051021b

 

Fossils of the Black Belt 21 (2021) — a Hands-on Field Workshop

The Geological Survey of Alabama and the University of West Alabama take the lead in presenting Fossils of the Black Belt 21, the latest in a long-running series of annual field paleontology workshops for teachers. This year's workshop will focus on paleoecology and paleoenvironmental analysis, the science of understanding environments and living things of the distant past.

The workshop will be in two parts. In part one, Alabama paleontologists will present the geologic history of West Alabama, the origin and nature of the chalk, as well as methods and aims of paleoecology and paleoenvironmental analysis. These lectures will be prerecorded and delivered via Zoom. They will be viewable beginning a few days before the field workshop, and you can watch them whenever it's convenient. The field workshop will take place on Tuesday October 12 on a large chalk outcrop near Selma. You will divide into groups and, by examining the chalk and its fossils, develop hypotheses about the origin of the chalk. This field activity will be conducted using social distancing, and masks will be required. Depending on the nature of the health crisis at that time, and the possibility of severe weather, the field activity may need to be canceled. If this happens, we will mail the guidebook, Jim Lacefield's book, and all other handouts, to registrants. The Zoom lectures will be provided even if the field workshop is canceled.

We will meet at Harrell Station, a productive Cretaceous fossil site on private land near Selma, Alabama. The workshop will take place on Tuesday, October 12 2021. The cost is $28 for this one-day workshop. This includes lunch and a vast array of science-education goodies, including the famed book by Jim Lacefield, Lost Worlds in Alabama Rocks (a $25 value).

To register, please contact Dr. David Kopaska-Merkel, 205-246-9346, dkm@gsa.state.al.us.

 

031821c

 

Teacher workshop in paleontology, West Alabama, October, when the weather is perfect. Two photos of participants from previous years, collecting fossils  and learning by hands-on doing, followed by the registration form. If you have any questions, ask me here: dkm@gsa.state.al.us.

 

022321

Note To Self

 

people call me a conspiracy theorist

she said

but what is real?

who can you trust?

treading carefully, I cleared my throat

I began to comprehend

when she confided

"I don't believe in Mars or Jupiter" 

True story.

021121

 

welcome to the workshop

 

there will be no handouts

please maintain your distance at all times

found something perplexing?

don't put your heads together

hold the fossil at arm's length

don't share your hand lenses

observe cool items

one at a time

at lunch

     do not touch the outside of the clamshell

     shout your thoughts so all can here

     sorry, bathrooms are locked for the duration

welcome to the workshop

041420c

https://ncse.ngo/can-i-catch-covid-19

Short summary of scientific study of persistence of coronavirus on surfaces, with a link to the scientific report.

022420c

Last evolution lecture of the year in the ALLELE series at the University of Alabama: Why are women shorter than men?

http://evolution.ua.edu/2019-20-series.html#Dunsworth

Free and open to the public, Thursday, March 5, 7:30 PM

013020c

I will be helping to lead a hands-on field workshop for K-12 science teachers on the subject of paleontology in West Alabama this coming October (see above). The subject this year is "Palaeoecology and Extreme Events." Participation is limited to 26.

101019d

K-12 teachers in Alabama! Get a free copy (for your school) of the book that explains the geologic history of the state. Profusely illustrated, and aimed at high school students and above, this book is one of the best ever written about the geology of any state. The first edition sold out long ago, which is a good thing, because the second edition is even better. That's the one you will get if you follow the directions below, which are very very simple.

100719c

I am presenting a hands-on middle-school earth-science workshop at the Alabama Science Teachers Association conference in Tuscaloosa

NOVEMBER 4 • MONDAY

2:00pm – 2:50pm M Make your own trackway

Presenters: Rylleigh Harstad, David Kopaska-Merkel
Sponsors: Geological Survey of Alabama
Sellers Auditorium, BCC Level 1 (Hotel Capstone - Level 1)

The fun begins with painting with your feet, and just goes on from there!

080819d

The Encyclopedia of Alabama includes about two dozen short articles about the geology of the state. Including this one, about the Steven C Minkin Paleozoic Footprint site, in Walker County. This site is one of the best in the world for its abundance and diversity of trace fossils:

http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1371

The encyclopedia is written for the general public.

Here are photographs of some of the fantastically preserved trace fossils found at the site:

 Insect jumping traces.

Horseshoe crab trackway.

Two crossing millipede trackways.

 Amphibian trackway.

Reptile trackway.

Giant amphibian footprint next to a small trackway of a different amphibian.

 Fish fin trails.

Insect wing impressions.

Trigonotarbid, an ancient spider relative.

A new book about these exciting Pennsylvanian trace fossils describes their discovery, their makers, and the environment in which they lived:

https://www.amazon.com/Footprints-Stone-Fossil-Coal-Age-Tetrapods/dp/0817358447/ref=mt_paperback?_encoding=UTF8&me=

080119

teachers sent
to blah blah blah class
no one learns a thing

030519e

Every year, we take teachers on a one-day paleontology field workshop in western Alabama. This is the kind of stuff they find:

Participants don't just find fossils, they study them. This year, we will be learning about how to use fossils to correlate rock layers. Of course, if past expeditions are anything to go by, we also could find pterosaurs, mosasaurs, sea turtles, and lots of other things.

