Project Background
EDIT THIS FOR YOUR PROJECT. The XXXXX Paleobotany Project (GRPP) is a web-based effort to promote the identification of fossil plants and insects from the ..... , and to encourage collaboration between fossil collectors and enthusiasts of all kinds. We want to promote collaboration between research scientists, museums, amateur collectors, commercial collectors, teachers, students, and land managers.

GRPP uses PaleoCollaborator software to provide an identification flow chart for XXXXX fossil plants. The flow chart leads to a detailed illustration of the best example of each species (morphotype). It also allows comparison between groups of fossil leaves and similar modern leaves.

The project is designed to integrate public and private collections into a comprehensive digital library of the fossil plant species of the XXXXX Formation. If you have a better example of a given species or if you have a new species, then you can submit a digital image of your specimen (a virtual voucher) for identification. If your fossil is better or new, then it will be posted on the site and you will be given credit for finding the specimen. This way you can participate in the science without giving up your fossil. Ideally, this website will mix collectors and scientists in a digital environment that promotes learning, collaboration, and the understanding and preservation of an amazing fossil resource.

The XXXXXX Paleobotany Project

The Middle Eocene Parachute Member of the XXXXX Formation is widely exposed in the Piceance Creek and Uinta Basins of northwestern Colorado and northeastern Utah and is world famous for spectacular fossil plants and insects. These 46-47 million year old fossils have been collected for over 100 years.

This Parachute Member has been a major focus of oil shale exploration and represents a maximum high stand of Lake Uinta. A widespread organic-rich marker bed, the Mahogany Bench (and Mahogany Marker) allows for regional stratigraphic control. Most of the published paleobotanical reports from the formation discuss fossils from the vicinity of the Mahogany Bench. These fossils are much younger and considerably different from the fossils from the fish-bearing XXXXX Formation from Fossil Lake near Kemmerer, Wyoming. Parachute Creek sites primarily produce fossil plants and insects but fish, birds, lizards, and other vertebrates are occasionally recovered. The flora and fauna from this unit enjoy huge popular interest and the collecting sites near Bonanza, Utah and Douglas Pass, Colorado are internationally known.

Despite this interest, no single collection or monograph adequately represents the diversity of the Parachute Creek assemblage and there a number of interesting questions about the age and nature of the vegetation and its paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental significance.

In 1969, Harry MacGinitie published a monograph on the flora of the XXXXX Formation with emphasis on fossils from the Parachute Creek. He recognized 69 species. In 1991, The Denver Museum of Nature & Science (DMNS) initiated a paleobotany program and it rapidly became apparent that many private and commercial collectors were finding new species not mentioned by MacGinitie. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is responsible for managing the fossil-rich federal land near Bonanza and Douglas Pass. The Western Interior Paleontology Society (WIPS) began a partnership with DMNS and BLM in which WIPS fieldtrips excavated XXXXX fossils from Douglas Pass with common fossils going to the finder and rare fossils being transferred to DMNS.

To document the relative abundance of common species, DMNS excavated a quarry near Bonanza in 1996, keeping and identifying every single specimen encountered. The resulting collection of 989 identifiable specimens represents 48 species. The most common genera were Parvileguminophyllum (27%), Cedrelospermum (25%), Macginitiea (8%), Rhus (7%), Allophylus (6%), Caesalpina (4%), and Cardiospermum (4%). This flora represents material that has been transported as much as 40 km from the source vegetation. The distribution of plant parts so far from the shoreline remains an interesting taphonomic problem that greatly complicates reconstruction of the ancient lake margin vegetation. Conversely, this high degree of transportation allows for the preservation of an extremely diverse paleoflora.  A rarity scale is provided for each holomorphotype as follows: “Common” indicates the holomorphotype represents more than 2% of the census provided by MacGinitie and DMNS.  “Rare” is less than 2%.  It’s possible for a “common” holomorphotype (> 2%) to have a “rare” specimen.  For example, a Macginitiea (8%) specimen may include attachments, thus making it uncommon.  In these cases, the holomorphotype will indicate “common” and its rarity will be noted in the specimen comments.  In general,  specimens with attachment are not common.

Based on fieldwork and donations of private collections, DMNS has accumulated a large collection of Parachute Creek fossil plants from xx individual quarries. This collection has been sorted into 252 morphotypes by Bill Bateman, Rich Barclay, and Mike Graham working under the direction of Curator of Paleontology Kirk Johnson.

Due to the popularity of the Bonanza and Douglas Pass sites, we perceive a need and a demand for a digital atlas of the flora. Such an atlas would be useful for amateur collectors because it would allow them to identify their fossils. It would be useful for land managers because it would help them to define the scientifically significant and rare fossils. Fossils that are significant include not only the rare species but also common species preserved in botanical attachment. For example, Macginitiea leaves and fruits are both common but they have never been found attached. Scientists would benefit by having a more educated collecting public who could in turn recognize rare specimens and donate them to research museums. PaleoCollaborator now provides a method for these species to be available on the web for comparison and identification.