Florissant definitely looks like a neat place. Always wondered why some trees such as the coastal redwoods got pushed to the West Coast by the ice age and some trees such as bald cypress got pushed South. Some, like dawn redwood, got pushed out of North America altogether. I'm thinking all those species hung out together or fairly near each other at one time. Any ideas on why who went where?
Have any of you guys ever been to the Hell Creek Formation area? One of my trips will eventually be to Montana, to a pay fossil dig so I can satisfy my paleontologist fantasy. gs On Sep 8, 7:03 pm, "Edward Frank" <[email protected]> wrote: > Don, > > Florissant Fossil Bedshttp://www.nps.gov/flfo/index.htmis a neat place I > always meant to visit. What is most important about the site is the presence > of many insect and spider fossils that are usually not preserved in the rocks > there. > > This is the Big Stump. The most common kind of "petrified stump" found at > Florissant Fossil Beds is the redwood Sequoia, such as "Big Stump" pictured > at left. When you visit the park, look for two saw blades embedded into Big > Stump; before Florissant was a National Monument, someone tried to cut Big > Stump into pieces by using saws! Needless to say, the effort was for the most > part, fruitless, and the saw blades are still stuck in Big Stump to this day! > > This is a fossil set called the Trio. This "family circle" of fossilized > stumps grew out of the single trunk of an older parent tree. The tree trunks > are ancient clones, or genetically identical copes, of that parent tree. > Modern coastal redwoods also reproduce by stump sprouting. If a redwood is > toppled or burned, a ring of new trees often sprouts from burls (roots that > stick out of the ground) around the trunk's base. In the coastal redwood > forests, family groups are common. But this trio of stone stumps is unique in > the world's fossil > record!http://www.nps.gov/archive/flfo/online_museum/rocks-fossils/paleontol... > > Ed Frank > > "Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The > latter cannot understand > it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices, but > honestly and courageously > uses his intelligence and fulfills the duty to express the results of his > thought in clear form." Albert Einstein > > BigStump.jpg > 47KViewDownload > > Trio.jpg > 784KViewDownload --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org Send email to [email protected] Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
