Follow PaleoJoe every month as he recounts events for his Paleo Notes, stories and facts about fossils from around Michigan and the United States.
PaleoJoe’s Paleo Notes for the month of May 2009
PaloeoJoe in the deserts of Utah
For those of you following the messages from PaleoJoe, today I am writing this from the deserts of Utah – actually my hotel room in Hanksville Utah.
It has been an exciting time here in the San Rafel Desert, digging in the Jurassic rocks of the Morrison formation – the REAL Jurassic Park.
Since I was here last year, many bones were removed and more were discovered. At this site we have uncovered so far bones from a Barosaurus, Apatosaurus, Diplodocus, Allosaurus, my Camarasaurus and a possible Stegosaurus and I am positive we will find more bones.
Over the next few months I will happily recount some of the adventures of a dinosaur digger. It has been raining quite a bit here the last several days and we have had to delay digging one day but decided to do some “Paleo Prospecting”. So the first day we went south of Hanksville, our quarry is north, and we hiked the badlands most of the day. Early afternoon came the word that one of the crew discovered bones. We all migrated there and saw they were bones of a meat eater. Not sure yet by it is probable that it is an Allosaurus. Not bad for a day we couldn’t drive down the road we wanted to. So now we will have another dinosaur quarry in the desert. However we will concentrate our efforts at the Hanksville-Burpee Dinosaur quarry. Next installment I’ll write about the first few days on the digsite. Stay tuned……
PaleoJoe’s Paleo Notes for the month of April 2009
Alpena – A Fun Family Fossil Vacation
These days many people are searching for an alternative vacation location. Let’s stay at home here in Michigan this year.
The state has a great deal to offer including some really great fossil hunting opportunities. Alpena is one of my favorites. Today I will give you two locations that will amaze you with the amount of fossils you can just bend over and pick up. There is no digging involved at all, just bring a small pail or bucket and a great deal of enthusiasm.
Before I give you the locations, Alpena is a great vacation spot. The Jesse Besser Museum of Northern Michigan is a nice place to spend some time. Alpena has a wonderful beach right in town for swimming, lots of shopping on US 23 as well as US 32. There are lots of fine hotels and restaurants. One of my favorites Johnny Lau’s Saloon on Second Street, makes some of the best burgers in the state and you are surrounded by really cool history and artifacts.
Site # 1
Sytek Park and Burkholder Roadside ditch. Travel North on US 23 until you reach Alpena City Limits, continue on 23 just past the Alpena Mall. You will see an intersection N. Ripley Blvd going on an angle to the left. Follow N. Ripley Blvd to US 32 West towards the airport. Turn left and follow US 32 past the cemetery about 1 mile. The next intersection is Bagley and US 32 , turn right on Bagley. Travel about ¼ mile you will see a bridge (don’t cross the bridge, you’ve gone too far) and to the right is the parking area for Sytek Park. Park in the parking area. Cross Bagley Road to the ditch on the north side of Burkholder, go down in the ditch and get ready to just bend over and pick up thousands of fossils. It is the remains of a 350 million year old storm surge deposit. You’ll see pieces of coral, brachiopods (sea shells) crinoids and lots of other stuff.
Site # 2
Travel back out the way you came. Turn left on US 32 and go back into Alpena. Go thru the stoplight at N. Ripley this time and travel to the heart of Alpena. Then turn left on US 23. Follow Us 23 north for almost exactly 8 miles. You will see Rockport Quarry Road sign and turn right on Rockport Road. It is a dirt road. Follow the road all the way to the end, Rockport State Park. Park in the parking area and go inland. Follow one of the access roads to the west. You’ll see some big piles of dirt blocking vehicles from going into the now abandoned quarry. Go up or around and continue to follow the trail. The trail will open up into the shallow quarry. Enjoy, just walk into the quarry and look down, you will see lots of corals, some shells and you may even find fossilized ripple marks showing that this area was once the bottom of a very shallo near shore deposit.
PaleoJoe’s Paleo Notes for the month of March 2009
Michigan – Fossil Hunters Paradise.
Michigan, well known for its waterways, camping and outdoor recreational opportunities can add one more very special activity to its long list of outdoor adventures.
Fossil Hunting
Michigan is very fossil rich. What is a fossil – A fossil is the evidence of past life. Fossils can be as simple as a dinosaur footprint, a sea shell, or a leaf impression, the remains of an insect in amber, or a dinosaur bone.
Alas, dinosaurs cannot be found in Michigan but we have a wide range of prehistoric remains that can be found dating back 350 to 400 million years ago – long before the age of dinosaurs - and creatures that once roamed just before and after the last Ice Age.
The vast majority of fossils can be found in an area around the northern Lower Peninsula stretching from Alpena to Traverse City. The fossils found here are the remains of creatures that once inhabited the ancient salt water seas that once covered the state of Michigan. Fossils of varying types have been found in nearly every county within the state.
What can commonly be found in Michigan are the remains of Sea Shells, Corals, ancient “sea lilies” called crinoids, cephalopods, trilobites and even primitive fish and sharks. The larges of which was a fish called Dunkleosteus that grew to 30 feet in length. – Talk about the catch of a lifetime.
During a period called the Devonian Period, around 350 million years ago, Michigan was covered in a warm, shallow, salt water tropical sea. We know this because we can find fossils of Corals. Corals today only live in warm shallow salt water tropical seas so we can make the deduction that the prehistoric corals also lived in such seas. But that is not the only reason. We have found huge salt deposits beneath the ground in Michigan. So much salt that Herbert H. Dow opened a company here in Midland that extracted brine from the ground.
Most of the northern Lower Peninsula contains the remains of a ancient tropical reef. Travel – enjoy the state of Michigan and ALL it has to offer – stay tuned monthly for more fossil news including places you can go as a family to find your own treasures of the past.
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