"Dinosaurs Along The Silk Road" -- Sinofossa 2009 14: Changma Day 3

On Day 3, while everyone else slogged away in the quarries, I thought I'd attempt to get a better handle on the local geology -- until now, I'd basically seen the quarries and stuff along the road, but that was it. In the interest of trying to figure out how extensive the productive horizon was, as well as see more about how the Xiagou lake system changed through time (and perhaps identify other productive horizons), I spent the day hiking around in basically a giant circle around the quarries. Murphy's Law therefore dictates that Day 3 would be the day when cool stuff would be found...and this fundamental governing principle of the universe didn't let me down! The team found 9 bird fossils, a few fish, a part of a turtle, and many cool insects. A banner day! I wonder if there's any other lacustrine unit in the world that's ever produced nine birds in a day... And what did I learn from my geological studies and hikes? Several things, but primarily: (1) the geology in this area is fubarized; and (2) man, am I out of shape...!