The Earth Story

Original caption:

Edmontosaurus Common name: Edmontosaurus (ed-MON-to-SAWR-us) Size: ~13m (42 ft) long Age: Cretaceous (73-65 million years ago) Geographic range: North America, mostly around southern Canada/northern USA Liked: eating leaves Disliked: T-Rex Taxonomy: Animalia > Chordata > Archsauria > Ornithischia > Hadrosaurinae > Edmontosaurus > E. regalis Edmontosaurus was a duck-billed herbivorous dinosaur from the Cretaceous period. It was likely to be mostly biped, with short, stubby arms that could support a quadruped gait when grazing low foliage in their swampy habitat.

Pompey’s Pillar and graffiti

Some years ago during July, a group came upon this sandstone monolith in southern Montana during a long summer hike along the Yellowstone River. One of the travelers climbed the block, saw that it presented an impressive view of the surrounding countryside, noted the presence of some Native American rock art on the pillar, and decided to add his name.

That traveler was named William Clark, one part of the “Lewis and Clark” team that explored the Louisiana Purchase in the early 1800s. To the knowledge of historians, this graffiti is the only remnant of the Lewis and Clark expedition surviving to this day. The rock was nicknamed “Pompey’s Pillar” after Clark’s nickname for Baptiste Charbonneau, the child of Native American Sacagawea, who accompanied the travelers on their trip. A protective frame now covers that signature.

The rock itself is a piece of cretaceous-aged sandstone, part of the “Hell’s Creek” formation, stuck up against the erosive power of the Yellowstone River. The sandstones were deposited in this area as the Rocky Mountains grew to the west; the Cretaceous was the peak of the Sevier and Laramide orogenies in Southern Montana. As those mountains grew, erosion tore away bits and pieces, carried those bits downstream, and deposited them as sandstones along the shores of the Western Interior Seaway; a shallow ocean produced when sea level rose up to cover the continent. Just downstream from this site William Clark himself reportedly pulled a 1-meter rib out of the Hell’s Creek formation and correctly surmised that he had found a Cretaceous-Aged dinosaur bone.

The presence of Clark’s signature combined with the Native American artifacts provoked the designation of this pillar a National Monument. However, that isn’t the only graffiti part of this story. In 2013, the U.S. government “Shut down” and employees of the national parks service were sent home. While this facility was unguarded, a couple added their signature and date to the rock (purportedly after they went through a breast cancer scare). The man who did the carving was ordered to pay $4400 for restoration of the spot and it was painted over, but marks from that carving still remain.

This event poses an interesting question; this rock is a national monument because of one signature, but a later signature changed it. Why is one person’s signature more valid than another? Why is William Clark venerated but a later person fined? 

-JBB

Image credit: https://flic.kr/p/f1vrZt

Read more: http://on.doi.gov/1Addi1u http://bit.ly/1k2CPLz http://strib.mn/1edGqvw

Not sure I agree with all of the text, but here’s the Hell Creek formation

lawsonfossils Another T rex tooth that came out of the micro site this weekend!!

Trip through the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, happening this week until the 11th. Apparently you could buy an actual Tyrannosaurus. 

Fossil Hunter takes you on a trip through the Badlands of North Dakota