Our January trip was delayed a week, due to the ice storm that hit the eastern part of Alabama on our scheduled day. Just a week later, it was a very nice, sunny day, with a slight breeze coming off Weiss Lake. Isn't this Alabama weather wonderful! If you don't like the current weather, just wait a few days!

This year we decided on a boat trip to a new, uncollected area of the lake, where everyone found a plentiful supply of trilobites. The water level was up higher than expected, due to the recent rain, but the area where we collected had a very wide beach, so the water level was not an issue. Shown in the pictures are the best samples, though there were numerous specimens of tiny trilobites, no more than 1/4 inch long, and some rocks were covered with these small ones (ask Clare how much a 5 gallon bucket of rocks weighs!). Though there was shale covering the ground in many locations, we focused on collecting nodules. This site is from the middle Cambrian Conasauga Fm. Albertan stage, approximately 530 million years old. Cephalon (heads), pygidium (tails), and several whole specimens of the following were found: Coosella, Coosia superba, Kingstonia, Densonella, Holcacephalus, and Norwoodella. Also found were a number of "Brooksella" which are believed to be the internal mold of a "primitive jellyfish", possibly from the Conasauga Fm, Dresbachian stage, late Cambrian approximately 515 million years ago.

Late in the day, some of the diehards in the group proceeded to another site we checked out last year, to see if more of the larger triloibites (possibly Tricrepicephalus) had weathered out. Alas, the water level was too high, and all we collected were shots of the rock formations, and a great sunset. What a pleasant way to end the day!

(pictures courtesy Lea Martin and Vicki Lais)


Most of the group, waiting on the rest of the crew in the parking lot.


Paige's mom (Lea) made pouches with the BPS logo to collect the finds of the day.


Hanging out at the boat ramp, and of course everyone has to search, just in case. Paige did find a nice trilobite, almost whole, see the "hands" picture below, the 3rd hand down on the left.


On the way again with Captain Steve . . .


Claire and Nancy hoping to spot the "big one"!


Nancy found a nice brooksella!


Everyone scattered along the shoreline after we landed.


So many rocks to turn over, so little time!


Greg and Paige.


Paige and Nancy show off their brooksella specimens.


Wide but muddy shoreline provided lots of collecting space.


Leisa found several brooksella.



Various members found some nice specimens throughout the day.


With so many rocks, the trilobites are difficult to spot.. Look closely in the center.


Wished I had lined everyone up, Claire's boots are relatively clean at the end of the day! Note the small pieces of shale covering the ground, there was so much, it was almost like a carpet in places. We collected very few fossils in this thin shale, it is very fragile and difficult to transport without crumbling, and there were plenty of nodules to examine.


Vicki with her bag of rocks (and many more pounds in the backpack!)


Leisa, Steve, and Greg get ready to head back, after a very nice day of collecting.


The prize of the day goes to Greg, who found this wonderful specimen on the scouting trip.


Same specimen from a different angle.


Specimens after cleaning. The shine is from a protective coating of Elmer's Glue and water solution.


More samples shiny with protective glue.


Thanks, guys, it was a fun trip!


We must fill our bellies before that long trip home! The food and company were excellent!

A few members went to another site to check for larger trilobites, but the water level covered the collecting area. Instead, we studied the geology.

This interesting bluff shows where the river has deposited layers in smooth bands over thousands of years.


We have been told these are snail attachment points.  The odd marks cover many of the rocks in the area.

A beautiful sunset to end the day!

 

BPS members and guests met in the parking lot of the rest area for a show and tell session prior to the fossil outing. Weather was fine, but as we got closer to our site, the rain started. After a drizzly start, the weather cleared, and it ended up being a great day. Surface collecting, or digging in one spot in the pea gravel, everyone found numerous shark teeth, several ptychodus teeth, fish vertebra, turtle shell, and a mosasaur vertebra. Another piece of bone found is likely part of a plesiosaur. The trip out on a slick muddy road was almost as exciting as the collecting!


(Photos courtesy Steve Corvin and Vicki Lais.)

Getting to know you . . .


Checking out the show and tell.



No, it didn't come from last months Cherokee County trip, dang it!


Even the Easter Bunny came!