To learn more or sign up, go to this website and scroll down:

https://www.gsa.state.al.us/

Paleontology Field Workshop for Teachers

Field Workshop — Paleontology of the Black Belt of Alabama

The Geological Survey of Alabama, the University of West Alabama, Discovering Alabama, the Alabama Geological Society, and the Birmingham Paleontological Society have collaborated for 20 years on an annual one-day field workshop in paleontology. This workshop is specifically aimed at K-12 teachers, but other kinds of educators are welcome to participate. The workshop is held on a Tuesday in October (the dry season) at a privately owned large fossil-rich outcrop, to which we have access for this purpose.

The Black Belt is a swath across central Alabama, named for its rich soil.

Last year, we focused on studying evidence of interactions among ancient organisms. This year, our focus will be using fossils to understand the stratigraphy, the layering of different kinds of rocks, in the field area.

Here are some photographs from past expeditions. We always find many kinds of fossils. In the past, these have included two pterosaurs, a brittle star, a mosasaur jaw, and a sea turtle shell.

At the bottom, is a registration form. We hope you will join us this coming fall!

Heading out to the field site.



Final instructions.

Scenery not to be sneezed at.

A fish vertebra just lying on the ground waiting to be picked up.



Conversations in the field.

Shark teeth from many species can be found here.

As well as many other things.



See!

All kinds of teeth.

Oysters and other kinds of shells are common.

All kinds of free publications for teachers to take home. Lunch and snacks are provided. We will help you identify the fossils that you find. You get to take them home, unless you find something truly remarkable. Those specimens go into the museum, with you listed as the collector.

Use this form to register, or email me at dkm@gsa.state.al.us

Fossils of the Black Belt 2018-2019

This workshop is held every year in October. Here are some photographs from 2018, taken by Vicki Lais. We were studying what fossils can tell us about interactions among organisms.

Fossils of the Black Belt 20 (2019)  — a Hands-on Field Workshop

The Geological Survey of Alabama and the University of West Alabama take the lead in presenting Fossils of the Black Belt 20, the latest in a long-running series of annual field paleontology workshops for teachers. This year's workshop will focus on biostratigraphy, the science of what fossils can tell us about the layering and ages of rocks. We will meet at Harrell Station, a productive Cretaceous fossil site on private land near Selma, Alabama. The workshop will take place on Tuesday, October 15, 2019. The cost is $28 for this one-day workshop. This includes lunch and a vast array of science-education goodies, including the famed book by Jim Lacefield, Lost Worlds in Alabama Rocks (a $25 value).

To register, please contact Dr. David Kopaska-Merkel, 205-247-3695, dkm@gsa.state.al.us.

Some of the free stuff.

The field site.

Fossil worm tubes, Hamulus.

A teacher, finding cool fossils.

Marking an important find for future excavation. We found a pterosaur!

A wide variety of mollusks here, especially, so many kinds of oysters.

Teeth are common: shark, fish, mosasaur.

A shark tooth.

This teacher is armed.

I missed the joke, but this teacher found more than anybody else.

A baby mosasaur jaw.

Fossil hunting.

110518

Spent the day at the Alabama Science Teachers Ass'n mtg, which this yr was in Tuscaloosa. Spoke on fossil reefs, to a receptive group. Attended a v good wkshop on teaching evolution. Talked to some friends & made a few new ones. Talked up our fossil workshop.

110218d

Does Star Trek help explain evolution? Come find out! Mohammed Noor speaks on this subject in Tuscaloosa later this month. The lecture is free, and open to the public. ffor more information:

http://evolution.ua.edu/2018-19-series.html

110218

Great lecture last night by Prosanta Chakrabarty  about teaching evolution to everyone. He is a great speaker, and his PowerPoint slides were amusingly cheesy. Lots of good ways of explaining various abstruse concepts. You can find him on YouTube; he has done a bunch of TED talks.

102418d

The Clergy Letter Project is an organization that supports the teaching of science in schools. Any of you might be interested in learning about it. Any of you who are clergy might want to join it.



http://www.theclergyletterproject.org/Resources/oct2018newsletter.html#2

101518c

No rain in the forecast for the workshop tomorrow. This is good, because the clayey soil becomes impossible to walk through if it's very wet. One ends up with huge clay boots. As it is, we can look forward to a day of discovery of many interesting fossils. And this is a site where almost every year somebody finds something truly remarkable, so we can hope for that too. In recent years we have found a pterosaur and a brittle star.

092418d

You are almost out of time to sign up for the October 16 paleontology workshop for teachers in West Alabama. This is a one-day field workshop, inexpensive, but valuable.. You will get lots of free stuff, including the fantastic book "Lost worlds in Alabama rocks." you will spend the day learning about interactions among fossil species, that we can learn about by looking at the fossils they leave behind. West Alabama is a great place to learn about this because Cretaceous fossils are diverse, abundant, and show many traces of their interactions.