Show disclosures OF ANCIENT LIFE IN IA GRAND CANYON by courtesy of the carnegie ansti aution of washington D C there is in the hermit shale tor for matlon mation ot of the grand canyon of the colorado a fern like plant belong ing to the genus which fossil plant has as its nearest fossil rela tive those found in the permian beds of india south africa south america australia central asia and eastern china its presence in the united states Is attributed to the prehistoric land bridge near the behring strait it is supposed that numerous animals as well as plants and some think indian tribes as well came into north and south amerlyn over oyer that ancient land con lection in the development of our knowl edge of the grand canyon ot of the colorado some of the most recent advances have concerned the extra ordinary story of life of the past preserved in the geologic book rep resented by the strata of the can yon the lowest type of plants have been found as fossils in the rocks of the so called Alg rocks that represent one of the earliest periods from which remains of life have been found 0 the exposed rocks in this area are chiefly because of their great age they are of especial inter est to those who are searching tor for evidence of ancient life dr C E resser curator of the united states national museum of the smithson lan ian institution the active leader of the Car carnegie nogie institution expedition to the grand canyon of the colorado reports in grand canyon nature notes a publication of the nation pa al park service that abundant evi dence of aquatic plant life was dis covered but no traces of animal life he ile adds thus far no undoubted animal fossils have been discoverer disco verel in pre cambrian rocks anywhere in the world and geologists are spec abating as to the meaning of this our delta readers will kemem her that dr resser had been from may until july at the grand can yon with this expedition before he came to delta and went out gather ing fossils in this area A later age the permian yielded imprints of several insects wings and numerous footprints of animals and what is interesting to most peo pie impressions of rain drops and hali hailstones stones made in the hardening mud in the long ago also of great I interest are trails of worms or as they drove their tunnels through the mud in quest of food or search of a living prey today the traveller who takes the hermit trail to the canyon canyons s bot torn tom comes to a place called the white zig where he leaves the trail for a few feet and there here unbaked exposed to view are an imposing array of footprints made by some vertebrate animal possibly of the ollian class like the dino dlo saurs just as they were made ages ago in the original medium which has since turned to stone 1 I 1 took some negatives of the dinosaur tracks in the limestone near tuba city arizona similar to this three tracks of mama and papa out walking while baby patty LOU skipped along with shorter steps cries criss the parents trail in the gayety of youth it is a nat lonal tonal monument and I 1 was delight ea to 0 get the picture which Is laid away for future t 1 future use FB sr in the canyon the footprints at about thirty species io of vertebrates are known but no sk etal remains such ua as bone bones teeth tooth scale oil have as I 1 is ties the gracd Is house to scientists it reveals as a nowhere else the methods which na ture employs in the alternating pro besses of building up and tearing down only to reconstruct and in turn again demolish in unceasing recurrence ot of cycle over a time span the measure of which in only in terms of hundreds of millions of years I 1 it it astounding inconceivable awesome no geologist was ever an atheist has been truthfully said dr merriam president of the car negie negle institution in his volume the living past fitly calls this giant gorge an abyss in time tells us that the great plain in which the canyon is situa tea ted has been submerged beneath the sea several times and that upon each submergence strata of silt sand or lime long since turned to rock were laid down in nearly horizontal post tion one above another like card board sheets some of the rocks are abates some lime stones some are yellow some red some are hard some soft so that effects weather out temples castles but trease tresse in wondrous forms of era sion there is the kaibab the coconino limestone the hermit shale the formation the redwall limestone and the bright angel shale and the sand stone what untold ages must have alap sed in the making of all this vast system and only after it was all laid down eroded oft off laid down a gain with nine different acts of at na ture all before one single grain of sand was removed by the cutting of a bich continued a to for other othet hut ha jy abow talk drtad tit bt the colorado some think that this gorge could have ben formed in 8 to 10 million years others think in not less than 50 millions but whatever the time it has been A VAST SPAN |