Great Basin Chapter Hybrid Meeting Thursday, February 19 at 7:00 PM with Don DeBlieux

Photo of Moenkopi geologic layers with an arrow pointing out a tiny spec that is paleontologist, Don DeBlieux. Inset photo of Don at a quarry site.

Please join us online for the Great Basin Chapter of the Utah Friends of Paleontology meeting on Thursday, February 19 at 7:00 PM Mountain Time. 

This meeting will be hybrid. We encourage you to come to the meeting in person. We’re looking for volunteers to help plan and manage the UFOP Annual Meeting and to help run the Great Basin Chapter. The online link to attend for those unable to be here in Salt Lake for the talk is: meet.google.com/non-nwfj-cco

The meeting will be held in the auditorium of the the Utah Department of Natural Resources/Utah Geological Survey main building, located at 1594 W North Temple St, Salt Lake City. Please be aware that the DNR building has installed security gates that prevent entry from Redwood Road, so plan your route accordingly and park in front of the building at the main entrance.

Great Basin Chapter’s very own Don DeBlieux will be our February Speaker in the DNR auditorium on Thursday February 19th at 7:00 pm (a week later than usual). Don’s talk will be More Moenkopi Madness! Exceptional tracksites in the Early Triassic of Canyonlands National Park. 

Don will present an update on paleontological surveys conducted over the last five years by the Utah Geological Survey in Canyonlands National Park. This research has revealed a remarkable trace fossil record within the Early Triassic Moenkopi Formation, documenting over 100 new fossil localities. These sites feature terrestrial tetrapod tracks, fish and tetrapod swim traces, and horseshoe crab tracks. Since many of these findings were recorded using photogrammetry, Don will also provide a brief introduction to the art and science of this technology. 

Don has been a paleontologist with the Utah Geological Survey for the last 24 years and is the Utah Assistant State Paleontologist. Don oversees the UGS lab and field program. He has discovered well over 500 new localities while doing field work throughout Utah, including in all of the National Parks, in rocks ranging from Permian to Miocene in age. Don has been a regular UFOP meeting presenter.