Off to the end of the world. Part 3.

I’ve returned to the states after two months in Antarctica including a month of deep field and remote camping within the Shackelton Glacier area. At the end of it all we recovered nearly 6,000 lbs of Permian and Triassic plants. Here is a brief of what went down.

On December 1st, 2017 we arrived to the Shackelton Base camp on a LC-130 Herc.

LC-130 Herc waiting for us to board.

On our way to Shackelton in LC-130.

Shackelton base camp. Brightest place I've ever been.

Galley.

Tent City!

After a few days of preparation and weather delays at Shackelton we traveled to Collinson Ridge where we set up our first remote camp. This camp put in involved several sling loads via B-12 helicopter.

Helo lifting off next to twin otter fixed wing, en route to pick up sling load.

Coming around...

Helo approaching technician to receive sling load.

Sling load received.

Heading towards Collinson Ridge to put in camp.

Far away and misty view of camp.

As you can see from some the below pictures, our camp was in one of the most beautiful areas in the world (at least I think so). Overall all we spent 11 days there. From camp we trekked a kilometer or two across inclines covered in treacherous dolorite (a type of volcanic rock) to get to the fossil beds. The fossiliferous deposits of this area are most likely late Permian (~260 Ma) and Early Triassic (240 Ma). Furthermore, the contact between the Permian and Triassic rocks may represent a mass extinction, but that is undergoing further investigation...

We discovered four fossil forests with upright trees of considerable size. In addition there were abundant silicified peat/wetland deposits. Although the fossil forests and their trees were certainly awesome, I was most lit about the the peat, because these rocks were full of plant structures (including reproductive structures) that have three-dimensional and cellular preservation. Basically, it was like walking through a (blown up) ancient ecosystem just before the end-Permian biological catastrophe. This place was definitely another world.

On our way to collect fossils (from left to right: Erick Gulbranson, Rudolph Serbet, and Danny Uhlmann).

Ruddy prospecting around the area.

Surrounding area of Collinson Ridge.

Rudy prospecting for fossils.

Gorgeous day to collect.

Fossil log.

Large up right tree stump.

Rings of the above stump.

Tree stump with Mt. Rosenwald in the background.

Fossil tree sticking out of the ground.

More or less upright stump.

Fossil log.

Fossil peat.

While camping in the Collinson Ridge area we took day trips to several other fossil localities: Kitching Ridge, Half Moon Bluff, Layman Peak, and Alfie’s Elbow. I’ll just go over Kitching and Alfie’s because more went on at those localities.

At Kitching Ridge, we found a peat layer and fossil wood. I also came across a spectacular fossil burrow. I brought that to the attention of a vertebrate paleontology team (Sidor et al.) that was there the same day we are.