By Robin Hunt
Friday through Sunday, rock hounders gathered for a weekend of free field trips with Utah’s finest geologists, paleontologists and archaeological conservationists for Green River Rocks. This annual festival takes place every spring in Green River.
The Festival offered 17 educational field trips, which took participants to places like Fossil Point, Temple Mountain, the San Rafael Swell, Buckhorn Wash and the Moore Dino Quarry. These field trips were led by expert paleontologists, geologists, and archaeologists.
As well as participating in the amazing field trips, participants were also able to shop at a unique vendor market, full of rocks and minerals, as well as Green River local vendors showcasing their unique arts, crafts and trades.
John Wesley Powell Museum Director Janet Smoak said: “Wild weather moved the Vendor Fair inside the museum, but we made the most of it and folks still had a great time. The Green River Rocks crew work so hard to offer one of a kind experiences for dedicated adventurers and for the general interest of us all. The geology and paleontology themes are a great fit for the museum mission. We look forward to hosting the festival and it kicks off our spring season.”
Maria Sykes, Epicenter Director, and one of the organizers of this event said: “Huge shout out to Janet Smoak (Director of the John Wesley Powell River History Museum, our host) for suggesting we move the vendors indoors this year; without that hospitality, our event would have suffered. And also thank you to the local residents of Green River; we had more participation this year than ever before!” Sykes continued, “Despite the bad weather— including 60mph gusts and a brief blizzard— hundreds came to Green River for our opening lecture, the 24 unique vendors both local and regional, and to get onto one or more of this year’s 17 field trips.”
Friday, opened with a lecture from Greg Mcdonald, a recently retired regional paleontologist for the Bureau of Land Management.
The Lecture: Stuck in the Pleistocene: Tar Pits Around the World and Utah
When you say tar pits most people immediately think of the La Brea tar pits in Los Angeles with the remains of saber tooth cats and mammoths. But tar pits have been found around the world including South America, the Middle East and even in the Caribbean and many of them also preserve the remains of other types of animals. While we often think of these tar traps as only happening in the past, there are many places today where oil comes to the earth’s surface and are trapping animals to become future fossils. One place where this is happening is in Utah, near The Great Salt Lake. Studying the conditions on how animals can become trapped today can help paleontologist’s understand the entrapment of extinct species in the past and better understand the fossil record. McDonald discussed tar pits from around the world, the different animals they preserve and how the study of the modern tar traps in Utah are helping paleontologists to better understand the secrets of past tar pits.
Participants came from far and wide for this festival. Green River Rocks saw visitors who had traveled from places like Canada, New York, Colorado, Oregon and California. Many of those visitors expressed their thanks to the Green River Rocks crew for putting on such a unique event and promised to be back.
Learn more about the festival at greenriverrocks.com
