Early on, location data was recorded by measuring down and across a physical aerial photograph. But before she could analyze that data, she needed to finish digitizing it. Specifically, Anne wanted to know how many samples were collected where over that time. Nick Famoso, decided to take a closer look at the last 30+ years of field work. To find out, she and her supervisor, park Chief of Paleontology Dr. As a result, Anne Kort, a Geoscientists-in-the-Parks intern tasked with digitizing fossil location information, started to wonder: was a four-year cycle really a good goal? That meant focusing on the rock layer that has the most fossils, even though the park contains many rock layers of many different ages. Instead, they aimed to collect as many significant or identifiable fossils as possible. Staff were almost never able to stick to the schedule.
Yet the productive areas were large, and staff availability varied seasonally and year to year. The idea of this cyclical schedule was to allow enough time for erosion to uncover more fossils without waiting so long that significant discoveries eroded away. Staff were scheduled to prospect for fossils in each of the five most productive areas, every four years.
#John day gps tracks plus#
But what is the best way for limited paleontological staff to go about collecting fossils from 22 square miles of parkland, plus neighboring park partner fossil beds?Īfter its 1975 founding, the park switched away from sporadic university expeditions to consistent fieldwork by park staff. Part of the park’s mission is to keep learning about tens of millions of years of the region’s history through ongoing fossil collection. Early dogs and horses, false saber-toothed cats, and the last known primate in North America are among the discoveries paleontologists have made in these formations. John Day Fossil Beds National Monument protects geologic formations that contain one of the longest, most continuous fossil records on Earth. So when Anne started to wonder, was that four-year cyclical schedule really a good goal? Paleontology staff at the park were almost never able to stick to their four-year prospecting schedule. Anne Kort in the field at John Day Fossil Beds National Monument excavating a fossil.
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