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looking for fresh dinosaur bones II
As promised, this is the response sent to PaleoNet to the request I
just re-distributed here. Aside from the interesting Alaskan sites, I
thought many of you would find the _T. rex_ story humorous.
--- begin forwarded message -- MR --
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 1995 12:55:59 -0600
To: paleonet@nhm.ac.uk
From: lmarincovich@isdmnl.wr.usgs.gov (Louie Marincovich)
Subject: Fresh dinosaur bones
In reply to Chip Pretzman's request for fresh dinosaur bones ---
I read your request for fresh dinosaur bones on PaleoNet, and can
suggest where you may get such material. Some of the best-preserved
dinosaur bones come from a place called Ocean Point, along the
Colville River in northern Alaska. The bulk of the material consists
of hadrosaur remains and many of the bones are not lithified. These
bones were first collected in 1961 by Shell Oil geologists, but were
thought to be mammoth bones because of their outstanding
preservation! The bones were then put in a warehouse in Houston for
22 years. I heard about these bones in 1983 and had them sent to my
colleague, Charles Repenning (mammal specialist) at the USGS in
Menlo Park, California. Chuck thus became the first to recognize
dinosaur bones from northern Alaska, still the northernmost site
from with dino bones are known. In 1984 I organized a field party to
relocate and evaluate the Ocean Point bone site. However, I took a
last-minute opportunity to go collect Paleocene mollusks on
Ellesmere Island, Canada. So, Elisabeth Brouwers (USGS
paleontologist, Denver) led the field party that relocated the North
Slope dinosaurs and she brought back a number of float
specimens. These and the bones examined by Repenning were sent to
William Clemens at UC Berkeley for examination, because the USGS had
no dinosaur specialist to work on them. The USGS funded Clemens to
go to Ocean Point in 1985, and he confirmed the nature of the bone
deposit. UC Berkeley personnel, and perhaps others, have since
revisited the Ocean Point site many times. I am sure that there is a
treasure trove of extremely well-preserved Alaskan dinosaur bones at
Berkeley. I think that you should inquire there first. I don't have
any e-mail addresses for bone folks at Berkeley, but I'm sure other
PaleoNetters must.
On another matter, a few weeks ago there was some PaleoNet chatter
that mentioned T. rex in passing. I am always, as you can imagine,
gratified to see a reference to a species that I myself
described. The context of the e-mailings, however, led to a creeping
doubt whether it was MY T. rex that was being talked about. I think
now that I must accept the conclusion that these good people were
actually talking about TYRANNOSAURUS rex and not the (to me) more
noble creature TYRANNOBERINGIUS rex. Sigh, sometimes it seems that
one's best efforts go unappreciated. For those interested, the
"other" T. rex is/was a hulking volutid gastropod that exceeded 150
mm length and 90 mm in diameter that surely must have lorded it over
lesser mollusks in the shallow seas of southwestern Alaska in the
middle Miocene. King of the Tyrant Beringii indeed! You may check
out the reference to this fine species in a library near you:
Marincovich, Louie, Jr., 1981, Tyrannoberingius rex, a new genus and
species of Miocene gastropod from Alaska: Journal of Paleontology,
vol. 55, no. 1, p. 176-179, 1 plate. Just be sure not to confuse the
two species from now on, as I nearly did.
Cheers,
Louie
Louie Marincovich, Jr.
Branch of Paleontology & Stratigraphy
United States Geological Survey
345 Middlefield Road, Mail Stop 915
Menlo Park, California 94025 U.S.A.
Telephone: (415) 329-4977
FAX: (415) 329-4975
Email: lmarincovich@isdmnl.wr.usgs.gov