UNLV PhD Candidate Josh Bonde talks to large audience at the Lost City Museum concerning the evidence of paleolithic life found in Southern Nevada. Photo by Catherine Ellerton

By Catherine Ellerton

Moapa Valley Progress

In celebration of Paleontology Awareness Month, the Lost City Museum hosted a presentation given Saturday by UNLV PhD candidate Josh Bonde on the rich Paleontology history of southern Nevada – entitled “Life Through Time In Southern Nevada.”

Bonde told the large audience gathered for the event that Nevada is a geologically complex state. In fact, it is considered the third most “active” area in the United States, he said.

This area was submerged beneath a shallow tropical sea during the Paleozoic era and evolved into a wetter climate during the Cenozoic Era – The Ice Age. Nevada is a gold field of Stromatolites – bacterial growths that build rocks, Bonde said.

This intriguing afternoon discussion led through the many ages of the development of the earth

Lecturer Josh Bonde talks with Travis Devaney, a West Jordan, Utah, High School senior concerning the various careers available in Paleontology. Photo by Catherine Ellerton.

and what role Southern Nevada had in that growth. From the Mesozoic or Middle Life period known for lizard fish came Nevada’s State Fossil, the Ichthyosaur. From the Cretaceous Period when flowering plants evolved and dinosaurs and the animal with skin composed of bones – or chain mall – the crocodile walked the earth came Nevada’s most complete dinosaur – the Hypsilophodontidae – the sheep for the larger dinosaurs.

Tule Springs in Las Vegas hold the remains of many of the animals that roamed Southern Nevada during the Cenozoic Period – camels, antelope, the American lion and the giant short faced bears. Bonde stated that the Las Vegas Wash has been found to be the same age as the well known La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles.

Bonde’s informative speech spanning the last 3,800 million years whet the appetite of the large crowd at the Lost City Museum to learn and to see more.