Tertiary

June 13-14, 2009 - Cretaceous and Tertiary Fossils, Butler Co, AL

This month the group traveled to Butler County, Alabama, to a sandy creek which runs through early Tertiary and late Cretaceous material. The weather was overcast on Saturday, making collecting very pleasant. A number of members camped out for the weekend. Sunday the sun was out, and it made us grateful for the cloud cover on Saturday!

The sandy beaches and gravel areas yielded up shark teeth, ray teeth, some nautiloid sections, and recent mammal material which was sometimes as fasinating as the fossils.

We had quite a few young people on the trip who enjoyed both the fossil collecting and swimming, splashing and running in the shallow creek. There is an area of soft clay, and some enterprising young men fashioned bowls from it.

More about the artifacts found on the trip.

--Photos courtesy Claire Smith and Vicki Lais.

The whole group, except for one young lady who didn't want her picture taken.

Shell from a recent turtle.

Making ones way up the creek took a very long time. First you have to play in the water, feel the sand between your toes. Then you have to stop at every gravel bar and see what's there. It takes most people hours to get less than 1/4 mile.

Hanging out on the large sandy beach. This is like a crossroads, everyone passes this way, or returns here to rest.

Nancy neck deep in a swimming hole.

Martha screening for shark teeth

Picking through the gravel bars hunting for fossils.

Everyone set up for enjoying this wonderful creek in their own way.

Fossils: ray tooth

Tiny ray tooth

Collecting fossils in the creek.

Fossils: coral

Small piece of fossil coral.

Fossils: shark tooth

Shark tooth

Is it a fossil?

Fossils: gastropods

Several small turritella.

Sitting in the creek is sometimes the most effective and cool way.

Noah has found a large piece of soft, grey clay and fashioned himself a bowl.

Fossils: gastropod

Some tiny gastropods found on the flat limestone "bald", and an unkown black item with serated edges.

Fossils: shark teeth

A handful of mostly shark teeth.

Fossils: gastropod

This nice gastropod was found at this site several years ago, and was brought to the trip to display.

Checking out the latest finds.

Fossils: oyster

Fossil oysters

We found several areas where tadpoles had taken over shallow pools of water.

Screening for fossils in the shallow creek.

Fossils: coquina

Coquina, a very hard "stone" composed of compressed shells, used in many parts of Florida as building stone.

Fossils: coquina

He's holding a very large piece of coquina found in a pile of boulders.

Probably a small horn from a deer.

Hanging out late in the afternoon, snacking and relaxing.

Gathering at the end of the day to hang out and talk about our finds.

Beautiful sunset seen from the sandy beach.

November 1-2, 2008 - Cretaceous and Tertiary Fossils - Butler County

If you wanted a day/weekend out in the woods, you couldn't have custom-ordered more perfect weather or a more perfect spot to enjoy the outdoors. A small group of BPS’ers set out for Butler County to a site owned by a member’s relatives. They kindly let us in there at least once a year and a big THANK YOU goes out to them from BPS. We use the word “intrepid” a lot to describe our membership, but, what else can you say when you see people wading up to “there” in icy-cold water on a Fall day? Lots of tiny shark-teeth were found, along with a very tiny ray tooth, numerous pieces of cochina stone, a variety of shells, including gastropods and bivalves, and a few very weathered nautiloids. Also of interest for many of us are the native American artifacts we always find at this location. Several pottery sherds were found, some with excellent examples of incised designs.

Then it was time to chill out…literally, as the day wore down the temperature started dropping. But what a better time than a nippy Fall evening for a bonfire and cooking out? The overnighters got tents and vans set for the night and turned in.

With the arrival of morning, the smell of breakfast and the sounds of fellow-campers stirring got all but the most determined late-sleepers up and going. Most stayed for the day. Nancy decided that a flat tire, a broken water-bottle, bee sting, and an uneasy tummy perhaps meant a message from the camping gods to head back to civilization.

Those who stayed for the day hiked along the dirt roads near the creek, and later rode in Big Blue to a different location on the property where a canal had been dug in the distant past, and rocky debris had been tossed to the side, creating a mound of rocks. Many of the rocks were filled with fossil shells.

A great weekend under the stars, hiking in a beautiful clear creek, and spending time out in the clean Fall air! Who could ask for anything more?

Photos courtesy Claire Smith and Vicki Lais