UNION CHAPEL MINE: EVENTS AND PUBLICATIONS

Compiled by Andy Rindsberg (arindsberg@gsa.state.al.us)

Meetings and Events

January 23, 2000. First Field Trip to Union Chapel Mine, Birmingham Paleontological Society.

August 19, 2000. Track Meet 1, Birmingham Paleontological Society, Alabama Museum of Natural History, and Geological Survey of Alabama.

October 14, 2000. Track Meet 2, Birmingham Paleontological Society, Oneonta High School.

May 12, 2001. Track Meet 3 and Plant Fest, Birmingham Paleontological Society, Anniston Museum of Natural History.

July 14?, 2001. Meeting with Dennis Reid, son of Mrs. Dolores Reid, owner of New Acton Coal Company, to discuss preservation of the Union Chapel Mine, UAB Campus.

July 27, 2001. Great Track Layout for Union Chapel Mine photographs, Alabama Museum of Natural History, Tuscaloosa, AL.

September 18, 2001. Meeting with Alabama Surface Mining Commission and Birmingham Paleontological Society to discuss preservation of the Union Chapel Mine.

April 23-26, 2002. Jerry and Pearl MacDonald visit Alabama.

April 24, 2002. Birmingham Paleontological Society meeting (with Jerry MacDonald present) on progress toward monograph. Hosted by Geological Survey of Alabama.

April 25, 2002. Jerry MacDonald speaks to BPS about his Permian track discoveries in New Mexico, and inspects dozens of UCM trackways brought by members.

April 26, 2002. Birmingham Paleontological Society hosts Jerry and Pearl MacDonald at the Union Chapel Mine.

May 25, 2002. Meeting with Bill Harris, Director, Fourth District, to discuss preservation of mine and arrange site visit by Rep. Aderholt.

July 3, 2002. Birmingham Paleontological Society presentation to Rep. Aderholt at Union Chapel Mine, Walker County, AL.

July 12, 2002. Several BPS members host Kent Faulk (reporter, Birmingham News) and photographer Frank Couch at Union Chapel Mine

Bibliography of Walker County Ichnology

(*Union Chapel references are starred)

Aldrich, T. H., Sr., 1930, Description of tracks, in Aldrich, T. H., Sr., and Jones, W. B., 1930, Footprints from the Coal Measures of Alabama: Alabama Museum of Natural History, Museum Paper, no. 9, p. 13-64, 17 pl.

Aldrich, T. H., Sr., and Jones, W. B., 1930, Footprints from the Coal Measures of Alabama: Alabama Museum of Natural History, Museum Paper, no. 9, 64 p., 17 pl.

*Bryant, J. D., 2000. Taking steps back in time: Tuscaloosa, Alabama, University of Alabama, Crimson White, v. 107, no. 13 (August 25), p. 1.

Cotton, W. D., Hunt, A. P., and Cotton, J. E. 1995, Paleozoic Vertebrate Tracksites in Eastern North America, in Early Permian Footprints and Facies, S. G. Lucas and A. B. Heckert, eds., New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin No. 6.

Demko, T. M., and Gastaldo, R. A., 1989, An Early Pennsylvanian, tide-influenced mud flat, Warrior Basin, Alabama; sedimentology, ichnology, and preservational mechanisms: Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs, v. 21, no. 6, p. A52.

______1996, Eustatic and autocyclic influences on deposition of the Lower Pennsylvanian Mary Lee Coal zone, Warrior Basin, Alabama: International Journal of Coal Geology, v. 31, no. 1-4, p. 3-19.

*DeWitt, Robert, 2000. Historical specimens represent one of state's largest finds: Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Tuscaloosa News, v. 182, no. 233 (August 20), p. 1B, 7B.

*Faulk, Kent, 2002, Ancient stories in stone face extinction: Birmingham News, v. 115, no. 106 (July 15), p. 1A, 3A.

Gastaldo, R. A., Demko, T. M., Liu, Y., Keefer, W. D., and Abston, S. L., 1989, Biostratinomic processes for the development of mud-cast logs in Carboniferous and Holocene swamps: Palaios, v. 4, no. 4, p. 356-365.

Jones, W. B., 1930a, Footprints found in Alabama mine: Coal Age, v. 35, no. 2, p. 92.

______1930b, General discussion, in Aldrich, T. H., Sr., and Jones, W. B., 1930, Footprints from the Coal Measures of Alabama: Tuscaloosa, Alabama Museum of Natural History, Museum Paper, no. 9, p. 7-12.

Labandeira, C. C., Phillips, T. L., and Norton, R. A., 1997, Oribatid mites and the decomposition of plant tissues in Paleozoic coal-swamp forests: Palaios, v. 12, no. 4, p. 319-353.

*Lacefield, J., 2000, Lost worlds in Alabama rocks: a guide to the state's ancient life and landscapes: Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Alabama Geological Society, iv + 124 pp.

