you are interested in helping with some field work, contact research@earthquake-dinosaurs.ca. At the very least you may want to drop by and see the field work going on when researchers are on site. Make sure you LIKE the http://facebook.com/EarthquakeDinosaurs page to get regular updates about field work.
Fossils Protected By Law
All visitors to Nova Scotia should remember that paleontology resources in the province are protected by Special Places Protection legislation. It is an offense to remove any fossil material that is exposed. If you find something, you should contact the Nova Scotia Museum or Fundy Geological Museum and tell the curators/staff what you found and where.
Questions?
Leave a comment below and we’ll do our best to answer any questions you have.
Leave a Reply