May 19, 2007 - Cretaceous Fossils, Montgomery Co, AL
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The
March field trip
was graced with perfect weather for playing in a creek. The
morning started out pleasantly cool but was shorts and T-shirt weather
by the time we got to the site.
Many varieties of sharks teeth were found including Otodus, Squalicorax
and Ptychodus. Besides shark teeth the group found Oyster,
petrified wood, fish vertebra, a mosasaur vertebra and other items of
interest.
We had an "early leavers" group and an "it isn't dark yet"
group; both
groups stopped to enjoy dinner and continue the fossil discussions,
fill their bellies, and wind down before the long drive home.
--Leisa Whitlow, Contributor
--Edited by Vicki Lais
(Photos
courtest Jan Novak and Vicki Lais)
Most
of the gang!
The
long hike down the hill to the creek.
Are
you sure we're supposed to go here, Aunt Mel?
The creek was quite low, and shark teeth were immediately found.
Start
'um early, and they love fossils for life! (Or maybe it's just the rock
throwing . . .)
The
easy way to hunt fossils . . .
Mosasaur
vertebra.
A
perfect outing for our future paleontologist!
What
did you find, young lady? A nice collection of shark teeth,
ptychodus teeth, petrified wood, coral, and pretty pebbles.
Quite
a few oyster shells were found.
]
Appears
to be a tiny crocodile scute.
Nicely
preserved worm tube.
More
shark teeth.
Not
sure what this is, any ideas?
Another
unidentified fossil.
Tiny
fish vertebra.
Decisions,
decisions.. . . Do we want to collect in those gullies over there, or
head out for supper? How about both?
BPS
members went down to the Tombigbee in search
of specimens from the marl limestone sequences in the
Arcola Limestone
Member (Late Cretaceous Campanian 83-74 mya).
Steve
and Bobby
furnished the boats. BPS
members
climbed aboard and we headed off down the river.
This
is one of our favorite spots so anticipation was high.
Once arrived, we headed off in different
directions, some going down to the far end of the beach in hopes of
finding a
large ammonite like the one found last trip.
The water was very low on this trip,
exposing
areas we had never collected. Another mosasaur bone, probably
from our “pet”
Mosasaur,
“Bigbee” was unearthed, much to our pleasure. Numerous
pieces of carboniferous wood were
found, also worm tubes, gastropods and a very nice portion of a turtle,
which was jacketed for prep work back home.
Several
shark teeth, straight cephalopod
segments, and some fish teeth were
also found.
We had very pleasant weather, and,
after a full
day of
collecting, some wanted to settle in for some food and conversation
while
another part of the group decided to head down the river to a marcasite
collecting area . Some
very nice
crystalline calcite specimens were found, in addition to the large
quantity of marcasite.
Much to our delight, it turns out that we had a marcasite
specialist
amongst us who gave us an impromptu lecture on marcasite
characteristics. This
inspired discussion
of the possibility
of forming a coprolite committee.
Any
volunteers? Anybody
want to explain to
the general public exactly what coprolite IS? Or was.
As it was getting too dark to see, it
was decided
that food
and conversation seemed like a pretty good idea at this point, so we caught up with the others
and finished off
the day in great style.
Great trip,
great
weather, great group, great food.
--Edited by Vicki Lais
(Photos
courtesy Anca Croitoru, Lea Novack, and Vicki Lais)
Reconnaissance
session covering the geology of the area and sample
specimens.
This is an
excellent specimen of a fish jaw that Greg found on a
previous trip.
Gastropods
and straight cephalopods found on
prior trips.
Lining
up the boats.
On
the way again. . . .
Rocky bluffs composed of Arcola Limestone. Very fossiliferous.
More views of
the river.
Large piece
of shell and exogira.
Miscellaneous
shells and straight cephalopods.
Numerous
shell pieces in the limestone.
Anca
beginning her search.
