Bristol SVP

So, another SVP conference under my belt. I believe it was my 8th. Having SVP in Bristol, England, was a lot of fun even with the glitches (the venue was way too small - I don't think they ever envisioned that 1100 people would attend!; they 'lost' my registration, but my boyfriend was registered twice - go figure; the walk between venues was about 10 minutes - so you had to plan ahead which can be hard after partying all night). However, it was all worth it. I saw many interesting talks and it was good to see everyone and find out how their research has been going. Plus the sightseeing was awesome. I love that I spent time in buildings that are older than my country! : )

Next year SVP is in Pittsburgh, which I'm sure won't be quite as scenic, but should still be a good time. Lookin' forward to it!

Thank you field assistants!!

I just wanted to send out a great big "Thank you!" to all my field and lab assistants this summer. You all helped out tremendously and will be mentioned in the acknowledgements of my dissertation! : )

Collection of Scollard material at Dry Island

I've been working a site in the Scollard Formation of Dry Island Buffalo Jump Park that is looking quite promising. It was worked about 6 or 7 years ago by Dr. Don Brinkman and Allison Fotheringham (both of the Tyrrell Museum), but not really looked at since then. So far I've surface collected and found a nice theropod tooth (pictured above) and an ankylosaur scute as well as a lot of other small bits. We've also collected about 15 smallish (25-35 lb) bags of matrix. I'm going to be getting more bodies in the field with me this week and will collect even more material to wash during the winter. It would go much faster except we have to carry the bags up the Hill of Doom which has about a 35 degree slope on the path out and is about a half a kilometer long. I can only walk the hill once a day. I'm hoping my younger and fitter field assistants will be able to do it twice a day for the next week. : )

New blog regarding 2010 scow trip

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Barnum Brown floating down the Red Deer River in Alberta to prospect and collect dinosaurs, Darren Tanke and I will be re-enacting this event during the summer of 2010. We've started a new blog that will keep everyone apprised of the status of the trip. It's called "Dinosaur Hunting by boat in 2010: Alberta, Canada" and can be found at http://2010dinohuntingbyboat.blogspot.com/. We are planning to use this blog before, during and after the trip to post pictures, discuss plans and just generally let everyone know how things are going. It's going to be a fun and educational trip and I hope that everyone will join us on the blog. We are open to discussion and hope that you will feel free to ask any questions that you may have.

No SVP awards banquet

I have to say I'm a bit annoyed at SVP at the moment. I recently read an email from SVP President Blair Van Valkenburg that states they couldn't find a room big enough to hold all of us, so they are going to change the awards banquet to a simple ceremony. While I'm really looking forward to the conference, the fact that we don't get an awards banquet this year is kind of annoying. I understand that the economy is in the crapper, but I find it hard to believe that the university doesn't have a room large enough to hold us all. Where do they hold their graduation ceremonies?

I feel that I paid a lot to register (even as a student) as well as $1100 (CDN) for the flight, and will be paying around $115 (US) per night for the hotel, plus then food and incidentals. I think the least they could do is have a banquet. The food doesn't have to be spectacular - I'd be happy with sandwiches and chips. And I'd bet good money that when the economy does pick back up that the banquet will still be history. Actually, I found it rather amusing that she mentioned that there will not be food during coffee breaks (just cookies) because I can only think of one meeting where there was real food during coffee breaks and that was at Bozeman. I remember everyone being surprised and delighted at the food and snarfing down.

I won't even go into the whole Attenborough lecture fiasco - especially since I ended up getting tickets much to my surprise.

Oh well. I'm still be attending and looking forward to seeing everyone and being in Bristol, even if it means I have to give up the banquet.

INHIGEO 2009: Fossils & Fuel

The INHIGEO 2009 conference is being held in Calgary on August 10-14. The symposium will be concentrating on fossils and fuel. Darren and I will be attending and he will be giving 4 solo talks and is a co-author on another. I'm looking forward to learning about the world wide history behind fossil and fuel discoveries.

Field Work Fun

Despite a slight back injury causing some delays, I've been collecting matrix for my PhD project which is a microvertebrate study of the Scollard Fm here in Alberta. One very nice Saturday, Darren, Natasha and I visited and collected from a productive road cut.

We found a nice layer where Ornithischian tooth fragments, gar and other fish scales, crocodile teeth, etc (all typical Scollard microfossils) were eroding out.

Also found was this turtle plate that was surprisingly complete. I have, of course, lost my usual scale bar and had forgotten my new one, so made due with the Blistex tube that I always have with me. I've been accused of being addicted to the stuff in the past, but I always figured there are worse things to be addicted to. : )


Anyway, the turtle plate turned out to be a Chelydrid hypoplastron which Dr. Don Brinkman (of the Royal Tyrrell Museum and my co-supervisor) seemed pleased with.

We ended up collecting 7 bags of test matrix and I'm excited to get the material washed next week. I'll then sort through it, picking out the fossils and doing my best to identify them (I'm still new at this) and decide whether it's worth going back to do major collection.

This is just one of six sites I've seen thus far and I hope to visit more further north on the Red Deer River soon. I'll do my best to update the blog as I go along.

I did want to mention that in Alberta, one must have an excavation permit to collect matrix or do anything other than surface collect and to be sure that you always have proper landowner permission before going onto any site.