Arrival at the collecting spot (+ Steve, behind the camera!)



Some of Steve's finds.


Bobby and grandson Noah.


Lea and Paige, dilligently searching for more shark teeth. What's in your bucket, Paige?


Some of Paige's finds.


Carl and grandson Daniel, enjoying the day.


Claire, Leisa, and Bill. Notice the variety of "tools" being used.


Ramsey and Sarah came prepared!


Marjorie examining a recent find. What's in your bucket?


Some of Marjorie's finds. Nice fish vertebra.


Len and Daniel, way down the creek.


An untouched stretch of sand and gravel bars, no footprints in sight. All Right!!


Mosasaur vertebra found by Vicki, this makes 3, one per trip! Nice find!


Bone is about 5 inches long along the longest side, possibly plesiosaur. (Vicki plans to call it a plesiosaur until someone convinces her otherwise!)


Steve and Steve, with some of their finds.


Closer view of Steve and Steve's finds.

Another wonderful day on the river! Weather forecast called for a cold front to come in, but we were far enough south to enjoy very nice weather. The river had risen 10-15 feet since the scouting crew checked it out the previous week, and much of our collecting area was under water. The collection area is in the marl limestone sequences in the Arcola Limestone Member (Late Cretaceous Campanian 83-74 mya). We were hoping to find more of "our" mosasaur, whom we have named "Bigbee", and we actually did find one piece, another vertebra, in situ. Much of the collecting area had been scoured by the water and wave action. A few other pieces of mosasaur bone were found, including one vertebra, but not in the same area as the ones from the last trip, so there is no way to be certain they are from the same animal. Numerous steinkerns (internal molds) of gastropods (snails), bryzoan (look like a bunch of worm tubes stuck together), brachiopod, pelecypod, straight cephalopods, and ammonites were found, also some carbonized fossil wood.

Steve was spotted tooling around in the boat, looking as if he planned to go way down to a place that was difficult to walk to, so Vicki stuck out her thumb and she and Paige hitched a ride. A very exciting time getting into that boat from a cliff face! Claire decided not to try the boat trick, but decided to risk walking along the steep bluff. We got there about the same time, and of course were looking for "great treasures". Vicki spotted something that looked "odd" pretty quickly, and it turned out to be part of a large ammonite embedded in a huge boulder that everyone had walked past. We all started hunting around that area, but didn't find the other half. Further down, Steve stuck his hammer up under a rock before putting his hand there to check for fossils. Good thing he did, because a cottonmouth attacked the hammer! After moving away from the snake, we heard Claire squeal. She had found another large ammonite near where the first one was found, and it was almost complete. Steve just shook his head, and declared he would never pick up hitch-hikers again!

A small group took off on a scouting expedition after the trip was officially over. They found a nice shelf area with numerous fossils which were very fragile and easily breakable. So, we'll just enjoy the pictures! Found a number of very nice ammonites, a few shells, and pieces of fossil wood.

A big THANK YOU goes to Captain Gilbert and Captain Steve for the use of their boats!


(pictures courtesy Lea Martin, Claire Smith, and Vicki Lais.)


Hanging out waiting for everyone to arrive.


Paige, Leisa, Gilbert, Carl & Vicki popping out the small gastropods and straight cephalopods.


Claire is just getting started.


Mosasaur vertebra found by Vicki, quite a distance from the others that were found on the last trip.


Leisa excavating around a fragile fossil.


And the nice gastropod she collected.


The chalky shoreline. (Paige isn't tired, just getting a closer look!)


Steve's attention has just been diverted as someone stopped to talk . . .


Close-up of some of Steve's finds, mostly gastropods. There is also a nice mosasaur bone in that box.


Tiny nautiloid found by Steve.


Several Exogira were found.


Some of Lea's finds.


Some of Paige's finds.


Gilbert has found another one (what, I don't know!)





Nice gastropod and the impression it left in the chalk, found by either Lea or Paige.


Nice partial ammonite in place. It really blends in with the boulder quite well. Several people passed by without spotting it, leaving it for Vicki to find!


Same ammonite after excavation. This is the bottom that was protected from weathering.


Paige holding an ammonite found by Claire.


Carl showing off his favorite finds.


Captain Steve and Captain Gilbert. Thanks, guys!


