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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/

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So the fossil field workshop for teachers yesterday went really well. The weather was perfect. One of the teachers found a turtle femur. A fossil femur 82.5 million years old. People found fossils of sharks, fish, mosasaurs, oysters, ammonites, shrimp burrows, teredo worms (actually a kind of wood-boring clam),and lots more things. Wish you had gone? Just send me your email address and tell me why you're sending that and I will put you on the list to be reminded next year.

Updates and down dates

Dreams and Nightmares 105. Every subscriber and contributor copy has been mailed. If you are supposed to get one, and you don't get it this week, please let me know.

This is the last day you can nominate speculative poems for the Rhysling award.

In about a month, I will talk about mysterious ancient creatures to science teachers at the Alabama Science Teachers Association meeting. Some creatures leave bones or teeth, others leave only footprints or burrows. In the latter case, how do we learn about them? It turns out we can learn as much or more from tracks than from bones.

Teachers: dig dinosaurs next summer

Teachers: Dig for dinosaurs at Hell Creek

http://digfieldschool.org/

Montana, dinosaurs, and a four-day field school for K-12 science teachers. You don't have to be from Montana, but that's where you would be going, to Hell Creek, one of the most famous dinosaur localities in the world. Applications accepted through March.

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Gathering up the goodies for the teacher fossil workshop Tuesday: labeled fossils, books, Ziploc bags, posters and postcards, sharpies, you know the drill. The only important thing I don't have yet is the guidebooks, but I am supposed to get those Monday hot off the presses. I have never cut it this close before, but circumstances beyond my control…. My usual approach is to print them weeks ahead of time, just in case.

Teacher workshop: paleontology in the Cretaceous of Alabama

We are not really traveling back to the Cretaceous, but a broad swath across central Alabama is underlain by white Cretaceous chalk. It is full of fossils. We have oysters, mosasaurs, sea turtles, snails, ammonoids, sea biscuits, more oysters (practically the world capital for fossil oysters), and lots more. On one of our trips a teacher found a sea turtle shell.

We don't just collect fossils. A major part of the workshop is using fossils to correlate rock layers at a large outcrop. Hands-on practice doing what geologists really do in the field all the time.

Lagniappe includes a copy of Lost Worlds in Alabama Rocks, by Jim Lacefield, probably the best book about the geology of an American state ever produced. But wait, there's more! Pamphlets, books, free fossils, posters, lunch, and lots more.

Here are a few pictures from recent expeditions.

If you want to learn more:

https://www.facebook.com/Fossils-of-the-Black-Belt-690641810945830/

Outstanding earth science teacher award

The outstanding earth science teacher award is made by the National Association of Geoscience Teachers. There is a state award, a section award, and the national award. The winner at each level is automatically in competition at the next level.

I am the representative for Alabama. You can submit nomination materials to me digitally, or on paper to me at:

Geological Survey of Alabama.
Box 869999
Tuscaloosa, AL 35486-6999

My email address: dkm@gsa.state.al.us

The nomination form appears below, but, you can apply through the website of the NAGT:
http://nagt.org/nagt/awards/oest-nom.html

Winners get free books, money, plaques, and other good stuff.



The deadline for nominating your teacher for this award is the end of April, but don't leave it to the last minute. You can nominate a teacher (a can be yourself) any time of the year. In fact, the school year has just ended, or will end soon, depending on where you live. When a teacher gets out, they have lots of free time. That is the perfect time to ask them for the information you need to fill out the nomination form. If you are a teacher, this is the perfect time to nominate yourself or a colleague. Don't wait for the school year to start again. This is when teachers are busy and possibly a little distracted by their work. Do it in the summer when they are relaxing by the pool or working in their gardens.

Fall fossil field workshop for teachers in Alabama

The Geological Survey of Alabama, The University of West Alabama, the Black Belt Museum, the Birmingham Paleontological Society, Discovering Alabama, and the Alabama Geological Society, are once again offering a one-day workshop for teachers. Participants will spend the day learning how to study fossils and how to use them to understand other characteristics of the rocks in which they are found. Participants also will have the opportunity to collect Cretaceous marine fossils, ranging from oysters to mosasaur teeth. One year, somebody found a fossil turtle. Each participant will receive a copy of Jim Lacefield's book, "Lost Worlds in Alabama Rocks." This profusely illustrated volume, published by the Alabama Museum of Natural History, is easily one of the best and most comprehensive geology books written for the general public.

Spaces are quite limited, and they are filling up, so if you want to sign up, do it soon!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Fossils-of-the-Black-Belt-690641810945830/

If you have any questions, just ask.

David

Paleontology, music, and stuff

I am very sorry about my parody of that great song, "Venus." I almost feel ashamed of myself for it.

October 2, Tony Martin will be here from Emory University, talking about dinosaurs and their footprints, with implications for understanding the ancient world and for evolution. It will be really cool and you should definitely be there if you can. Our evolution lecture series is even better than football, IMHO.

Time is running out to sign up for the teacher workshop on fossils, which will be Tuesday, October 21 in the vicinity of Livingston Alabama. We still have a few slots available, and it is only $15. One of the books you get, the second edition of "Lost Worlds in Alabama Rocks," retails for $30 and that's just one of the things you get. You get other publications, a free lunch, you collect fossils, you get to pan for sharks teeth (which is more rewarding than panning for gold), and think of the camaraderie!