horned coral

May 18, 2015 - Mississippian Fossils, Morgan Co, AL

A beautiful Monday morning, with lots of clouds keeping heat to a bearable level. We went to a new area this trip, where several crinoid heads and pieces, blastoids, archimedes, horned and other corals were found. Just after moving to a new collecting location, the bottom dropped out, and though we were quite ok with collecting in the rain, the quarry managers said the roads would get slick, so we had to make an early exit. The group enjoyed lunch at a very interesting Mexican restaurant.

Alabama

Morgan

January 25, 2014, St. Clair County, AL - Site 2

After a BBQ stop to warm up and fill our bellies, we proceeded to a site that contains some Frog Mountain formation. Most of our finds at this site were horned corals and trilobites, though many shells and various forms of other coral were also found. Most of the trilobites ended up in the museum.

February 4, 2012 - Devonian Fossils-St.Clair County, Al.

BPS went to St. Clair County this month and found various coral, including horned corals, and a number of trilobites. Shells were also found, including a few bivalves. It was an excellent collecting day, the temp was cool but not overly so and the humidity was perfect.

January 22, 2011 - Devonian Fossils - St. Clair County, AL

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".

February 27, 2010 - Mississippian Fossils, Colbert and Franklin Co, AL

There must have been a lot of people concerned about the weather report, which predicted snow and ice in North Alabama. Only 5 of us showed up, but what a wonderful day it turned out to be. It stayed cold in Birmingham, but the weather at the collecting sites warmed up to the 50's, and Don remarked we better tell the field trip planner thanks for picking such a great day! The smaller number of people meant we could stay at each location longer, and it really paid off. We found numerous crinoid stems, several varieties of blastoids, part of a straight cephalopod, brachiopods of all sizes, trilobites, and lots of horned coral.