Here is an Aulopora precius? coral growing on the Arachnophyllum coral.
Below is the fossil with a ruler showing the fossil to be about 10 cm long.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Silurian Arachnophyllum Plus Aulopora
Here is an Aulopora precius? coral growing on the Arachnophyllum coral.
Below is the fossil with a ruler showing the fossil to be about 10 cm long.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Sea Rex Movie Review... Sort Of
Sea Rex 3D: Journey to a Prehistoric World opened at the Louisville Science Center IMAX theater on June 12, 2010. The movie was not quite what I expected in that being more of a learning experience and less of an action movie. My only comparison would be a the Sea Monsters IMAX movie which was action oriented and told from the point of view of a sea creature. Going into Sea Rex, my big question was, "What actually is Sea Rex?" By the end of movie, I knew the answer.
The movie takes an interesting tact by using a modern aquarium or museum setting with a visitor named Julie who takes a trip through time with a famous paleontologist Georges Cuvier. Interspersed in the scenes of marine reptiles swimming in ancient seas, paleontologists give explanations of paleontological concepts. Scientists need to do more presentations like this to help the general public try to understand the scientific research. One should watch the credits as the scientists might be portrayed by actors [see this review at the smithsonian.com site].
The scientists highlighted the film are Dr. Nathalie Bardet who shows a Mary Anning discovery at the British Museum that becomes animated. Dr. Olivier Rieppel of the Rowe Family Curator at Chicago's Field Museum, Dr. Ryosuke Motani of the University of California Davis, Dr. Zulma Gasparini from La Plata Museum in Argentina, and Dr. Benjamin Kear of Australia's La Trobe University. Dr. Kear's presentation in the film is definitely unique (he needs to eat more to put some meat on those bones).
The film really utilizes computer graphics to help the viewer realize geologic time, continent formation, and marine reptile structure/anatomy. I did have to guess at some of the time periods in the graphics and I assume the major extinction events they refer to are Permian and the K-T. You also get to see a lot of creatures rendered like the Shonisaurus, Pterodactyl, Prognathodon, Mixosaurus, Liopleurodon, Ichthyosaur, Parasaurolophus, Mosasaur, Rhomaleosaurus, Kronosaurus, and Tanystropheus.
Being a volunteer at the Louisville Science Center, one will get questions about the movies being shown. Weekend visitors tend to be families with young children and one concern is will the movie scare young children. As for this movie, I would say not. It is rated for 4 year old children and up. Predator-prey relationships are explored in the movie but not in gory detail. Violent conflicts mostly take place off screen, leaving a good deal to the imagination. So it is a good film to show children, the marine reptiles are not too scary in my opinion.
If you like dinosaurs (and marine reptiles) or paleontology, the film is good to see. I enjoyed watching it and the educational topics and events they presented. I definitely plan on seeing it again!
It would be nice if they would put the names on the screen of the marine reptiles they were showing because it was hard to remember their names or keep track of them. The DVD with captions turned on should remedy this issue though. Another issue is they never tell the exact names of the sharks that appear, they are just referred to as sharks.
SLIGHT SPOILER: One last piece of advice for the movie character Julie, don't leave the museum with that item still in your purse. Security is not going to believe how you obtained it. :)
The movie takes an interesting tact by using a modern aquarium or museum setting with a visitor named Julie who takes a trip through time with a famous paleontologist Georges Cuvier. Interspersed in the scenes of marine reptiles swimming in ancient seas, paleontologists give explanations of paleontological concepts. Scientists need to do more presentations like this to help the general public try to understand the scientific research. One should watch the credits as the scientists might be portrayed by actors [see this review at the smithsonian.com site].
Georges Cuvier
Courtesy of Wikipedia Commons
The scientists highlighted the film are Dr. Nathalie Bardet who shows a Mary Anning discovery at the British Museum that becomes animated. Dr. Olivier Rieppel of the Rowe Family Curator at Chicago's Field Museum, Dr. Ryosuke Motani of the University of California Davis, Dr. Zulma Gasparini from La Plata Museum in Argentina, and Dr. Benjamin Kear of Australia's La Trobe University. Dr. Kear's presentation in the film is definitely unique (he needs to eat more to put some meat on those bones).
Prognathodon solvayi
Marine Reptile - Late Cretaceous Period
Drawn by Dmitry Bogdanov
Courtesy of Wikipedia Commons
The film really utilizes computer graphics to help the viewer realize geologic time, continent formation, and marine reptile structure/anatomy. I did have to guess at some of the time periods in the graphics and I assume the major extinction events they refer to are Permian and the K-T. You also get to see a lot of creatures rendered like the Shonisaurus, Pterodactyl, Prognathodon, Mixosaurus, Liopleurodon, Ichthyosaur, Parasaurolophus, Mosasaur, Rhomaleosaurus, Kronosaurus, and Tanystropheus.
Ichthyosaur Marine Reptile Fossil
Jurassic Period
Muséum National D'Historie Naturelle
Paris, France
Being a volunteer at the Louisville Science Center, one will get questions about the movies being shown. Weekend visitors tend to be families with young children and one concern is will the movie scare young children. As for this movie, I would say not. It is rated for 4 year old children and up. Predator-prey relationships are explored in the movie but not in gory detail. Violent conflicts mostly take place off screen, leaving a good deal to the imagination. So it is a good film to show children, the marine reptiles are not too scary in my opinion.
If you like dinosaurs (and marine reptiles) or paleontology, the film is good to see. I enjoyed watching it and the educational topics and events they presented. I definitely plan on seeing it again!
It would be nice if they would put the names on the screen of the marine reptiles they were showing because it was hard to remember their names or keep track of them. The DVD with captions turned on should remedy this issue though. Another issue is they never tell the exact names of the sharks that appear, they are just referred to as sharks.
SLIGHT SPOILER: One last piece of advice for the movie character Julie, don't leave the museum with that item still in your purse. Security is not going to believe how you obtained it. :)
Friday, June 11, 2010
Stromatoporoids
In solidarity with my fellow bloggers at Views of the Mahantango and Swimming the Ordovician Seas, I present a post on local stromatoporoids.
Looking at some large pieces of Silurian Period Louisville Limestone that reside in the flower bed, revealed quite a bit of biodiversity. A chunk of limestone appears to contain the partially eroded remains of a sponge.
Part of the rock contains Halysites coral which dates it to the Silurian Period.
A Silurian brachiopod with crinoid stem pieces with a Halysites coral in the background in another section of the rock.
This tube coral is somewhat of a mystery. It looks like a Devonian coral but since this rock has the Silurian Period index fossil Halysites this must be Louisville Limestone.
Close up of Silurian Period brachiopod shown earlier, that might be a Sphaerirhynchia.
These next two pictures are of a Silurian Period sponge fossil with a lot of layers. It is almost 20 cm wide. Fossil found in Jefferson County, Kentucky.
This next type of stromatoporoid is one of my favorites. It is a mounding sponge and the shapes sometimes remind me a scoop of chocolate ice cream.
The Falls of the Ohio State Park Visitor Interpretation Center has a nice display on these ancient sponge creatures. Paraphrasing it, the Jeffersonville Limestone found at the park has about 30 identified species of calcium carbonate fossils. The creatures typically are found in sheet, hemispherical or mound-like shapes. Colonies could range from 30-250 cm in size. It is thought these sponges existed in warm, clear, shallow seas. The fossils might be related to modern sclerosponges.
Looking at some large pieces of Silurian Period Louisville Limestone that reside in the flower bed, revealed quite a bit of biodiversity. A chunk of limestone appears to contain the partially eroded remains of a sponge.
Part of the rock contains Halysites coral which dates it to the Silurian Period.
A Silurian brachiopod with crinoid stem pieces with a Halysites coral in the background in another section of the rock.
This tube coral is somewhat of a mystery. It looks like a Devonian coral but since this rock has the Silurian Period index fossil Halysites this must be Louisville Limestone.
Close up of Silurian Period brachiopod shown earlier, that might be a Sphaerirhynchia.
These next two pictures are of a Silurian Period sponge fossil with a lot of layers. It is almost 20 cm wide. Fossil found in Jefferson County, Kentucky.
This next type of stromatoporoid is one of my favorites. It is a mounding sponge and the shapes sometimes remind me a scoop of chocolate ice cream.
Mounding Sponge Fossil
Louisville Limestone
Silurian Period - Jefferson County, Kentucky
The Falls of the Ohio State Park Visitor Interpretation Center has a nice display on these ancient sponge creatures. Paraphrasing it, the Jeffersonville Limestone found at the park has about 30 identified species of calcium carbonate fossils. The creatures typically are found in sheet, hemispherical or mound-like shapes. Colonies could range from 30-250 cm in size. It is thought these sponges existed in warm, clear, shallow seas. The fossils might be related to modern sclerosponges.
Hindia sphaeroidalis Stromatoporid
Devonian Period
Jeffersonville Limestone - Louisville, Kentucky
Matting Sponge on Heliophyllum Coral
Devonian Period
Beechwood Limestone - Clark County, Indiana
Learn more about stromatoporoids at the Kentucky Geological Survey web page.
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