John Day Fossil Beds National Monument
Oregon
Thomas Condon Paleontology Center

All fossils taken from the field must be stabilized before they can be studied.  After being removed from the field, fossils are taken to a lab where they can be made available for study. Each fossil goes through stages before it can safely be handled by researchers: stabilization, preparation, and sometimes casting and molding.

Once fossils are stabilized, they go through the process of preparation.  This step is the painstaking removal of the surrounding stony matrix from the fossil.  People use a number of different tools and techniques to carefully remove matrix. Mechanical tools such as air scribes—tiny jackhammers—remove matrix without ever touching the fossil.   Sand blasters remove the matrix without sending harmful vibrations through the fossil.  Dental picks and micro-needles may be used for high resolution of delicate structures.

The museum at the John Day Fossil Beds is specially staffed and equipped to collect, identify, prepare, and preserve rare fossil specimens from the last 50 million years. After being processed, specimens are carefully indexed, catalogued and stored so they can be retrieved and studied by researchers from all over the world. For paleontologists, collection facilities are like libraries—places where information and knowledge can be obtained and used.

After being catalogued specimens are placed in drawers in cabinets.  The secure storage room is climate controlled to avoid any possible damage from excesses of humidity or temperature.

 Acadia NP|Adams NHS|Agate Fossil Beds NM|Agua Fria NM|Antietam NB|Arches NP|Aztec Ruins NM|Badlands NP|Bandelier NM|Big Bend NP|Big Cypress NP|Big Hole NB|Big Thicket NP|Biscayne NP|Black Canyon of Gunnison NP|Booker T Washington NM|Boston NHP|Bryce Canyon NP|Cabrillo NM|Canyon de Chelly NM|Canyonlands NP|Canyon of the Ancients NM|Cape Cod NS|Capitol Reef NP|Capulin Volcano NM|Carlsbad Caverns NP|Carrizo Plain NM|Casa Grande NM|Cascade-Siskiyou NM|Castle Clinton NM|Catoctin Mountain Park|Cedar Breaks NM|Chaco Canyon NHP|Chamizal NM|Channel Islands NP|Chickamauga & Chattanooga NMP|Chimney Rock NHS|Chiricahua NM|City of Rocks NP|Colorado NM|Congaree NP|Coronado NM|Crater Lake NP|Craters of the Moon NM|Cuyahoga Valley NP|Dayton Aviation Heritage NHP|Death Valley NP|Devil's Post Pile NM|Devil's Tower NM|Dinosaur NM|Ebey's Landing NHR|Edison NHS|Ellis Island NM|El Malpais NM|El Morro NM|Eugene O'Neill NHS|Everglades NP|Fire Island NS|Flaming Gorge NRA|Florissant Fossil Beds NM|Fort Bowie NM|Fort Laramie NHS|Fort Larnard NHS|Fort Pulaski|Fort Stanwix NM|Fort Union NM|Fort Vancouver NHS|Fossil Butte NM|Fredrick Law Olmsted NHS|Gateway NRA|Gettysburg NMP|Glacier NP|Glen Canyon NRA|Golden Gate NRA|Golden Spike NHS|Giant Sequoia NM|Gila Cliff Dwellings NM|Glacier NP|Grand Canyon NP|Grand Canyon/Parashant NM|Grand Portage NM|Grand Staircase/Escalante NM|Grand Teton NP|Great Basin N P|Great Sand Dunes NP|Great Smokey Mountains NP|Guadalupe Mountains NP|Hagerman Fossil Bed NM|Hampton NHS|Hanford Reach NM|Harpers Ferry NHP|Hells Canyon NRA|Hohokam-Pima NM|Hopewell Culture NHP|Hot Springs NP|Hovenweep NM|Hubble Trading Post NHS|Ironwood NM|James A Garfield NHS|John Day Fossil Bed NM|John F Kennedy NHS|John Muir NHS|Joshua Tree NP|Kings Canyon NP|Klondike Gold Rush NHP|Lake Mead NRA|Lake Roosevelt NRA|Lassen NP|Lava Beds NM|Lewis and Clark NHP|Lincoln Home NHS|Little Big Horn NM|Longfellow NHS|Lyndon B Johnson NHP|Mammoth Cave NP|Manzanar NM|Martin Luther King NHS|Mesa Verde NP|Minidoka Internment NM|Mojave NP|Montezuma Castle NM|Mount Rainier NP|Mount Rushmore NM|Mount St. Helens NM|Muir Woods NM|Natural Bridges NM|Navajo NM|Newberry Volcanic NM|Nez Perce NHP|North Cascades NP|Ocmulgee NM|Olympic NP|Oregon Caves NM|Organ Pipe Cactus NM|Padre Island NS|Palo Alto Battlefield NHS|Pecos NHP|Petrified Forest NP|Pinnacles NM|Pipe Spring NM|Pipestone NM|Point Reyes NS|Port of Chicago NM|Redwood NP|Rocky Mountain NP|Rosie the Riveter NHP|Sagamore Hill NHS|Saguaro NP|Salem Maritime NHS|Salinas Pueblo Missions NM|San Antonio Missions NHP|San Francisco Maritime NHP|San Juan NHP|San Juan Island NHP|Santa Monica Mountains NRA|Santa Rosa - San Jacinto Mountains NM|Saugus Iron Works NHS|Scott's Bluff NM|Sequoia NP|Shenandoah NP|Sonora Desert NM|Statue of Liberty NM|Sunset Crater NM|Theodore Roosevelt NP|Timpanogos Cave NM|Tonto NM|Tuzigoot NM|Valles Caldera NP|Vermillion Cliffs NM|Voyageurs NP|Walnut Canyon NM|Weir Farm NHS|White Sands NM|Whitman Mission NM|William Howard Taft NHS|Wind Cave NP|Wupatki NM|Yellowstone NP|Yosemite NP|Yucca House NM|Zion NP

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Copyright © 1995 - 2007 Steve Schmorleitz. All rights reserved.
Revised: November 14, 2008.
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