Final A-Term in Seymour, TX

     This was my third and final A-Term, during which I spent 60 hours working on paleontology in Seymour, and I can honestly say I am going to miss it. My internship has solidified that I will most likely major in geology in college. I feel as though my time spent in Seymour has been particularly important, because it has allowed me to be the first to work on certain Permian bones and also to observe the sediment in which they are preserved.
     During this trip I was able to see bits and pieces from different Permian animals that I had not seen before, which allowed me to broaden my understanding of the Permian ecosystem. I have appreciated this part of our research a lot since it has allowed me to not just work on Dimetrodons but also understand what they ate and where they both lived and did not live. We spent a more balanced amount of time at the Whiteside Museum's site on the George Ranch and the Houston Museum of Natural Science's sites on the Craddock Ranch this year. These two sites contain vastly different ecosystem, one which is run by Edaphosaur and Eryops and one containing many Dimetrodons and Xenacanthus sharks as well as gill breathing amphibians. One of my favorite parts of this year's trip was looking at the different sediments in these two ecosystems, their oxidation, and how oxygen, or a lack of it, affected the environment.
     I hope to return to Seymour at least one more time this summer before I head off to college.