Scratching the Surface

Bloat, Float, and Sink - Ankylosaur in Marine Rock

2012-01-27T12:08:00.001-07:00

Here's a video just posted at the Royal Tyrrell Museum's YouTube video page. Donald Henderson shows an amazing "bloat and float" ankylosaur that was recovered from marine sediments near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. It's interesting that the skeleton was uncrushed. Lori and I did some prep work on the therizinosaur Nothronychus graffami which was found in marine sediments, and most of its bones were extremely flattened. The ankylosaur is a very cool, very rare find.

Happy Solstice in 3D!

2011-12-21T22:45:00.000-07:00

Break out your 3D glasses if you have them. I like to keep a pair near my computer for the cool anaglyph images I often see on the web. These will work with red/blue glasses, but we sent our printed cards out with festive red/green ones.

White (and pink and black) Washing the Past

2011-09-28T13:47:00.001-06:00

Back in 1963, the artist Louis Paul Jonas was contracted by Sinclair Oil Company to create a set of life-size dinosaur sculptures that Sinclair displayed in "Dinoland" at the 1964-65 New York City World's Fair. His restorations were based on the best science of the day. The sculptures were painted in the mostly muted green hues that were then considered the most plausible colors for "terrible lizards" until the "dinosaur renaissance" that started in the late sixties. The stegosaurus from the Sinclair Dinosaur Tour collection found its way to Dinosaur National Monument, and it stood next to the Quarry Visitor's Center for half a century. The Dinosaur National Monument Quarry Visitor Center blog has a post showing what has happened to the sculpture along with some of its history. Here's the original sculpture's color scheme is contrasted against the new harlequin repaint below:

History vs. Paleo Hipster

I maintain that it's no more appropriate to repaint the historic sculpture Louis Paul Jonas created than it would be to have artists change the colors of dinosaurs in the murals of Charles R. Knight that grace walls in Chicago's Field Museum. The new color scheme doesn't make the stegosaurus up-to-date, and in my opinion it defaces an historic work of art as well as obscuring the history of paleontology. What would be a respectful and educational way to display the Jonas' stegosaurus? Restore the original paint scheme and put it next to a fully modern reconstruction. Install a placard that explains that paleontology has progressed since the days of green tail-dragging interpretations of dinosaurs, and that today they're interpreted as more dynamic and (perhaps) more colorful creatures. And have the humility to say that a modern reconstruction may well be made obsolete as new paleontological discoveries further revise our views. Inevitably our reconstructions will forever be the product of imagination working from our best understanding and evidence. Assuming that there's no budget for the U.S. Park Service to obtain a modern reconstruction sculpture, an economical interpretive plaque could include modern illustrations that would contrast with the historic sculpture.

Some of the other Sinclair dinosaurs ended up in Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, Texas. There's a placard at the park describing the process Jonas used to sculpt, scale, and build the fiberglass dinosaurs. The Texas park displays the sculptures in their original color scheme and interpretive plaques provide the modern perspective. I hope that the Texas Sinclair dinosaurs continue unmolested by revisionist color schemes. Paleontology and its public displays have a history that's important to conserve. It's a great story that underscores how science is a dynamic, often contentious process.

Visualizing and Exploring Deep Time or "Big History"

2011-09-08T12:51:00.000-06:00

Many folks with paleo interests will be familiar with Pan Terra's Correlated History of Earth and Correlated History of Matter laminated charts. These charts pack an amazing amount of deep time information into a relatively small space (28" x 36"). And there's a map-folded Correlated History of the Universe that has both of the aforementioned charts printed on opposite sides. I've spent considerable time trying to get a visceral feeling for the correlated events in deep time, particularly on the Correlated History of Earth chart. Columns for plate tectonics, the geologic timeline, known and suspected meteor impact events, orogenies, volcanic, events, and evolution timelines major phyla are packed into this chart with admirable clarity. You can purchase these charts from the publisher and also from several online stores.

