Pyenson Lab

Carmanah 2012 Expedition: Dispatch 5

Just a few more vignettes from our team's days excavating fossil whales on rocky intertidal platforms south of the Carmanah Lighthouse, in the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve on Vancouver Island.

The beastly Polar Bear cart (payload maximum of 450 lbs) proved invaluable in the field, as it hauled gear, forged across knee-deep rivers and could withstand a few bumps while being roped down the many ladders of the West Coast Trail. Here, Liz Nesbitt and Bob Shadwick haul gear down the beach. (Photo: J. A. Goldbogen).

As mentioned in the Ocean Portal blog post, we used a 16-inch diamond bladed rock saw, one of the largest hand-held models on the market. Tanked full, it is fairly heavy, and requires a lot of forethought (and safety protection). When working with mudstones, it makes many days of chiseling go by in minutes, which was important when working in between tides. (Photo: J. A. Goldbogen).

Tired hands, dirty faces, but a lot of enjoyment out of a job well done. Using the rock saw for a few hours takes a toll. J. A. Goldbogen and NDP share a laugh after racing off the platform as incoming tide spells the end of another work day. (Photo: J. A. G. and R. E. Shadwick)

Did we mention that we're working in a National Park? This is a fairly typical part of our 3 km walk in between the field site and the lighthouse (where we stayed), although it does mean several hundred feet of ladder usually with heavy bags and gear. Some of the spruce and fir trees in this part of the island are among the oldest in North America, easily tallying at over 500 years old. 25 million year old whale fossils is one thing, but 500 year old trees is really mind-blowing. (Photo: J. A. Goldbogen)

Carmanah 2012 Expedition: Dispatch 4

Busy days on the far side of Vancouver Island. Here are shots from our excavation, which we completed this weekend. The sequence below shows a series of snaps from excavating the first whale skeleton, using both rock saw and traditional hammer and chisel techniques. Tides wait for no man; the platform never quite drained during that day, as you can see from the water in the trench.

(All photos by NDP)

Follow along on the Ocean Portal

I'm posting live from our expedition on Vancouver Island -- follow along at the Ocean Portal. More posts soon to come!

Carmanah 2012 Expedition: Dispatch 3

Yesterday morning we left Port Renfrew early in the morning, on a charter aboard Brian Gisborne's Michelle Diana. During the height of the summer hiking season along the famed West Coast Trail, Brian is busy running a shuttle service between Port Renfrew and Bamfield (the south and north ends of the ~80 km trail).

 

We loaded all of gear down the 10-foot-drop on the Jacob's ladder into the Michelle Diana. And then hopped on board for the ride out to the Carmanah Lighthouse. (Photo: NDP)

Inside the Michelle Diana, looking out the stern. Note the pile of equipment and bags. Weather turned to classic BC drizzle during the trip. (Photo: NDP)

On shore finally, after the dropoff. Each one of those objects made the treacherous boat-boat-shore transition. Here we are organizing equipment into two groups: those that need to go 3 km south, and the others than need to go 200 ft uphill by trail and ladders. (Photo: J.A . Goldbogen)

Negotiating a crossing of Carmanah Creek. Here the entire group helps deliver the crucial field equipment to the excavation site. (Photo: J. A. Goldbogen).

NDP crosses Carmanah Creek. (Photo: J. A. Goldbogen)

NDP,  two Parks Canada rangers, and Jerry Etzkorn (the keeper of the Carmanah lighthouse) discuss the prep for excavating. (Photo J. A. Goldbogen)

Carmanah 2012 Expedition: Dispatch 2

Some scenes from yesterday, on our travel day. As the crow flies, it wasn't remarkably far, but Vancouver Island is only accessible by plane or boat. So we departed in the morning, leaving Vancouver in the Shadwick Lab van (a classic vehicle ca. NDP postdoc and JAG grad school days), with an extra trailer hitched on. Total luggage included around 14 large bags, including 100 lbs of food.

We took the ferry from Tsawassen to Swartz Bay, crossing the Georgia Straight in about 2 hours. 

Bob and Nick chat about the  conference semi-final round of the NHL playoffs while waiting for sightings of Phocoena phocoena. (Photo: JA Goldbogen).

Then we picked up team member Liz Nesbitt, who took a different passenger ferry from downtown Seattle to downtown Victoria, the capital on B.C., on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. We then collected some other key field items (bread, milk, beer), and drove north past Sooke, Sombrio and to the end of the road at Port Renfrew. Truly the end of the road, and the western edge of civilization for North America. Port Renfrew was our departure point this morning, via chartered boat on the Michelle Diana, which runs the Juan de Fuca Express route up and down the western side of the island.

