January 11, 2013 - Price, Utah: At 4,000 feet above sea level near Green River, Utah,
two USU Eastern Prehistoric Museum personnel were searching for marine reptiles
last summer and stumbled upon prehistoric giant clams strewn throughout the
landscape.
Dr. Kenneth Carpenter, paleontologist and director of
the museum, joined colleague Lloyd Logan, director of education and exhibits,
for a hike near Green River searching for signs of ancient life.
The two were walking across the hot, dry and desolate
landscape when they spotted what looked like giant clam fossils. Carpenter
said, “Stumbling upon those giant three- and four-foot clams was a real
surprise. In places, they were so thick we could literally walk from clam to
clam. These clams lived 85 million years ago, during the Age of Dinosaurs, when
this part of Utah was under the ocean.”
The clams were found eroding out of the Mancos Shale,
the soft, gray rock that lies at the foot of the Book Cliffs. Although smaller
clams and Nautilus-like ammonites have been found in the Mancos Shale in the
area, giant clams had never been reported before. According to Carpenter, there
are no reports of giant clams ever being found in Utah, and only a handful of
giant clams are on display in museums throughout the country. Thus, the find
was a serendipitous moment for the museum.
These giant clams look like large dinner-plates,
hence the scientific name Platyceramus
means “flat clam.” Today, giant clams are nowhere near the giant four- foot
clams in size. The modern pip-squeaks
are only two feet or so across and are native to the shallow coral reefs of the
South Pacific and Indian oceans. They have also been found off the shores of
the Philippines and in the South China Sea. They have never been found in Utah,
let alone near Green River.
The areas where the clams were found was once a flat,
muddy seafloor and that is a key to understanding why they grew to such
monsters. The large clams could spread their weight over a large area to keep
from sinking into the seafloor. “These clams became the home to oysters that
grew over the shells, as well as the home to small fish that lived within the
shells,” Carpenter said. “Numerous fish bones were found within the shells
during the excavations.”
After finding the clams, the two secured the site and
returned to it later with museum personnel and volunteers to retrieve the giant
clams. Because the clams are so thin, a wooden frame was built around the
shell, and then Plaster of Paris was poured directly on the shell. When dried,
the plaster-covered shell was flipped over and taken to the museum, Carpenter
said.
John Bird, paleontology technician for the museum,
worked with Carpenter for several months to prepare the clams for display at the
museum. While Carpenter and Bird were working on the clams, Logan was creating
and designing an exhibit to house the fossils for the public to view. The giant
clam is 44 inches by 48 inches, but in life might have weighed 50 pounds. Their
average life span might have been 100 years or more.
Located in the Hall of Paleontology, the giant clam
display is open and ready for the public to view at the museum located at 100
North and 100 East in Price. The hours are Monday-Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5
p.m. (general admission rates apply)
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