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September 8, 2000
7:00 PM at the Waldomere Building in
downtown Clarksburg, WV. This building is behind and to the right of
the new Clarksburg Library, when facing the front of the library.
Ample, free parking is located behind the new library.
April 7, 2000
March 3, 2000
Guest Speaker: Paleobotanist William H. Gillespie
William H. Gillespie is a native of Webster County and a graduate of
West Virginia University. He spent 18 years as the Deputy Commissioner
of Agriculture for the state of West Virginia and for 8 years was the
Director of the WV Division of Forestry and State Forester.
He is founder and owner of Gillespie Forestry Services a forestry
consulting firm and William H. Gillespie and Associates, a plant
biostratigraphical-geological consulting firm.
He is also currently adjunct Professor of Paleobotany in the
Department of Geology at West Virginia University. Professor Gillespie
has been a regular member of the Graduate Faculty at WVU since 1978
and has supervised the research of several MS and Ph.D. candidates. He
served as a consulting paleobotanist in the 18 Easters States for the
U.S. Geological Survey from 1974-1995 and has been a member and
attended the meeting of the International Congress on the
Carboniferous and Permian since 1978.
He has served as President of the West Virginia Academy of Science
and has received numerous state and national awards and citations,
including having two genera of plants named in his honor (Gillespia
and Gillespisporites) by scientists from Ohio and Texas.
He is credited with finding and helping to describe and name the
world’s earliest evolved fossil seed plant (Elkinsia,
published in the journal Nature) and has published or had
accepted for publication 200 articles, abstracts, leaflets and books
including Plant Fossils of West Virginia.
February 11, 2000
Guest Speaker: Archeologist Robert L. Pyle
Robert L. Pyle has over 40 years of experience in the fields of
geology and archeology. He has authored a book, All That Remains which
chronicles the intriguing findings that have come from over three
decades exploring ancient sites in the mountain state and around the
world. Like his book which covers basics about archaeology itself to
the most perplexing of West Virginia discoveries—including the Irish
ogam-like petroglyphs—Pyle's work reveals an ongoing adventure in
archaeology.
January 7, 2000
Welcome, new members!
December 3, 1999
Club Members to Help Carnegie Museum
WVFC members and guests are invited to assist club member Ray Garton
(Research Associate with Carnegie Museum and Curator at the WV
Geological Survey) in processing and sorting Paleozoic vertebrate
fossils from rock matrix in a special program at the December 3rd club
meeting. The fossil bearing matrix was collected at a locality
in Jackson County, WV. The fossils are of Pennsylvanian age and
are generally small bone fragments and teeth. The locality has
produced Edaphasaurus, Eryops and Orthacanthus.
This is an opportunity for club members to participate in the
scientific process. A scientific paper will eventually be
published on the fossils found at this locality. All of the
fossils found and described will be deposited at Carnegie Museum of
Natural History in Pittsburgh and at the WV Geological Survey.
Club members are asked to bring their favorite wide field
magnifying glass and tweezers.
November 5, 1999
Dimetrodon and Other
Top Predators of the Paleozoic Era of West Virginia
by Ray Garton
October 8, 1999
September 10, 1999
Dig sites were discussed
and turned in for September and October. Schedules will be finalized
and listed ASAP.
If you wish to share
your summer fossil finds, please bring them to the next meeting on
Oct. 8, 1999.
May 7, 1999
A Presentation of Pleistocene
Vertebrates of West Virginia
by Ray Garton
Because of our abundance of limestone caves
and hundreds of caver (spelunker) volunteers, West Virginia has a rich Pleistocene
vertebrate fossil record.
I began my WV Pleistocene vertebrate studies in 1970, with
the discovery of a mastodon (Mammut americanium) tooth, rib and toe bone while
exploring a cave in Randolph County.
Later that year I had the very good fortune to meet John
Guilday, one of the curators of the Vertebrate Fossils at Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh
and he became my mentor. John was the preeminent Pleistocene Vertebrate paleontologist of
his time and worked in hundreds of Appalachian caves, even though he had Polio and spent
much of his time in an iron lung, had little use of his hands and arms.
Later in 1974, while an undergraduate at WVU I compiled an
annotated bibliography and description of WV Pleistocene vertebrate localities and
specimens. The 1974 report had about 35 localities and today the report has over 100
localities. Included are discoveries such as vampire bat, armadillo, giant ground sloth,
saber-toothed cats, mammoths, mastodons, and arctic shrews.
My talk will focus on these discoveries and the important
role club members can play in the discovery, collection and study of Pleistocene
vertebrates in West Virginia.
June 18 at 6:00 PM
Covered dish dinner.
 (Members Only) |
Special Note:
For information on upcoming fossil digs and contact information please see our most recent newsletter.
If you have a private fossil collection, you quite possibly
possess significant fossils with important scientific value for West Virginia
paleontology. You can now have these fossils examined and cataloged and receive a free one
year subscription to PaleoScene, a newsletter devoted to fossils and paleontology
in West Virginia (to begin publication later this year). The West Virginia Fossil
Archives is compiling an inventory and index of West Virginia fossils and needs the
help of collectors such as you. Please call 1-800-822-6788 and ask for Ray Garton or send
email to museum@geosrv.wvnet.edu.
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