Alabama

This month BPS members headed to Monroe County in South Alabama, where we collected in the Lisbon Formation and Gosport Sand. Steve and Gilbert took their boats, so we spent the day scouting several miles along the riverbanks. Due to rain earlier in the week, the water level had risen 6-8 feet since the scouting trip, so the ledges were mostly underwater, and our collecting was restricted to the upper reaches. Numerous gastropods, turritella and trace fossils that appear to be burrows of some kind were found, also a few shark teeth, echinoids, and even a piece of permineralized wood were found. Some of the bivalves were complete and hardened. Many of the turritella and other shells found in the Gosport Sand were so fragile that it took careful digging to keep the shells from dissolving as they were touched. When broken open, a number of the "burrows" had shells inside them. Wildlife was also spotted, including an alligator and alligator tracks, numerous herons, and Steve spotted the largest water moccasin he had ever seen in his many years in the outdoors, startled him so much he threw his fossils in the river beating a path back to the boat! Sorry 'bout that, Steve!

Members participating in this long trip were Greg, Jan, Steve, Leisa, Gilbert, Carolyn, Vicki, Nancy and Miss Daisy.

(Photos courtesy Nancy Kenfield, Steve Corvin, and Vicki Lais)

Along the shoreline.

Greg and Steve, getting ready to check out this landing.

Shells in matrix. Sand is wet, and shells will disintegrate at the slightest touch. Careful excavation is essential.

At slightly higher elevations, the shells are dry and hard. Leisa found these.

A representative sampling of shells in this locality.

Shell impressions.

Shell layers in the bank.

Turritella found by Steve.

Sand dollar found by Steve.

Nice collection of sand dollars found by Steve.

Large boulders, appearing to be trace fossils, perhaps burrows.

Many of the burrows had shells inside.

Tooth found by Steve.

Gilbert after a long hard day on the river.

A view of the bluffs, mostly grown over now.

End of another great collecting day!

On the way down, some of us apparently took a wrong fork in the road.... that sign was deceiving.

And we entered into a strange land, populated by the most bizzare critters! (Forkland??)

For scale, note that Vicki is hugging the tin man's leg. Both the ship and car (above) are REAL.

Alabama countryside near Forkland.

Another boat trip, this time in Sumter county, at a river site with huge chalk bluffs.  (The lake level at the Demopolis Lock was 74.28 feet above sea level).  The fossils we collected are from the marl limestone sequences in the Arcola Limestone Member (Late Cretaceous Campanian 83-74 mya).  Last year, Dr. Charlie Smith, who has done many years of research on this site, came with the group and provided a wonderful lecture and handouts to the group.  This year we found a number of straight cephalopod segments, gastropods up to 6cm in diameter, fish dermal spine, and ammonite pieces.  But the real prize of the trip was several mosasaur vertebra found in three separate "piles" in a 15 foot area along the riverbank.  Vicki found the first fossil vertebra, which was standing on end, and had only the top exposed.  After convincing Greg to come look, there were decisions to be made.  Do we leave it here in place and take the chance of the river rising and washing it away?  We noticed this area had been under a heavy layer of pea gravel the last time we were here, and the pea gravel had disappeared.  Do we trench it and extract the bone, or use a plaster jacket over the whole thing?  The decision was to take the bone out, not take the chance on having it wash down the river, and protect it with a plaster jacket.  However, after excavating around the bone, it was discovered a small but sturdy piece of the chalk could be extracted, making the plaster jacket unnecessary.

As Bobby came over to see what all the fuss was about, he saw "odd shapes" sticking out of the chalk about 15 feet before he got to where Greg was working, and after looking closely, realized it was several more vertebra.  Steve came over to assist in excavating this new pile of bones.  The other part of the group had gone to another nearby beach, and were basking in the sun (and I suspect they went swimming based on Nancy's drenched appearance!).  They decided to ride back over after all the hard work had been done, and see what we had found.  Then Jan asked if we had looked under that tree trunk beside us.  Well, no.  So the trunk was moved, and low and behold, there were about 5 more vertebra under it, which were also excavated.  So this was truly a group find, and everyone got to work on the excavations, initial cleaning, and proper packing.

