Field work from last summer focused on late Eocene nodules and concretions in SW Montana terrestrial strata. We found that most concretions and nodules are actually burrow complexes in paleosols. Many of these paleosols are developed in massive to blocky mudstone that contain pedogenic features characteristic of Inceptisols but there are also some with more…
Category: Montana Tertiary Vertebrates
Montana Geological Society New Quarterly Magazine – MAGMA
The Montana Geological Society is thrilled to be publishing the very first edition of our new quarterly publication, the Montana Applied Geosciences MAgazine (MAGMA). This new publication is the result of our members’ feedback and interest in ongoing geoscience articles focused on Montana and Applied Geosciences. Inside this issue, you’ll find several articles featuring MGS…
Priabonian, late Eocene chronostratigraphy, depositional environment, and paleosol-trace fossil associations, Pipestone Springs, southwest Montana, USA
Finally – the work done by myself and my co-authors, Don Lofgren, Steve Hasiotis, and Bill McIntosh, is published in the new issue of Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 67 (1): 5–20. Our work combines chronostratigraphy with depositional environment interpretations and paleosol-trace fossil associations for a new view of a well-known Eocene vertebrate locality in southwest Montana….
Flagstaff Rim, Wyoming – A Classic Area of Continental Eocene Tuffs and Fossil Vertebrates
The Flagstaff Rim area in central Wyoming contains a classic geological section of Tertiary continental rocks that, for the most part, range in age from approximately 37 million years to about 35 million years. These strata are then capped by gravels that may be late Tertiary in age (probably younger than 20 million years in…
Welcome To My 2021 Field Office
My geological field work lately has taken me to several areas of western Montana, so I thought I’d do a visual collage of a few of the landscapes where I’ve been working. To start with, I’ve been spending time flying drones over Tertiary exposures in southwestern Montana, Great fun and good insight into Tertiary…
LATE EOCENE CHRONOSTRATIGRAPHY, DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENT, AND PALEOSOL-TRACE FOSSIL ASSOCIATIONS, PIPESTONE SPRINGS, SOUTHWEST MONTANA
I just received notice from the Geological Society of America (GSA) that our abstract is now accepted for the GSA 2020 annual meeting. I was very much looking forward to going to Montreal for the meeting, but like much else, it will now be virtual. Our presentation is scheduled for the session titled “D23. Recent…
EOCENE AND OLIGOCENE MAMMALS FROM THE GRAVELLY RANGE OF SOUTHWEST MONTANA
Our first paper on work that several of us are doing in the Gravelly Range, southwestern Montana, was just published in a special issue of Paludicola, Scientific Contributions of the Rochester Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology. This issue contains papers in honor of James Gilbert Honey, a paleontologist and stratigrapher who focused on the Cenozoic, particularly…
Archaeology Podcast Network Features Paleontologist Amy Atwater from Museum of the Rockies
Amy Atwater is the Paleontology Collections Manager/Registrar at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana – and more importantly, is an amazing scientist. Her discussion of archaeology/paleontology, deep time, stratigraphy, etc., with the “cowboys of science” in episode #5 of their Life In Ruins podcast series (embedded below) is a must listen! More information…
Tertiary geology and paleontology of the central Gravelly Range – a project update
It’s time for our yearly update talk on field work and data compilation for the Tertiary geology and paleontology of the central Gravelly Range project in southwestern Montana. The Madison Ranger District in Ennis, Montana (5 Forest Service Road) will be hosting my talk on Monday, April 2nd at 10am in the Madison Ranger District conference room….
Tertiary Geology and Paleontology in the Gravelly Range, Southwestern Montana
A part of my recent geological field work includes working on high elevation Tertiary strata in the Gravelly Range, southwestern Montana. The Gravelly Range is located in southwest Montana, about 10 miles southwest of Ennis, Montana. For some background on this area and what my field work is about, see an older blog that I…
Cenozoic Sequence Stratigraphy of Southwestern Montana
Much of my research has been focused on Cenozoic sequence stratigraphy of continental basin-fill in southwestern Montana. This approach to the stratigraphy of continental deposits has facilitated correlation of stratigraphic units both within and among the various basins of this area. I recently gave a talk about my work in this area at Montana Tech…
The Field Season Is Going Strong in Southwestern Montana
My field season is in full swing. I recently spent time with students from the Webb Schools in Claremont, CA, during their annual sojourn to southwestern Montana. We prospected a few Tertiary localities, with the students making some good fossil mammal and fossil invertebrate finds. We were also extremely lucky to have a southwest Montana…
A High-Elevation Eocene Fossil Vertebrate Site in the Elkhorn Mountains, Southwestern Montana
The Dog Town Mine Tertiary fossil vertebrate locality is nestled on private property within the southern extent of the Elkhorn Mountains, southwestern Montana. The locality is about 20 miles southwest of Townsend, Montana, where Mesozoic and Paleozoic carbonate, quartzite, and red-colored mudstone, siltstone, and sandstone rocks underlie Eocene (Chadronian) strata. These unconformable Eocene strata contain…
Earl Douglass and the Tertiary Geology of Southwest Montana’s Madison Bluffs
Most vertebrate paleontologists probably think of the spectacular dinosaur finds near Jensen, Utah, when the name Earl Douglass is mentioned. Douglass’s discovery of a partial Apatosaurus near Jensen in 1909 did spark the beginning of his long career with finding more dinosaur material in what we now know as Dinosaur National Monument. But Douglass began his quest for…
The Gravelly Range, Southwestern Montana: High Elevation Tertiary Rocks
The Gravelly Range is located in southwest Montana, about 10 miles southwest of Ennis, Montana. Much of the range is covered by the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. The Axolotl Lakes Wilderness Study Area, managed by the Bureau of Land Management, is in the northern part of the Gravelly Range. Our field group was interested in looking…