Show J Former to Join Exp Expedition for the I r Jim Jen Jensen n a a Brigham Young University scientist will join a four man four man expedition planning to hunt for fossil bones in the frozen fro zen wastes of Antarctica I IF F THEY find what they are looking for it will be weighty evidence that Antarctica South America Africa and Australia were once all part of a single gigantic land mass Mr Jensen formerly of Vernal Vernal Ver Ver- nal curator of th the BYU Earth I Sciences e Museum and one e of ec the most t experienced e bone c col collectors collectors col- col lectors in the world will be one of four experts who will spend three months at the nearly lifeless lifeless life life- less continent OTHER MEN In the group group will be Dr E E. E It II H. H Colbert and G G. G F F. F b both th from the American Museum of Natural History and R R. J J. J Bailie of Ohio State University The expedition was triggered by the discovery a year ago of ofa a fragment of jawbone the jawbone the first vertebrate land animal bone ever found in Antarctica THE QUARTET will be In Inthe inthe the Antarctic from October 1969 through January 1970 enough I time for a long and miserable field expedition Jensen said Antarctica is a regular contin- contin continent ent with bare rock valleys and mountains in some some places instead in stead of j just st being an ice shelf like the Arctic IT GETS GETS' less precipitation than Provo Its It's just that snow that fell 5 years ago is still there Bare rock has been exposed exposed ex ex- posed by the ferocious wind which blows constantly Temperatures Tem Tern r rarely rely rise above zero he he said acid Evidence ce accumulated In Antarctica Ant seems seems' seems to support the continental drift theory which says that present continents continent were once joined but broke up and drifted apart Jensen said IF WE WE can can find the remains of fossils that are similar to ones found In Africa and South America and belong to o the same period then well we'll have some conclusive proof about continental drift drift he said Mr Jensen has collected dinosaur bones all over the U US U.S. S Sand and South America and has discovered discovered dis dis- covered the remains of animals that have no names because that type of animal animal an imal was previously unknown HIS BONE barn at BYU contains more than 40 tons of fossil bones gathered from around the world Logistics support and transportation trans trans- for the antarctic expedition expedition ex ex- ex is being planned by the theUS US U.S. Navy but once out into the frozen wasteland the team will be pretty much on its own owna a prospect which worries an old hand like Jensen ANTARCTICA is one of the most desolate places on earth and we better be prepared to cope with the el elements ments or we well we'll II just wander around looking for bones and wont won't be able to do anything if lf we find them he said Accordingly Jensen who is something of a mechanical and construction marvel designed and built his own shelter to enable enable en en- a able ble the team to cover a find and try to extract the tho bones without being exposed to the elements ele ele- ments DIGGING BONES from the earth Isn't just a shovel project pro pro- It ranges from blasting solid rock to the most delicate handling of fragile remains remains- which winch cant can't be done In a subzero sub zero wind with heavy gloves on Jenson also has designed and built his own type of snow sled sled sled- which won wont won't t slide sideways down a a steep slope when it Is burdened with a heavy load something ordinary sleds have havea a tendency to doIN do IN PREPARING for the expedition expedition ex Jensen plans to take his newly designed equipment to the top of Mt by helicopter and then bring it off the peak peak peak-by by foot Deseret News |