Bill, with the assistance of Leisa, did a great job on the site survey and drawings.  Greg, who worked many years with the paleontologists at Red Mountain Museum, supervised the excavation and has been preparing the fossil bones for display.  Thanks to all for the fine work and photos!  (NOTE:  any professional paleontologist who desires to study these fossils, please send your request via email.)

Afterwards, a number of members went to another river site in Sumter county to collect marcasite.

Bill Cunningham also contributed to this report.

(Photos courtesy of Nancy Kenfield, Bill Cunningham, Vicki Lais, and Greg Mestler.)

WOW ! 

(Click images for larger view.)

Lets get going!

   

Hey, guys, pose for me!

In large photo above, this is the leftmost vertebra, immediately after excavation. 
   Top view of vertebra.

Bottom view. 

   

One of the many gastropods found. 

What did you find?

Vertebral column extends 7 meters from near Coke can to several feet beyond the excavators.

Yes, we get dirty.

The excavation site had a small drainage problem...

Samples of typical finds - ammonite, straight cephalopod, gastropod, turritella, limpet, oyster.

Steve with his latest treasures.

Bobby washing mud off the vertebra.

Group of eight vertebra.

Three vertebra in situ (about 15cm apart)

A vertebra in matrix (caudal concave discoid about 5cm)

Ammonite impression (about 30cm)

Local wildlife.

Water hyacinths are pretty, but is an invasive species that destroys our rivers and lakes, and it is prohibited to sell it in the state of Alabama.  Thick infestations can make boating or swimming impossible.

Several members traveled to another Sumter County location to collect marcasite.

White chalk cliffs in Sumter County, AL.

We began our field trip for this month at a quarry in Jefferson County, to view specimens in the quarry classroom.  Then we caravaned to the collecting site in Morgan Co, AL (except Vicki, who was talking so much to Bill and Adelle that she failed to see everyone else passing her on the interstate ...)

We had a wonderful day of collecting, beautiful weather and great turnout.  We went to a new spot in the quarry, in addition to the site from last year.  Collecting is in the Mississippian Period (340-310 mya), in a very hard limestone.  Every member had great finds, including crinoids (including arms and calyxes), blastoids, brachiopods, coral, and sharks teeth (believe it or not!).  Proper prep work will make these specimens stand out beautifully.

(Photos courtesy Steve Corvin, Bill Cunningham, Vicki Lais)

We're ready!

Inside education building, viewing the display.

View of the Tarrant quarry.

BPS members searching in the boulder piles.

Was it worth all the searching?  We think so.  Nice crinoid.

Rock filled with crinoids and blastoids found by Vicki.  Click rock for larger image.

Typical fossils found at this site.

For the first time in many years it was warm and the sun was shining at Weiss Lake in NE Alabama instead of snowing or sleeting, resulting in a turn-out of 17+ members.

Our first stop was at a new site exposing nodules from the shale of the Conasauga Fm, Dresbachian stage, late Cambrian approx. 515 million years old. Here we found over 20 "Brooksella" which are believed to be the internal mold of a "primitive jellyfish". The most that anyone can remember finding on any trip were 3, so everyone got at least one specimen.

The second stop was an old BPS stand-by trilobite site from the middle Cambrian Conasauga Fm. Albertan stage 530 million years old. Here everyone found a number and variety of trilobites both on nodules and by splitting the shale exposed on the beach. Cephalon (heads), pygidium (tails), and in a few cases whole specimens of the following were found: Coosella, Coosia superba, Kingstonia, Densonella, Holcacephalus, and Norwoodella.

We made an interesting trip to a third stop which turned out to be unproductive. But it did include being lead into the site by some locals on horseback, and one of our younger members got a ride on one of the horses.

Then we moved on to our fourth and final site that Steve C. found on a scouting trip near Cedar Bluff. This site was still in the shales of the Cambrian (but not sure what stage) and deserves a closer look when time allows because even though not many trilobites were found, the pieces that were found seemed to be large ones, possibly of Tricrepicephalus.
--Edited by Vicki Lais

Below are some great photos Greg took with his new digital microscope. Other photos courtesy Vicki Lais.

BPS members searching for Brooksella at a site that hasn't been visited in many years.

Showing off their finds.

One never knows what opportunities might arise. Young Steve got the ride
of his life from one of the locals who guided us to a site.

Nice find!