ArcheoPaleo Class: "What's This Fossil Doing In My Backyard?" March 1, 2005

500 million years ago much of Minnesota was a tropical sea ecosystem. For the next 150 million years, ancient seas retreated and advanced and its life forms rapidly diversified in response to changing environments including mass extinctions.

This course, designed for lifelong learners, follows a more intensive and rigorous format then our course: Intro to Paleontology. Course Leader, Dean Kjerland, through lecture and hands-on lab, leads your exploration of the fossils which record this important time, the local exposures of sedimentary rock which were once the ancient sea floor, and the processes of fossilization which led to the chance preservation of the animals which inhabited these ancient seas. Throughout we will focus on the fossils of the Upper Mississippi Valley which is our backyard.

8 Tuesday morning sessions, 9:30-11:30, beginning April 5th, Fee $55; a extensive course guide is available for $19.95 - you will want to keep this comprehensive guide for future reference. ArcheoPaleo is an accessible facility with convenient public parking. Contact Dean Kjerland at 507 645-1380 or visit ArtOnWater Gallery at 217 South Water Street, Northfield during its FOSSILS!!! Exhibition during January. Watch Upcoming.org for details. And check archeopaleo.com for more about us.