PALEONTOLOGIC ANALYSIS OF KENTUCKY FOSSILS

Kentucky, because of its extensive outcrops of sedimentary rocks, is one of the most famous sources in the United States for fossils. KGS receives numerous requests every week from the public concerning fossils and fossil identification. Occasionally a scientifically important fossil is discovered in Kentucky, which requires a more thorough, scientific, paleontologic analysis. KGS must ensure that important fossils discovered in Kentucky receive proper scientific treatment. For example, an ancient animal trackway discovered in McCreary County was brought to the attention of a KGS paleontologist, who recognized the trackway as the earliest known reptile fossil in North America. A scientific paper fully describing the fossil was published. A press release brought public attention to the fossil.

In some cases, KGS sends fossils to specialists elsewhere for analysis. For example, a fossil insect wing (the only insect fossil ever found in Kentucky) was sent to a specialist in Germany, who determined that it was the oldest representative of a family of insects ever discovered.

KGS is also responsible for oversight of fossils found on State property. Many thousands of Ice Age mammal fossils, including the woolly mammoth, were recovered at Big Bone Lick State Park in northern Kentucky by scientists from the University of Nebraska in the 1960's. This fiscal year KGS has constructed a data base of fossils collected by Nebraska scientists from data supplied by the University of Nebraska. Fossils recovered from previous digs (including Nebraska's) at Big Bone Lick include the giant goose, turkey, a possible wolf, a possible black bear, modern bison, ancient bison, two types of musk ox, American moose, wapiti elk, common Virginia deer, extinct stag moose, caribou, flat-headed peccary, extinct North American horses, a possible tapir, American mastodon, woolly mammoth, and two types of giant ground sloth. The most common fossil found at Big Bone Lick has been bison. The herbivores were attracted to Big Bone Lick because of salt springs. The big mammals tramping through the water-laden, clayey deposits created a deep, sticky mire, which trapped all sorts of salt-starved mammals who came to lick the salt. Bones are generally not articulated because subsequent trampling long after death caused the bones to be spread apart.

The fossils from Big Bone Lick are not only of scientific interest, but are important in historical terms: Big Bone Lick was one of the first paleontologic sites discovered in North America. Collections were made at Big Bone Lick in 1739 by Major Charles LeMoyne de Longueuil, the Commander of French troops in Canada, and the specimens his troops collected reside in the Musee National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, France. President Thomas Jefferson sent Captain William Clark, of Lewis and Clark fame, to collect bones there in 1807. Clark's collection was divided and sent to the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, the Musee d'Histoire Naturelle de France, and President Jefferson's personal collection; some of the specimens still reside at Monticello. Very few of the bones collected at Big Bone Lick remain in Kentucky. However, efforts are being made to return some of the bones collected by the University of Nebraska. Two scientists from the University of Kentucky (one from KGS) visited the Nebraska State Museum this fiscal year to examine the Big Bone Lick collection and to determine which specimens should be returned to Kentucky. A new museum at Big Bone Lick would be a perfect place to show off these important fossils to Kentuckians and would be a boost to tourism in that area.

KGS receives coal samples on a regular basis. Some of these are from coal beds that require further stratigraphic identification. The study of fossil spores and pollen (palynology), chemically released from coals, can assist in stratigraphic identification of coal and can provide clues about the origin of coal. Palynological analysis can be conducted at KGS when it is deemed scientifically important. During this fiscal year a number of palynological analyses were performed on coals from both of Kentucky's coal fields. Results of these studies are published in the scientific literature.