APS
Monograph No. 2
Pennsylvanian
Footprints in the Black Warrior Basin of Alabama.
Vol.
2: The Ichnology of Multiple Walker County Tracksites
A
CALL FOR PAPERS
In
2005, the Alabama Paleontological Society (APS) published a
comprehensive monograph on the trace and body fossils
of the world’s most prolific Carboniferous (Coal Age) tracksite,
the Union Chapel Mine (now the Steven C. Minkin Paleozoic Footprint
site) located in north-central Alabama. More than 2500 specimens of
trackways have been collected from this site, a discontinued surface
coal mine in Walker County.
APS
Monograph No. 1, Pennsylvanian
Footprints in the Black Warrior Basin of Alabama,
known informally as the “Blue Book,” was a citizen
scientist-professional collaboration that stood as the first major
attempt to research Coal Age vertebrate trackways
in Alabama since Museum Paper No. 9, Footprints
from the Coal Measures of Alabama,
published in 1930 by the Alabama Museum of Natural History and
written by Truman H. Aldrich, Sr. and Walter B. Jones.
The entire Blue Book can be accessed online at
Although
the Blue Book is still of great value, it was not long before its
interpretations needed to be revised and updated. For example, the
taxonomy and attribution of vertebrate trackways is still in flux,
while some “horseshoe crab” trackways are now thought to have
been made by wingless monuran insects. Other traces in the Blue Book
are still being debated and likely need further work. But in
addition, many more specimens have been collected from Walker County
since 2005 that have not yet been examined by any professional
ichnologist. An example is the large database of new material from
the Crescent Valley Mine near Carbon Hill, 23 miles west and a little
north of the Minkin Site. Other sites include the Sugartown and Fern
Springs Road mines, which have been visited many times by APS
members.
We
are calling for papers to be part of a second monograph prepared
under the auspices of the APS to accomplish the following:
- illustrate new and interesting specimens collected from multiple tracksites since 2005
- arrange for thorough expert examination of the new vertebrate and invertebrate trace fossil specimens, treating both kinds as having the same level of scientific value
- revise the interpretations in the Blue Book accordingly
- cover all the known tracksites in Alabama
- include analysis and illustration of important specimens of plant fossils found atthese same sites
- provide a global view of life during the coal age in Alabama, with the idea of connecting the Alabama tracks to other sites in the US and Canada
- provide a venue for several new studies of UCM and CVM material that are already underway or planned
EDITORS:
Dr.
Ronald J. Buta, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of
Alabama, Tuscaloosa, rbuta@ua.edu
Dr.
David C. Kopaska-Merkel, Geological Survey of Alabama, Tuscaloosa,
davidkm@gsa.state.al.us
Dr.
Andrew K. Rindsberg, University of West Alabama, Livingston,
arindsberg@uwa.edu
We
encourage scientists with a strong interest and experience in
Carboniferous trace fossils to contribute papers to this volume. A
significant number of Walker County trace fossils collected by local
amateurs and citizen scientists are housed in museums in Alabama,
including the Alabama Museum of Natural History, the McWane Science
Center, and the Anniston Museum of Natural History. The database has
continued to expand since the first “Track Meet” (gathering of
collectors to document and often donate their specimens) held nearly
17 years ago at the Alabama Museum of Natural History. The story
behind the discovery and re-discovery of vertebrate trace fossils in
Alabama is told in “Footprints in Stone: Fossil Traces of Coal-Age
Tetrapods,” by Ronald J. Buta and David C. Kopaska-Merkel,
published in mid-2016 by the University of Alabama Press. The book is
available through both amazon.com and the UA Press.
SUBMISSION
PROCEDURE:
If
you are interested in contributing a paper to the proposed volume,
please send the editors a letter of intent indicating the topic you
would like to focus on. This letter should be submitted by January 1,
2018.
If
accepted by the editors as a possible paper for the volume, the
formal deadline for submitting the completed manuscript is January 1,
2019. All papers should be submitted in Microsoft Word with
illustrations in separate jpeg or tiff format. Line graphs should
have a resolution of at least 300 dpi. Halftones should be
well-focused and sharp.
