CO -- Florissant Fossil Beds Natl Mon:
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- Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
- FLOR_060528_014.JPG: Redwoods in Colorado?
The Rocky Mountain region was once much warmer. Thirty-four million years ago, summers were wet and the winters mild. The Florissant region was forested with towering redwoods, cedars, pines, mixed hardwoods, and ferns. Streams flowed through the valley. Insects, birds, mammals, and fish all thrived in this environment.
Fossil leaves serve as ancient thermometers for reading the temperature of the past. By comparing fossil plants with modern vegetation, scientists estimate that the mean annual temperature at Florissant during the Late Eocene was about 56 degrees Fahrenheit, similar to San Francisco today.
- FLOR_060528_018.JPG: Stumps of Stone:
These fossilized tree stumps are remnants of an ancient catastrophe. In the late Eocene Epoch, about 34 million years ago, the Florissant valley was buried by eruptions from a cluster of volcanoes known as the Guffey volcanic center. Huge volcanic mudflows spread into this forested valley with great speed, destroying all but the largest trees.
The bases of giant redwoods, like the one in front of you, were buried in place in 15 feet of mud. The trees died and the unburied portions fell over and rotted away. Castings of volcanic mud created the special conditions that turned the buried stumps into stone.
Wood becomes rock: Entombed in silica-rich volcanic mud, these ancient redwood stumps slowly turned to stone through a process called permineralization. Dissolved minerals seeped into the wood, filling in the microscopic spaces within cells. After the solution precipitated silica within the cells of the wood, a stone replica remained. This preserved both the general outer appearance of the tree as well as its inner cellular structure.
- FLOR_060528_023.JPG: Fossilized redwoods
- FLOR_060528_029.JPG: Relatives Near and Far:
Towering trees, flowering shrubs, the thrumming of thousands of insects... the ancient forest community of Florissant was tremendously diverse. But in today's world, this particular community of plants and insects can no longer be found. Although Florissant fossil species have become extinct, many have living relatives scattered around the world.
The end of the Eocene Epoch, about 34 million years ago, was marked by a global cooling trend. Lower temperatures dramatically changed the Florissant ecosystem. The ancient redwoods could no longer survive here. But coastal redwoods, modern relatives of the fossilized stumps, now grow in a narrow strip along the California coast.
- FLOR_060528_031.JPG: Delicate Impressions:
As outcrops of shale weather, they separate into paper-thin sheets, exposing fossils on their surfaces. Within these delicate "pages," a chapter of Earth's history unfolds.
Size played a key role in determining what was preserved at Florissant. The first volcanic mudflows destroyed everything in their path but the big trees. Later mudflows dammed a stream, creating a lake in the valley. Further eruptions repeatedly covered the ground with powder-fine volcanic ash. Over time, the ash washed into the lake, where it weathered to thin layers of clay on the bottom. These alternating layers of sediment eventually compacted into shales, preserving in exquisite detail the tiny parts of insects and plants.
When splitting the delicate paper shale, a razor blade, not a chisel, is used to leverage small cracks apart. If split correctly, the part and counterpart of a fossil with reveal themselves.
Fossil Types:
Part/counterpart: Once split, the shale usually displays two halves of a fossil organism -- the part and counterpart. These can show different aspects of the organism, such as an insect's legs on one half and its back on the other.
Impression/compression: Many of the Florissant shale fossils are compressed caron remains -- a thin film of dark residue from the original living thing. Others may be a shallow impression of the organism in the rock.
Microscopic fossils: Some of the most spectacular fossils found in the Florissant valley are revealed only under the lens of a microscope. The distinctly shaped pollen grains reveal the presence of plants that were not preserved in the fossil leaf record.
- FLOR_060528_035.JPG: Reading the Rings:
Core samples from Sequoia affinis fossil stumps contain remarkably well-preserved annual growth rings. Locked within those concentric rings are clues about past growing conditions in the Florissant Valley.
The stumps of Florissant have greater average ring width when compared to modern-day redwoods in Southern California. This indicates that the redwoods of Colorado's past thrived in more favorable growing conditions than their modern counterparts on the foggy ridges along the California coast.
How do we know it's a redwood? Cone and leaf fossils of Sequoia affinis (ancient redwood), though smaller, are most similar to its descendant, Sequoia sempervirens (modern coastal redwood).
The cellular detail preserved by permineralization reveals similarities in the wood of the two species as well. It is the combination of all these factors that have led scientists to describe the fossil trees as Sequoia.
- FLOR_060528_041.JPG: "Family Circle" of trees
- FLOR_060528_042.JPG: Ancient Clones:
This "family circle" of fossilized stumps grew out of the single trunk of an older parent tree. The three trunks are ancient clones, or genetically identical copies, of that parent tree.
Modern coastal redwoods also reproduce by stump sprouting. If a redwood is toppled or burned, a ring of new trees often sprouts from burls around the trunk's base. In the coastal redwood forests, family groups are common. But this trio of stone stumps is unique in the world's fossil record.
- FLOR_060528_060.JPG: Just One Piece at a Time:
"One of the wonders of this part of the world is the 'Petrified Forest'... between Colorado Springs and Fairplay. This remarkable relic... bids fair to disappear very shortly, unless the... tourists cease their work of destruction. Everyone must needs take a specimen, and some of the stumps are 'growing smaller' at a very rapid rate." -- Colorado Springs Out West, June 13, 1872
Early accounts describe the valley as being littered with petrified wood. As word spread, the Florissant area became a popular tourist destination. Exploitation, constant collecting, and thoughtless destruction continued for nearly 100 years. There is no way to assess the damage done or the rare scientific evidence lost during this period.
