School of Mines professors collaborate on book

By Journal staff | Thursday, December 20, 2007

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James Martin, a professor of geology and geological engineering and executive curator of the Museum of Geology at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, and David Parris, a School of Mines graduate and curator of natural history at the New Jersey State Museum, have collaborated on a new book.

Two hundred years ago, Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery laid the groundwork for a good deal of scientific research with its descriptions of territory acquired through the Louisiana Purchase. While Thomas Jefferson was reportedly disappointed by the absence of living megafauna, the area ultimately yielded a wealth of Late Cretaceous fossils. The new volume, "The Geology and Paleontology of the Late Cretaceous Marine Deposits of the Dakotas," published by the Geological Society of America, makes clear that the process of discovery continues.

The book, edited by Martin and Parris, covers a wide variety of subjects including fossils, geochemistry and geology. The volume is in celebration of the path along the Missouri River that Lewis and Clark followed with the Corps of Discovery.

"Intense study of this area over the past twenty years led to assembly of this volume," lead editor Martin said. "The time was right to consolidate some significant breakthroughs and make them readily accessible."

Subjects examined include invertebrate fossils, such as some associated with a new species of shell-crushing marine reptile, the first clear recognition in North America of a European mosasaur (Hainosaurus), a newly discovered species of short-necked plesiosaur and a previously unknown species of flightless diving bird. Overall, the volume is a major contribution to the knowledge of marine rocks and fossils from the end of the age of dinosaurs in South Dakota, the authors say.