The Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopter - Recovery of an Ichthyosaur [Page 9].

Ichthyosaur

Field Notes

The following notes were supplied by Irv Tailleur. He was part of a team that geologically explored the North Slope during 1947-53, when it still was Petroleum Reserve No. 4. Bud Kent, perhaps with Carl Benson, actually found and noted the outcropping containing the skeleton while mapping between the Etivluk and Kiligwa Rivers in 1950. They gave the stream the name of Cutaway Creek because of its obvious cutting into the north margin of its topographic basin. Dr. Carl Benson, now retired from the Geophysical Institute, was a geologic field assistant on the 1950 party. Later in life, he became active in the political arena of Fairbanks.

An entry from Bud Kents field notes: "K160--BAR240-61 Across the stream, due north of K159, a fossil skeleton was found - exposed in a strike cut. in the M-UTr cherts probably within a 100' under Monotis. 50AKt214 H.S. Plesiosaur."

Original field notes supplied by Irv Tailleur.

The notes above, originally penned by Bud Kent, read as follows:

"Vertebrate remains at K160. 28 ribs in series, length of rib - 3', rib gauge 2'; total length of exposed rib series 4'; total length of skeletal zone 8' long, 4' wide. Bones - thickest part 3/4" tapering to 1/4", calcite and silica replacement - peculiar striations and pelted bone structure - bleached on exposure. Several cusps - cones 2.5" in diameter show a vertebrate column in nature of 3" and jointed. Several small bones suggest tibia and fibula - probably bones of mammal at least 10' long - longer for fish or reptile".

Not shown on this page, but included on a separate note:

"Since the chert is so fragile and the skeleton is so large, rough descriptions are given above. Bone appearance and fragments may have reference to T46 where canine? incisors were found - as appearance is same".

Above and below: 1950 air photographs (1:20,000) of the area surrounding the fossil skeleton site.

A Entry From ARCTIC Magazine

Reprinted from ARCTIC, Journal from the Arctic Institute of North America, Volume 26, Number 1, March 1973.

Click-N-Go Here for a larger version of the article.

A Skeleton in Triassic Rocks in the Brooks Range Foothills

I. L. Tailleur C. G. Mulland H. A. Tourtelot

Fragments of vertebrate fossils are found in beds of the Shublik Formation, which blanketed most of northern Alaska during Triassic time. Although articulated remains are uncommon, one partial skeleton was discovered in 1950 during exploration of Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 4. Tourtelot and Tailleur revisited the site in 1968 during study of oil shales in northern Alaska (supported by the U.S. Navy Office of Petroleum and Oil Shale Reserves and by the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory) and found the skeleton still well enough preserved to merit expert examination. In 1970, Mull placed a sign, prepared by W. C. Black of the U.S. Geological Survey, requesting preservation of the skeleton for future collection, now feasible because of easier access to the area. This note calls attention to the existence of the skeleton and reports on what has been observed of the vertebrate remains.

Figs. 1 and 2 locate the site (68° 37' 15'' N., 157° 35' W.) on Cutaway Creek (Howard Pass 1:250,000-scale quadrangle) in the geologically disturbed zone of the Brooks Range foothills. It is about 200 miles south of Point Barrow and 35 miles northwest of Howard Pass.

Fig. 3 is a photograph of the actual bedding-plane exposure. Most of one side of the rib case is exposed, and some limb structures seem preserved. The exposed parts indicate a skeleton more than 5 feet long. Bone fragments are common in the fine talus weathering off the outcrop. Although no invertebrate fossils were seen on the surfaces of beds containing the skeleton, they are abundant in correlative beds; detailed examination of this or nearby exposures should yield pelecypods that will fix the biostratigraphic level of the vertebrate remains.

