pelecypod

Another
wonderful day on the river! Weather forecast called
for a
cold front to come in, but we were far enough south to enjoy very nice
weather. The river had risen 10-15 feet since the scouting
crew
checked it out the previous week, and much of our collecting area was
under water. The collection area is in the marl limestone
sequences in the
Arcola Limestone
Member (Late Cretaceous Campanian 83-74 mya). We were hoping to find
more of "our" mosasaur, whom we have named "Bigbee", and we actually
did find one piece, another vertebra, in situ. Much of the
collecting area had been scoured by the water and
wave action. A few other pieces of mosasaur bone were found,
including
one vertebra, but not in the same area as the ones from the last trip,
so there
is no way to be certain they are from the same animal.
Numerous
steinkerns (internal molds) of gastropods (snails), bryzoan (look like
a bunch of worm tubes stuck together), brachiopod, pelecypod, straight
cephalopods, and ammonites were found, also some carbonized fossil wood.

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.