Friday, July 31, 2009

Florissant fossils

Of course no trip to Florissant is complete without actually viewing and finding fossils!
The fossil lab is located inside a yurt near the ranger station. I do not know why Jonas is carrying Ryan.James was able to walk in all by himself.
The ranger in the Fossil Lab showed us how to split shale using razor blades and precision instruments.Shale from the fossil beds. We were not allowed to touch this.Studying fossils through a microscope. The fossils found in Florissant are of plants and insects and most are quite small.
The boys were eager to try out their own fossil finding skills so we left the National Monument and its federally protected shale and headed a couple miles down the road to a privately owned quarry.There were no razor blades and surgical instruments here. Instead our tools were old butter knives and hammers!
Note how everyone else is listening to the quarry owner while Ryan strikes out on his own.
Armed and dangerous!Looking for promising pieces of shale.
Jonas found a lot of fossils...but Johannes was the fossil finding champion.
Working together like good friends should.
Fossils!
July 2009

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