Thursday, January 15, 2015

FUN CLASS!

This is the amazingness that happens when paleontologists (AKA me with my biology/geology background) and botanists (the other three girls) get together in a class of four to learn about paleobotany.

 This is the acid peal technique, designed to study the structures of plants that have preserved in coal balls. Those are-you guessed it- balls of plant matter. They're like concretions (obnoxious, unbreakable rocks that sometimes hold fossils but generally just get in the way during prep and collections and fool people because they tend to look like things that they aren't) except that they're comprised of actual plants. As in, when we dissolved the CaCO3 that makes them up, we had actual plant matter preserved in the rock. So on these slides is Miocene plant matter (yes. It really is the real plants) that has been preserved for all this time. No one really knows exactly how they form (true of most fossils) and in general the theories aren't that great according to our teacher. We know that calcite is filling in the gaps between the plants, but why it forms in balls instead of entire swamps turning into giant concretions.... well, that's a science project waiting to happen. One of many questions that I could explore in my taphonomy course. That said, I have another project in mind for that ;)

 Later, we will treat these with acid again and cut them down into the size of microscope slides. Then we'll really be able to see the structures.

 Later this year, I'm going with my teacher to a school to teach younger kids how to do this. Same teacher I've been doing research with, by the way.

 I love taking classes like this that are relevant to what I want to do!

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My Story (Very briefly...)

Lots of people claim that they wanted to be paleontologists at the age of 3. So did I. The problem is, I never really grew out of it. My third birthday party had dinosaurs. Everywhere. I grew up digging in fossil dirt from Aurora, NC, looking for coral and shark teeth. I practically lived at my local science museums (and still do, only now I get to do research, fossil preparation, and work in collections!) When local paleontologists discovered a dinosaur with a "fossilized heart" (no longer considered such) when I was little, I got to meet the man who led the work. And then, years later a dinosaur bone with soft tissue turned up. I was officially hooked.
No longer was I dreaming about dinosaurs. I was actively pursuing the science behind prehistoric creatures. I didn't want to read about it, I wanted in on the action. So I started working at the museum, and finally going on my own adventures. And thus, I needed a place to share them and maybe inspire others the way I was inspired. I have gone from watching fossils be prepared from one side of the glass at the museum to working on them on the inside of the glass. I am a student working toward my goal. I can finally start to call myself a paleontologist.