Department of Geology 



Research and Expeditions 



As in the past two and one-half years, the Mecca project occupied 

 the attention of Dr. Rainer Zangerl, Curator of Fossil Reptiles, 

 and Dr. Eugene S. Richardson, Jr., Curator of Fossil Inverte- 

 brates. The first or data-gathering phase of the Mecca project, 

 which is a detailed investigation of the fossil content of a Coal Age 

 shale occurring near Mecca, Indiana (see Annual Report 1955, 

 page 50), was completed in November of this year. The end of 

 this phase, which is but a reminder of the vast amount of work yet 

 to be done, was celebrated at a ceremony in which the Director of 

 the Museum, Dr. Clifford C. Gregg, was invited to split the last 

 remaining slab of shale. The next phase of the project has already 

 begun: Curator Zangerl is making a systematic study of the verte- 

 brates and Curator Richardson a similar study of the invertebrates. 

 The present study also involves X-raying and trimming the speci- 

 mens and comparing and grouping them. Concurrently Miss 

 Cynthia Belton, Antioch College student, is completing the tran- 

 scriptions of charts containing distribution data of the fossil content 

 of the shale. Other Antioch College students who have aided in 

 this research during the year are Miss Sally Higginbotham, Miss 

 Jane Black, and Miss Barbara Best. 



The environment in which the black shales at Mecca, Indiana, 

 were deposited is characterized by its notable distance from the 

 open waters of the Pennsylvanian sea. Similar environments exist 

 at the present time along the Gulf Coast of North America, but they 

 have never been adequately studied. First-hand observations of 

 localities where black mud is now being deposited in the inland 

 waters of the Mississippi delta were necessary for the understanding 

 of a number of aspects of the environmental conditions of Mecca. 

 Accordingly, Curator Zangerl and Curator Richardson spent the 

 month of July examining bayous, swamps, marshes, and lakes in the 

 general vicinity of New Orleans, Louisiana. The facilities of the 

 Department of Zoology of Tulane University of Louisiana were 

 generously placed at their disposal by Dr. Fred R. Cagle. He and 

 other members of his staff guided Zangerl and Richardson to areas 

 of particular significance and liberally shared with them their 

 detailed knowledge of the region. Dr. Richard J. Russell, Dean of 

 the Graduate School of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, 

 and Edward Orton, of the Institute of Coastal Plain Studies at that 



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