Excursions

Keeping in mind that understanding the past is important in looking forward into the future, we’ve arranged a fabulous field trip to Drumheller, home to the Royal Tyrrell Museum, on Saturday October 17, 2020. The Royal Tyrrell Museum is Canada’s only museum dedicated exclusively to the science of paleontology. In addition to visiting one of the world’s largest displays of dinosaurs, our field trip includes a behind-the-scenes tour and a presentation by Dr. Annie Quinney (Department of Geoscience at the University of Calgary).

Dr. Quinney’s PhD research focused on reconstructing climates and environments from the Time of the Dinosaurs by studying the paleosols of the Horseshoe Canyon Formation in the Drumheller area. For her PhD, she studied Cretaceous amber.

Amber is the natural, hardened residue of ancient trees. The public prizes amber for its exceptional beauty; entomologists value amber because of its ability to fossilize insects in exceptional detail. Growing interest in amber both as a “gemstone” and as an object of research has fueled an expanding market for fossil fakes. As the quality of counterfeit amber improves, the techniques to detect fakes have also become more sophisticated. Join us as we explore preservation in some of the richest amber deposits in the world while uncovering tools and techniques to separate authentic fossils from forgeries.

We are limited to 55 participants. Our bus will be leaving the Carriage House Inn at 8:30 AM and returning by 5 PM on Saturday October 17. Admission to the museum is covered, and you can purchase your own lunch at the museum cafeteria. What a great adventure for $60 per person!

Stay tuned for details on how and when to register for the conference and the field trip.