Pan Terra's Correlated History of Earth

As impressive the Pan Terra charts are, there's a practical limit on how much information a printed chart can include. And since the geologic timeline isn't to scale, that's a big limitation when you're trying to build a mental model of deep time. I was really happy to find an amazing interactive timeline that provides a visual timeline of the universe with correlated information that only networked computer and display technology can offer. It's called ChronoZoom by Walter Alvarez and Roland Saekow, as well as their team of developers. It's an amazing free (version 1.0) resource developed in the Department of Earth and Planetary Science at U.C. Berkeley within a new interdisciplinary field called "Big History" (I think "Deep Time" is more poetic and sounds less anthropocentric). The concept reminds me of Gigapan photo images, but instead of zooming in on an extremely detailed photo the application lets you zoom into detailed timelines. Below is a embed of a 22 minute video narrated by Professor Alvarez. It's a really interesting presentation that's both an overview of deep time evolution and a good way to get a feel for the power of the ChronoZoom tool.

ChronoZoom: Interactive timescales of Cosmos, Earth, Life, Humanity

I've just started exploring the first generation ChronoZoom application, which runs using Silverlight as a web app. Doubleclick to zoom in, shift-click to zoom out, and click-drag to move around the timeline. Right now, the application is just a proof of concept with only a hint of the exploration power the tool could provide. I can see huge potential for this tool and really hope it catches the imagination of scientists working in many disciplines.

And Now for Something More Recent...

2011-05-04T13:46:00.000-06:00

This movie has me more excited than I've been about a new release in years. You must see it in 3D, according to director Herzog:

Neutering the Dinosaur Nat'l Monument Quarry Building

2011-04-07T12:36:00.002-06:00

There's a new post today about graywashing the reconstructed Dinosaur National Monument Visitor's Center at the project's blog.

It's a sad day for me. I remember visiting this amazing place as a child. Here's a little homage to the building that once was:

I'm disappointed that an historic landmark has been neutered by committee and budget. First, we learned that the rotunda was simply going to be removed from the structure. That decision represented a dramatic revision of the structure that's certainly not in keeping with the status of the visitor's center as an historic landmark. To finish the job, the quarry structure is now being painted one shade of neutral warm gray. This not only negates the historic colors applied to the building, it also eliminates the contrast that the different tones of paint added to the building's structure. The darker tones of the original colors contrasted with light color panels to define the "bones" of the building. I'd be willing to bet that the architects, especially the historic architect, who compiled the renovation recommendations for this project look at this new paint scheme in dismay.

The Dinosaur Visitor's Center was an iconic building, and was a rare representative of 50's architecture in public monuments (although the rotunda has more of an art deco feel like structures designed a decade earlier). It's sad that the buck and pedestrian tastes appear to be the ultimate arbiters of historic preservation. It's much cheaper to paint the structure one color than it is to accent the structure with multiple shades. And this gray that offends nobody is the ultimate expression of design by bureaucracy.

I modified the extremely low-quality building rendering the Park Service has floated showing the redesigned building. Note that the original rendering appears to preserve the historic color scheme and does not reflect the graywashing. I wasn't quite able to evoke the true monotony of Warm Inoffensive Gray, but the retouched image should look a lot more like the look of the building in real life. I repainted the pink Rambler in the same color, after all, who'd want to drive a pink car?

-BJ

A Better, Easier Red/Blue Anaglyph

2011-02-01T16:36:00.002-07:00

Via the fountain of knowledge that is YouTube, I just found a different technique to set up an anaglyph in Photoshop.

It's much easier than the complex left and right image "levels layer" technique I used for the previous image and I think it works better.

Hadrosaur Skin Impression Anaglyph

2011-02-01T11:14:00.000-07:00

I've been experimenting with taking stereo image pairs of hadrosaur skin impressions and creating anaglyph images using Photoshop. You need to view this image through red/blue glasses to see the 3D effect.

