The Bighorn Basin Coring Project will collect ~200 meters of core from each of three sites (Polecat Bench, Gilmore Hill, Basin Substation) in the Bighorn Basin of Wyoming to better constrain the causes and effects of Paleogene hyperthermal events. Hyperthermals are abrupt, large-magnitude global warming events associated with extreme perturbations to the Earth's carbon cycle. Two events in particular will be targeted - the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM, ETM1) and the Elmo (ETM2) event. The PETM is the best documented hyperthermal and involved the release of 2,000-6,800 gigatons (Gt) of carbon from an unknown reservoir over less than 10 thousand years (ky) causing the earth to warm by 5-9ºC for a period of 100-200 ky. For comparison, the entire fossil fuel resource base on earth today is estimated to be ~5,000 Gt. Elmo is a smaller amplitude event that occurs after the PETM and just below the Chron C24N/C24R polarity reversal in marine records but remains poorly documented in continental sections. By applying a variety of sedimentological, geochemical, and palynological methods to the proposed cores we hope to better understand what caused these events, study the biogeochemical and ecological feedbacks that operated during them, and reveal precisely how they impacted continental environments. The Bighorn Basin preserves the most expanded stratigraphic records of the PETM and Elmo yet known, so these cores will provide an opportunity to study hyperthermals at unprecedented resolution.
The Bighorn Basin Coring Project (BBCP) is a multidiciplinary collaboration whose major scientific target was to drill and core three wells in Eocene rocks in the Bighorn Basin of Wyoming and to use those cores to achieve a high-resolution climate record across the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. The Denver Museum of Nature & Science joined the team to interpret the project to a broader audience using three different techniques aimed at different audiences. The outreach efforts were led by Kirk Johnson and coordinated with the rest of the BBCP by Will Clyde. The first technique was a series of direct two-way live video broadcasts from the drill site to remotely located groups of Earth Sciences Teachers. The desired outcome was that teachers would become more engaged with abstract concepts of Earth Science if they were able to interact with scientists on an active drill site. The broadcasts were coordinated by Gianna Sullivan as part of the DMNS Scientists-In-Action Program. They were successful and received positive feedback from the 173 participating teachers who will transmit their learnings to more than 10,000 students. The second technique was to create an educational/training video to be distributed to Earth Scientists who had never done scientific drilling before. The desired outcome was that more scientists would become familar with the activities involved with planning and executing a terrestrial scientific drilling program. The video was created by David Baysinger (DMNS) and focused on the BBCP but also included video from the NSF-funded Denver Basin Drilling Program (1998-2001). The 27-minute video is available on YouTube (www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgxtFctj2Xg) and has been distributed at scientific meetings. The third techique is a popular book authored by Kirk Johnson and Will Clyde about the geology and stratigraphy of the Bighorn Basin of Wyoming based on 12 landscape reconstruction paintings by artist Jan Vriesen. The book is patterned after the successful Ancient Denvers book that capitalized on the well-studied stratigraphy and paleontology of the Denver Basin and sold more than 10,000 copies. It remains one of the region's most accessible portals to paleontology and geology. The book will include a brief overview of the basin's geology featuring a stratigraphic block diagram of the basin that illustrates the filling and exhumation of the basin and the creation of the modern landscape.Each prehistoric reconstruction will be paired with photographs of formations and fossils that document the evidence used to create the paintings. Such a book will have tremendous appeal for the many tourists to the region (especially Yellowstone) and also provide, for the first time, accessible prehistory for the region's students and residents. The BBCP supplied funding for the creation of the 12 ancient landscape paintings and associated illustrations. The book will be published in 2014 by Fulcrum Publishing in Golden, Colorado.
