Most of my titles will now be things that have been overheard in the field. Some need no explanation. Most are fun by themselves.
We began the day with a quick stop at the gas station with the good snacks before leaving for the field. Beth bought us ketchup-flavored chips and Mattias and Svetlana were less than impressed. For me, the chips brought back fun memories. If anyone would like some, I’ll bring some home for you, so let me know! They taste like ketchup.
We (Mattias, Svetalana, and I) were on our own, and unfortunately when we pulled up there was no monitoring being done on the site. In fact, there was actually no one around at all. Mattias and I searched around a while for fossils, took pictures of the great stratigraphy and melting permafrost, and then helped out Svetlana. We picked up some bones that were found throughout the mining process yesterday when we stayed at home. Mattias was excited to show me that this included some pieces of a mammoth tusk. One of them (there is a pic above) has the mineral vivianite on it. It makes things bright blue!
Svetlana is a Russian entomologist who works at the Uni of Alberta. She is taking soil samples from right next to the permafrost, or from the thawing permafrost. She then screens them in water to make sure that only the organic matter is recovered. Eventually, back in the lab, she will sort all of the organic matter and find little beetles, other bugs, eggs, seeds, and other extremely tiny things. We did the grunt work, hauling bags of dirt, standing in the muck (with my new boots!) screening, and searching for mushrooms in the forest to eat for dinner (Svetlana did it yesterday and we all ate them. She is extremely knowledgeable in many areas).
The weather in the Yukon and especially here in the Dawson area is extremely strange. During the summer, it can actually be the hottest place in all of Canada while during the winter it can be one of the coldest. You have to take tons of layers into the field because it can be scorching hot, then windy and cool, then rainy, then freezing, then hot again. It is strange.
We had another visitor at the mining site while we were screening. A female, or young male, moose came up over a ridge and spent some time staring at us. S/He was only about 25 feet away from where we were working. When S/He decided that we were too scary, S/He ran, but returned about ten minutes later to watch us again. Mattias and I tried to track it and got some good pics of my hand next to the hoof print.
We came home a little early and labeled/sorted more bones. It is quite the daunting task…
Cheers!
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