Gilbert found some fossil carbonized wood and a mass of what is either worm tubes or bryozoans.


Another nice gastropod and image it left in the chalk.


Shells embedded in the chalk.




Carl & Leisa, tuckered out after a long day.


Steve's finds, all cleaned up and protective coating applied.


Nice Ammonite found by Claire (after cleaning)


Another view of the ammonite.


A limestone shelf filled with fossils found in the late evening. Nice to look at, but the fossils were too fragile to collect. Below is our "picture collection".


Nice ammonite.


A limb of carbonized wood.


Another nice ammonite.

This month, BPS members headed to Montgomery county to collect in the late Cretaceous. Another beautiful day for being in the woods, and playing in a creek. This year, the creek was down, way down, so moving from shore to shore was much easier than our last trip. A number of nice echinoids and ammonites were found, a variety of shells including gastropods, and a few shark teeth. Most of the ammonites at this site are not collectible due to their fragile nature. Later in the day, members headed south to another creek for more collecting.

A few of the diehards ended up at "The Swamp", a really cool "hamburger joint" on the Alabama river in Selma. The owner is an engineer and designed the building to "float" when the river rises. Normal water level is about 80 feet, and in their 1st year of business it rose to about 120 feet - the restaurant floated!

(Pictures courtesy Dr. Jan Novak and Vicki Lais.)

 

This month, BPS members and guests returned to a creek in Chilton county that hasn't been visited by the group in about 6 years. The weather was perfect, and the creek was ideal for cooling off. We obtained permission to enter the creek at a new location, and everyone found numerous specimens of Cretaceous age petrified/ permineralized wood, from the Gordo Formation. Permineralized wood forms in this environment because of the presence of dissolved silica within the groundwater, which gradually replaces the cells in the wood. A few of the specimens collected showed signs of having small crystals on them at one time in the past, but the crystals were almost worn completely off by the tumbling action of the water and rocks.

(Pictures courtesy Lea Martin and Vicki Lais.)


Hanging out at the meeting location, waiting for everyone to arrive.


Just hanging out. Claire was busy distributing BPS T-shirts that had been purchased for our fund-raiser.


Vicki and Loni are stretching out the aerial map of the creek, preparing to give an overview of the geology of the area and show the collecting sites to the group.


Our initial view of the creek, checking out the gravel bars.




Rick brought a hoe to tease the rocks, which worked very well.



Walking along a large sand and gravel embankment. Roger was visiting relatives in Alabama and decided to join us, and found some nice pieces of wood. Hope your vacation was memorable!



Gravel bars were quite wide in some locations.


Nancy searching off the beaten path.


Claire showing off one of her first finds.


A closer look


Paige with some of her finds.

 

Claire fishing for a nice piece of wood, you can see the dark image under the water.


The water looks deep, but in most places you will barely get your knees wet crossing to the other bank.


Rick lives in Chilton county, and obtained permission from the local landowners for BPS members to collect in several spots on the creek. A big thank you to Rick from all of us!


Loni is back after an absence of almost 15 years - Welcome Back, Loni!


This is a view through the water, which is about 1 foot deep at this point. Bottom of sand and gravel looks remarkably like pudding-stone. Some of the better petrified wood specimens were found in the water.


Rychard and Vicki, setting up for a photo op.


This is what we see as we walk along the bank of the creek. Notice how the piece of petrified wood blends in with the pebbles. Also, in many cases, the pebbles are actually very worn pieces of wood, so worn that one would never be able to convince a novice that it really was wood! When one taps pieces of the wood together, it sounds like tapping drinking glasses together.


Another piece of petrified wood hidden among the gravel. Some of us also collected the multi colored pebbles.



An outcrop of mottled red and pale red-purple clay, an indicator of the Gordo Formation. There are small outcrops in some areas, and other areas are all red-purple clay, with no sand and gravel bars at all. Some parts of the creek bed are also covered in this material, so it is important to be able to see the bottom as one is wading in the creek, as the clay is extremely slick, and you need to walk on the gravel or sand instead.


And here goes Paige fishing in the water. . . .


Another nice specimen "caught" by Paige.


And now it's Rychard's turn. . .


