The Saurian Expedition of 1905 was a noted paleontological research mission in northern

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The expedition recovered many of the finest specimens of

ichthyosaur Ichthyosaurs (Ancient Greek for "fish lizard" – and ) are large extinct marine reptiles. Ichthyosaurs belong to the order known as Ichthyosauria or Ichthyopterygia ('fish flippers' – a designation introduced by Sir Richard Owen in 1842, altho ...

ever found. The expedition was led by Eustace Furlong, an assistant at the Geology Department at Berkeley, under the guidance of Prof. John C. Merriam, of the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

. The expedition was financed by

Annie Montague Alexander Annie Montague Alexander (29 December 1867 - 10 September 1950) was an explorer, naturalist, paleontological collector, and philanthropist. She founded the University of California Museum of Paleontology (UCMP) and the Museum of Vertebrate Zoolo ...

, who four years earlier as a student in

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

had become interested in Merriam's work. Alexander was an active participant and collector during the expedition along with Edna Wemple, also a student of Merriam. The expedition examined

Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period ...

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

s in the

West Humboldt Range The West Humboldt Range is a short mountain range in the western Great Basin in northwestern Nevada in the United States. Geography The mountain range runs for approximately southwest to northeast in northern Churchill County and southern Per ...

northeast of

Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the c ...

, progressing into central Nevada south to the

Shoshone Mountains The Shoshone Mountains, in west central Nevada, make up one of the longest mountain ranges in the state. The range runs in a general north-south direction in Nye and Lander counties. The range has a length of about and a width of about with ...

. Some of the specimens were returned to Berkeley and became part of the collection of the University of California Museum of Paleontology, which Alexander helped found and underwrite.

References

External links

UCMP: The Saurian Expedition of 1905
History of paleontology Natural history of Nevada 1905 in the United States 1905 in science North American expeditions Expeditions from the United States Paleontology in Nevada 1905 in Nevada {{paleo-stub