Tuesday, October 18, 2011, educators from all over Alabama and even a few from neighboring states got together in Livingston for the 13th Fossils of the Black Belt teacher workshop.  The first workshop was held in 1997, and was organized by the late Richard Thurn of the University of West Alabama and David Kopaska-Merkel and Andrew K. Rindsberg, then both at the Geological Survey of Alabama.  Over the years, at least 250 teachers have been exposed to the Cretaceous rocks and fossils of west Alabama.  The workshops are currently supported by, in addition to the two founding organizations, the Birmingham Paleontological Society, the Alabama Geological Society, Discovering Alabama, and the Black Belt Museum.

This year, 25 teachers had registered for 26 slots.  At the last minute, three were unable to attend and one more was added, for a total of 23 attendees.  The weather was excellent.  There were seven instructors in the field, which meant that every participant had access to knowledgeable advice and assistance.  Everyone returned to the lab smiling, having had a great time and having found good fossils.  Several mosasaur vertebrae were found, including linked vertebrae constituting part of a tail with who knows what else just beneath the surface; a possibly significant find.  James Lamb’s backup shark-tooth-filled mud, 15 gallons of material collected just in case we had rain, was extremely popular.  It came just in time, as we have finally given away almost the last of the fossils generously donated to the Geological Survey of Alabama education program over the years by Don Williams.

We are always looking for ways to improve the workshop, and received several suggestions this year from participants.  Most people said they wanted more time in the field!  Several people were not able to attend because of lack of funds.  Funding cuts in Alabama's education budget make it harder every year for teachers to participate in workshops like this.  We plan to look into finding a way to provide scholarships to teachers who don't have financial support from their school systems.

Will there be a fossil workshop in 2012? Count on it!  Eight people who wanted to attend this year were unable to do so for one reason or another.  And every year we hear from teachers who have just started teaching or just found out about the workshop.

                                                                                            --Dr. David C. Kopaska-Merkel

2008 Teacher Workshop photos

2009 Teacher Workshop photos

2010 Teacher Workshop photos 

BPS members took a long weekend and on Saturday the group collected in 3 Eocene sites in Mississippi, finding echinoids, sand dollars, coral, worm tubes, crabs, oyster, gastropods, fish vertebra, and one shark vertebra.  Then on Sunday the group visited a couple of tourist locations - the Mississippi Petrified Forest in Flora, MS, and the Mississippi Museum of Natural History in Jackson, MS.

Photo links:

Stop 1 - Chickasawhay River in Clarke County, MS

Stop 2 - Roadcut in Clarke County, MS

Stop 3 - Construction site in Rankin County, MS

Stop 4 - Mississippi Petrified Forest - Flora, Madison Co, MS

Stop 5 - Mississippi Museum of Natural History - Jackson, Hinds Co, MS

Report to come... Photos now posted.

Report to come... Photos now posted.

Report to come... Photos now posted.

Report to come...

Okay, how many of you let a 90% chance of rain stop you from coming on the field trip?

Six of us showed up to hunt fossils in spite of the predictions of 90% rain over the entire south.  The weather report was correct this time!  It didn't rain on the way there, lulling us into believing it would hold off most of the day.  

With such a small group we decided to go to a location where we have not been in several years.  This location has a very poor road with large potholes, not much room to park, and a short hike to get to the lake.

On the way to the first site, we got quite a scare.  The sky lit up like a fireball, and there was an extremely loud explosion, like dynamite.  Later as we headed to another site, we saw a huge oak tree that must have been 3-4 ft in diameter, literally blown to pieces, and they had recently removed the large limbs from the road.  It looked like someone had blown it up.  It was about a mile from where we had heard the explosion.

After minor sprinkles and even periods of no rain at all, the minute we got to site one, the rain started.  We tried to wait it out to no avail.  The rain was as determined as we were.  However, everyone was in a good mood and ready to collect fossils, so we donned our rain suits, ponchos, and rubber boots, grabbed our umbrellas, and walked down to the lake in the rain. This location has a lot more mud than what we are accustomed to.  The intent was to avoid one of the more muddy roadside cuts, but we managed to get just as muddy here as we would have at the other location.  We found a number of rocks with weathered out fossils showing extremely clear detail, and the first rock Ann picked up contained a trilobite.

At site two we found numerous horned corals, the bryozoan Archimedes and its filter feeding structures (fenestrae), crinoid stems, a trilobite, blastoids, and tiny shells, and of course the ever present rocks covered with fossils.

After that we decided to proceed to another site along the lake where large corals have been found in the past. We also found a complete crinoid head and legs, which was the find of the day. Around five o'clock as the rain had still not let up and a chill wind started blowing, we decided it was time to head home. Most of us decided to stop at a local steak house for dinner where we dried out, warmed up, and filled our bellies.

BPS members headed to St. Clair County this month to search for Devonian fossils.  With the past week having numerous days below freezing, we were hoping the predicted 48 degrees would be bearable.  It actually turned out to be a very pleasant sunny day.  After a too-long hiatus from fossil trips, we had members showing up from Huntsville, Birmingham, Mobile, Anniston, Montgomery, and Georgia to spend the day outside digging in the dirt.  Quite literally!   We had been asked to collect soil samples for Jun Ebersole so the first order of business was to collect baggies of dirt. Each person had a card with a number and their name on it and positioned themselves from top to bottom on the hillside.  Their chosen spot was where they collected their soil sample.

After the soil samples were collected and stored away safely, we started searching for fossils.  Though we haven't been to this site in several years, it was not weathered as much as we'd like.  In fact, it's getting grown over, and eventually will be "reclaimed" by mother nature.  Weathering out of the red dirt were numerous bits of corals and sponges, with only a few whole specimens.  Fossils were much more difficult to find on this trip, and most of what we found on the surface were worn and broken.  In one area, a few impressions of archimedes and crinoids in Ft. Payne chert were found. Some of rocks in the area are light yellow sandstone or siltstone, and split rather easily.  Inside are mostly brachiopods and trilobites.  Normally we find only the trilobite cephalon (head) at this location, but this time we also found several pygidiums (tail). On a large limestone boulder high on the mountain, and very difficult to reach, is the impression of a gastropod and "something else".