The photo above shows the test holes in the undug area. Note the green sprayer at left that we are using to clean the surface of the Raf pavement.
Photos by Bill Heimbrock
Another day WITHOUT rain! Bill Heimbrock spent a couple of hours in the afternoon cleaning the area where the clay was removed yesterday and found one Edrio in that area. Bill tested the use of a hand pump pressure sprayer and a "car wash" sponge on a previously cleaned area. He compared that to using a dry scrub brush to remove the layer of mud on the Rafinesquina left from the flooding. He found the the dry brush works as good as anything. It creates a white powder that actually improves the visibility of Edrios and other encrusting critters on the Rafinesquinas.
He also dug a couple of test 1ft by 2 ft areas in the untouched section to determine the viability of the pavement. He determined that on one end, the pavement ends with thick, broken pieces of pavement, while at the other end, the shale overburden becomes thick and hard and the rock under the Rafs becomes thin. Only a wide strip in the middle is usable for this survey.
Here are some pictures of the site at the conclusion of Wednesday's work.
The photo above shows the test holes in the undug area. Note the green sprayer
at left that we are using to clean the surface of the Raf pavement.
This photo shows that the two test holes are connected to see the transition
from the Rafinesquina bed with a soft clay over it, transitioning into a bed
with a progressively harder shale layer over the bed.
You reach a point in the test hole, where the shale is too hard to remove from
the top of the Rafinesquina bed. Shown here, a Rafinesquina shines through the
mud, clay and shale, while just to the left, the shale is too hard for a hand trowel.
Here's a map of the digging area showing in light green where the test digs have
found the pavement to be viable for digging.
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