Camping atop a mountain on Fossil Butte National Monument, exploring vast lands of Wyoming, and discovering answers to geological mysteries, geology professors and students are on a journey to map 600 square miles of Wyoming.

Paul Buchheim, Ph.D., principal investigator of the study and professor of geology, along with co-investigators Robert Cushman, Ph.D., both from the department of earth and biological sciences, Loma Linda University, and Roberto Biaggi, Ph.D., professor of natural sciences at Universidad Adventista del Plata in Libertidor San Martin, Argentina, just returned from their fourth and final summer research trip to complete their $209,000 grant from the National Park Service titled “Geological Mapping of Topographic Quadrangles Associated with Fossil Butte National Monument.”

“The National Park Service funded the project because they want to know how far the fossil-rich layers extend beyond Fossil Butte National Monument,” said Buchheim. “The maps will be the standard and used by the National Park Service, oil companies, geologists and paleontologists, among others.”

Loma Linda University is no stranger to Fossil Butte National Monument. For the past 26 years, Buchheim has studied paleoecosystems and sedimentology of Fossil Lake. In fact, visitors to the Fossil Butte National Monument museum see LLU’s very own Buchheim featured in the video presentation.

“One outcome of this mapping project is that we’ve been able to answer a number of questions,” explains Buchheim.

One question that has been a mystery to many researchers’ minds: “Was Fossil Lake ever connected with the other huge lakes that existed nearby in Wyoming?”

According to Buchheim and his team, the answer is “Yes!” Last summer they followed the layers of Fossil Lake and found that it was connected with the larger Lake Gosiute to the east.

“I’ve been wanting to accomplish that for a quarter of a century!” said Buchheim. “To be able to connect two of these lakes is outstanding. It allows us to answer many more questions about the effect on plants and fish and if the connection changed the ecology of the two lakes.”

Other participants in this project include Arvid Aase, who is the National Park Service paleontologist liaison who provides logistical support to the investigators. Carol Shultz, graduate student and research assistant, supports the project by putting the information into Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and digital formats as she assists in mapping. The GIS lab of Utah State University is also assisting in this process.

The team plans to have the maps published by the state of Wyoming beginning sometime next year and make them available online and through GIS.

“For the first time, we’ll have a complete picture of Fossil Lake and its relations to neighboring Eocene Lakes,” said Biaggi. “This will be a valuable resource of the Fossil Basin region for investigators and interested individuals alike.”