Science & Technology

USU Geologist Unlocks Wyoming's Aquarium in Stone

Rising from Wyoming’s sagelands like a lonely ocean liner, Fossil Butte reflects a rainbow of desert hues along its steep, furrowed walls. Watching wispy clouds sail past the national monument’s prow, it’s not so hard to imagine a vast chain of lakes teeming with varied aquatic creatures. And that’s exactly how the arid, sagebrush-studded Green River Formation, of which Fossil Butte forms the center, appeared some 50 million years ago.
 
Today, the region generally offers blue skies, dry winds and frequent glimpses of chipmunks, squirrels and pronghorn in the high desert climate. But locked in Fossil Butte’s walls is a treasure trove of fossils chronicling a progression of early life — much different from today’s inhabitants — frozen in stone.
 
Fossil Butte offers an ideal outdoor classroom if you’re lucky enough to live within a manageable driving distance of southwestern Wyoming and your school has the time and resources to provide you and your classmates with a tour. But most of the world’s budding scientists are not so fortunate — until now.
 
With a grant from the National Science Foundation and assisted by the power of the Web, Utah State University geologist Blair Larsen has unlocked the “Aquarium in Stone,” as Fossil Butte is known. Secondary students in far-flung classrooms, in regions vastly different from the Green River Formation, can now experience their first research foray into the wonders of Eocene life.
 
Larsen, who conducted the project as part of the requirements for her recently completed USU master’s degree in applied environmental geosciences, created an online learning module for the NSF and NASA-supported Earth System Science Education Alliance, better known as ESSEA. Entitled “Analyzing Preservation Bias in Green River Formation Fish Fossils,” the module transports students and teachers to Wyoming’s colossal paleontological cache.
 
“The modules offer secondary teachers problem-based learning activities they can use with their students,” says Larsen, a lecturer in USU’s Department of Geology. “Current modules include such topics as climate change, ice sheets, coral reefs, Mount Pinatubo and Hurricane Katrina.”
 
The intent of each module’s learning activities, she says, is to introduce students to a hands-on problem that they have to solve.
 
“The activities make science relevant,” says Larsen, who taught middle school science for 11 years.
 
Larsen’s module casts students in the role of paleontology interns assigned the task of analyzing actual quarry data for potential fossil preservation bias and preparing an exhibit that tells the story of mass fish fossil preservation found in the imposing monument.
 
What happened to the ferns, crocodiles, stingrays, dog-sized horses and masses of fish captured in stone?
 
“The processes that lead to fossil preservation are complex and integrated with the four spheres: lithosphere, biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere,” reads the lesson module, “Your task is to develop an Earth System Science analysis that explains how the four spheres interact to create the mass fish mortality layers often seen in the Green River Formation.”
 
The students use data collected by National Park Service scientists at Fossil Butte to investigate the data set and brainstorm the possible preservation biases: size, anatomy, class and so forth. Each team member pursues research of one or more of the possible preservation biases and shares their findings with the group.
 
“The project offers students the opportunity to work with authentic data,” says Arvid Aase, National Park Service paleontologist at Fossil Butte National Monument, who assisted Larsen in developing the module. “It’s a real-world exercise that allows students to experience cutting-edge scientific discovery without leaving the classroom.”
 
“Students respond well to problem-based learning activities,” Larsen says. “They feel like they have a job to do, not just an empty exercise.”
 
She sees the ESSEA project as a boon to teachers who are trying to provide meaningful learning opportunities with dwindling resources.
 
“Teachers want to provide exciting learning opportunities for their students but they often lack the time and resources to develop them on their own,” Larsen says. “The ESSEA modules provide free resources for teachers everywhere at the touch of a keyboard.”
 
Related links:
 
Contact: Blair Larsen, 435-797-2176, blair.larsen@usu.edu
Writer: Mary-Ann Muffoletto, 435-797-3517, maryann.muffoletto@usu.edu
USU geologist Blair Larsen

With support from an NSF grant, USU geologist Blair Larsen has created online research tools featuring paleontological data from Fossil Butte National Monument.

Fossil Butte National Monument

Buried Treasure - Fossil Butte National Monument is considered a 'lagerstätten' or resting place of diverse fossils, Larsen says. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey.

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