Ichthyosaur

 

 

             From the moment we arrived, Kevin May and (daughter) Lizzie May Williams worked almost around the clock to prep Icky for extraction. Kevin was quite surprised to find the fossil in such good shape and worked diligently to preserve it even further. Due to their extraordinary efforts and hard work, the team was way ahead of schedule by Friday, and to the point where the fossil could be transported during this outing. Initially, the plan called for only preserving the find, with a transport date of mid-July.

 

             Kevin had the good sense to involve his daughter (now age 18) in paleontology since she was 13. Lizzie has gone on many trips around the state to help locate and recover rare finds. She even had one fossil named after her, as detailed in the audio clip linked at the bottom of the page.

 

 

         
Kevin May and daughter Lizzie May Williams worked almost around the clock to prep Icky for extraction.

 

 

             Most of the Ichthyosaur fossil can be seen in the photograph below. The skull portion is believed to be contained in the rock to lower left. Whether the skull is actually there won't be known until the specimen is in the lab and the rock is carefully removed by students and volunteers. A small portion of the find has fallen away and slid down hill in the debris field below the fossil. Workers scooped up as much of the scattered fragments as possible. These will be taken back to the lab, sorted, and put back into their place in the coming exhaustive efforts to restore the skeleton to it's original condition.

 

 

         
Photograph showing the near complete fossil of Icky.

 

 

             A close-up photograph reveals more of the bone structure contained within the soft and crumbling rock. Many of the rib bones can be seen:

 

 

         
A close-up photo of Icky showing more detail in the mid-section where a large number of rib bones are clearly visible.

 

 

             Due to the long term exposure to the extreme weather conditions found in the Arctic, part of the tail section was very fragile. It had suffered many cracks through the numerous freezing and thawing cycles over the years. The rock simply crumbled as it was disturbed by the team members. As a result, it had to be preserved separately from the main body. Foam insulation was sprayed into the larger cracks and the entire rock structure was coated with Paleo Bond (super glue) to hold things in place prior to being wrapped with plaster and secured with two by four inch timbers and plywood.

 

 

         
A portion of the tail area was weak and crumbly, so it was glued together and removed separately from the larger section.

 

 

         
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          The CH-47 - 40 years old and still circling the world.

         

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