Alaskan Dinosaur Expedition

Changes On The Horizon

Aug. 6:

I finished up at the museum this morning. There is plenty to do, but it's time to go home.

This morning's Fairbanks paper announced the possibility of opening up the National Petroleum Reserve. Nuiqsut is in favor because they want a bridge across the Colville and a road to Deadhorse. In part, this is intended to be helpful in their hunt for caribou. I understand (Secretary of the Interior Bruce) Babbitt is opposed to the notion of building roads. Certainly the development of roads like at Prudhoe and Deadhorse could only help the logistics of work out here.

Of course, development of any kind will take something away from the river adventure. Given these political developments, I'm glad that I was able to have my first experience at the beginning of these changes. I suspect if I'm back again, it will feel much different.

On to Anchorage before the flight home:

This is my last night in Alaska, and I am out at dinner again. Even Anchorage feels different now. I think I understand the disparaging remarks by my river companions regarding, in their words, "Los Anchorage." Though I am in Alaska, it doesn't feel that way here.

Funny how it has all changed.

 Back in Dallas and looking to the future....

The trip is finished, so what is the next step? There's such great potential for more work in Alaska.

The Liscomb site that we worked on the river was perhaps the richest deposit of dinosaur bones I have ever seen, and except for a few teeth of meat-eating dinosaurs, the bones all belonged to Edmontosaurus, a duck-billed dinosaur. Oddly, all of these bones belonged to half-grown individuals. Why? Where were the adults? Why such a huge concentration of juveniles? My initial results are inconclusive as to determining whether this is the site of a dinosaur rookery.

Did these animals live this far north all year, or was this just a migratory population? Among modern mammals, those that migrate long distances only travel when their young are of a particular size. Are these juvenile dinosaurs of an appropriate size? Smaller? Larger? If these dinosaurs are too small to have migrated, then that means they were born at these high latitudes. That, in turn, would have some very interesting implications for the biology of these animals, since they are typically considered reptiles and there are no polar reptiles today.

Why are these bones here? What are the climate indicators telling me in these rocks compared to those that I see in Big Bend? Based on the distribution of bones at this site, my impression was that the site was the result of a short-term event like a flood, rather than a long term event. If this is a short term event, that would imply that these animals lived together, or at least saw each other on the landscape. In contrast, if this deposit is a long term event, then perhaps these animals never saw each other. This is a fundamental question that needs to be answered before more advanced questions can be addressed like "how did these animals interact?"

Rather than answering questions, this site was raising more questions. My nights even now are filled with thoughts of Alaska some 65 million years ago.

Based on the calendar, my trip lasted only about three weeks. But the spectacular nature of the geology, paleontology and life on the river made it feel like a much longer experience than that. Despite the mosquitoes, the wind and the rain, I left the river with great enthusiasm for the project and feeling that the most important thing I learned was how much more I still need to learn.

So now I have a tremendous desire to go back. But funding is a key issue and I am wondering where will it come from. Although it’s a bit early, there is every reason to be optimistic. My museum director is excited by what I have reported to him and acknowledges the terrific scientific potential of continuing this project. With his help in securing funding, as well as what Roland and I can do, this joint Dallas Museum of Natural History-University of Alaska expedition may just be able to continue next year.

And that thought is putting a big smile on my face.