Frozen in time
“Is that a Dinosaur footprint? Wow, that’s a fossil inside a
ranch. It might have been a seabed millions of years ago!” shouts the eight
year old Chinnu as he keenly observes each rock in the open grounds of Dinosaur
Valley State Park, Texas, USA.
Fossil hunting is fun, especially in the rocky areas of
North Texas which are vast stretches of barren land originally under the sea
millions of years ago. The occasional
rain and the all-time sharp sun make these areas conducive for hunting. The
rain erodes the top layer of soil from the fossils, making them an easy find
under the sun.
It is a rewarding experience to touch a piece of plant or
animal which was just there so many millions of years ago. One does not require a
degree in paleontology for this kind of a hunt though extreme patience and
caution is mandatory especially while tampering with the older specimen. The
pieces tend to be too brittle and one might destroy a masterpiece or
never-one-in-history kind of dinosaur bone if not careful. However, a couple of
precise chisels and a soft hammer in meticulous hands would do the trick.
The experience is not only great due to the finds but also
because of the long hikes one has to carry out to reach the regions rich in
fossils. Anything exciting is always fraught with danger. The rough terrain
with dangerous snakes and huge pits covered with loose soil might prove to be a
threat especially for kids.
The tiniest forms of animals which are extinct now are an
easy find. They are usually deposited at the river banks which have dried up
with the passage of time. They are the ones like crinoid stalks, brachiopods
and columnals. These have been dated to 300 million years old.
The complex finds include shark teeth, dinosaur bones and
teeth. “Usually, one out of 50 hunters find one of them in this park”, says Dr.
R, a well-known paleontologist in Texas.
The hunt does not stop at the place where a fossil is found.
There are cases when a fossil has to be brought home or to lab along with the
rock in which it is embedded. The specimen has to be carefully chaffed from the
rock using delicate techniques like chiseling. Also, preserving them is much
tougher than finding them. Since they are more vulnerable to the natural agents
once extracted, they require extra care periodically. Most of them would need
to be dried in an inert atmosphere and snugged in air-tight boxes with regular
inspection.
“It is not just a leisure activity, if you have the knack of
finding fossils, you may start contributing to your local museum”, says Dr.R.
“Nothing could match the joy of finding your name etched as the ‘finder’ of a
rare specimen in the museum. Your name is bound to be frozen in time just as
the fossil is”.