Relaxing after a long day of logistics and driving at the Trailhead Motel, while discussing the Oligocene, lunge feeding, and enjoying the amazing peace and quiet of BC's west coast. (Photo: J.A. Goldbogen)

Carmanah 2012 Expedition: Dispatch 1

The morning didn't start off so well when the Shadwick Lab van didn't start. But after a quick jump, we were off to the races...to try out the rock saw, go to the hardware store and grocery store, and to celebrate some news with colleagues. (Photo: J. A. Goldbogen)

It's the night before we leave for our trip to the Vancouver Island (hereafter, "the island"). We've spent most of the day packing, organizing, and making last minute shopping runs. We double-checked our equipment list, did some final dry runs with key hardware, and reviewed logistics.

So what are we doing? In 2009, I made a preliminary reconnaissance trip to the Oligocene rocks of Vancouver Island to look for fossils of marine mammals. The Oligocene (~23-32 million years ago) is one of the great frontiers in marine mammal paleontology because we know so little: by comparison to other time periods, fossils are far more rare, and they tend to be important because they provide us with a window into what surely was a time of rapid diversification that presaged many modern lineages, but also completely extinct ones too. In general, the Pacific Northwest of the US and Canada ranks among the premier places to look for fossil marine mammals, and there is a rich history of important specimens found in the marine rock units of Oregon, Washington State and British Columbia. As a postdoc at the University of British Columbia, my main goal was to work on the biomechanics of lunge-feeding, but I knew that Vancouver Island was an outstanding enigma in my mind.

While prospecting with frequent friends of the lab, we found several exciting fossils, including the skull, jaws and postcranial skeleton of what is likely an aetiocetid -- a "toothed" baleen whale, about the size of pilot whale. The problem was that we didn't have the proper equipment, time, logistics, collection permits or stratigraphic knowledge to retrieve the fossil. Fast forward 3 years, and now we've remedied all of those problems, and we're set to go collect it. So stay tuned.

We will be posting updates to the Ocean Portal, so stay tuned.

Every expedition needs a staging area -- in this case, Bob's house. NDP and RES, trying field looks in RES's basement. Gotta have a field look. (Photo: J. A. Goldbogen)

Preview: Return to Vancouver Island

Departing in the AM for my flight from DCA-SEA-YVR, and then a weekend of preparation on the ground in Vancouver to organize the final stages of our expedition planning.

The weather report from Tofino looks great for next week, which should be good because we have a lot of work to do! Another update over the weekend. Keep watching the Ocean Portal.

R. E. Shadwick, crossing Bonilla Creek, prospecting for fossil whales. That water was COLD. (Photo: NDP, 2009)

Preview: Return to Vancouver Island

Another image from our 2009 reconnaissance work near the West Coast Trail of Vancouver Island. Lovely country. Can't wait to have boots on the ground next week!

Looking north, near Carmanah Lighthouse, at low tide. Rocks from the Carmanah Group, likely of Oligocene age, are in the foreground. (Photo: NDP, 2009)

 

Preview: Return to Vancouver Island

Next week, I return to Canada to join up with a team from the Burke Museum, UBC, and Cascadia Research Collective to collect a fossil baleen whale skeleton on the far side of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia. The expedition, to collect a fossil discovered in 2009, will be among the more logistically complex trips I've undertaken, involving: ferries, trailer hitches, gas-powered rock saws, chartered boats, chartered helicopters, and a lot of luck.

Follow this blog for another photo each day, up to trip departure on 5/5, when I will live blog for the Smithsonian's Ocean Portal and tweet for PyensonLab here and there.

And ziplines, those too. (Photo: NDP, in 2009).

Follow Jorge in Baja...

Howard University Ph.D. candidate, Lab member and NMNH predoc fellow Jorge Velez-Juarbe (first author on the recent PLoS ONE and JVP papers) is in Baja California on an NSF-funded expedition to prospect and collect fossil marine mammals, with collaborators from Howard University, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, and from Mexico (both Baja Norte and Sur). 

Follow along at his Caribbean Paleobiology blog (see posts #1, #2, #3 and #3.5)!

The usual suspects collecting fossil marine mammals in Baja California. See Jorge's blog for more details! (Photo JVJ).