Rychard found some large pieces of wood that were badly weathered.


A small feeder creek draining into the main creek.




More pieces of wood. This creek location is known for wood, and wood was the only fossil found on this trip.



End of the day, plumb tuckered out. Claire with the nice sized section of wood she found midstream (see picture above) And yes, we get hot, wet, dirty, and sweaty on these trips, and have a wonderful time doing it!

BPS members visited a new site this month in Walker county. A starfish had been discovered on the scouting trip, so the group was hoping to find more specimens. This roadcut exposed Pennsylvanian shale which contained a small amount of plant material, including impressions and casts, and a layer containing several nice slabs of starfish casts, vertebrate tracks, and fish fin markings. The starfish are a type of echinoderm, and are in the class Asteroidea. We surveyed a large portion of the cut, but only found the starfish in one small area.

One of the more interesting finds of the day was a young kitten, living in a cave in the wall. It had apparently not eaten in quite a while, as it was nothing but a pile of bones. Several members fed her, and this friendly, loving little kitten now has a good home with Jan and Greg.

(Pictures courtesy Steve Corvin and Vicki Lais.)


Looking over the site, trying to decide where to start.

 

Calamites rhizome (root) showing distinctive round structures that "could" become new shoots.

 

 

Calamites stem section - this is the part that would have been above ground, and looks similar to today's bamboo.

Steve found this shale slab containing 2 very clear starfish on the scouting trip.


A closer look.


Lea digging through the rubble.


Calamites - an impression and an inside mold.


Lea found a slab with a nice starfish cast.


A closer look at Lea's starfish.




Possible raindrops and other trace fossils. Many of the fossil finds at this site were impressions on boulders too large to carry home.


These are impressions of lepidodendrum and calamites.


Bill found this slab of shale with several starfish impressions. He graciously allowed Greg to break it apart and shared it with other members.



A closer view of the slab. There are at least 6 starfish on this slab.

Bill found the large slab containing several starfish. This is the piece he kept. Thanks for sharing such a wonderful find, Bill!


A closer view.


More plant impression fragments.


We found this newest member living in a cave in the rocks (the kitten, if you had to ask!), and nothing but skin and bones. We fed her and made a friend for life - Jan and Greg took her home to live with them.

What a hot, humid day this was! According to weather reports, the temperature hit 97 where we were collecting, and there was virtually no shade. The first site we visited in Covington county was a real dud, for multiple reasons. We knew there would be a "constant steady discharge" due to some future plans at the dam. However, we didn't anticipate this discharge would raise the water level 3-4 feet above normal! This meant our normal collecting areas were underwater, way underwater, and we weren't prepared to scuba dive. We spent a short period of time collecting the few shells, teeth, and horned coral found in the banks, and getting hot and sweaty, then left early for our second site in Montgomery county. Much better collecting at this site! Members found a good number of shark teeth, ptychoda teeth, ammonites, and two unique finds, part of a turtle, and another item that we haven't seen from this site before, which is still being identified. According to Vice President Greg Mestler, in the late 1980's on another BPS field trip to this site, he found mosasaur skull bones in the same area where we found the turtle. Hmmmm.......

Once again, the group ended the day with a fine opportunity to hang out together at The Swamp, a kinda - sorta local eatery (only 20 minutes away, huh, Greg?) where we stayed way too long, but enjoyed the time spent with fellow fossil hounds.

(Pictures courtesy Jan Novak and Vicki Lais.)


Searching for shells, teeth and horned coral in the clay banks. Note how high the water is behind us.

 

 

The water was very high, severely impacting our collecting. Sylvie is walking in a spot that is normally dry. Even the island is flooded.

 

In spite of the high water, some nice shark and ray teeth were found.

Shells in matrix. They are very fragile and crumble easily, so are difficult to collect whole.


Ok, this isn't very productive, on to the next site!


At our second site, the water was high so a safety rope was necessary.


The site is cretaceous. Each layer has a unique set of fossils.


Searching for echinoids and shark teeth.




Greg explaining proper excavation techniques.




Ron found an unusual heart-shaped item which turned out to be a disk from a dear vertebra. It is very light-weight and recent, not a fossil.


