Part 1: Introduction to the Big Horn Basin
The Big Horn Basin lies in north central Wyoming, a northwest to southeast oval tipping its hat into southern Montana. It’s a moonscape. Funky-looking, desolate, stunning. Hot and dry in summer, bitter in winter. It’s isolated and easy to get lost in. It is distinctive enough to be readily visible on satellite images from space.
The badlands of the Big Horn Basin. Some geologists write it Bighorn Basin, but our client prefers the three-word version, so that's how I write it.
A few towns ring its circumference. You've probably heard of Cody, Wyoming, a tourist magnet just an hour from Yellowstone. It's the Basin's biggest town with 9,000 souls. The populations of other towns around its perimeter hover between hundreds and low thousands. Not much goes on in the heart of the Big Horn Basin, at least not now. But at different times in the earth’s history this area was immersed in tropical flora, an inland sea, and a lush forest.
The earth is approximately 4.6 billion years old, but it took until 600 million years ago for non-microscopic life to evolve. Trees didn’t show up until about 280 million years ago. Dinosaurs came on the scene about 200 million years ago and they stuck around until about 65 million years ago. Their extinction opened the way for surviving animals to diversify and evolve. Mammals flourished after the dinosaurs, and many of the species surviving today have ancestors from this time period. The first primates, tiny lemur-like creatures, date from about 55 million years ago.
Evidence of much of this is visible in the Big Horn Basin. The earliest primate found to date has been found in the Big Horn Basin, and here is a very cool PBS video you can watch about it. (It runs 13 minutes, and it's well worth your time. Fascinating.)
The Big Horn Basin is truly a perfect place for paleontological study. The earth has buckled and uplifted in such ways that layers from nearly every part of the earth’s history are exposed. Its dry climate has preserved what’s there, kept plants from covering it up, and has discouraged humans from building on top of it. Plus, much of Wyoming, including the Big Horn Basin, is federal land run by the Bureau of Land Management. It belongs to all of us, and the BLM is gracious about civilian use of the land for scientific study.
The Wyoming DOT has posted signs like this indicating which highway-side rocks are exposed and how old they are. If you think about the layers of rock like an onion, geologists call each onion layer a "formation."
There are fossils in countless places in the United States, but not all are this easy to access. Also, the Basin holds a nearly continuous record of time, practically an un-interrupted record of life on earth. The Big Horn Basin is a paleontological gem, a true treasure in the world of science unlike any other single place on earth. This idea is central to the museum I’m working on in Worland, Wyoming, a town of 5,000 in the Big Horn Basin.
So, my firm went up to interview and film some scientists in the field. Which is how I found myself standing with paleontology students in blinding sun and 100 degree heat, downing Gatorade, swinging a pick at rocks shards.
To be posted very soon: Part 2: My Paleontology Field Trip and the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum
A different part of the Big Horn Basin
A few towns ring its circumference. You've probably heard of Cody, Wyoming, a tourist magnet just an hour from Yellowstone. It's the Basin's biggest town with 9,000 souls. The populations of other towns around its perimeter hover between hundreds and low thousands. Not much goes on in the heart of the Big Horn Basin, at least not now. But at different times in the earth’s history this area was immersed in tropical flora, an inland sea, and a lush forest.
The earth is approximately 4.6 billion years old, but it took until 600 million years ago for non-microscopic life to evolve. Trees didn’t show up until about 280 million years ago. Dinosaurs came on the scene about 200 million years ago and they stuck around until about 65 million years ago. Their extinction opened the way for surviving animals to diversify and evolve. Mammals flourished after the dinosaurs, and many of the species surviving today have ancestors from this time period. The first primates, tiny lemur-like creatures, date from about 55 million years ago.
Evidence of much of this is visible in the Big Horn Basin. The earliest primate found to date has been found in the Big Horn Basin, and here is a very cool PBS video you can watch about it. (It runs 13 minutes, and it's well worth your time. Fascinating.)
The Big Horn Basin is truly a perfect place for paleontological study. The earth has buckled and uplifted in such ways that layers from nearly every part of the earth’s history are exposed. Its dry climate has preserved what’s there, kept plants from covering it up, and has discouraged humans from building on top of it. Plus, much of Wyoming, including the Big Horn Basin, is federal land run by the Bureau of Land Management. It belongs to all of us, and the BLM is gracious about civilian use of the land for scientific study.
There are fossils in countless places in the United States, but not all are this easy to access. Also, the Basin holds a nearly continuous record of time, practically an un-interrupted record of life on earth. The Big Horn Basin is a paleontological gem, a true treasure in the world of science unlike any other single place on earth. This idea is central to the museum I’m working on in Worland, Wyoming, a town of 5,000 in the Big Horn Basin.
So, my firm went up to interview and film some scientists in the field. Which is how I found myself standing with paleontology students in blinding sun and 100 degree heat, downing Gatorade, swinging a pick at rocks shards.
To be posted very soon: Part 2: My Paleontology Field Trip and the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum
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