Some features of the Late Triassic environment can be assessed. A sea of remarkably persistent character extended beyond the length of the present Brooks Range and probably more than twice the width of the present Arctic Slope. A shoreline existed near the present northeast coast of Alaska, but coarse detritus was not carried far southward. The bottom elsewhere was below wave base, and the sediment that settled onto it formed thin deposits, first of anaerobic chert, shale and limestone, then aerobic lithographic limestone. Pectens that also thrived elsewhere - Siberia, Arctic Canada, Nevada, and parts of Europe for example - are abundant, and many of the dark limestone and limy shale beds are made up of compressed shells of Halobia sp.; the younger limestone beds are frequently composed of shells of Monotis sp. The thin chert beds surrounding the skeleton are correlative with beds elsewhere that contain Halobia of Karnian or early Norian age (N. J. Silberling, written communication 1968). The skeleton is older than 200 million years as shown by K/Ar age determinations on minerals in diabase sills that intrude the Shublik Formation about 20 miles to the east (unpublished data).

Vertebrate fragments previously collected from the Shublik have been identified as follows: from this locality and from limestone near Hardway Creek (68° 38' 5" N., 156° 51' W.) about 20 miles to the east - vertebra of a possible ichthyosaur and teeth of a probable Mixasaurus (Jean Hough, written communication 1951); in limestone, chert, and shale on Kiligwa River (68° 43' 45" N., 158° 26' W.) about 25 miles to the northwest - probable caudal vertebra of an ichthyosaur (D. H. Dunkle, written communication 1952); and in limestone at the west end of the Sadlerochit Mountains (69° 35' 15" N., 145° 55' 5" W.), northeastern Brooks Range - vertebral, costal, and jaw fragments of either the Shastasauridae or Ichthyosauridae ichthyosaur family (C. A. Repenning, written communication 1972).

Helicopters offer the only practical access to the site, for the nearest lake on which a float plane can land is more than 10 miles away. Transportation for preliminary inspection could probably be arranged with any geologic field party working within a hundred miles of the locality. Collection of the skeleton would require that an outfit be landed near the outcrop by ski plane in the spring and retrieved during the fall or winter.

We cannot judge the quality or significance of the skeleton but feel that it should be examined by a vertebrate paleontologist as it could yield valuable information on life in the seas during Triassic time at a present arctic latitude.

Additional Photographs

2009 - The Ichthyosaur Today

2009: The following photograph and sketch shows what the Alaskan Ichthyosaur looks like after much preparation.

Alaska Ichthyosaur after preparation, circa 2009.

2009: The above photograph shows what the Alaskan Ichthyosaur looks like after much preparation. Click-N-Go Here to view a larger image.

Sketch of Alaska Ichthyosaur after preparation, circa 2009.

2009: The above sktech shows what the Alaskan Ichthyosaur looks like after much preparation. Click-N-Go Here to view a larger image.

Army Personnel

CPT David Magness

CW4 Mark S. Morgan

CW2 Rondall Eugene Frazier

CW2 Astraea Bridges

SSG Erroll Tibbetts

SSG Ivan Ortiz

SSG Randy Havens

SGT Jason Wainwright

SPC Nathan Jorgensen

SPC Paul Gilbert

PV2 Christopher Hull

PV2 Jeremy Johnson

West Point Cadet Luke Roberts

West Point Cadet Andrew T. Erickson

Audio Files

The following audio files are in .mp3 format and require a suitable player, such as Windows Media Player:

PBS Radio KUAC, Fairbanks - Interviewing Kevin May [2.5 Mb]

PBS Radio KUAC, Fairbanks - Preserving Icky I [2.5 Mb]

PBS Radio KUAC, Fairbanks - Preserving Icky II [2.5 Mb]

PBS Radio KUAC, Fairbanks - Lizzie May Williams [2.5 Mb]

PBS Radio KUAC, Fairbanks - CW4 Mark S. Morgan I [1.2 Mb]

PBS Radio KUAC, Fairbanks - CW4 Mark S. Morgan II [2.2 Mb]

PBS Radio KUAC, Fairbanks - CW2 Astraea Bridges [2.4 Mb]

PBS Radio KUAC, Fairbanks - Cadet Andy Erickson [2.4 Mb]

Video Files

The links below point to video files of the "Sugar Bears" assisting in the recovery of the Ichthyosaur on the North Slope of Alaska. It was filmed during the excavation and then later presented to the "Sugar Bears" as a thank you gift.