July 15, 2016
For most of us, this was the last fossil-hunting day of this fantastic trip. Our first site of the day, called North Canyon, was in the Weeks formation - younger than the Marjum but still Cambrian. Piles of shale spilled from the quarry and most had tiny lingulid brachiopods. Some also found trilobites, too. Knowing that the day was going to get hot, we quickly got good samples, packed up and moved to the next site.
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| North Canyon Quarry |
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| Slab with brachiopods |
This next site, called Kings Canyon, was actually at the top of a mountain up a very rocky, steep road that leads to radio and microwave towers. We're not sure yet which Devonian formation this is, but it was thought that we would find graptolites. Instead we found lots of interestingly preserved gastropods and a few corals.
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| Atop a Devonian formation |
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| Interesting gastropods |
The day was still young so after leaving this site, several of us returned to Fossil Mountain. That was such a crazy-diverse site. And one spot, dubbed the Dennis Brachiopod Hill, had rocks that were almost completely brachiopods. Wow!
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| The whole wall is brachiopods |
I know that there will be a few who remain in Utah for one more day in the dirt. I decided to head on home - all of my boxes and baggies are full. What a great trip. Now, I am off to identify them all!
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| Salt Flat Selfie |
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