Fragments found here are still being identified. Look just above the yellow handle to see the first "rocks", then straight to the left. There are some more fragments in the upper right quadrant. Some are probably turtle.


Closer view.


Greg has exposed more fragments, probably turtle.


James had an opportunity to practice making a protective plaster jacket.


Nice ammonite found by James.

 

Rychard carefully excavates an ammonite.

A close-up view of a ammonite found by Rychard.


Tracks of a recent visitor, a large alligator . . .


Paige, get out of the water, you look just like gator bait!


Ron's other interest is gold panning, and he gave some of us a demo, using gold bearing material he found in Georgia.



Greg, turn around! They told me to quit taking pictures of people's rear ends!

What a group of tired, sweaty people. So where do we go to cool off and relax a while?


The Swamp, of course! Our favorite restaurant on the Alabama River.

Some Hardy Souls headed down to Butler County, Alabama with an overnight campout in mind. Great weather, hot, dry, made getting to the site a breeze. The Hardy Souls set up camp and settled into our tents, anticipating a great day of hunting. We fell asleep serenaded by the sweet sounds of coyotes howling. Around midnight, more strange noises began and we finally identified it as the pitter patter then deluge of a midnight rain, as Vicki frantically climbed out to put things under shelter. Claire slept peacefully through the whole thing. We stayed nice and dry but the chalk road didn't. This brought some reshuffling of cars and drivers to meet the rest of the gang up at the filling station.

It was an international gang this time, with 5 members from the Czech Republic, 3 exchange students from Sweden, one long-term member from Armenia and a couple all the way from exotic LA (Lower Alabama), along with the local members. We have had several debates as to whether we need to change our name to Birmingham International Paleontological Society, or Birmingham Paleontological Society, Internationale!

It was so gorgeous when we all got down there that people were sitting out in beach chairs and enjoying what could have easily passed for the Gulf coast's white, sandy beaches. Some folks got into the swim - literally - as one of those privileges of living in a tropical climate on Oct 1 in Alabama. A variety of fossils were found, including nautiloids, tiny gastropods, shark teeth and coquina stone filled with various shells including turritella. We also found a good amount of pottery shards, some other artifacts and a deer skull (recent, but included to show what the teeth look like). Several comments were made regarding the beach, on the order of "it didn't really matter whether we found fossils or not, this was a great place to hang out"!

The deer skull has a backstory. While wandering off for a solitary hike up the creek, Vicki managed to get herself thoroughly lost. In the dark. Forgot that trail-laying stuff from Girl Scouts, right Vicki? Well, it turned out well in the end, when Vicki took off and finally found the road, as well as gaining some nifty scratches. Things improved the next morning after Claire and Lea got out the weedeaters and cut a beautiful path down to the creek. Kudos, Kids! And Vicki is going to do a refresher course if she can find her old Girl Scout Handbook.

After a very full day, most of the group repaired to the campsite for a wine-tasting, while others continued the hunt. (It's not dark yet, right?) After forcing themselves to get up and moving again, most of the group headed back to home and reality. Claire, Lea, Paige, and Vicki camped another night, and enjoyed the peace of the creek for another day.

--Edited by Vicki Lais

(Photos courtesy Lea Martin, Jan Novak, and Vicki Lais)


Leisa thoughtfully provided our 3 Swedish exchange students with everything they needed to enjoy the day's trip.


Due to rain the previous night, we left the cars at the entrance and loaded all our gear in Greg's truck.


Scouting the parking area, which was newly bulldozed.


Some of the group on the long hike down.

 

Along the final stretch to the creek, members stop to check the limestone outcrops for nautiloids and gastropods.

 

Finally, the path to the creek, which is just over that ridge. There was no path here the day before, which is how Vicki got lost. A huge thanks to Lea and Claire for cutting all the underbrush for us!


Sun and sand - on with the sunscreen!



Sylvie and Michael screening for shark teeth.

 

 

The layers of years of flooding are clearly shown in this high bank.

Loni's granddaughter has found a treasure, but they are new bones, not fossil.


The Novacks starting a long trip way up the creek.


Two of our newest members from Mobile, Becky and Keith. Keith is holding a nice shark tooth that was found in the shell filled bank shown below.

 

 

Lea examining one of her finds.

Screening for shark teeth.