Liu Yuejin and Gastaldo, R. A., 1989a, Geometric model of a ravinement surface in the upper Pottsville Formation, northwestern Alabama: Journal of the Alabama Academy of Science, v. 60, no. 3, p. 146.

______1989b, Characteristics and implications of a ravinement surface in the upper Pottsville Formation, northwestern Alabama: Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs, v. 21, no. 3, p. 48.

*Minkin, S. 2000. Pennsylvanian vertebrate trackways, Walker County, Alabama: Alabama Geological Society News, v. 13, no. 4, p. 7-10.

Pashin, J. C., Carroll, R. E., Barnett, R. L., and Beg, M. A., 1995, Geology and coal resources of the Cahaba coal field: Geological Survey of Alabama, Bulletin 163, 49 p., 2 pl.

Pody, R., and Dewey, C., 1986, Marine facies in upper Pottsville: new data from Black Warrior Basin in northern Alabama: American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Bulletin, v. 70, no. 5, p. 633.

*Pyenson, Nicholas, 2002. Temnospondyl Amphibians from the Union Chapel Mine, Alabama (Westphalian A), Alabama: predicting body size and estimating population-size structure using paleoichnology. Atlanta, Georgia, Emory University, unpublished senior thesis, 72 p.

*Pyenson, N. D., and Martin, A. J., 2001, Uses of amphibian trackways from the Union Chapel Mine (Lower Pennsylvanian, Westphalian A) of Alabama for estimating amphibian population compositions: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, v. 21, no. 3, supplement, p. 91.

Rindsberg, A. K., 1990, Freshwater to marine trace fossils of the Mary Lee coal zone and overlying strata (Westphalian A, Pottsville Formation of northern Alabama), in Gastaldo, R. A., Demko, T. M., and Liu, Yuejin, eds., Carboniferous coastal environments and paleocommunities of the Mary Lee coal zone, Marion and Walker Counties, Alabama: Geological Society of America, Southeastern Section, Field Trip 6, Alabama Geological Survey, Guidebook Series, no. 3-6, p. VI-82 to VI-95.

*______2001, Birmingham Paleontological Society ęTrack Meets,Ę Tuscaloosa and Oneonta, Alabama (USA), August 19 and October 14, 2000: Ichnology Newsletter, no. 23, p. 47-49.

Rindsberg, A. K., Liu, Y., Demko, T. M., and Gastaldo, R. A., 1989, Ichnology of Westphalian coal-bearing sequence in Alabama (Pennsylvanian Warrior Basin). 28th International Geological Congress, Washington, DC, 9-19 July 1989, Abstracts, v. 2, p. 2-700 to 2-701.

*Rindsberg, A. K., Martin, A. J., and Pyenson, N. D., 2001a, Ichnofossil-Lagerstätte in Alabama: a world class Carboniferous (Westphalian) tracksite: North American Paleontological Convention 2001, Berkeley, California, June 26-July 1, Program & Abstracts: PaleoBios, v. 21, no. 2, supplement, p. 109.

*______2001b, Cooperation among amateurs and professionals to salvage a new Lower Pennsylvanian tracksite in Alabama: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Papers, v. __, no. __, p. __.

*______in review, Amateur and professional cooperation in the discovery of the world's most prolific Carboniferous track site: submitted to Science July 19, 2002.

Scott, A. C., and Calder, J. H., 1994, Carboniferous fossil forests: Geology Today, v. 10, no. 6, p. 213-217.

Shadroui, J. M., 1986, Depositional environments of the Pennsylvanian Bremen Sandstone and associated strata, Pottsville Formation, north-central Alabama: Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Annual Midyear Meeting., Abstracts, v. 3, p. 100-101.

*Spencer, Thomas, 2000. Fossil hunters follow tracks to distant past: Birmingham, Alabama, Birmingham News, v. 113, no. 137 (August 20), p. 15A, 23A.

Thurmond, J. T., and Jones, D. E., 1981, Fossil vertebrates of Alabama: University, Alabama, University of Alabama Press, 244 p.

Unpublished Presentations

Buta, R., July 2000, Fossils of Alabama. Johannesburg, South Africa, South African Society for Amateur Paleontologists, regular meeting.

Buta, R., July 2, 2001, The Union Chapel Mine Experience, Homewood, Alabama, Birmingham Paleontological Society, regular meeting.

Buta, R. April 27, 2002. Earthfest display, Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Atkinson, T. P., May 25, 2002, Trace Fossils from the Union Chapel Mine, Jasper, Alabama, presentation made to Bill Harris and Paul Housel (District Field Representative) in Rep. Aderholt's office

Buta, R., July 20, 2002, Pre-dinosaur footprints in Alabama: traces of a forgotten past: Birmingham, Alabama, McWane Science Center, "Scientist at the Center" program. Also participating: Ashley Allen, Prescott Atkinson, Bruce Relihan, Kathy Twieg.

Buta, R., Nov. 4, 2002, Pennsylvanian Footprints in the Black Warrior Basin of Alabama, seminar presented at the Bernard Price Institute for Paleontological Research, Van Riet Lowe Building, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa