Quick notes: 10th Conference on Fossil Resources, Fossil Cycad National Monument

I just got back from the Conference on Fossil Resources (#10, hosted by the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology at Rapid City; I'd like to compliment the organizers on the fine meeting!), so I haven't really had the opportunity to do anything in-depth for the blog. As a consolation prize of sorts, you can follow this link to read the article I presented on Thursday. The citation is at the end (the title is the best part).

A major part of the conference concerned a site represented in the above photograph, a pleasant and picturesque slice of the southern Black Hills once known as Fossil Cycad National Monument. You may notice a distinct lack of fossil cycads (actually, cycadeoids, which are not quite the same thing) or National Monuments in this photo. This is because practically all of the surficial fossils were removed, in large part thanks to the researcher who wanted the site to be a national monument in the first place. My supervisor and sometimes coauthor Vince Santucci wrote a new history of the site for the conference volume, and I'll be sure to post it when the pdf is available. For now, perhaps you'd be interested in a previous version? Other accounts can be found here (National Parks Traveler), here (National Fossil Day), and here (Capital Journal, Pierre, SD).

References cited:

Tweet, J. S. 2014. Smashed rodents, false preprints, and the BBC: the paleontology of Mississippi River and National Recreation Area, Minnesota. Dakoterra 6:107–118.