Motley Moose – Archive

This is the second of my two-part diary of the fossils from the Chuckanut Formation (C/F), located near Bellingham in Northwestern Washington State. As noted in part 1, (flora), this formation developed during the  Eocene Epoch, some 50 million years ago (ma). This area was a subtropical fluvial plain on to which sediments were deposited and ultimately hardened into sandstone, shale, and siltstone that captured specimens of both flora and fauna of that time. (No new pseudofossils in this part.)

                         Racehorse Creek land slide and fossil beds

I am fascinated by the structures of the earth and how its most beautiful and intriguing features came about, and indeed are still forming. However, as a non-geologist, I am still boggled by the geologic time frame of millions of years. Millions of dollars seem to be tossed around a lot and are of little significance anymore in some circles. But millions of years to a non-geologist remains difficult to conceptualize.

                                          Geologic feature in Chuckanut Bay