Loni found a
nice turtle specimen, and asked that Greg and Leisa
excavate the bones.
Excavation
has begun. . . .
A closer look
at the turtle parts.
Part of the
turtle.
Turtle
after preparation. Click image for a different view.
Anca is
closely examining the limestone. She found a fish tooth
in this area.
Another site further down the river where we collected marcasite.
Michael with
some nice marcasite specimens. We discovered he
is a
marcasite specialist, and some of us discussed the need for a Coprolite
Committee.
Claire also
found a fantastic specimen of calcite, about the size of a
fist.
View
of the river.
We ended the
day with more good conversation at a restaurant near the
collecting site. Another "way out in the boonies" place with
no
advertising; if you don't know where it is, you probably won't even
find it by accident.
Steve was spotted tooling around in the boat, looking as if
he planned
to go way down to a place that was difficult to walk to, so Vicki stuck
out her thumb and she and Paige hitched a ride. A very
exciting
time getting into that boat from a cliff face! Claire decided
not
to try the boat trick, but decided to risk walking along the steep
bluff. We got there about the same time, and of course were looking for
"great treasures". Vicki spotted something that looked "odd"
pretty quickly, and it turned out to be part of a large ammonite
embedded in a huge boulder that everyone had walked past. We
all
started hunting around that area, but didn't find the other
half.
Further down, Steve stuck his hammer up under a rock before putting his
hand there to check for fossils. Good thing he did, because a
cottonmouth attacked the hammer! After moving away from the
snake, we heard Claire squeal. She had found another large
ammonite near where the first one was found, and it was almost
complete. Steve just shook his head, and declared he would
never
pick up hitch-hikers again!
A small group took off on a scouting expedition after the
trip was
officially over. They found a nice shelf area with numerous
fossils which were very fragile and easily breakable. So,
we'll just enjoy the pictures! Found a number of very nice
ammonites, a few shells, and pieces of fossil wood.
A big THANK YOU goes to Captain Gilbert and Captain Steve for
the use
of their boats!
(pictures
courtesy Lea Martin,
Claire Smith,
and Vicki
Lais.)
Hanging out
waiting for everyone to arrive.
Paige, Leisa,
Gilbert, Carl & Vicki popping out the small
gastropods
and straight cephalopods.
Claire is
just getting started.
Mosasaur
vertebra found by Vicki, quite a distance from the others that
were found on the last trip.
Leisa
excavating around a fragile fossil.
And the nice
gastropod she collected.
The chalky
shoreline. (Paige isn't tired, just getting a
closer
look!)
Steve's
attention has just been diverted as someone stopped to talk . .
.
Close-up of
some of Steve's finds, mostly gastropods. There
is
also a nice mosasaur bone in that box.
Tiny
nautiloid found by Steve.
Several
Exogira were found.
Some of Lea's
finds.
Some of
Paige's finds.
Gilbert has
found another one (what, I don't know!)
Nice
gastropod and the impression it left in the chalk, found by either
Lea or Paige.
Nice partial
ammonite in place. It really blends in with the
boulder quite well. Several people passed by without spotting
it,
leaving it for Vicki to find!
Same ammonite
after excavation. This is the bottom that was
protected from weathering.
Paige holding
an ammonite found by Claire.
Carl showing
off his favorite finds.
Captain Steve
and Captain Gilbert. Thanks, guys!
Gilbert found
some fossil carbonized wood and a mass of what is either
worm tubes or bryozoans.
Another nice
gastropod and image it left in the chalk.
Shells
embedded in the chalk.
Carl & Leisa, tuckered out after a long day.
Steve's
finds, all cleaned up and protective coating applied.
Nice
Ammonite found by Claire (after cleaning)
Another
view of the ammonite.
A limestone shelf filled with fossils found
in the late evening. Nice to look at, but the
fossils
were too fragile to collect. Below is our "picture
collection".
Nice ammonite.
A limb of
carbonized wood.
Another nice
ammonite.