Report of field activities, 1991 on lands administered by the Montana Department of Highways

8 Pages·1991·0.29 MB·English

by  Leiggi, Patrick

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568
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1991
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ReportofFieldActivities199
OnLandsAdministeredByThe
MontanaDepartmentOfHighways
STATEDOCUMENTSCOLLECTION
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JON 31992
MONTANASTATELIBRARY
HEUE1M5A1,5MEO.N6TtAhNAAVE5.9S20
PatrickLeiggi
MuseumoftheRockies
MontanaStateUniver^ty
Bozeman,Montana59717
PreliminaryReportonCollectingActivitiesRegarding
CollectingPermit AuthorizedbytheMontanaDepartmentofHighways
DatedJune 11, 1991
SpecimensandDataCollectedByPatrickLeiggi
MuseumoftheRockies,MontanaStateUniversity

ABSTRACT
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ThereportofaMosasaurskullbyMarilynWyssoftheDepartment
ofMontanaHighwaysledtothecollectionofanunidentifiedpartial
Mosasaurineskull.Thespecimenhadbeendamagedbyvandalsbefore
thesitecouldbevisitedbyMr. PatrickLeiggioftheMuseumofthe
Rockies.Thesiteislocated3milesnorthofMelstone, Montanaalong
thewestsideoftheMusselshellRiverSec. 9,R. 30E.,T. 10N.,
MusselshellCo.,Montana (Fig. 1).
PROJECT INTRODUCTION
TheDepartmentofPaleontologyattheMuseumoftheRockies,
MontanaStateUniversityis dedicated tothepaleontological
interpretation ofvertebrate lifeintheNorthernRockyMountain
Region.Road-cutsalongMontanaHighwayshaveinthepastproduced
remainsofvertebratefossilspecimens. Investigativesurveysalong
Montana'shighwaysisimportantforthepreservationoffossil
specimensandtheaccuracyofdescribingscientificdata.
METHODS
Thecollectionofapartialmosasaurskullwaswarrantedafterthe
MuseumoftheRockiesreceivedareportfromMarilynWyssofthe
MontanaDepartmentofhighways. Collectingwasperformedwith
smallhandtoolsandthespecimenwasstabilizedbytraditional
r methodsofplasterjacketing. Fragmentarymaterialwaswrappedand
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bagged. No otherfossilmaterialwasevidentaftertheremovalofthe
skull. CollectingtookplaceonJune26, 1991.
RESULTS
MosasaursarecommonintheupperCretaceousBearpawshale,
although, the genusandspeciesofthisskullcannotbedetermined
untilpreparationofthe specimenis complete. Photographswere not
takenatthesite. Exactgeologicdatecannotbedeterminedunless
stratigraphicdataismeasured.Thesolepurposeofcollectingthis
specimenwastorecovertheskullbeforefurtherdamageresulted and
didnotwarranttherecordingofstratigraphicdata.
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MANAGEMENT RECCOMENDATIONS
Themosasaursiteandsimilarsitesareinriskofhuman
destructionbyprivateandcommercialcollectors. Futurefindsshould
bereportedtotheMuseumoftheRockiesandkeptconfidentialuntil
field studies are completed.
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EditedandpublishedbytheBureauofLandManagement
BasemappreparedbytheU.S.GeologicalSurvey
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