Leisa has found a nice bone artifact, and some cochina stone.


Closer view of the cochina. This stone is filled with fossil shells, including turritella, and is widely found in Florida, where it is cut into blocks and used as a building material.




Beautiful weather, temperature in the 90's (in October????), and we certainly took advantage of it!





Paige keeping cool while screening for shark teeth.


South Alabama is a beautiful place, and our fossil hobby gives us wonderful opportunities to see such treasures as this fern bank.


South Alabama is also known for the Spanish Moss hanging from many of the trees. It was used as packing material many years ago.


Many times fossil worm trails (trace fossils) are found in sandstone and shale material. Here is the modern day equivalent.


James has found a vertebra, but it is recent.

Many sandstones and shales show wave patterns, captured here in modern day sand.

Nice deer skull found in the creek. Claire is now the proud owner.


"What kind of teeth are these?" is a frequent question. This should aid in identifying deer teeth.


This area was covered with larger rocky material, and yielded many pottery shards, but few fossils.


We weren't alone on the creek, these may be tracks of the coyotes we heard "singing" during the night.


Vicki's collection.


Paige collected quite a few shark teeth.

Hanging out at the campsite, late afternoon. We also collected small gastropod specimens in this area.


Discussing our finds for the day; hanging out and enjoying each others company.

BPS members went down to the Tombigbee in search of specimens from the marl limestone sequences in the Arcola Limestone Member (Late Cretaceous Campanian 83-74 mya). Steve and Bobby furnished the boats. BPS members climbed aboard and we headed off down the river. This is one of our favorite spots so anticipation was high. Once arrived, we headed off in different directions, some going down to the far end of the beach in hopes of finding a large ammonite like the one found last trip.

The water was very low on this trip, exposing areas we had never collected. Another mosasaur bone, probably from our “pet” Mosasaur, “Bigbee” was unearthed, much to our pleasure. Numerous pieces of carboniferous wood were found, also worm tubes, gastropods and a very nice portion of a turtle, which was jacketed for prep work back home. Several shark teeth, straight cephalopod segments, and some fish teeth were also found.

We had very pleasant weather, and, after a full day of collecting, some wanted to settle in for some food and conversation while another part of the group decided to head down the river to a marcasite collecting area . Some very nice crystalline calcite specimens were found, in addition to the large quantity of marcasite. Much to our delight, it turns out that we had a marcasite specialist amongst us who gave us an impromptu lecture on marcasite characteristics. This inspired discussion of the possibility of forming a coprolite committee. Any volunteers? Anybody want to explain to the general public exactly what coprolite IS? Or was.

As it was getting too dark to see, it was decided that food and conversation seemed like a pretty good idea at this point, so we caught up with the others and finished off the day in great style.

Great trip, great weather, great group, great food.

--Edited by Vicki Lais

(Photos courtesy Anca Croitoru, Lea Novack, and Vicki Lais)



Reconnaissance session covering the geology of the area and sample specimens.

This is an excellent specimen of a fish jaw that Greg found on a previous trip.

Gastropods and straight cephalopods found on prior trips.

Lining up the boats.



On the way again. . . .

Rocky bluffs composed of Arcola Limestone. Very fossiliferous.

More views of the river.

Large piece of shell and exogira.

Miscellaneous shells and straight cephalopods.

Numerous shell pieces in the limestone.

Anca beginning her search.

Loni found a nice turtle specimen, and asked that Greg and Leisa excavate the bones.

Excavation has begun. . . .

A closer look at the turtle parts.

Part of the turtle.

Turtle after preparation. Click image for a different view.

Anca is closely examining the limestone. She found a fish tooth in this area.

 

Another site further down the river where we collected marcasite.

Michael with some nice marcasite specimens. We discovered he is a marcasite specialist, and some of us discussed the need for a Coprolite Committee.

Claire also found a fantastic specimen of calcite, about the size of a fist.

View of the river.

We ended the day with more good conversation at a restaurant near the collecting site. Another "way out in the boonies" place with no advertising; if you don't know where it is, you probably won't even find it by accident.

