Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
thousands of feet of shale in the western states. Such, however, was not the
case for the west coast of North America. Although a very good Japanese pa-
leontologist named Tatsuro Matsumoto had recognized a handful of
Baculites
species from California in the mid 1950s, only two species had been found in
the Vancouver Island region, and one of these came from Sucia Island. More
disappointing yet was the discovery that unlike the case in the western inte-
rior, where
Baculites
species appeared and disappeared with great abandon,
the two
Baculites
from the Vancouver Island region just seemed to go on and
on and never go extinct, lasting many millions of years. It made no sense to
me. Why would speciation of this type of ammonite be so abrupt in one place
and so gradual in another?
My agenda in Ottawa in that cold winter was to look anew at the
Bac-
ulites
species known from the Vancouver Island region and compare them
with others of the same group. Over many days I lived in the dark basement,
pulling from bulk collections the numerous Baculites specimens collected
over many years. With hundreds of fossils to look at, it quickly became clear
that just as I had suspected while in the field on Vancouver Island, there
were
far more than the two species that Jeletzky had identified. I was electrified by
this knowledge, for after nearly three years of work in this newfound paleon-
tology, I had finally made a discovery that would affect the understanding of
geological time and its correlation from region to region. Species well known
in California—but previously unreported from Vancouver island—were
clearly present in rocks slightly younger and slightly older than those in
Sucia Island. With this new information I could for the first time correlate
the Sucia rocks with California, Alaska, and Japan. Perhaps five other peo-
ple in the world would care. But those five would really care! The soldiers in
the paleontological army are few, but they are dedicated.
The next step was far more delicate, for I had to convince Jeletzky that
I was correct—and that he was wrong. It had been he who had stated that
only two
Baculites
species were found in the Vancouver Island region. We
met in his office (he was in his sixties then), and he inspected my evidence.
To my surprise he readily acquiesced to my changes in his findings. He
