SUBAERIAL BONE WEATHERING AND DEGRADATION: A TAPHONOMIC FIELD STUDY ABOUT FOSSIL PRESERVATION POTENTIAL AND THE NATURE OF SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY

A modern taphonomic field study is a valuable geoscience education tool that can be utilized to help undergraduate geology students gain insight into taphonomic processes and fossilization potential. Although burial studies are relatively common in undergraduate geoscience programs, projects focusing on subaerial bone weathering and degradation are less common. In this project, geology majors and introductory students from The University of Tennessee at Martin deployed mammalian and avian carcasses in a temperate floodplain environment at the Coon Creek Science Center in McNairy County, Tennessee. The students made observations about subaerial bone weathering, the impact of scavenging, and preservation potential. Students utilized scientific methodology and were involved in data collection and analysis. This study enabled students to become familiar with the taphonomic processes affecting vertebrate remains, to understand how subaerial weathering affects preservation potential, and to examine mammalian vs. avian bone weathering. In collaboration with the Tennessee Earth Science Teachers (TEST) association, these kinds of opened-ended inquiry field projects are being used to design middle and high school professional development curricula that satisfy the recently approved Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) theme “Understandings About the Nature of Science.”