Today, shelters protect some of the remaining stumps from weathering, and laws strictly prohibit fossil collecting. A variety of methods of stabilizing and preserving the stumps have been proposed and tried over the years, and the National Park Service continues to work toward the best solution.
- FLOR_060528_080.JPG: Hornbek Homestead
- FLOR_060528_094.JPG: Stairway into the Past:
Dr. Samuel Scudder, a paleontologist during the late 1800s, traveled to Florissant to excavate fossils from the ancient lake beds. He declared this valley one of the best places in the world to study fossil insects. Considered the "Founder of American Paleoentomology," Scudder was one of the earliest and most productive researchers in his field. He describe more than 600 insect species from Florissant alone.
Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument continues to excavate the shale beds, using information held in the rock. Paleontologists first dig a vertical trench (like the one across the pit from you) through the shale, then they describe and measure the strata (layers of rock). Fossils are collected and labeled according to their stratum. Paleontologists reconstruct the ancient environment by studying the rock layers around the fossils. By analyzing variations in fossil abundance and composition throughout the strata, we can see how the environment changed over time.
- FLOR_060528_099.JPG: Florissant Fossil Beds
- FLOR_060528_102.JPG: The "big stump."
- FLOR_060528_106.JPG: Note the broken saw blade in the tree
- FLOR_060528_115.JPG: The Big Stump:
The "Big Stump" is the largest petrified redwood stump found in the Monument. It measures 12 feet tall, 38 feet around, and is all that remains of a tree that may have been over 230 feet tall and 750 years old when the mudflow buried its base. Since the days of the early settlers, the petrified stumps have attracted interest. Before 1900, a number of attempts were made to saw Big Stump into moveable pieces for reassembly elsewhere. The broken saw blades are still visible near the top of the stump.
- FLOR_060528_174.JPG: Hornbek Homestead
- FLOR_060528_176.JPG: Pioneers, Prospectors, and Paleontologists:
Newcomers searching for farms, gold, or fossils traveled to this land. In the late 1800s, the town of Florissant was crowded with dreamers. Pioneers came in search of homesteads, prospectors stopped on their way to Colorado's gold-mining camps, and paleontologists followed the allure of tales about the area's extraordinary fossils.
Prospectors on their way to the 1890s gold rush at Cripple Creek brought their supplies to Florissant by railroad, and joined lines of wagons on the Florissant valley road -- the only route to the mines until 1894.
- FLOR_060528_180.JPG: Root cellar
- FLOR_060528_185.JPG: Hornbek Homestead:
The 1878 Hornbek Homestead was the first homestead claimed in the Florissant Valley. Adeline Hornbek was a single mother of four, who took advantage of the Homestead Act's provision for the "head of the household" to file a land claim. Prior to this time, it was uncommon for women to be landowners in the west. Adeline was "proving-up" her homestead claim at the same time that Samuel Scudder and other paleontologists were conducting the first large scale excavations in the valley.
The Homestead Act: A homesteader could file claim on a 10 acre parcel for $14. In order to gain title to the land -- to "prove up" -- she (or he) had to follow these requirements:
* To be a loyal U.S. citizen (or declare intent to become one)
* To be head of family,
* To be over 21 years old,
* To continuously reside on and improve the land for five years, and
* To build a 12x12' house with at least one door and one window.
Women did not yet have the right to vote in the 1870s, and their opportunities to own property were few. Despite this lack of opportunity, and the loss of two husbands, Adeline Hornbek retained her pioneer spirit. In March 1878, she filed claim on 160 acres in the Florissant Valley under the terms of the 1862 Homestead Act. Within seven years, Adeline had not only "proved-up" her claim, but had expanded her homestead to include this large house, nine outbuildings, and $4,000-worth of livestock. As if homesteading chores and raising a family did not keep her busy enough, she also worked at the general store in Florissant.
The house to your left is all that remains of the pioneer homestead of Adeline Hornbek. Adeline came to Florissant in the 1870s to make a fresh start with her children -- Frank, Annie, George, and Elliot -- and ended up as one of the town's leading citizens.
Take note of the fine log-work on Adeline's house. The outbuildings have been moved onto the site from other historic ranches and date from 1890 to 1930. As you explore the buildings and grounds of the homestead today, remember and respect Adeline Hornbek's pioneer spirit by treading lightly and leaving no trace of your presence.
Adeline Hornbek and her four children homesteaded here during the 1870, and by 1904 owned more than 280 acres and 40 head of cattle.
- FLOR_060528_191.JPG: Hornbek main home (1878) with well house (1909)
- Wikipedia Description: Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument is located in a mountain valley just west of Pikes Peak and holds spectacular remnants of the earth's prehistoric life. Huge petrified redwoods and incredibly detailed fossils of ancient insects and plants reveal a very different landscape in Colorado of long ago. Almost 35 million years ago, enormous volcanic eruptions buried the then-lush valley and petrified the redwood trees that grew there (See Thirtynine Mile volcanic field). A lake formed in the valley and the fine-grained sediments at its bottom became the final resting-place for thousands of insects and plants. These sediments compacted into layers of shale and preserved the delicate details of these organisms as fossils. Many of the insect species found therein were described by the entomologist Theodore Cockerell. The Florissant Fossil Beds were set aside as a part of the National Park System in 1969.
"When the mountains are overthrown and the seas uplifted, the universe at Florissant flings itself against a gnat and preserves it."-- Dr. Arthur C. Peale, Hayden Expedition Geologist, 1873.
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