The terrain changed with every view: north, south, east, west. Wind swept rock formations were punctuated by juniper trees and hearty pines. There were high cliffs and beyond them a rugged desert without all the color variants of other sites. Mostly gray.
The pictures told the story of how erosion shaped the Makoshika geography for three hundred million years.
McCauley saw evidence in the pictures of ancient humid jungles, former lakebeds, and violent seismic shifts that accelerated transformation of the region. But, there was one additional photograph in the file DeMeo had prepared. It made McCauley laugh.
“Oh, this isn’t fair.”
He held up the photograph of Cottonwood, the eighteen-hole golf course two miles from the center of Glendive, Montana.
“It’s considered one of the toughest in the region,” DeMeo offered. “Intimidating. Ready for someone who’s up to the challenge.”
“Makoshika.”
“Good, because I already charged a summer club membership on your card.”
“What if I’d chosen the other site?”
“You wouldn’t. The golf course was the clincher.”
“My man! Who’s the park director?”
“A guy named Jim Kaplan, Kaplan with a ‘K.’ I’ve checked him out. Forty-eight, married, with twin daughters. I think you’ll like him. Nothing major published, but he knows his park and he’s done his share of digs in the region. University of Kansas grad.”
“Does he golf?”
“Now that I don’t know, but I’ll find out.”
“Anything else?”
“Yup. Are you ready for your radio interview tonight?”
“Christ, thank you! I forgot. What time?”
“One in the morning. Set your alarm, doc.”
Nine
The news ended. The theme music came up and the late night talk host welcomed listeners to the second hour of his Saturday night broadcast over Boston’s fifty thousand-watt powerhouse radio station, WBZ.
“We’re back and I have one of my favorite guests on the phone, Dr. Quinn McCauley. He’s a leading paleontologist, first from Harvard, now Yale. I’ll forgive him for leaving as long as he keeps visiting us. Dare I say, he digs the earth. He actually digs the earth for dinosaur fossils. Every year, he heads out west in search of new discoveries. So pleased you’re joining us tonight. How are you, Dr. McCauley?”
“Absolutely fine, thanks, Jordan. Great to be back. But please, it’s Quinn.”
McCauley had never actually met Jordan Rich, the venerable late night host. These were call-in interviews. Promotion in pajamas. Though it didn’t count toward McCauley’s scholarly publishing, the exposure on WBZ reached listeners in thirty-three states. The bragging rights were enormous. But so was the enthusiasm of the overnight audiences, who McCauley had no problem holding in awe for hours.
“So, where are you off to this year?”
“Eastern Montana, a dynamic region in the heart of dinosaur country. My team comes from some of the great universities across the country. Harvard, Michigan, University of Chicago, Berkeley, Penn State, and one from Spain. I think it’s fair to say we’ll have a field day. Or more accurately, if everyone makes it, eight great weeks.”
“Do people ever drop out?” Rich asked.
“Rarely. Too much fun. Oh, sometimes, family issues unavoidably come up, but invariably they return before the summer’s through. And occasionally there are some who realize the field is not for them. I see it as a real litmus test and a great way to measure dedication and patience. And believe me, our work requires patience. There’s nothing quick about what we do. Oh, and it takes good knees.”
Jordan Rich laughed.
“And what will you find?”
“What will we find or what do I hope we’ll find?” McCauley responded.
“Both. Either,” the host replied.
“I expect we’ll find a go-to favorite. Tyrannosaurus rex fossils. Always a crowd pleaser. In fact, one of the greatest species was uncovered right where we’ll be. But what do I hope for?”
He paused for only a fraction of a second to rev up.
“For me, the best discovery of all is that one or more of the students will become superstars and carry on the work with true desire in a world of slash and burn budgets. That’ll help ensure we don’t turn into fossils ourselves.”
It was a point well worth making; a pitch for new minds to come to the old world.
Rich asked, “In terms of actual scientific discoveries, what’s still out there? Are there things we don’t yet know?”
“Can a teenager today imagine a life without smartphones, tablets, the cloud? What’s around the corner? What devices will we be utilizing tomorrow? They’re almost unimaginable. Well, same thing for looking backwards. Say about two hundred, three hundred, four hundred or five hundred million years ago. So, yes, there’s a lot out there. I always hope that we’ll pitch our shovel in the right spot and come up with something really cool. Then we have to figure out how to put the darned thing together.”
McCauley and Rich bantered for another twelve minutes on the character of dinosaurs, what scientists have discerned about their familial relationships, how much they ate, and conversely, how much they likely stank depending upon whether they were meat eaters or vegetarians.
“British scientists have estimated that the sauropods, the dinosaur group which includes the Brontosaurus, produced about five hundred twenty million tons of methane per year. That’s enough farting…can I say farting on the air?”
“You have twice, I think you’re okay,” the host laughed.
“Well, a bit more delicately, they expelled enough methane to warm the climate about eighteen degrees Fahrenheit more than it is today. Let’s just say that it’s a good thing cave dwellers and the discovery of fire came much later given all the gas in the air. Kaboom!”
With that, Jordan Rich laughed, then led to a commercial break.
Ironically, the first spot was for a local New England Ford dealership selling the all-terrain F-150 SVT Raptor.
Two minutes later, they were back into the show. “We’ll open up to your calls in a few minutes.” Jordan Rich gave the toll-free phone number. “But first, another science lesson. I suppose on the historic timeline, we’re the newbies, but the earth itself and other life-forms are another matter. Without getting into the religious debate, give us what you scientists see about the history of planet Earth.”
“Perfectly positioned, Jordan. I’m not one to disrespect alternate points of view. However I’ll tell you what I read.”
“What’s that?”
“I read the rocks. They have a very old story to tell.”
McCauley launched into it.
“The Earth’s outer crust, a rocky crust, solidified billions of years ago. But the crust isn’t a solid shell. It’s broken. I mean it’s really broken. Broken into huge chunks, thick rock plates typically 50-to-250 miles thick that constantly drift over the more viscous upper mantle. It can take eons to see the change or seconds to feel it. These plates move sideways and up and down. They bump into one another, exerting dramatic changes in continental shapes and positions. That’s why the earth is always changing. Has always changed. Will always change.
“The movement is called plate tectonics. In its most violent motion it creates earthquakes and volcanoes, mountain ranges and deep ocean trenches.”
“How fast are these plates moving?” Rich asked.
“Try about a fraction of an inch to four inches a year. Even at that speed, when plates interact, something’s going to shake, rattle, roll, split, spurt, or burst. Think of it all in layers. The top is the Earth’s major land surfaces, the continental crust, and the oceanic crust, which is thinner, denser, and generally more active than the continental crust. The crust is part of what is called the lithosphere. It’s pretty rigid and brittle and is constantly in motion on the top of the viscous, hot upper matter. It’s comprised of iron, magnesium, silicon, and calcium. Below that, the lower mantle. Now when two plates try to occupy the same space, the denser oceanic plate pushes under the lighter continental crust.