The image below is a simple color photo from one of the stereo pairs. This detail is from a recently exposed area on the large skin impression and bone block that I've been photographing.

Utahceratops gettyi gets the cartoon treatment

2011-01-03T14:06:00.001-07:00

New Photo Gallery Collection

2010-12-24T19:39:00.000-07:00

I've created a gallery of my paleo images including photos from the skin impression test session from my earlier post. Visit my Zenfolio Paleo gallery. Larger image sizes are available for viewing there.

-BJ

Photo Test of Hadrosaur Skin Impressions

2010-12-24T11:56:00.000-07:00

I've personally found the dinosaur skin impressions we've had in the lab particularly exciting. Seeing the texture of scales and scutes evokes living, breathing, and dying creatures in a way that bones alone don't do. At the Utah Museum of Natural History, we see a lot of hadrosaur skin. Mike Getty tells me that hadrosaur skin impressions are more common than for other dinosaurs. That may say something about the toughness of hadrosaurine hide. And it seems that the fossil hadrosaur sites in Utah's Grand Staircase provided especially good conditions for skin impression preservation.

Last night I did some test photography on some large skin areas with cast (positive) and mold (negative) impressions of hadrosaur skin. Scales, scutes, and skin wrinkles are recorded in sandstone. The image below is a mold impression. You can see scale texture and a row of scutes that studded the top of the hadrosaur's tail. Each scute was located above the neural spines of the duckbill's vertebrae.

I wanted to work out what kind of lights to use and how best show the skin texture. It's difficult to use a very shallow angle light and get good exposure across a large specimen. I've masked out the lab background and sandbags that support the pieces. This is a perspective view with the distal end of the impression at the top of the image. There are more puzzle pieces we can fit into place for the next photo session.

-BJ

Jersey as sauropod fan-prophylactic?

2010-11-18T14:13:00.000-07:00

Dinochick has a fun post with video of a Chicago Bears fan scaling the Field Museum's outdoor Brachiosaurus mount. Obviously the museum forgot to dress the sauropod in the proper jersey. Back in April the Brach sported appropriate Blackhawks attire. I think a proper jersey may have foiled the drunken dino-jockey, but I may be underestimating the ingenuity of drunks.

Kosmoceratops Artist's Interpretation

2010-09-24T14:46:00.005-06:00

My Simpson's-style take on Kosmoceratops richardsoni à la Sideshow Bob.

Kosmoceratops richardsoni skull — prep lab photos

2010-09-22T10:08:00.006-06:00

Here's a repost of a photo of Kosmoceratops in the Utah Museum of Natural History prep lab, along with another image from a different angle. When I first saw the flaccid dreadlock frill horns, Sideshow Bob came to mind. Click on the above images to enlarge.

Here's a link to the Kosmoceratops richardsoni/Utahceratops gettyi paper at PLoS ONE announced today.

A fun post at Dinochick Blogs summarizing and reacting to the new Utah ceratopsian papers.

Press release page at the UMNH website.

Congratulations to paper's authors and special congratulations to Mike Getty whose monumental efforts are recognized in the naming of Utahceratops gettyi!

Wax off — mini heat gun

2010-09-13T16:00:00.005-06:00

Removing the water-soluble PEG wax turns out to be better done with heat first, then using water for cleanup. While the Carbowax we've been using is indeed water soluble, it's not easily water soluble. If a specimen can't handle extended saturation with water and perhaps some scrubbing with a toothbrush, be aware that the wax doesn't melt away easily with exposure to water. I suggest thinking of the water soluble quality of the wax as lending itself to final cleaning of a thin remnant from the fossil's surface.

The bulk of the wax needs to be removed manually, and I've found heat application to be the best option that's easiest on the specimen. I melt the wax and wipe or wick it away. When I get to a layer of cheesecloth reinforcement, I melt the wax and then lift the cheesecloth away from the bone incrementally. Once nearly all the wax is removed, careful water cleaning then removes residual PEG wax. So your specimen needs to be able to hold up to some water exposure and to heat exposure of a few hundred degrees. I'd be concerned about using heat to remove the wax from partially mineralized recent fossils (not something we deal with in this lab).

