Three University girls having an adventure of a lifetime in Romania. Fossils, rocks, drinks and sun; what more could you ask for in a summer?
After spending two COLD spring seasons in Romania I am delighted to report on how BEAUTIFUL it is in the summer. Also the cold rivers do not seem as bad when the sun is shining and warm. On this trip we stayed in the Hateg Basin, in the spring we stay in the Sebes basin so this was a nice change in scenery
View of Hateg basin from the Marble Quarry up near Ohaba-Ponor. Photo by Hannah
Three undergrad majoring in Geology did their 3rd year mapping project in Romania this summer near the Pui River. This is the river that we found an almost complete turtle (Luke Muscutt), and dinosaur vertebrae (Emma Reeves) the first field season. The girls are Kate Acheson, Hannah Cheales and Victoria Silverton (pictured below). I have been out in the field with these girls as a demonstrator for at least 2 trips, so it was great to see them put what they learned to work. Gareth had been out at the beginning of the mapping project with Matays and Luke to make sure the girls knew what area they were going to be mapping. They had some great adventures from what I heard and found some great sites to map.
Kate Acheson writing down her observation in a trust field notebook. Photo by Orsi
Hannah Cheales, in deep thought about something Gareth or I said…probably. Photo by Orsi
Victoria Silverton taking great notes on the new locality and lithology. Photo by Orsi
Gareth, our very hard-working leader, and myself in the field. Photo by Orsi
First off, I know the girls would agree, the family guesthouse we were staying at was great. The beds may have been a bit hard, but we had en suite showers, talk about luxury field work. The family worked so hard too, they cleaned and mopped the whole place everyday! Also the son Tutor (pictured below) went out in the field with the girls a lot to help with translation. He was a great help and very curious about the bones we were looking for. He got good at spotting them too after helping the girls all month. He was also really good each night helping entertain everyone with archery, ping pong playing and cards. We had a great game of poker a few nights in a row, I even won one of the games! The girls also had on and off issues with the car they were renting from one of our friends out there. They named the car ‘Sasquesha’ to help get the car through the rough roads.
Tutor in the famed Sasquesha, must have seen something cool in the distance. Picture by Orsi
While we did spend some time looking for new fossils, and boy did the girls find a lot, we were there for geologic mapping. The area has not been mapped by many if at all in some areas. So the girls may be some of the first geologists to extensively study these rocks. I think this is great because when they finish the project, it will be hard for the people grading it to disagree, because not much has been published, especially not on the scale they have studied it. Though I know they would love to have more to help date and see if they are on the right track. Gareth and I tried to help as much as we could, but they were doing a great job and didn’t need much help anyway.
The mapping the girls did had a wide variety of lithologies, including a marble quarry that has some pretty famous pink marble in it.
Victoria taking notes on the marble quarry, far up in the hills. Photo by Hannah
Kate taking her very detailed notes on the marble quarry. Photo by Hannah
Field selfie for Hannah while up at the marble quarry, can see bits of the Hateg basin in the background. It is a great scenic shot! Photo by Hannah
Sedimentary rocks were present and the girls were always on the lookout for fossils in them. Not just vertebrates because those can be found and are, let’s face it, exciting! They did find invertebrates as well, as they are good for environmental indicators and potential dating of the layers. Here are a few that they found:
Internal mold of a gastropod, looks cool! Photo by Hannah
With all the metamorphic rocks in the area, it seemed like EVERYTHING was shiny and micaceous. This lead to great fun, initially. They warned us about all the mica present, but one day out in the field I had to say ‘I know you guys said so, but holy mica there is a lot of it out here!’ They laughed and said we were not joking. Here is one of the many pics of the mica that they took.
Hannah holding up sediment full of mica, yay sparkles! Photo by Hannah
My experience was quite fun too. I found an interesting vertebrae that we are still trying to identify what it came from. I was able to spend a whole day using an air pen prepare the fossil bits the girls collected to a more manageable size. I basically removed a lot of rock with no fossil in it. It was great getting more field work in and to spend some time in Romania. I even learned a few more Romanian phrases for next year. Including ‘good morning’ and ‘good evening’, which are actually really fun to say. Can’t wait to go back in the spring and get more work done!
Entry by Jessica Lawrence Wujek
A big THANK YOU to Orsolya Vincze or, as we called her, Orsi for taking these great photos of the group! Also to Hannah Cheales for allowing me to use some of her photos as well.
