Geoscience Reference
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the day) and I were using our “ichno-eyes” to search for trace fossils ranging from
small invertebrate burrows to dinosaur tracks.
What I was not expecting to see there was a dinosaur burrow. Even less likely,
it matched the form and dimensions of the fossil burrow that Dave Varricchio and
I had unearthed in the Cretaceous rocks of Montana only eight months before. Yet
there it was in the outcrop, a gently dipping structure with a sediment-filled tun-
nel that twisted right, then left, and connected with an expanded chamber. It was
naturally cast with sandstone toward its top and conglomerate at its bottom, but
clearly cut across the bedding surrounding it. I stood transfixed, barely breathing,
and gaped at it long enough to prompt Ruth to come over to stare with me.
“What is it?” she asked.
“I think it's a dinosaur burrow,” I whispered.
At the time, she was one of only a few people in the world who knew about
thefossilburrowinMontana.Infact,Dave,Yoshi,andIhadnotyetnamed
Orycto-
dromeus
, whose remains, along with the two juveniles, were still encased in plaster
and rock. So we were still doing all we could to keep its discovery quiet until it
hadgonethroughascientificallypropervettingprocess.Consequently,Ihadnotyet
told any of my new Australian friends about it and was not about to start now.
Nonetheless, the problem with outwardly expressing curiosity and wonder is
that it attracts other people who then want to join in with you. As a result, only a
few minutes elapsed before one of several geology graduate students with us, Chris
Consoli,sawusstandingthereandwanderedovertoaskthesamequestionasRuth:
“What's that?” I answered truthfully but evasively, “I'm not sure, but it's an inter-
esting structure.” I then asked him if he would mind being the scale in my photo-
graphs, and quickly snapped three shots in succession. He soon strolled away once
I supplied no other information about what was there. Ruth then helped me to take
a few quick and surreptitious measurements of the enigmatic structure. Mike Clee-
land also stopped by and asked about it, and I was similarly nonchalant with him.