I've found a good, inexpensive portable tool that provides controlled heat without live flame. The Micro-Therm Flameless Heat Gun can be found on the web for arount $20 (list price from the Solder-it website is $24.95). It comes with a butane lighter without a flint wheel that serves as a fuel reservoir. The lighter has a refill port and apparently you can use regular lighters in the tool as well.

There's a nozzle attachment that's designed for using the tool with heat shrink tubing. I can attest that it's works well for that job. Fossil prep and electrical repair with the same tool.

Wax On. Wax Off?

2010-07-19T15:43:00.006-06:00

In April, Lori and I had the privilege of attending the Third Annual Fossil Preparation and Collections Symposium at the Field Museum in Chicago. One workshop we attended introduced us to the concept of using water-soluble wax to support delicate areas of specimens while working on them. Debbie Wagner showed us how PEG (polyethylene glycol a.k.a. Carbowax) can be used with and without cheesecloth reinforcement. We were also introduced to cyclododecane, a wax that sublimates in air that's suited for specimens that can't be washed in water. Carbowax is much easier to find and much cheaper, so as soon as we got back from Chicago I ordered some wax from Museum Service Corporation. They carry Carbowax 4000 for $22 per kg. available online.

Lori has been working on some Ghost Range material with tiny bones and scutes, and I've been working on an ornithomimid which has long, delicate spines on the caudal vertebrae. Months after the Chicago trip, we finally decided to try using the PEG 4000 wax on a couple of delicate bones.

We had to figure out how to deal with molten wax in the lab. I tested the melting point of the wax and found it didn't need an expensive lab-grade hot plate to keep it liquid. We found a very inexpensive solution while at (apologies) Wal-Mart. We were looking for a small crock pot or hot plate with temperature control, but we settled instead on the candle warmer in the photo above. The warmer is designed for use with jar candles, so we picked up a candle and a warmer (under $15 total). At home, we melted the candle to get an empty jar, and tried melting the PEG 4000. The warmer will melt the PEG very slowly, but it's perfectly suited for maintaining the wax as liquid once it's already melted. The warmer has no temperature control, and it doesn't get hot enough to be scary in a busy lab. Since we don't have a lot of time in the lab to wait for a very slow melt, we melt the wax in the oven at home and then use the candle warmer to keep the wax liquid while we're at the lab. We use low temperature oven at home, 200° F or less — well below the flash point where the wax can catch fire. We transport the wax in a small, soft-sided lunch box cooler and the wax stays liquid for the half hour before we get set up in the lab.

The above photo shows wax and a small piece of cheesecloth applied to a delicate caudal vert. At the Field Museum, one application tool they use is a pair of tweezers with the ends held closely together. Lori's holding a ruling pen above.

The tweezer applicator technique reminded me of the ruling pens I used to use for drafting and design work, and I think a ruling pen is ideal for controlled wax application. It's easy to adjust and hold and will maintain the gap you choose indefinitely. I leave the pen in the molten was so that it warms up. The warm pen keeps the wax molten while I work.

This image gives you an idea of how delicate the spine is. The matrix is hard and I had to use an air scribe to remove it from the exposed bone surface. With the wax holding the structure together, I was able to much more easily do this delicate work. I've consolidated the cracks visible in the spine, but haven't removed the wax yet. I want to show this to Mike Getty and Eric Lund before I put water to the wax.

Lori's using a thin bead of wax to stabilize a very thin bone in her Ghost Ranch cast. She's also stabilized a fragmented scute so she can remove surrounding matrix.

Thanks to the preparators at the Field Museum for teaching us this technique. I hope that the cheap candle warmer and the ruling pen applicator are useful contributions.

