BLM and Community Members Tour Prehistoric Ocean Floor

KREMMLING, CO — The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Kremmling Field Office (KFO) led a trek of twenty participants to the Kremmling Cretaceous Ammonite site on Saturday, October 15, 2005.  This tour, organized by the BLM and Kremmling Library, was a rare opportunity for visitors to view the scientifically significant and protected site.

Visitors to Ammonite site viewed the fossil remains of giant ammonites, bacculites, inoceramus clams and other marine fauna that lived in the Middle Park area over 72 million years ago.

“These fossils are here from when Colorado and most of the interior of the United States was flooded by inland, salt water oceans,” explained Frank Rupp, a BLM archaeologist and the tour leader.

While at the site, visitors interacted with Dr. Peter Harries from the University of South Florida and his students who are wrapping up their fourth year of research at the Ammonite Site. Dr. Harries is comparing these fossils with modern coral species found off the coast of Florida to determine if the “green house” effect is a natural fluctuation, and if so, how much man is affecting that process.

 “The preservation of these fossils is remarkable, allowing researchers not only to document stratigraphic evidence of a rapidly changing environment, but also the corresponding evolutionary changes in the fossils,” said Rupp.  “This in turn allows researchers to make assumptions about behavioral and physiological patterns of the now extinct ocean animals.”

BLM looks forward to Dr. Harries and his students returning again next year to continue this important research.

The Kremmling Ammonite site is a unique, world-class fossil location protected by the BLM, and is considered an Area of Critical Environmental Concern, as well as a Research Natural Area.  The State of Colorado has labeled the site a Colorado Natural Area.  For more information on the site, please call the BLM Kremmling Field Office at 970-724-3000.

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