Field Trip - Dinosaur Lab and Dino-Giants

Field Trips by Ellin Beltz

Field Trip -- Dinosaur Lab and Dino-Giants Trinity Christian College - Geology 101 - Spring 2000
On March 4, 2000, fifty Geology 101 students, Jack Conrad of the University of Chicago, Kevin Goldman from Northeastern Illinois University, and Marco Mendez of Project Exploration toured Paul Sereno's dinosaur lab at the University of Chicago - then visited the Jobaria tiguidensis and Afrovenator display at Navy Pier. Photos by Laura Kamerman and Ellin Beltz. Copyright 2006
Paul Sereno's Dinosaur Lab
	Jack Conrad mapped out the expedition route in Africa and detailed how the bones, found in Niger, are prepared over there, shipped, unwrapped and the skeletons prepared in Chicago. The originals will be returned to the country of origin, only casts will be kept.
	Marco Mendez described how the bones are cast and assembled to make display skeletons twice because only half of our group could fit in the casting and assembly rooms. The dinosaur bones take up a lot of room!
Marco shows us Jobaria's skull. Note how heavy the real bones are compared with a cast! (near right) One of the students compares her teeth with those of long ago (far right).
		Our drivers get Project Exploration T-shirts and a big "thank you"! This was before their interesting drive with three 15-man vans through Chicago downtown traffic to Navy Pier where Project Exploration and Paul Sereno had mounted specimens of Jobaria and Afrovenator.
Navy Pier Dinosaur Giants Exhibit
Students watched the expedition video, about Paul's fundraising "Dino Run" and how he studied an elephant to understand how dinosaurs might have moved.		Jobaria towers over the students.
Afrovenator lurks behind a palm.		Jobaria towers over the students.
Reference material to prepare for the field trip.
First Families of Chicago: Local life until about 400 million years ago by Ellin Beltz. An illustrated view of local fossils with suggestions of where to see them. We will see plenty in the Bedford Limestone from which many of the buildings on the University of Chicago campus were built. The Dinosaur Lab has lovely lacy bryozoa near the western door. Learn the standard rock symbols used on Illinois geological maps. This set is from Willman, et al. 1975. Read about topography and geology in Chicago - long before high rises and Lake Shore Drive - in in William Alden's 1902 Chicago Folio. Print out a copy of the geologic column to use for reference. Visit my Chicago Links for up-to-the minute links to tourism, maps and other reference materials. Geological Illustrations Standard rock symbols ^. Complete Geologic Column ^. Ordovician fossils ^. Silurian fossils ^. Devonian fossils ^. Mississippian fossils ^. Pennsylvanian fossils ^. Illinois top of rocks map ^. LaSalle and Kanakakee geological column ^. LaSalle area cross-section ^. Northern Illinois top of rocks map

Take another field trip... In Illinois: Montrose Beach ^. Chicago River ^. Kankakee River ^. Dinosaur Lab Tour ^. La Salle ^. Lake Michigan Beaches ^. Chicago's Michigan Avenue ^. Southern Illinois ^. Thornton Quarry Beyond Chicago ^. Hawai'i ^. Humboldt County ^. Wyoming
Travel back in time... William Alden's 1902 Chicago Folio	Learn Paleozoic fossils... Read my First Families of Chicago
Visit my Nifty Links... Amphibians ^. Archaeology ^. Astronomy ^. Australia ^. Botany ^. California ^. Chemistry ^. Chicago ^. Dinosaurs ^. Earthquakes ^. Environmental Issues ^. Ferndale ^. Fossils ^. Glaciers ^. Humboldt County ^. Illinois ^. Kinetic Sculpture Races ^. Lake Michigan ^. Maps ^. Math ^. Minerals ^. Moon ^. National Parks ^. Oceans ^. Physics ^. Plate Tectonics ^. Rocks ^. Rock Art ^. Science Culture ^. Volcanos ^. Whole Earth
Visit my home page ☯ Ellin Beltz - ebeltz@ebeltz.net Updated: January 10, 2008