La Brea Tarpits, photo from website
BAGSC Field Trip:
Paleobotany at the La Brea Tar Pits
(BAGSC Members Only)
As a follow-up to the fascinating Zoom presentation by Dr. Jessie George on July 25, BAGSC has arranged for an in-person visit for our members to the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum.
We will be the guests of Dr. George and the research staff, going behind the scenes to look closely at the fossilized remains of plants exacted from the tar pits and to draw from the fossils.
We will meet at the entrance at 9:45 am and begin promptly at 10 am. Wear comfortable walking shoes and bring your favorite “traveling” art supplies and sketchbook. Dr. George and staff will give us a “behind the scenes” tour and are setting up special drawing stations for us. Some of the drawing stations will showcase large plant fossils; other stations will be set up with microscopes so we can see the smallest of the plant fossil specimens collected at the site.
Our field trip limit is a total of 12 BAGSC members, and is free. Carpooling is encouraged!
We are anticipating the trip will fill quickly, and we will be collecting names on a waiting list. If the field trip is full when you register, please put your name on the waiting list. If you are not able to attend after registering, please let us know as soon as possible so we can fill your spot. If there is enough interest, we can inquire about a second trip at a later date.
Although animal remains at the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum have been studied since 1906, research about the ecology and the site’s ancient vegetation are receiving new emphasis. Fossil plants preserved at the La Brea Tar Pits include seeds, wood, leaves, needles, cones, pollen and phytoliths.
The museum has created a living Pleistocene Garden, consisting of plants that grew here during the end of the Ice Age, approximately 50,000 years ago, based on the fossils recovered from Pit 91. These ancient floras reveal a rich history of climatic and environmental change in Southern California over the last several millennia, leading to the formation of today’s ecosystems.
Images of tar pit bubble and cone specimen from La Brea Tar Pits website, used per website guidelines.
Information at a Glance
DATE:
Tuesday, August 13, 2024
10 am – 1 pm Pacific Daylight Time
Registration closes on August 11 at 11 pm.
LIMIT:
12 BAGSC Members
LOCATION:
5801 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036
For directions, click here
Detailed parking instructions will be given to registrants before the event.
FEE:
FREE!
QUESTIONS ABOUT THE TRIP?
Contact BAGSC Meetings Committee by clicking here.
PROBLEMS WITH REGISTRATION?
Contact BAGSC Media Committee for help with registration or waiting lists by clicking here.
Register by clicking the button below:
About our Presenter
Dr. Jessie George stands between rows of archival drawers in the “primary range,” a catacomb-like area at the La Brea Tar Pits where fossil collections are stored. Photograph © June 12, 2023, by Jesse Rieser
From “A River Runs Through It” by Mary Daily, June 12, 2023
Scientist Jessie George is a postdoctoral researcher at the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum. She recently received her PhD from the Department of Geography at UCLA and has an MSc in Environmental Archaeology from University College London. Her research interests and work in biogeography, paleobotany, and archaeology are focused on the interactions of plant life, climate, and fauna (including humans) across time. She has conducted field work and research in sites across Western North American and the Eastern Mediterranean.
Her current research includes reconstructing the changing vegetation and patterns of extinction in Los Angeles during the last 55,000 years through the lens of asphalt-preserved plant macro-fossils. Her research is being used to explore the wealth of paleo-data in Los Angeles and how to best use that information in conservation of today’s environment.