In a message dated 3/23/99 12:52:25 PM, [log in to unmask] writes:

>our museum is hosting the Dinamation dinosaurs
>> > this summer in our auditorium. Each dino will be in/on an "island"
>of rock
>> > and artificial plants (on top of plastic sheeting to protect the wooden
>> > floor).  We're trying to be "evolutionarily correct," so they will
>be
>> > surrounded mostly by artificial ferns, cycads, conifers and mossy-type
>> > things.  I'm trying to figure out what we could use to fill in around
>the
>> > plant bases on the floor.  W

Don't forget Equisetes, the horsetail rush.

Do the dinosaurs come with their own rocks? Fossils of these basically
freshwater, marshy plants are found in shale and mudrock. Depending on the
period, you might or might not want to have exposed rock. Triassic settings in
Connecticut/Massachusetts, New Jersey/New York, and Virginia would have red
sandy areas spreading out from the foot of rift volcanic cliffs of diabase
toward watery rift valley settings, and Texas had similar red rocks at the
base of the Cretaceous. It might have looked a lot like the Atlantic plain in
the southeast US. Later on, sandy dune areas spread across west Texas.
Dinosaurs living on a plain landscape would rarely encounter rocks, although
hills and hummocks would be vegetated. Contact a historical geologist for
detailed local paleogeography.

A layer of clay or even painted plaster would disguise the plastic sheeting
but it would be messy to apply and clean up. Maybe a local insulation company
would donate spreading a coat of foam over the sheeting into which the stem
ends of the plastic plants could be stuck and extracted at the end of the
show.

David Formanek
Cyrus E. Dallin Art Museum
Arlington MA 02476