tive encouraged the Park to
partner with the Big Bend
Conservancy to build a $1.35
million facility, where the
intricate and amazing history
of the Big Bend could be seen,
touched and understood by
visitors.
The open-air pavilion
allows visitors to guide them-
selves through the eras of life
in this region, displaying
examples of the creatures
found here.
During
the
Early
Cretaceous, when Big Bend
and most of Texas was under
a warm, shallow sea, giants
swam the waters. The oldest
mosasaur, an air-breathing
marine lizard, ever discovered
in North America was found
in Big Bend. These enormous
predators could reach lengths
of over 40 feet and gave birth
to live young.There were fish-
es, turtles, ammonites, giant
snails. There was Inoceramus,
a giant clam whose shells have
been measured up to three
feet across. There was
Xiphactinus, a giant fish that
grew up to 18 feet long, who
occasionally snacked on
mosasaurs.
When the Big Bend was a
tropical coast in the Late
Cretaceous, dinosaurs, marine
creatures, giant primitive alli-
gators and even small mam-
mals inhabited the land all at
the same time. Deinosuchus
was discovered in 1940, before
the National Park was estab-
lished. It was an early alliga-
toroid that could reach lengths
of 35 feet, and its enormous
skull is on display in the new
fossil exhibit. From the same
period, a “paleo-forest” of pet-
rified tree stumps can be seen
in the park, still planted in the
ground with roots exposed.
The 18 tropical evergreens,
from two species, helped sci-
entists determine the height of
the forest canopy. The stumps
have a maximum diameter of
over four feet, giving an aver-
age calculated height of 130 to
160 feet.
By 72 million years ago,
the creation of the Rocky
Mountains had lifted the Big
Bend well above sea level.
The coast had retreated sever-
al hundred miles to the east,
and the region had become
an inland floodplain, with
broad valleys and wide, slow-
flowing rivers whose silt pre-
served the remains of
dinosaurs, reptiles, and mam-
mals. This was the era of
Tyrannosaurus Rex, of herds
of duck-billed hadrosaurs, and
of Quetzalcoatlus, the largest
flying creature ever discov-
ered. With a wingspan of
some 40 feet, its discovery in
1971 by a UT Austin gradu-
ate student working at Big
Bend was a major find. A
replica of the massive avian
dinosaur hangs overhead in
the central classroom of the
fossil exhibit. Of huge signifi-
cance, the Park’s geologic
record preserves one of the
most important events in
earth history, the K-Pg event,
which bridged the extinction
of the dinosaurs. It is sup-
posed that a meteor impact
not far south of the Big Bend,
on the coast of Mexico,
caused sufficient climate
change to bring about not
only the dinosaurs’ extinction,
but that of the majority of
species on earth. The impact
is dated to have occurred 65.5
million years ago, and the
Javelina Formation in the
Park tells a detailed story of
the mass extinction in its mul-
ticolored strata.
By 63 million years ago, the
dinosaurs were all gone.
Mammals diversified widely,
and many species of ancient
mammals have been found in
the Park, including mam-
moths, hippo-like animals,
saber-toothed tigers and pri-
mates. Volcanic activity dur-
ing this time formed the
Chisos Basin, and intrusions of
magma into surrounding
limestone, which slowly erod-
ed away over time, formed the
unique geologic landscape of
the Big Bend. As the climate
cooled, grasslands spread and
ice age animals made their
way south to West Texas,
though the region was never
itself covered in ice. From 55
million years ago to a mere
10,000 years ago, the Big
Bend has preserved one of the
most complete fossil records in
the world.
When the fossil exhibit had
its grand opening on January
14 of 2017, visitors from all
over, including scores of
schoolchildren, were able to
see this incredible march of
time laid out in the exhibits.
Replicas of fossils from every
era are on display in the sleek,
unassuming building, which
was designed to blend in with
the surrounding landscape
and weather over time. Its
location, at mile marker nine
about 20 miles from the park
entrance on highway 385,
allows visitors to see and
access some of the sites where
these fossils were found.
Bones from Alamosaurus, one
of the largest dinosaurs ever
discovered, are on display. It
is supposed that these giants
might have weighed as much
as
65,000
pounds.
Bravoceratops, a horned her-
bivore discovered in the park,
is prominently featured. And
Quetzalcoatlus hovers over-
head, its massive wingspan set
diagonally across the ceiling
so it can fit under the roof.
When I think back to my
childhood ambitions to be a
paleontologist, I understand
now that what I really wanted
was to understand, in some
small measure, where we
modern creatures came from.
We can’t really get a grasp on
how the world was shaped and
formed and filled with the life
it holds today without really
seeing what came before. We
certainly can’t get a sense of
where we might be headed
without a deeper understand-
ing of the past. But what
thrilled me as a child, and
what thrills my children now,
is the more compelling feeling
that the key to all the secrets
might be just under our feet,
waiting to be discovered and
assembled. I often feel fortu-
nate to live in the Big Bend,
but never more so than now,
when it is so easy to give reign
to those feelings of discovery
around the corner.
W HITE C RANE
A CUPUNCTURE
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Acupuncture
•
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Bodywork
Eve’s Garden
Bed and
Breakfast
Shanna Cowell, L.Ac.
N EW L OCATION :
1310 E. Ave. E • Alpine
432.386.4165
(Entrance on Jackson)
432.837.3225
Ave C & N 3rd • Marathon, TX
Mon. - Fri. by appointment
info@evesgarden.org
www.evesgarden.org
T HIS BOOK IS THE PERFECT GIFT THIS SEASON
We Rise: The Earth Guardians Guide to
Building a Movement that Restores the Planet
Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, Justin Spizman
N OW AVAILABLE AT F RONT S TREET B OOKS , A LPINE
Christina’s World
Folk Art • Jewelry from Around the World
Local Artisans • Fossils
Large Day of the Dead Collection
“Beauty is Critical”
The Boardwalk, Lajitas
Open daily 9:30 am to 5:30 pm
S TART TO F INISH
C ONSTRUCTION
We do it all!
Concrete to cabinets,
welding and all
types of fencing
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Jimmy Counts, Owner
jimmycounts1@outlook.com
325-340-0175
Cenizo
Fourth Quarter 2017
25