This month, BPS members and guests headed to NW Alabama. When we left Birmingham, the weather was mild, though a little overcast. By the time we met, the wind had picked up and an icy chill was in the air, and there was a heavy cloud cover, so several of us donned warmer clothing. As we left, the drizzle began. Oh, no, it never rains on BPS trips, this can't be! Sure enough, by the time we arrived at the first stop, the rain had stopped, and we were getting patches of sunshine. We toured the "coral field", spotting numerous pieces of rugosa coral, and Lea got a good workout hauling a huge specimen to her car!

Back in the car headed to site #2, and it began raining again. Darn! As the drizzle quits, someone suggests a side trip to the lake, to check the water level, and much to our delight, it was way down, so we added an unexpected new stop, where everyone found a number of crinoid stems, blastoids, archimedes, an unknown trace fossil, and horned coral. One comment was "How many days do we get to spend here?". The weather got warmer, and became very pleasant, even without coats (a real thrill to those of us who remember many collecting trips tolerating the icy cold wind that normally whips around the point most of the winter). In keeping with our international flavor, two guests from Japan (who have only been in the US since July) joined us for their first ever-fossil trip. We may have spoiled them. NO you DON'T find fossils on every spot of ground in Alabama!

Then, when Greg was able to tear us away from the lake, on to the next location, site #3, a popular road cut in Colbert County, where nice blastoids, archimedes, and straight cephalopods were found. Also, an outstanding question was answered. On our August 2005 field trip, an odd, lightweight, heart shaped disk was found in Montgomery County that we couldn't identify. On one of Vicki's side excursions today, she found part of a vertebra column, probably of a deer, and several of the heart-shaped cartilage discs were found in place. Now we know - not a fossil, but very interesting.

The 4th stop had a few specimens, but not enough to linger.

At that point, part of the group went to an additional site, where there were nice fossils, mostly still in matrix. This site contains metallic, cubic mineral specimens that have not yet been positively identified. They look similar to pyrite, but are the wrong shape and color. They are small, about 1/4 inch, cubic, shiny reddish-gold copper colored, and heavy for their size. The square sides aren't exactly straight, since they have a dip in the middle. They could possibly be limonite after pyrite.

After that, the entire group met up again, and headed to an off-the-beaten-path steak house in the middle of nowhere to wind down for the evening and enjoy each other's good company before starting the long trip back home.

(photos courtesy Lea Martin and Vicki Lais)

The first stop produced very large specimens of rugose coral, most too large to carry.

Leisa, our Pres, and new members Hitoshi and Yakari on their first fossil trip... Welcome to Alabama!

Paige just needs her picture taken since she is so photogenic. What a nice specimen of coral she's found!

Jan and Greg searching for loose corals.

One of the nicest specimens.

Uh.... Paige..... I don't think it will fit in your box......

 

Lea Novak has lugged this large coral to her car.

On to site #2 -

Most of the rocks on this lakeshore are filled with small fossils. Most plentiful are crinoids, blastoids, archimedes, and horned corals.

Leisa showing our newest members fossil specimens on the rocks.

Greg has found a nice slab to show how plentiful fossils are in this area.

Every rock here is covered with fossils. So why search? Some rocks have weathered more than others, and the fossils are in nice relief. Some have more "perfect" examples, some have more of the "pretty" fossils, or displayed a larger variety.

 

 

Melanie has found a nice.... well....umm.... trace fossil??

Look carefully in the middle of the photograph to see a blastoid.

Closer view of blastoids.

Hi, Claire!

Hard to see, but this boulder is covered with very tiny crinoids, probably a breeding area.

Stop #3 is a roadcut -

Blastoids, horned coral, and archimedes were found in this area.

A few straight cephalopods were also found.

Some fairly worn specimens of horned coral.

Another mystery solved. A heart shaped item had been found on our Montgomery trip, but no one knew what it was. Several of them were found in place today - in a deer spine. They are the discs between vertebra.

Stop #4 - another wash in a roadcut.

Very little was found at this location, but we had fun looking!

While most of the group headed for the local watering hole, 3 members proceeded on to stop #5:

A beautiful layer of bivalves is now exposed. Impossible to collect without damaging the specimens, so we collected only photos.

Tiny cubes of pyrite?

A closer view after cleaning. They are heavy, and may be pyrite. Possibly limonite after pyrite.