About 65 million years ago, the area surrounding modern Denver was covered with lush rainforest similar to the tropical rainforests of today. These rainforests extended north to the Canadian border, indicating a warmer, wetter climate than exists here today. As the Rocky Mountains we know today began to rise to the west, the climate of the modern Front Range began to cool down and dry out.

In September 1998, some of the JASON X Student and Teacher Argonauts visited Colorado on a mini-expedition to help understand the fossil rainforest at Castle Rock. Students worked with DMNH Paleobotanist Dr. Kirk Johnson (http://www.jasonproject.org/johnson.htm) to expose, collect, and protect fossil plant specimens that will be studied in the Museum's Paleontology Lab. Although most of the fossils found at Castle Rock are leaves of ancient rainforest plants, we can examine these fossils to learn about another inhabitants of the Colorado rainforest. Castle Rock leaf fossils are so well-preserved that we can see areas of the leaves that were eaten by insects that lived millions of years ago!

READ STUDENT ARGONAUT ACCOUNTS OF THE MINI-EXPEDITION (http://www.jasonproject.org/itinerary.htm)

As part of Dr. Johnson's research into the paleo environments of the Denver Basin (which includes the Castle Rock site featured in JASON), a 2,200-foot-deep core will be drilled into the rocks underlying the Elbert County Fairgrounds in Kiowa. This project will provide geological and paleontological data for the time between 50 and 70 million years ago. This time span saw the retreat of the sea that covered Colorado, the uplift of the Front Range, the extinction of the dinosaurs, and the spread of tropical rainforests across Colorado. The project also will yield valuable information about the groundwater resources of the region.

The drilling and coring will begin on March 1 (the first day of the JASON X broadcast) and will last about a month.

We would like to make the drill site available as a field trip opportunity for school groups during March. We are currently working on coordinating dates that will be available for site visits and developing pre- and post-visit information and activities, as well as some on-site interpretive experiences.

We need to know the level of interest that exists for this opportunity. This would be a great alternative field trip to Castle Rock, because that site is not open to visitors.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE DENVER BASIN PROJECT

FOR MORE INFORMATION E-MAIL: [email protected]

PHONE: (303) 370-6314