Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Flying away again...

I arrived in Ulaanbaatar last Saturday and am heading out to the Gobi Desert tomorrow morning. I’ve got a few blog posts that will appear while I’m away, but emails and facebook will be on hiatus until I return in late September.

However, I will leave you with a few palaeo notes and photos before I disappear for four weeks. During the Flugsaurier Symposium Scott and I had the opportunity to go on a field trip to Liaoning province to visit Jehol group outcrops and museums. Yesterday I posted a few photos of the Chaoyang Geopark. Today I’ve got some pictures of the Sihetun Fossil Museum and Darwinopterus field locality.



Outside the Sihetun Museum was this great expanse of Jehol Group outcrop. We all got to try cracking open some rocks, and many conchostracans and insects were found.



The Sihetun Museum had several very nice Psittacosaurus specimens, like this rather squashed fellow.



A particular treat of the trip was to visit the locality where Darwinopterus was collected, in the middle of a bunch of corn fields. It was interesting to see how Jehol rocks are typically quarried – the farmers find a productive level and then tunnel into the hillside. Unfortunately, this isn’t a very safe method for collecting.


I leave you with a final photo of my fine fangly friend Zhenyuanopterus, a huge boreopterid pterosaur from the Jehol.


Take care everyone and I’ll see you in September.

3 comments:

  1. What a wonderful adventure that you have been sharing. Thanks. Looking forward to your updates on the Gobi when you get back to Canada. Good "hunting".

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dear Pseudocephalus,

    I am writing a science news story about a fossil found in the Jehol Group. Please may I use your image of the Jehol Group Outcrop for my poster?
    It will be on display at the Centre for Life in Newcastle, UK.

    Many thanks

    Jenny Dockett
    Public Engagement Manager
    Centre for Life

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Jenny - You are more than welcome to use the image!

    ReplyDelete