Hi, DinoListers!
I just got an E-mail from Tom Lipka, asking that you all
write in support of the work he is doing in the Arundel clay (Potomac Group) of
Maryland. He is working in one of the same sites where John Bell Hatcher
explored for dinosaurs in 1887-1888, before heading west. As you are
probably aware, dinosaurs are a bit of a rarity along the east coast. Aptian
exposures are rarer than I'm sure we'd all like _anywhere_. The site Tom is
working, (on which I was privileged to assist last summer) contains the
remains of a sluggish riverbend - perhaps an oxbow. There is fossil wood here
(lignite) so _fresh_ that you can still cook over it... The presence of
burned wood (fusain) which still floats, speaks of a forest fire, long
ago... The site may hold remains of _very_ early neoceratopsians. It
certainly yields theopod material, from animals large and small, as well as the
fragmentary remains of nodosaurid ankylosaurs, sauropods, turtles, hybodontid
sharks, crocodiles, mammals... The above list is far from complete - there is an
entire ecosystem preserved at the site.
Tom is struggling to preserve the site, any way he can,
and he needs your help.
Here is his request:
>>One thing I'd like to ask of you since
I've already signed off the DML, is ask (in my name) for everyone concerned
to write, preferably literally write on letterhead, addressed to "whom it may
concern" a letter of support of my work and detailing major importance and
significance of this site and the value as an educational and historic
resource this is.
Have all mail sent to my address below.
Thanks again!
Thomas R. Lipka
Paleontological/Geological Studies
2733 Kildaire Drive
Baltimore, Md. 21234
Tompaleo@aol.com
I've already signed off the DML, is ask (in my name) for everyone concerned
to write, preferably literally write on letterhead, addressed to "whom it may
concern" a letter of support of my work and detailing major importance and
significance of this site and the value as an educational and historic
resource this is.
Have all mail sent to my address below.
Thanks again!
Thomas R. Lipka
Paleontological/Geological Studies
2733 Kildaire Drive
Baltimore, Md. 21234
Tompaleo@aol.com
Tom has had to sign off from the Dinosaur Mailing List,
while he engages in this battle to preserve the Arundel site. Please help to
preserve this site, and the work Tom has been doing here for so many years. The
Arundel is finally beginning to reveal her secrets...
Thank you,
Bruce
Shillinglaw