Birmingham Paleontological Society

On Friday, November 27, 2020, seven BPS members and guests went to a working strip mine in Jefferson County to collect fossils from the Pottsville formation of the Pennsylvanian period.  The fossils collected today originated in a warm, steamy, oxygen-rich environment and many grew to towering heights.  Some of the fossils found are pith casts, formed when sediments filled the hollow center of a stem and later hardened/mineralized into rock.  Other fossils are imprints and show beautiful details of fern-like foliage.

National Fossil Day will be celebrated with a virtual event this year!  October 14, 2020, check out the Fossil Day even

For kids of all ages, from National Geographic Kids, a quiz.

President Claire has decided there will be no BPS meeting on May 4, 2020 due to coronavirus restrictions.  Also, Jefferson county libraries are currently closed.

President Claire has decided there will be no BPS meeting on April 6, 2020 due to coronavirus restrictions.  Also, Jefferson county libraries are currently closed.

On Saturday, March 21, 2020, a baker’s dozen members and guests of BPS went to a site that we’d never visited.  A tip from a member’s neighbor and a scouting outing was awarded by permission to collect in a strip mine in Jefferson County.  The spoil piles that held fossils were from the Pennsylvanian period – Coal Age fossils that were formed as warm moist coastal swamps gave way to periodic flooding and sedimentation during continental drift changes.  Interestingly, similarities between Pennsylvanian coal deposits in the Black Warrior Basin and those in South America indicate that they wer

Our speaker for March is Adiel Klompmaker, curator of paleontology at Alabama Museum of Natural History. He will be speaking on “The Fossil Record of Decapod Crustaceans: Worldwide and in Alabama.”

Business meeting at 7pm, program at 7:30pm.  Hoover Public Library, downstairs, Fitzgerald Room. Free and open to the public.

Trip number 2, for the win! On Saturday, February 1, 2020, eight BPS members and guests met in a parking lot in Russellville to gather permits, supplies and biscuits before returning to the lake where we had collected just a short time ago. The weather was nearly a repeat with gloomy skies and chilly temps and winds but no one was thwarted in the least. We intended to have a leisurely look along the shore that was so forthcoming last time but had a lucky change of direction instead.

Our speaker for February is James Lamb, Director of the Black Belt Museum at the University of West Alabama. He will be speaking on “What happened in the world of paleontology in 2019.” Hoover Public Library, Fitzgerald Room. Business meeting 7pm, program 7:30pm. Free and open to the public.

On Saturday, January 25, 2020, several BPS members and guests decided, despite the dismal forecast, to travel to a lake in Franklin county to collect fossils.  The selected field trip site is a favorite and did not fail to please.  Despite the raw and biting winds and persistent clouds, our group visited 3 sites throughout the day.  Though two of the sites were less than forthcoming with fossil finds, one site was a treasure trove of Mississippian fossils.  There were lots of crinoid stems, many blastoids (one HUGE one), nice corals (also a HUGE horn coral), a couple of trilobites, some has