To find traces of an ancient sea, paleontologists and “rock hounds” head to the desert.
On a bright morning in July, the sun beat down on Hilary Loupee’s white Jeep as it rattled across a dusty playa. As she deftly navigated around rocks and potholes in the dusty road, she gave a guided tour of the area’s ancient history.
“Everybody knows ‘Jurassic Park,’ right?” Loupee said. “Well, the Triassic before that was this crazy evolutionary period of dinosaurs. Because before that, we had the extinction event known as ‘the Great Dying,’ when 95 percent of life on Earth died.”
Loupee is president of the Reno Gem and Mineral Society, and calls herself a “rock hound.” She frequents the canyons and hills southeast of Walker Lake, on the hunt for fossils.
On one recent trip, Loupee made an exciting discovery.
“As soon as I popped over the hill, the first thing I saw was a very clearly distal femur bone laying on the ground,” she said.
Today, this area’s covered in crumbling shale and dry, spiky plants. But more than 200 million years ago, it was a tropical seabed, teeming with marine life.
There were ammonites, squid-like creatures whose whorled shells are among the most common fossils in the area.
It was also home to ichthyosaurs, whose name means “fish lizard.” The extinct reptiles, which resembled dolphins in size and shape, once hunted the prehistoric waters with their long snouts and needle-sharp teeth. Now, their remains are Nevada’s state fossil, and their name appears on state parks and local beer.
On that day in May, Loupee thought she might have found one.
“They were alive at one time,” she said, adding that now, “They're just here as a rock.”
In most cases, it’s legal to pick up small amounts of plant and invertebrate fossils on federal land. But finding fossilized bones can be an “icky” situation, because you need a permit to collect them.
So when Loupee stumbled across the suspected ichthyosaur femur, she pinned the location on a map and sent photographs of her find to paleontologists, including Gary McGaughey, a PhD candidate at Idaho State University. After he heard about Loupee’s discovery, McGaughey visited the site to confirm whether it was a fossil or not.
“The first thing that draws your eye to one, if you're out prospecting, is the shape,” he said.
Most of the rock in the area is jagged, but fossils are usually round and can stand out among the sharp angles of the shale, if you know what to look for.
“We have our little hand lenses to look up closer. You're looking for any of that spongy, porous texture,” he said. “That’s the same thing we see in modern bone.”
If all else fails, McGaughey says, there’s one other way to confirm whether something is a fossil:
“Licking bone to see if it sticks to your tongue,” he said.
Unfortunately for Loupee, appearances can be deceiving. The “femur” proved to not be a fossil at all.
“It was missing the bone texture,” McGaughey said.
While this bone-like rock proved to be, well, just a rock, it’s not uncommon for hobbyists like Loupee to stumble upon unique finds. In fact, she’s found ichthyosaur fossils in the area before.
That’s why academics like McGaughey take these reports seriously. He’s also hopeful that groups like the Reno Gem and Mineral Society will get more people out in the desert, looking for rocks and fossils.
“Keep being excited about paleontology,” he said. “Keep supporting these programs throughout the state. Nevada is a really great place full of these amazing fossils.”
Loupee was disappointed she didn’t come across an ichthyosaur fossil this time. But she says no matter what you’re looking for, rock hounding is a good way to find some peace and quiet.
And there could always be new fossils just beyond the next hill, waiting to be discovered.
“It’s like an Easter egg hunt,” she said.
