2011 Falls Fossil Festival

The Falls of the Ohio State Park will be holding their 17th Falls Fossil Festival highlighting the Middle Devonian coral beds exposed by the Ohio River across from Louisville, Kentucky.  I will be there helping identify fossils and minerals in the collecting piles.  Later, I will help out at the KYANA Geological Society table with the fossil and mineral cartons.

If the spillway gates are closed which exposes the fossil beds, guided tours occur.  Different groups will be on hand to talk about geology and paleontology. The speaking schedule is as follows:

September 17, 2011 (all times EST)

1:30 PM Climate Through Time at the Falls by David Polly
Indiana University, Department of Geological Sciences, Bloomington

2:30 PM Drifting Continents by Dan Phelps
Kentucky Paleontogical Society, Lexington, Kentucky

3:30 PM Stories of the New Madrid Earthquakes 200 Years Age by Dr. Steve Greb
Kentucky Geological Survey, Lexington

4:30 PM Keynote Presentation: The Birth of the Ohio River by Dr. Drew Andrews
Kentucky Geological Survey, Lexington

September 18, 2011 (all times EST)

2:30 PM Fossil Collecting Tips by Rick Schrantz
Kentucky Paleontological Society, Lexington, Kentucky

3:30 PM Mineral Collecting Tips by Steve Garza
Corydon, Indiana

Learn more at the Falls of the Ohio State Park web site: CLICK HERE

More Polished Trilobites

More polished Devonian trilobites shown earlier: CLICK HERE to see them after cleaning. 

In Memory of 9-11-2001

This picture is of a roof tile from the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.  It was removed after the terrorist attack on the building on September 11, 2011 at approximately 9:37 AM EST.  This attack killed 125 people in the building and the 53 passengers, 6 crew and 5 hijackers on American Airlines Flight 77.

May the victims of all the attacks that day, rest in peace.

Damage at Pentagon - Image taken September 14, 2011
Photo by TSGT Cedric H. Rudisill, USAF
From Wikipedia.org

The tile is on display at the Ben E. Clement Mineral Museum in Marion, Kentucky.  It was donated by a resident of Stafford County, Virginia.

The facade of the Pentagon consists of Indiana Limestone originally installed in 1941-1943. The repairs to the Pentagon required new Indiana Limestone in 2001-2002 which was supplied by Bybee Stone Company of Ellettsville, Indiana and Independent Limestone Company of Bloomington, Indiana.

Aerial View of Pentagon circa 1980-1998?
DoD photo by Master Sgt. Ken Hammond, U.S. Air Force
From Wikipedia.org

Learn more of these attacks at the report on Wikipedia.org: CLICK HERE

As for my memories of that day, it was extremely foggy that morning in southern Indiana across the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky.  It made vehicle travel difficult. I was home from work and remember hearing about a plane crashing into a building on morning radio news.  It seemed like some of accident at first until the next plane crashed. 

Talking to my neighbor on his front porch we discussed the morning's events.  While outside, the sky became quiet as planes were absent from their usual flight paths going to the Louisville and Clark County airports.  It was an eerie feeling.  Later, at night the UPS planes were not out as usually line up above the Ohio River to wait their turns to land at the air freight hub.  Its impact on air travel in the United States is still felt today.