June 25, 2005 - Cretaceous Fossils, Chilton Co, AL

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.)

group gathering to hunt fossils
Hanging out at the meeting location, waiting for everyone to arrive.

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

checking the map for fossils
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.

hunting fossil wood by creek
Our initial view of the creek, checking out the gravel bars.

hunting fossil wood by creek

hunting fossil wood by creek
Rick brought a hoe to tease the rocks, which worked very well.

hunting fossil wood by creek

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!


hunting fossil wood by creek
Gravel bars were quite wide in some locations.

hunting fossil wood by creek
Nancy searching off the beaten path.

hunting fossil wood by creek
Claire showing off one of her first finds.

showing off permineralized wood
A closer look

fossil wood
Paige with some of her finds.
 
fossil wood

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

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

hunting fossil wood by creek
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!

hunting fossil wood by creek
Loni is back after an absence of almost 15 years - Welcome Back, Loni!

pebbles in water
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.

hunting fossil wood by creek
Rychard and Vicki, setting up for a photo op.

permineralized wood
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.

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

fosil wood on clay bank

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.

hunting fossil wood by creek
And here goes Paige fishing in the water. . . .

large piece of fossil wood
Another nice specimen "caught" by Paige.

hunting fossil wood by creek
And now it's Rychard's turn. . .

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

hunting fossil wood by creek
A small feeder creek draining into the main creek.

fossil wood

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

large piece of fossil wood

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!