Kallie Moore, UMPCs collection manager, teaches others about the universitys impressive collection.

Source: UMPC

UMVP 2928: C. populosum was a common species during the Mississippian Epoch. Source: UMPC

Montanas Bear Gulch Unveils Mysteries of Ancient Wetlands

Not every living being on Earth gets the honor of being fossilized. In fact, this rare privilege is awarded only to a select few. Who gets to be fossilized largely depends on where an organism dies. Animals that die near water have the best chances. This is because water carries sediments, such as sand and clay, that fill the deceased animals cells with mineralsleaving a spectacular cast of the organismsometimes of just bone but sometimes of tissues such as skin or scales. Montanas Bear Gulch Member of the Heath Formation near Lewistown, Montana once had the ideal ecosystem for fossil formation. Today, the University of Montana Paleontology Center (UMPC), part of the university that studies the area, has an impressive number of fossils from the Mississippian Epoch, the early half of the Carboniferous Period, which is about 318 to 359 million years ago. The UMPC has roughly 60 percent of the known, published, named taxa of fish, says Kallie Moore, UMPCs collection

manager. Moore further explains that this period ushered in an age of shallow seas and swamps that covered most of North America. Fish rebounded and flourished in these warm, shallow seas. Moore further describes how this paleoenvironment offered the right conditions for fossilization. The Bear Gulch bay, during the Mississippian, would be similar to the African Sahel region with a semi-arid region to the north and more tropical conditions to the south, she says. Geomagnetic data, Moore says, place this ancient environment at the present latitude of the southern Red Sea to the Sudan. The exceptional preservation is thought to be caused by monsoonal storm events that produced flows of sediment that both killed and immediately buried these animals. Moore says Bear Gulch offers a variety of well-preserved fossilized organisms. These beds contain a large variety of taxa, from worms to horseshoe crabs and lampreys to coelacanths, she says. Coelacanths are a type of lobe-finned fish that are related to lungfish. What makes these fossils unusual is the incredible preservation of the specimens. The fish include Chondrichthyes (sharks), Actinopterygii (ray-fin), and Sarcoopterygii (lobe-fin). Many are fully articulated and preserve structures such as the delicate webbing of the fins and the lateral line. Bear Gulch also has some of the really unusual finds and well as some very mysterious finds. One of the oldest known lampreys, Hardistiella montanensis, was discovered at Bear Gulch, says Moore. As for the more enigmatic finds, Moore says, Researchers who study the Bear Gulch are always discovering new information about the animals and the environment that they lived in. However, the more they discover, the more questions arise. As for the more mysterious finds, Moore says the Typholesus wellsi, a type of ancient fish, ate conodonts, an extinct animal that resembled eels. Bear Gulch researches discovered this when they found conodont apparatuses in the fishs gut cavity even though there have been no other conodonts found in Bear Gulch sediments. Other enigmas, says Moore, include the absence of crinoids in the Bear Gulch. She says this is very unusual because crinoids are one of the most common fossils of the Mississippian. Additionally, horse shoe crab fossils were found in Bear Gulch, but there is no evidence of the former presence of the brackish water this species prefers. There is no evidence that a terrestrial environment with a fresh water input was close to the Bear Gulch bay. Brackish water contains more salt than fresh water but not as much as sea water. This type of water may result from the mixing of fresh and sea waters. The Bear Gulch finds offer revealing facts about the behavior of many extinct species. The presence of many shrimp and the coelacanth, Caridosuctor populous, were common. This is evidence of an ecological food web of prey and predator, suggests Moore. Researchers know the Caridosuctor ate shrimp because they found this fishs fossil with a shrimp in its belly. Additionally, the fossils of a type of chondrichthyes, indicate they lived in schools, possibly could use electric detection of prey, and it was a strong visual predator, says Moore. Modern Chondrichthyes include sharks, skates, and rays.

Fossils are an interesting subject, but Moore cautions amateur fossil hunters. The Bear Gulch bed is owned by private individuals, meaning that it is not open to the public, she says. Also, it is really important to understand the laws of fossil collecting in your state. For example, no one can collect vertebrate fossils without a permit; this applies all across the country for state and federal land. However, amateurs can collect plant and invertebrate fossils on public land without a permit. Just make sure you are not collecting fossils illegally. If you do happen to stumble upon a vertebrate fossil, Moore says it is best to share your find with the world than keep it hidden in a box or attic. Make sure, if possible, to take a picture of the find, get GPS coordinates, or mark on a map and contact your local Geological Survey, university, or professional paleontologist.