We spent half a day yesterday doing some last minute fossil prospecting near Olongbuluk Mountain. After collecting a partial turtle shell, our team discovered two more jaw fragments of different hyena species! Photos to come.
Half of our team took an overnight train from Delingha to Xining. Our field season officially ended on the 21st, as our original plan to continue into western Tibet will not materialize. The political climate there is still unsettled, and our research schedule has adapted accordingly.
By the end of this week, our vehicles will have arrived back in Beijing, with our fossils from this field season. I will be working on the carnivore fossils, and in the process sorting through all of the specimens collected this year to gain a better understanding of the ecological community that lived in the Chaidamu Basin more than 5 million years ago.
The four of us who took the train to Xining split again, two heading to Lanzhou to take care of some final logistics, and two of us flying directly back to Beijing. There is much work to be done in order to get a good grip on what we have accomplished in the past month.
From the Xining Caojiabao Airport,
Jack
1 comment:
I can't wait to hear all about this when you get back!
Spencer
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