-BJ

Lori's Ghost Ranch Bones

2009-07-26T19:51:00.003-06:00

I'm working on some new (to us) material from the Hayden Quarry at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico. The cast has carbonized wood and bones from several individuals (presumably phytosaurs and aetosaurs) in a crumbly matrix. There are some aetosaur scutes, some small limb bones, and a couple of verts in some foil wrapped packets stuffed into the cast. These pieces have needed mostly cleaning and glueing. The nicely curved limb on the left is about 80cm long and appears to have some fossilization of cartilage on the distal ends.

—Lori

Nothronychus graffami, the float and bloat Therazinosaur

2009-07-16T11:51:00.005-06:00

Salt Lake Tribune article:

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_12848095

Several UMNH volunteers including me have done prep work on Nothronychus graffami. The fossil was found in deep marine sediment (the Tropic Shale) and the bones were flattened, presumably under pressure of their unusual burial. It's thought that this critter was swept to sea from near the shoreline, or died on land or in a river and the bloated carcass was washed out far offshore where it "popped" and sank. The article mentions work on a pleisiosaur near this find.

Here's a very interesting pdf with detail about the find, along with nice illustrations from the Arizona Geological Survey:

http://www.azgs.state.az.us/Summer_07.pdf

As a byproduct of my volunteer prep work, I'm now much more skeptical of what a "mounted specimen" means. Nothronychus graffami, for example, was missing its head and most of the bones were so badly deformed that no casts could be made that remotely resemble the mount that Gaston Design in Grand Junction, Colorado created. As I recall, the claws were in the best shape for casting and they're likely the least reconstructed pieces, but most of the mount would have been sculpted and not cast directly from the bones. The skull and presumed style of tooth would be scaled from specimens of related species. I doubt many visitors viewing the mount will understand the (highly) educated estimates and artistic skill that went into the recreation.

-BJ

On the B side.

2009-06-30T13:17:00.002-06:00

Limb bones on the opposite side of my working specimen.

— BJ

Little Limbs — BJ's Current Specimen

2009-06-16T08:51:00.003-06:00

I've been working on this specimen over a few months now, averaging 2.5 hours a week on Sunday afternoons in the UMNH prep lab. When I got this piece, the main outlines of the limbs on both sides of this specimen had been roughly exposed by someone else. I've exposed some additional bones and I'm currently working with a micro scribe under a low power stereo microscope to remove matrix and a rough crust that obscures bone detail. The matrix is quite hard, which is why I'm using an air tool on such a small specimen. The longest bone in the photo is approximately 10 cm long. There's another pair of long bones on the opposite side of this specimen. I'll get a photo of that side next Sunday.

As I recall when I got the specimen to work on, these are thought to be dromaeosaur hind limbs. I'm guessing that some of the new bone I've exposed is pelvis or pubis. I'm often surprised at how paleontologists can correctly identify bones that are barely visible, but on occasion the preparation reveals something unexpected.

-BJ Nicholls

Utah Friends of Paleontology (UFOP) Annual Meeting

2009-05-13T15:44:00.003-06:00

(From Martha Hayden, UFOP State Office)

The 2009 Utah Friends of Paleontology Statewide Annual Meeting will be held in St. George, Utah on Thursday, May 21st, in conjunction with two professional meetings: the 8th Conference on Fossil Resources-Partners in Paleontology (8CFR) on May 19-21, and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Cretaceous Conference-Advances in Western Interior Late Cretaceous Paleontology and Geology on May 22-24.

The UFOP Annual Meeting will be held at 7:00 pm on Thursday May 21st at the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm, 2180 East Riverside Drive, St. George, Utah. Following our general membership meeting, a talk will be given by Randy Irmis, the new Curator of Paleontology at the Utah Museum of Natural History. The title of his talk is: Discovering Dinosaurs in the Horn of Africa.

The UFOP Annual Meeting is free and open to all, but if you would also like to attend the 8CFR or GSENM Cretaceous Conference, you can still register on-site. Additional details and registration information can be found on the meeting websites:

8th Conference on Fossil Resources:

www.8cfr.org

GSENM Cretaceous Conference:

http://www.learningfromtheland.org/cretaceousconference/

(Active links below in previous blog post)

Cretacious Conference Links

2009-05-13T13:10:00.004-06:00

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

Cretaceous Conference

Advances in Western Interior Late Cretaceous Paleontology and Geology

May 22-23, 2009 (with post-meeting field trip on May 24)
The Dixie Center, St. George, Utah

In Conjunction with the
8th Conference on Fossil Resources-Partners in Paleontology
www.8cfr.org

High Explosives at Dinosaur Nat. Monument

2009-05-12T12:57:00.005-06:00

NPS Photo of Quarry Visitor's Center, Closed since 2006 for safety reasons.

(AP news via KSL TV's website)

At a site not far from Dinosaur National Monument's Quarry Visitor Center, explosives specialists blasted away a hard stone layer to reveal new fossils. The lesser-known DNM 16 quarry has been productive but the hard stone has stymied new fossil finds since 2007.

Link to article.

From the UMNH Lab

2009-05-11T20:34:00.000-06:00

What's on the slab in the lab, May 9.

2009 UMNH Paleo Field Plans

2009-05-11T13:03:00.000-06:00

(From Mike Getty, Utah Museum of Natural History Collections Manager)

Hello Everyone,

I am pleased to announce the UMNH paleontology field plans for 2009.

We are planning on our field season this year in Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument (GSENM), on the following schedule:

May 13-21 Tyrannosaur Dig and Wahweap Reconnaissance

May 24-26 Field Training
Note this is from Sunday to Tuesday this year due to scheduling conflict. We will be in camp until approximately the 28th for those who want to stay longer. Those people interested in joining us for the field training should also view the attached information sheet for specific information about the training.

August 1-September 18 (approximately) Main Field Season
Kaiparowits and Wahweap formations.

During this time we will be conducting both excavation of existing localities, and prospecting for new fossil localities in both the Kaiparowits plateau of GSENM. We plan to begin the season with the preliminary excavation of an associated tyrannosaur discovered this winter in the Wahweap formation. In August, we will be back in our Horse Mountain camp in the Kaiparowits (where we have mostly worked out of for the past two seasons), where we will resume excavations on the large "Horse Mountain Gryposaur" which we began last season. In August through September, we will also be spending considerable time prospecting for new localities in both the Late Cretaceous Wahweap and Kaiparowits formations.

We are currently looking for volunteers for the field season and can typically provide transportation to and from the field site for participants who can get themselves to Salt Lake City and are planning to stay for a minimum of two weeks. There is no minimum time limit for people providing their own transportation, but given the distance from Salt Lake City, we recommend people to plan for a minimum of three days. Please keep in mind that working in Grand Staircase can often involve long strenuous hikes over difficult terrain, so you must be over 18 years old and in good physical condition to participate. The only cost to participants is a $20 dollar/day contribution to camp food, which is prepared collectively by staff and volunteers. There are fee waivers available for qualified students and long-term volunteers. If you are interested in joining us, please let me know the dates you are interested and I will provide direct communication on specific details of camp locations and what to bring etc.

We are also planning several additional trips this season to other areas of Utah, including the Mastrichtian aged North Horn formation; the Triassic Chinle formation and the Permian Cutler formation, which will involve several shorter trips through June and July. Camp times and locations are yet to be determined, so if you are interested in joining us during this time, you should let me know and we will provide more specific details, on camp times and locations.

Anyone interested in joining us for any of these projects should contact Mike Getty at mgetty@umnh.utah.edu, or by phone at 801 834-3357 and those people specifically interested in the field training on the memorial day weekend should read the attachment and please contact Mike or Debbie to sign up as soon as possible, as there is limited enrollment. We will contact people to confirm their participation as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Mike Getty,
Collections Manager, Paleontology
Utah Museum of Natural History

Field Training 2009 PDF